Prima Projects for Scrapalicious

I'm very happy with how my projects for Scrapalicious with Prima's Madeline collection have turned out so far. The first project I created was this image transfer canvas. I used gel medium to transfer a colour copy of this photo of Alicia directly onto the canvas. I like the aged and distressed look it created.

You can see in this close up, the image almost looks like it was painted onto the canvas! The green foliage is a Donna Downey for Prima foam stamp. The letters for BLOOM in the title are grungeboard inked with Staz-On. The full title is Bloom where you're Planted.

I brushed Perfect Pearls on the Maya Road crown, spritzed a white Prima crocheted flower with Glimmer Mist to match the project, and surrounded the canvas with matching ribbon. These fun little altered art projects make our house feel so happy!

Butterflies, which are so prominent in this collection, are so fun and feminine that I knew my first few projects had to be girly.

I created this page from a sketch challenge at Scrap That! I printed it off and intended to submit, but time got away from me and the deadline slipped past - typical of me lately! Isn't it a great sketch, though?



This page features Vanessa, both solo as well as in her roles of daughter, sister and twin. Beneath her name, the journaling says "beautiful, inside and out".

I have more creations coming with this kit, so stay tuned!

Scrapalicious Sneak Peek

I have projects almost ready to share with you from Prima's Madeline collection. This collection is gorgeous; perfect for feminine pages, vintage projects - anything pretty. Here is a peek at one of my creations about our sweet Vanessa.

I'll be posting more soon, so stay tuned! Have a great week!

April's 12 of 12

I've been trying to do Project 365 for a number of years now, and haven't managed to make it all the way through the year. I was so inspired, though, by an idea I saw on Lee's blog - 12 of 12. Twelve photos, taken on the 12th of the month, each month for 12 months - what a great overview of daily life over the course of the year. So I decided to make it my next project.

Since the April 12th was a Tuesday, work was on the agenda for me, as well as school, piano practice and French class for the kids. I documented morning, work day, dinner time and evening, so I'm quite pleased with how my first attempt went. The photo above shows the passenger seat of my van. Since I spend a lot of time driving (what working Mom doesn't?) I keep a stash of necessary supplies at my fingertips: wipes, kleenex, hand lotion, chapsick and lip gloss, a comb, reading material for the inevitable time spent waiting to pick kids up, and plenty of audio books. Right now I am listening to Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed. It's looooooong - 19 discs - and I'm about halfway through.

There is always a snack for the drive handy today. Lately I've been keeping my diet quite healthy, so an apple made the cut on Tuesday. I haven't had time to edit and upload the rest of my photos, so this one will represent my 12 for this month.

Look for this to become a monthly tradition on my blog from now on. I think this will definitely be easier to keep up than a photo a day!

March Break at Niagara Falls

I mentioned last time that I would have a peek at the Scrapalicious projects I'm working on. We took a family trip to Niagara Falls over March Break, and I thought Best Creation's Travel Forever would be the perfect collection for a travel mini-album. Here's a sneak peek at the cover, more to follow soon!

This is the first time in recent years that we have visited Niagara Falls and not stayed at Great Wolf Lodge. The kids love it there, but we tend to spend our entire time at the resort and don't venture out to show the kids the falls. So we did it differently this time, and stayed close to the falls.

Despite what an absolute breathtaking wonder the falls are - we take them for granted, living so close, don't you think? - there is only so much time the kids want to spend looking at them. We decided to take in a magic show at the Greg Frewin theatre. Definitely worth doing if you get the chance.

We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and after the show we went up on stage and had our photo taken with one of the tigers. The kids were a bit nervous. Notice that there seems to be a common lean in my direction and away from the tiger?! Regardless, we had fun up on the stage and the kids couldn't wait to see our photo. (In case you were wondering, yes, there is a barrier between us and the tiger!)

Along with the above, we had dinner at a restaurant with singing servers, which was also a lot of fun. The hotel's pool didn't compare to the water slides at Great Wolf Lodge, but we still spend hours in the pool and had a great time.

Thanks to my friend Lee's recommendation, I read Brene Brown's book The Gift of Imperfection pretty much non-stop during the trip. I found it completely insightful. Use the link above to take a look. Brene's work is such perfect inspiration for the art journaling that I've been doing lately. You can also follow her blog here.

Speaking of memorable times, are you heading to Scrapfest this weekend? I hope to see many familiar faces there. I decided just to visit and shop; I'm not cropping this time, so there is no need for my blinged-up helmet! :-} I hope to see you there! Don't forget to drop by the Scrapalicious booth to say HI to everyone and check out the latest and greatest product!

Donna Downey Weekend

Two weekends ago (I know, I've been slow on the draw with this blog lately - I'm working on it!) I was lucky enough to take a Donna Downey workshop with my friends Sue, Lori and Lee. It was my 2nd Donna workshop, and I knew it would be inspiring, but it far exceeded my expectations!
The event was hosted by Karen Ellis at The Art House Studio in Kitchener. Karen is both a gracious and fun hostess, and she made everything about the weekend so wonderful! Here's a look at one of my pages from the Life's Artistry class. Yes - that is my own handwriting on the page! Donna made it all so easy, I had to try it!
After dinner on Saturday night, Sue and I were so inspired that we headed back to my house where we scrapped until - get this - 5AM! At left is my project from Donna's Swatches workshop last summer. I was nervous about writing on it last year, but after today's workshop I took the plunge and finished all 3 Swatches. More pics to follow soon.

With all of the fun I've been having with mixed media art lately, don't think I've forgotten about the gorgeous DT kit I have waiting from Scrapalicious. I've been playing with those gorgeous Prima and fun Best Creations papers too, and will have a peek to show you very soon. Thanks for stopping by!

The Latest from Scrapalicious

I can't wait to get creating with my latest DT kit from Scrapalicious. Along with a cool 7Gypsies accordion album, I have a wealth of brand new supplies from Prima's gorgeous Madeline collection, Best Creations latest Travel Forever collection and embellies from Imaginisce, Maya Road and MME.

I'm in the process of planning a travel album from one of our recent trips, along with some pretty ballet pages with the Madeline papers. Between work, school, hockey, piano, dance and Cubs, the kids keep me on the run pretty much 24/7, and I'm not left with lots of creative time lately - but I hope to make the most of the extra time I'll get at home since some activities are cancelled over March Break.

So stay tuned for some creations to come, and have a wonderful March Break!

Me: The Abridged Version

In late 2010 I took the Me: The Abridged Version class from Cathy Zielske through Big Picture Classes. This is the first time I've created an album totally about me, and finding photos of me wasn't easy! I'm usually behind the camera! But this album is as much about stories as it is about photos.

Based on Amy Krouse Rosenthal's book Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, this album is built in encyclopedia format, with entries under each letter focusing on words that are meaningful to me. The process of choosing my words, finding or taking photos to go along with each letter, and writing the journaling was quite time consuming, but well worth it.

A few weeks back I spent the weekend at my friend Leanne's awesome new scrap-loft and I worked for many hours on this album. It was fun, but very thought provoking and introspective at the same time. I'm not finished yet - I still have to create the journaling for many of the pages - but the photos and papers are already assembled, so once journaling is printed, the album will be ready. I've posted a pic the title page above. The papers are K & Co. I will share more of this album once it's complete.

If you've ever thought about taking this class, I encourage you to go for it. It's not available at the moment, but I believe BPC re-offers it each year.

By the way, Leanne is a leap year baby, so it was just her (almost) birthday earlier this week. Happy Birthday Leanne! Thanks for being my pal in both scrapbooking and procrastinating about scrapbooking - I don't know which is more fun!

Love According to Twitter Mini Album

I made this Twitter mini-album as a present to my sweet husband for Valentine's Day this year. The album itself is 7Gypsies, and all of the remaining supplies are from WRMK's Be My Valentine collection. The title Twitter came in an embellishment pack and I couldn't resist making it the topic of this album.

I included the character count for all of my journaling, keeping everything under 140 characters, Twitter style! Although it wasn't a surprise - my hubby saw the album in it's vary stages of completion - he loved the finished product.


Each of the journaled pages are embellished with a little bird and hearts cut from the Be My Valentine papers. I had fun tracking down and sorting out all of the photos of Stephen doing all of his favourite things. Here he is playing DJ at a friend's party.





I included photos of him with the kids.











I included photos of just the two of us.








Every 2-page spread is made up of a full-page photo and a smaller photo with journaling. This particular set of pages showcases our very first photo as a family of 5, alongside a similar photo taken 5 years later. I think this is my favourite page.


The back cover uses the title chipboard Valentine from the same pack of embellies as the front cover title. I think it finishes off the album nicely. The WRMK Be My Valentine line was so cute to work with. I think it's the perfect way to capture those Valentine's Day sentiments for your sweetheart!

If you are local, you can drop by Scrapalicious and take a peek at the album for yourself. Hope to see you there!

A Day for Lovebirds!

I'm so excited to finally reveal the Valentine's Day creations I've made for Scrapalicious. These four layouts, all from WRMK's Be My Valentine collection, are all very different from one another and they were all so much fun to create. On this lovely die-cut page I used a combination of die cut and chipboard word title. The Prima gems help highlight the love bird theme. There's no one else I'd rather be out on a limb with than my hubby!


Here is a close up of the birdies on a branch, along with a zoom of a couple of photos of me with my handsome man! :-}







With the word Adore as one of my chipboard titles, I couldn't help but do a page about our three children. I loved the photos from this shoot, and thought they were well suited to the Adore theme.











The little chipboard tag says "Love stays in bloom all year round". I love it!










To outline the heart on this layout of sweet Vanessa I used the new WRMK Sew Easy tool. I had a lot of fun using the remaining scraps from making my mini-album into a quilt to mat this layout. And the title Smitten suits how I feel about Vanessa to a T!








In this close-up photo you can see the gorgeous self-adhesive felt and the stunning stitched cardstock background that are part of the Be My Valentine collection.





This stitched cardstock was originally white. I misted it with a number of Glimmer Mists to create a watercolour washed-like background for all of these little index size prints. This layout was inspired by a layout by Karen Grunburg in which I loved her use of index prints and I had a ton left over from last fall's Donna Downey class, so I used them here. I used Stickles to add visibility to the title.


Here's a close up of my journaling. It says "We may not have the perfect marriage, a perfect house or perfect kids. What we have is better. We have perfect love." What a perfect sentiment for this Valentine's Day post. I'll be back soon with my Twitter mini-album, so be sure to check back.


Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Love According to Twitter

Happy Valentine's Day! Celebrating the important loves in our lives is such a wonderful occasion for a holiday, and I hope you all enjoy your day and are able to spend it with someone special!

Here is a peek at the Valentine mini-album I made for my hubby using WRMK's beautiful Be My Valentine line, available at Scrapalicious. If you are last minute shopping for that special someone, this collection has a ton of quick and easy embellishments, so check it out and make something today!

I have taken pics of this album but still have to upload them, so stay tuned. If you're local, check this album out, along with four more layouts (which I'm also posting soon) at Scrapalicious.

Is it Too Late...?

Is it too late to say Happy New Year? Seriously, I can't believe I haven't posted for 2011 yet. We've had a very hectic (but good!) past few weeks and I haven't been able to find a moment in between to update my blog. In addition to a slide show of 2010's December Daily photos, I have so much to catch up on posting.

Let's see. . . as you can probably tell from the above photo, we were lucky enough to have a somewhat last-minute trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida this month. So yes, I have over 500 photos to go through and edit from that trip. One of my favourites is above. Contrast that with our first trip there three years ago here, and you can really notice how much the kids have grown!

Additionally, I have a mini album and four layouts with WRMK's Be My Valentine collection that I've created for Scrapalicious to show you. Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and this line is so perfect for it!

I've also selected my word of the year for 2011 (unveiling to follow!) and joined Ali Edwards in her One Little Word class at Big Picture Classes, and I am very excited about it; (in fact my friend Leanne and I will be working on our album for this class up in cottage country this weekend). Leanne and I are also taking another BPC class in February from the amazing Karen Grunberg of Creative Therapy. Her theme is embracing perfection, and while registration for this workshop is closed, Karen is offering another online class in February that looks fantastic - it's called Finding Your Way. I'm still thinking whether I can squeeze this one in; I would sure love to!

And for those of you close by, registration for Scrapfest opens Wednesday, February 2nd, (so be ready - helmets optional!); I'm looking forward to chatting with Lee Currie and a wonderful group of scrap-minded women in a Creative Conversation in a few weeks; Donna Downey is coming to The Art House in March (Sue, Lori and I will be there!); Tricia Ladouceur is coming to Scrapalicious in March too, and so very much much more! 2011 is going to be a fun-filled year!

Stay tuned for all of this and more, coming soon.

Oh, and a huge, belated but heartfelt Happy 2011 to you all. Cheers!

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!