Lace Cardstock makes me Happy!

I'm still having a great time with the KI lace cardstock from my latest Scrapalicious DT kit. This time I didn't have the right colour to match my layout, so I flipped it over and used the white side on the back. I paired it up with flocked paper from Heidi Grace for a more elegant look to accommodate this wedding photo of my brother-in-law Justin and his beautiful wife Rosa. Look closely and you can see little hearts in some of the flocked circles - so sweet. I added a bit of Heidi Swapp chipboard and plastic letters for the title.

On the topic of happy things, I'm so thrilled that Scrapalicious is opening a second location in Oakville this month. I can't think of anything more wonderful than multiplying such a fantastic store times two! Check the Scrapalicious blog for the latest updates and see you there!

We have a Winner!

Thanks to everyone who left a stamping tip on my blogoversary RAK post. Today I finally had a chance to get all of the names cut out and into a basket for my kids to do the draw. Once my daughter drew a name I had to try a few times to get a decent photo with it. I may post the outtakes from the draw when I get a chance - they're quite funny! Congratulations to Mandiannie - you've won!
Mandiannie said:
Fiskars products are the best. I personally haven't gotten one of these yet and would love a chance to win one. I did give one to my sister for Christmas last year even though I badly wanted to keep it for myself.
Thanks again to everyone who left a comment, and thanks also for making my blog a part of your daily routine.

Please keep dropping by - it makes posting so much more fun to know that there are readers out there who enjoy a little bit of scrapping fun and a few tidbits about our corner of the world!

New Scrapalicious Designs

Here are two new pages I created for Scrapalicious. Front and centre is KI Memories's lace cardstock. This product is versatile and so much fun. The two pieces I used here are from the Pop Culture collection. The layout to the left also includes embossed cardstock from the Love, Elsie line, as well as some Making Memories tags.

Notice the sanded house in the title? Home is truly where the heart is, and my heart belongs to the wacky gang in this photo!
On the topic of wacky behaviour, get a load of the expression on this birthday boy's face! Around the time of his birthday last year, I was taking a photography course and set up my very first garage photo shoot. I wanted to take a picture of Evan with the seven. He absolutely did not want his picture taken that day!

I cajoled, I bribed, I tried everything I could think of. This was the best shot I could get. I warned him back then that I would use it. I don't think he believed me.


Do you think he will believe me next time? :-)

I have more Scrapalicious layouts coming soon using more lace cardstock and KI Pop Culture paper, as well as a little bit of Heidi Grace. I will also be posting the winner of my recent RAK drawing, so check back again soon!

Ribbon Joy

I'm still not caught up yet in Scraptivity's Winter Blues challenge, but I have once again completed the current week's layout. The challenge for Week 10 was to use three different kinds of ribbon. I've wanted to scrap this photo for a while now. It's a detail shot of the chairs set up for the family wedding we went to in Jamaica last November. I wanted the ribbon I used to mimic the ribbon tied around the chairs. This is more linear, graphic layout that I what I usually do, but I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Journaling says: Moments before Rosa walked down the aisle to marry Justin, I was struck by the beauty of these wonderful chairs waiting empty on the beach, wrapped in such beautifully draped white fabric with pink bows, awaiting the family and friends anxious to witness the joyful wedding.

Also, just a reminder, Monday August 24th is the final day to enter for a chance to win a Fiskars Easy Stamp Press RAK. If you haven't already, toss your name in the hat by giving me your best stamping tip on this previous post. You just might win!

Wishing a blessed and happy Easter to you and your family.

Scrapalicious Sneak Peek

I really enjoyed working with lace cardstock from KI Memories in my latest DT kit from Scrapalicious. There are just so many ways to use this cool product.

I will have a few pages ready soon, including this one, which features a photo of Evan taken for his 7th birthday. He was less than co-operative with his shutterbug mama that day. Despite my warnings that if he didn't smile, I would use the miserable poses I had, he continued to refuse to look happy. The result? Well, I guess no one can say that I only scrap the happy pictures, that's for sure!

Stay tuned for this layout and more, coming soon!

Scenic Summer

I miss summer, and looking at these photos doesn't help matters much! I love to watch the kids enjoy each others' company surrounded by beautiful flowers and the wonderful smell of a barbecued lunch. Summer is such fun; good thing it's on its way!

Speaking of fun, I had a blast creating this layout at a recent class that my friend Leanne and I took with Vicki Boutin. If you have a chance to take a class with Vicki, jump at it! Not only is she a fabulous scrapbooker, but her classes are a ton of fun, too.

The bird, flowers and hearts on this patterned paper immediately made me think of warmer weather and my kids' love of the pool, which is why I chose these photos for this layout. The entire layout, with the exception of the sequins, is from Scenic Route's Loveland collection. I hope this page gets you looking forward to warm weather, too!

Wishing for Spring

The Scrap Away Your Winter Blues challenge at Scraptivity this week is to create a mono-chromatic layout. Could it be that my desire for spring was behind my choice of colour for this one? My all green layout is about Alicia's love for picking flowers with her great-grandmother, Babcha, before Babcha passed away.

This layout is for week 9 of the challenge. I'm still behind on a few of the weekly layouts for this challenge due to our vacation in February. I have a layout almost complete for week 5, which focuses on hand cutting, so look for that soon. Weeks 6 and 8 will follow later. Then next week's challenge will be posted on Monday.

It sounds like I'm going to be doing a lot of scrapping in the next few weeks!

My Very First Niece!

I'm thrilled at the arrival of my brand new, very first niece! Little Aeden Marli was born on March 2nd to my brother Chris and his wonderful wife Lisa. While I don't have photos to share at this point, since this precious little darling lives far across the country, I will share this wall hanging I have created for little Aeden. It matches the decor of her room, which is decorated in a pretty pale lilac.
I blended a few colours of acrylic paint to create the background colour. I wanted her name to be what stood out most on the canvas, so I matched the paint colour to the Basic Grey letter stickers that I used for the for the descriptive words, to make the words as subtle as possible. I then added tiny watercoloured butterflies, which were created with my new Martha Stewart butterfly punch.

I arranged the nine butterflies to represent the nine months that Chris and Lisa anxiously waited for Aeden, and the single butterfly next to her birth date to signify her happy arrival. As a finishing touch, I added ribbon trim from Basic Grey and May Arts around the edge of the canvas.

Chris and Lisa, I hope that you are happy with how this wall hanging looks in little Aeden's room, and I can't wait for the chance to meet her!

Blogoversary RAK!

Wow! This little blog has hit its first birthday! I find it hard to grasp that time has passed so quickly. Can you believe it?

Looking back to that first hesitant blog post, I didn't know whether I would be able to keep a blog going. It was an experiment, and one I was worried would be short lived. One year later, I find that creating this record of my scrapbooking work, friends, events, photography and family is a gratifying part of my everyday life.

I'm truly grateful that there are family, friends and friends-I've-not-met-yet who make a visit to this blog a part of their daily routine. Without your support and encouragement, I don't know whether I would have kept this little diary going. So thank you!

As a little gesture of gratitude to those on the other side of the web, I've decided to offer up a RAK of this handy new tool by Fiskars - the Easy Stamp Press. I bought one for myself last week, and think it's one of the handiest inventions since white-core cardstock, so I picked up an extra one! If you're not familiar with it, watch this product tutorial by Christine of Scrap Time.

Scrap Time Fiskars Stamp Press tutorial . . . . isn't that cool!

Of course, in order for me to select a RAK recipient, I need you to leave a comment on this post. To be entered in the RAK draw, please tell me what your best stamping tip is. For example, what kind of ink works best for you? Any suggestions for using different paint types with stamps? What's the coolest technique you've tried? Do you have a favourite, totally versatile stamp set that you turn to over and over? Let me know, and don't forget to include your name so that I can congratulate you if you win! :-)

Post by March 24, 2008 to be eligible for the RAK draw, but if you're reading this after that date, post your tip anyway, just for fun!

Thanks so much once again for your loyalty and support. Here's to another great blogging year!

What's Next at Scrapalicious?

I am completely in love with KI Lace Cardstock. I've have been meaning to play with it for a while now, and I'm happy to do it with my Scrapalicious DT kit for this month.

That, along with a bit of Making Memories 5th Avenue Collection, a touch of Pop Culture and Love, Elsie, as well as some Heidi Grace make for scrapping fun that I can't wait to get started on!

Check in soon for more...

Enough Snow Already!

What a winter! The snow just continues to fall around here, and I have had just about enough of the cold, the slush, the ice, the traffic and the shoveling. Of course, with the kids it's a whole other story. Snow thrills them! They think that shoveling is a big party and that icy sidewalks are for sliding along on. To our kids, a huge dumping of snow means snowballs and fun sledding followed by hot chocolate.
Since we've had plenty of snow this week, we managed to squeeze in a bit of sledding. The kids think getting to the hill is half the fun. Here, the girls have a blast pulling each other on the way to the hill. Alicia couldn't stop laughing! Evan is behind me while I take this shot; it's so typical of him to hide from the camera. A great time (and plenty of hot chocolate) was had by all that afternoon.

It's a good thing the kids love snow so much, since there is another blizzard coming again this weekend! Just when will it end!?

Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays!

I'm seriously behind on birthday wishes for some great people. I am without a picture of most of the birthday celebrants (and if you know me, you know it's not for lack of trying!), but my best wishes are extended nonetheless.

Birthdays have come and gone for my dear sister-in-law Lisa and my good friends Mary and Cathryn. I'm glad I saw each of them back in January in Edmonton.

My great scrapbooking partner in crime, Leanne, was happy to be able to celebrate a birthday this year, just like she does once every four years! She says she can't wait to be a "teenager" eventually!

Here's a layout of Cathryn I created back in July for Scrapalicious.

On that note, stay tuned for a sneak peek of the kit I will be using for my next DT creations for Scrapalicious, coming soon. And please join my in wishing this great group of people all the best in the coming year!

Musical Madness

Evan just participated in his Grade 2 piano recital, and it was a ton of fun to watch. In addition to group and solo performances, he was part of a skit with his teacher and a few performers from his teacher's various classes. He thoroughly enjoyed performing, played well and is turning into quite the pianist. I'm so proud of our dude!

What To Do with leftover Fruitcake

...not to mention leftover Romani or Two Scoops paper! For Week 7 in Scraptivity's Scrap Away Your Winter Blues challenge, our task was to use 25 paper scraps. I punched 25 Quickutz hearts using various Basic Grey leftovers and a few Bazzill scraps, creating this tribute to the four people in this world that I love the most! I still have Weeks 5 & 6 in progress, but since I've missed the deadline to maximize my challenge points for past weeks, I created for the current week first. I hope to be caught up by next weekend!