I Really Need to Journal!

Way back in this post I mentioned that I had a layout I wanted to blog about, but I hadn't finished the journaling yet. Well, I have to admit, I have more than a few pages that I am a little (OK, maybe a LOT) delinquent on finishing. The photo below shows the layouts I still need to complete with  journaling.

While I am definitely going to try to get these pages finished sometime soon, don't be surprised if - in the interest of getting my blog current again - I post them without the journaling instead. :-}

Canadian Scrapbooker Spring 2013 Layout Peek

I'm so excited that this page was published in Canadian Scrapbooker magazine in the recent Spring 2013 issue. I will show the complete page and talk a bit more about it sometime soon.

A Peek at our Summer Vacation

In early July, the kids and I traveled to Edmonton for a visit with my side of the family. My Mom is in Edmonton along with both of my brothers and their families. We were lucky enough while we were there travel to Calgary and Banff with my brother Chris and his daughter, and to then Drumheller with my brother Howard and his family. My Mom's sisters also traveled from Vancouver to be there while we were, and we visited with a number of close family friends as well.

It was an amazing experience for the kids! Seeing my Mom every day for a week is something that hasn't happened for a couple of years. Now that she cannot travel anymore, it's tough to see her if we don't go to her. I've traveled to Edmonton on my own three or four times since Mom stopped flying, but it's been on my own. The kids sure miss her when they don't see her often, and they had a lot of fun with her. Here, the kids enjoy taking their Grannie for a garden stroll.

They also really enjoyed spending time with their cousins. Below a look at our three, along with their cousin Aeden, enjoying the lake in Calgary, close to Chris' wife Lisa's parents' home. They had a fantastic time.

 I have so many more photos of this trip that I would love to share, but haven't even downloaded some of them yet! I hope to add them over the weekend, so stay tuned!

Christmas Continues with a December Daily Peek

I was thrilled that I managed to finish a December Daily album in time to give it to Stephen for Christmas this year. It documents our previous Christmas - so December 2011 - and I am completely happy with how it turned out. The photo below shows Alicia and Stephen looking it over right after he opened it on Christmas morning.



Here is a look at the album cover. It is a mixed media album with acrylic, chipboard and page protector pages mixed together. I'll admit it - I haven't totally photographed it for posting, but I will get that done in the next few days and have more of the album to post for you soon.



Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Even though this post is about winter, enjoy summer while it's still here!

A (very) Overdue Peek at December 2012

One of the practices I have diligently kept up with since 2008 is taking (at least) one daily photo during the month of December to document the Christmas Season at our house. I've posted at least a few photos, giving you a peek at our December, if not the entire set of photos, every year on my blog.

December 2012 was no exception, and not only did I take a photo every day, I also went back and completed a December Daily album for the previous year and gave it to Stephen for Christmas. The concept of a December Daily album, which I first hear about through the amazing Ali Edwards, is in part what I (eventually) plan to do for each of the years' photos I've taken in December.

This picture is one of my favourites from December 2012. The kids are just about ready for bed on Christmas Eve, and have laid out a giant Santa cookie (which they made and decorated themselves) with chocolate milk for Santa. I will post more about our December, as well as a look at the December Daily album I gave Stephen for Christmas, over the next little while.

Some Summery Layouts

After posting so many Christmas layouts, I thought I would throw in a few warm weather pages in hopes that it brings us beautiful sunshine for the upcoming week. The two pages here are layouts I created last summer up at Uncle Danny's cottage. I posted little peeks and a bit of the story behind each of them in this post. The first layout is about Vanessa's first time riding a bigger bike that used to be Evan's. She was so excited!


This next layout, as its title implies, is about Stephen's affection for our dog, Merlin.

I really had to talk Stephen into getting a dog. He was apprehensive about whether a dog fit into our lifestyle. He didn't like the idea of being limited by having to be home in time for to feed the dog everyday and let him outside. He hated the thought of not being able to impulsively take weekend trips or overnight family outings because of the dog. He also was worried about dog hair in the house and having his favourite shoes chewed!


As it turned out, who lets the dog up on the furniture, picks him up and calls him "my lap dog", cuddles with him and even lets him up on the bed? Based on this layout, I'm sure you can guess!

Summer Camp Time

It's fantastic to be blogging again after such a lengthy hiatus! If you're wondering what has made me suddenly able to start posting regularly after so much time away, here's the answer - the we dropped the kids off for two weeks of sleepover summer camp this weekend!



Evan is off at Air Cadet camp for two weeks. Doesn't he look so grown up in his uniform? We will have minimal contact with him while he is away, so it will be exciting to hear all about it when he gets back. This is his first year in Air Cadets and as such his first summer camp with them. He was a bit apprehensive about the degree of discipline required, not to mention the early mornings (they're up at 6:00am!!), but I sure he will thrive under the pressure!



The above photo was taken the day before Evan's departure. Here we are at the girls' equestrian camp, where they will also be for two weeks. This is their first foray into horseback riding and they are both really looking forward to it. It's been a few years since Stephen and I have had all three kids away at the same time, so it's very quiet around our house. We're sure not accustomed to the slow down in activity, but it will be a fantastic opportunity for us to connect and just be a couple for a while.

And of course - I'm looking forward to getting in some scrapbooking time! :-}

Dare Greatly - As seen in Canadian Scrapbooker

It's been a while since I wrote this post and gave you a peek at a layout that was about to be published in Canadian Scrapbooker magazine. This has turned out to be one of my favourite pages, and I was thrilled to see it on the pages of the magazine.

The photo on this page is quite old - the kids all look so little - and it still makes me so happy! The kids are so natural and just giddy with happiness in the picture. Love it!


The title and journaling on this page were inspired by one of my favourite authors, Brene Brown, who I was lucky enough to hear speak last summer in New York on the Katie Couric show. Her latest book, Daring Greatly, is so inspiring and I wanted to pass along part of its message to the kids. If you haven't read any of Brene's books, I highly recommend them, in particular this one and this one, in addition to Daring Greatly.

The page was published in a feature in the magazine about facing your fears, written by my friend Sue Sykes. I really want our kids to strive to be the very best they can be, and not settle for average or for whatever is placed easily in front of them. I hope I am doing a good job of modeling this in my own life for them, and I hope they are not afraid to go after what they want most in life. You can subscribe to Canadian Scrapbooker and have each issue delivered to your door, or you can purchase back issues online here.

Santa Claus is a Girl!

In keeping with the recent Christmas theme I've created here, this is a page I created while at a weekend crop up at my amazing friend Leanne's beautiful home. This photo was taken last Christmas day, as the girls were helping to hand out presents to family while we awaited our scrumptious turkey dinner. They look so grown up now, I can barely believe it. I love the rectangular doily, which - believe it or not - is from Dollarama!


While we were at Leanne's it was Jen's birthday and we had fun with some last minute birthday cupcakes and balloons I picked up in town that afternoon. We didn't manage to get a photo with all of us in it, so our gracious hostess Leanne must have taken this one. Happy Birthday, Jen!

I sure got a lot done while I was at Leanne's. Here's a look at another layout I created that weekend. The photos on this one are from 2006, and Evan is still so small! I'll post more of the layouts I created on that trip sometime soon.

Christmas in July!

OK, so I missed July, too! But my intention was honourable! After taking such an (unplanned) lengthy break from blogging, I thought a winter layout was a great segue from my last post, since it was of our family at Christmas. But alas, I didn't manage to get this posted in July, either.

In any case, it's nice to get back to posting again, something I hope to do on a more frequent basis during the rest of 2013! This is a layout inspired by a sketch I saw on Scrapping Nook.  It's a blustery look at ski camp from last Christmas break, featuring Alicia.

Here's a close up of the title block. I embossed the snowflakes around the edge of the page with clear embossing powder and the Gel-a-tins snowflake stamp set from ages ago.

 Even though I haven't been blogging, I have managed to scrapbook a few pages. Although I posted last in December, it had really been a while since I consistently posted my completed layouts - probably about a year or so - and here is the stack of pages I've done in that time. I may not post them all here - some haven't even been photographed yet - but I hope to get plenty of them up in the next little while.

In keeping with the Christmas theme, here is a little peek at a page I really love. The girls dressed as Santa last Christmas. I'll post the full layout sometime soon.

And to prove that I do realize it is August and not December, here's a look at the kids in our current season. What season is that, you may ask? Not summer, but soccer! Yes, our busy schedule continues, but I still hope to be back here again soon. Thanks for stopping by! I would love it if you left a comment so that I know you were here. See you again soon! :-}

Merry Christmas to All

From everyone at our house, a happy and blessed Christmas
to you and your loved ones. All the very best for 2013!

Coming Soon...

I'm looking forward to the upcoming release of Canadian Scrapbooker's winter edition. Here's a peek at a layout you'll see in the Leave Your Legacy article within that issue. Leave Your Legacy is a new series of articles in the magazine, written by my awesome friend Sue Sykes.

When I was lucky enough to travel to New York last August to see the incomparable Brene Brown, her thoughts about living life to the fullest, without a sense of foreboding, really struck a chord with me. Her new book, titled Daring Greatly, was part of the inspiration for my Leave Your Legacy layout coming out in this issue. For more inspiration, look for this magazine at your local Chapters, LSS or in your mailbox soon!

I'll post the full layout once the magazine is available.

Fun at Scrapfest Oshawa!

It's taken me a few weeks but I've finally found a moment to post about how much fun Scrapfest Oshawa was! Even though I had to work Friday and didn't arrive until after dinner, we still made the most of the entire weekend. Here's a peek at our crop table - notice its proximity to the food! :-}

It was my first time at the Oshawa event, which is smaller than the Kitchener Scrapfest in the spring that I've been going to for years, but it wasn't small on fun! A few tables behind us and to the left was Scrapalicious gals' Mary, Clare and Suzanne's table. We managed to visit quite a bit!

It feels like ages since I've had a chance to see Virginia, and it was nice to spend a few minutes chatting while she was at the Scrapbook & Cards Today booth. Virginia also taught two classes during the weekend making her time quite limited so I'm glad we had a chance to catch up.

One of our first (and recurrent, it turned out!) stops was the make & take table at The Workshop. Their Christmas ornaments were beautiful, and will make fantastic teachers' gifts. Can't wait to give them out.

I took Christy Riopel's misting class and had a fantastic time. Christy is always a blast, and this class was so well put together. We all finished our mini-albums and each looked uniquely amazing. I can't post a pic of mine here as I plan to give it to my hubby as a gift, so photos of it will come later.

It was so fantastic to see Amanda who came all the way from Saskatoon to laugh and scrap with us for the weekend. Her brilliant take on the Trick or Treat theme for the layout contest took first prize. It was a stunning layout, with brilliant journaling a la typical Amanda fashion!

It was wonderful to finally stay at the gorgeous Chez Jen Bed and Breakfast! :-} Now I know why everyone comments on how beautiful Jen's home is! Thanks, Jen! We had a wonderful brunch the next morning, and - lucky us - Kelly Panacci dropped in to dine with us. So much fun!

I think the best part of the trip (for me anyway) was our meal at Lone Star, where our waitress Ellie May was very entertaining (ask Sue about her charming squeezable pen!), the drinks were incredible and my food (unlike some of the others) was delectable! This is a classic photo of us toasting the weekend.

There's nothing like great friends to make a scrappy weekend complete. Cheers to this awesome group, until we meet up to scrap again: Leanne, her sister Kim, my cousin Sharon, Sue, Amanda, Jen and everyone else who made the weekend so fantastic!


Oh, and ask anyone at the table about our great "Peking Lo". It's a timeless classic! :-}

A Few More Layout Peeks

I hope all of my Canadian family and friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend filled with colourful falling leaves, fragrant food, fall fairs and the love of family and friends. It was my plan to photograph layouts for uploading this weekend but it didn't happen, so I will have to get to it this week. So all I have are more peeks to share.

These glimpses are of more pages I created up at Uncle Danny's in August. The first is about Vanessa and how long she has wanted to inherit Evan's old yellow bike. It's been truly ridden into the ground and she has a shiny new bike of her own, but something about growing into her big brother's bike is a milestone for her.

The second layout is about Stephen's love for our pup, Merlin. He didn't want to get a dog, and only relented because I formed a persuasive enough argument about how great it would be for the kids. Now he is completely smitten!

I hope to spend a bit of time in my scrapbook room this week so should manage to get the layouts fully photographed and uploaded by then. After all - it's Scrapfest Oshawa this weekend! Woo hoo - I am so excited! Amanda is here from Saskatchewan and staying with Sue this week so that she can travel with her to the crop. Also coming are Jen, Leanne and her sister Kim, and my cousin Sharon. We are going to rock that crop, aren't we, ladies! I'm so looking forward to it.

Have a great week! Stay tuned and I'll post some layouts soon!

A Weekend of Scrapbooking

We didn't have a lot of time to get packed for the weekend we spent at Stephen's Uncle Danny's lakeside retreat back in August, so I decided to limit the scrap supplies I brought to one small shoulder tote and whatever I could pack in it! Wow - I think it was really a case of less is more...

I scrapped seven pages that weekend, with fewer supplies on hand than I've had in a very long time! I brought one patterned paper collection - American Crafts Letterbox, as well as a few puffy title alphas from AC and Making Memories, some journaling tiny alphas, a bit of cardstock, a few packs of embellishments and - of course my Smash tape.

I did as much as I could to create shortcuts, including a few sketches and ideas for scraplifting. I made a few pages about my New York trip and a few on other topics as well. I clicked these preview shots but still need to photograph each page for posting - stay tuned and I'll reveal all of the pages sometime soon.

Smashing New York

I've been intrigued by the idea of Smash albums ever since I first saw one, but didn't think I had a good excuse for purchasing one - that is until my New York trip. What a perfect thing to Smash about! I took this book on the trip and scrapped at he airport waiting for my flight home.

I decided to cover both the front and back covers of the book, and had fun finally using the gorgeous ribbon I've been coveting the collaborative release of it from Pink Paisley and House of 3. Love it! I just love the puffy AC Thickers too! This is the front cover of my New York album.

I think my favourite item in this entire release is the awesome Smash tape! It's so bright, colourful and spunky! I think I could use it on almost anything! Isn't it fun?

Here is a peek at the first page with its delightful strip of my beloved Smash tape. I will have more of this album to post - soon, I hope - so stay tuned. I also scrapped the weekend away while we were at Uncle Danny's back in August, so I will have a peek at some of those layouts coming up too.


Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great week! :-}

Soccer Season comes to a Close

The kids are back in school now and our household is finally back to a bit more of a normal routine as homework and activities start again. I'll have to get my back to school photos edited soon - I'm so far behind that I have barely uploaded photos from the tail end of summer yet. I'm also still editing soccer photos from the summer for distribution to the rest of the girls' soccer team.

While it took up most of our Friday and Sunday nights and four of our weekends over the summer, our girls had a fantastic experience playing All Star soccer this summer.

The coaching was fantastic, the team was such a wonderful, close group of girls, and the team did so well for its first year out.

The final tournament was a bit of a bittersweet event. The team made it to finals and played very hard, winning the silver.

They were hoping for gold, and that disappointment, coupled with saying goodbye to their teammates for the year made it a bit of a tearful final moment. Many of the players had their coaches and teammates sign soccer balls as a momento. The green ball is ours.


Since our town and thus our soccer league are small enough that we must combine two years of players - our 9 year olds played U10 this year - the team's players will be split next year as the 10 year olds move up to U12. Will we see a group this close again? I'm not certain, but I'm sure glad our girls had the opportunity to have this experience. Thanks so much to Coach Michael and Coach Gavin for an amazing summer!

Summer Captured

I'm so pleased that Scrapping Nook is hosting their Summer Photo Challenge once again this year. I enjoyed it so much last year. Having a list of photos to take really helps me to think outside of the box and I end up with great shots that I may not have thought of taking otherwise.

These are a few of my favourite shots from this summer. To see all of the photos I posted for this challenge, see my thread here. You can also look at last year's photos here.

9/11 Memorial

While my brother Chris and I were in New York last month, we were fortunate enough to visit the 9/11 memorial site. It was a very moving experience. I can't imagine how emotional a visit to the site would be for families who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001. My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by this tragic event.

Like so many of us today, I am very conscious of and grateful for all of the wonderful things I have in my life.

I hope you are able to take a moment today to reflect on how truly fortunate we are to live in the abundant, safe and prosperous country we call home.