The Most Beautiful Baby Girl

Earlier I mentioned that our family was graced with the most adorable new baby niece and cousin. My brother Chris and his wife Lisa live across the country, so I haven't seen too many photos of their beautiful sweet daughter. (Photo by Barbara Heintzman)

Fortunately, Chris and Lisa had baby photographs of Aeden taken by talented Edmonton photographer Barbara Heintzman. This photo is one of my favourites, but you can see more darling pictures on Barabara's blog by scrolling down here. Any of you in the Edmonton area who are in need of a photographer, be sure to check out her site. She also photographed the wedding of Chris and Lisa's friends Bernard & Joy, and you can see the results here. They are absolutely beautiful!

As a proud auntie across the country from all of the nieces and nephews on my side of the family, I'm thrilled that photographers such as Barbara save me from going ages without seeing photos of my niece! Don't you think Aeden's beautiful blue eyes are gorgeous? They would have to be, wouldn't they - she has excellent genes! ;-)

As Seen in Canadian Scrapbooker

It was certainly a pleasure to be featured in Canadian Scrapbooker magazine's Passport to Creativity article for the winter 2008 issue, alongside 2 other awesome Ontario scrappers - Patti Hozack and Lesley Langdon. The magazine provided the product for my Ticket to Ride layout, which is created using exclusively Making Memories Passport Collection product. Check out the article on page 95.
I was thrilled to be asked for this layout of Alicia with her great grandmother, or Babcha, who passed away 2 years ago last month. This layout is one of my favourite pages ever. I love how the photo depicts the patience that Babcha had with her great-grandchildren. Alicia's quote, which truly shows the innocence of childhood, is so endearing. Our sweet Alicia's little heart often overflows with loving sentiments such as this.
The third layout requested for the article was this graphic page which I made following a tropical wedding trip last year. The photo, which is one of my favourites, is of the chairs set up on the beach for the wedding, just before the guests arrived.
It was a treat to be featured with talent such as Patti and Lesley. Congrats to them both, and to all of the talented scrappers featured in the winter issue.

Beauty Inside & Out

It's the last week of the Gr8 Cre8ive Idol challenge over at Just Cre8, and it's been a wonderful ride for the past 5 weeks. The pressure to create work for each challenge has been both inspiring as well as tough, but I love all 5 of my creations, which is what matters most. You simply must head over to Just Cre8 and check out the contest gallery. The talent of the contestants will truly leave you awestruck! I'm so grateful to Sue and to all who put this challenge together. Thanks!
The theme of this week's challenge was Here Comes the Bride - but not in the traditional way. We were asked to come up with a creation using something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. I decided to scrap a layout using an old photo of my grandmother on my Mom's side - isn't she beautiful! Thus the title, Beauty - Inside & Out.


The vintage-y, floral feel reflects my Grannie's personality - very feminine and creative. I owe so much of my love of all things crafty to my grandmother, who was a talented seamstress and embroiderer.

To meet the requirements for this challenge, I used:
- Something old - One of my favourite patterned papers ever, the blue paisley, is from the original Wild Asparagus release from My Mind's Eye, and is co-incidentally called My Favourite Things.
- Something new - While away this past weekend with my hubby for our 10th wedding anniversary (more on that in a separate post :D ), I managed to do some scrap shopping, and picked up the puffy letter stickers from Making Memories. I love that they are new and trendy, yet the black dot pattern ads a bit of a retro feel.
- Something borrowed - My friend Jen, in addition to being an incredibly talented scrapbooker, has what I believe is one of the world's largest collection of Cuttlebug embossing folders. ;-P She so kindly let me borrow a few and I embossed the brown and white-core cardstock with the script pattern. Thanks so much, Jen!
- Something blue - The blue ribbon, also from Making Memories was my something blue. Love love their ribbons!

I'll miss the pressure of posting a new creation every Wednesday night, but boy, will am I ever looking forward to catching up on my sleep now! ;-)

The next Canadian Scrapbooker

The winter 2008 issue of Canadian Scrapbooker magazine comes out December 1st. Check out the table of contents here.





Seeing my layout peeking out from that banner makes me smile! ;-)

Sweet Newborn Treasures

Another week has come and gone so quickly, I almost cannot believe it. Last week's challenge in the Gr8 Cre8ive Idol contest was to create a gift for someone. It was timely, since I had been meaning to put together this photo frame and gift box for the latest baby girl in our family. I'm grateful for this challenge, since I just somehow wasn't motivated otherwise! ;-)
Stephen's brother Justin and his wife Rosa had a baby girl in October, whom they decided to name Alessia. Alicia, Vanessa and Evan were thrilled to meet their new cousin, the only first cousin they have on Stephen's side of the family so far. Our kids just love babies, so they were completely sweet, loving and gentle with her. All of the kids, including Evan, took turns holding and caring for their cousin. I've taken some photos of the children together, but with the issues we've been having with our computer lately, I just haven't had a chance to upload them, much less get them edited and posted. Hopefully I can get to it soon.

I picked up the memory box and photo frame at Michael's, and altered them in colours to go match the baby's room. Both pieces were painted using Making Memories paints, and the beautiful new papers from Rouge de Garance were perfect for the box, labeled Sweet Newborn Treasures. The frame, which I decorated to hold an ultrasound photo, says Awaiting You in distressed American Crafts Thickers. Matching Hambly scroll rub-ons and chipboard flowers from Fancy Pants with a spritz of gold Maya Mist on each embellish both pieces.

I've been having a blast participating in the Gr8 Cre8ive Idol Contest. Week 5 is the final challenge week, and it is coming up this week. I'm really looking forward to it. Check out more info on this challenge over at Just Cre8.

I Love Doing Laundry!

I have to say, if all of my laundry made me this happy, my chores would be such a joy to do! The paper here is from My Mind's Eye's Laundry Line, and it's completely gorgeous. It's my latest Scrapalicious DT kit.

I can't wait to play with it!

Also in this kit is a chipboard alpha set from Basic Grey, fun pom pom trim from Bazzill and the latest distress stickles from Tim Holtz. Want to do some laundry with me? I'll be starting it soon, so stay tuned! ;-)

Who's That (Cover) Girl??

I can't believe that it's been more than four months since I posted this and raised the curiosity of some of you. ;-) I was so excited tonight to get my first sneak peek at the Winter 2008 issue of Canadian Scrapbooker online over at Just Cre8, since this is what my toot post was all about.

I have to admit, I don't usually toot. I'm not really a superstitious person, but I always feel like I shouldn't count my chickens before they're hatched, not just when it comes to publications, but generally in life. So now that I've actually had a peek at the magazine, I'll come right out and say it. . . .

I'm a cover girl! Yahoo! This is my first cover ever, and I'm absolutely thrilled! I can't wait to have this mag in my hot little hands! Thanks for letting me share my excitement. :-)

Littlest Madonna Fan

As the Gr8 Cre8ive Idol contest continues at Just Cre8, this week's challenge was to be inspired by one of 3 selected ads. I selected an ad that reminded me of the days of psychedelic rock, and with that in mind, I couldn't help but be inspired to scrap our little rocker, Alicia.


I created my page inspired by the ad's colour palette and rock and roll feel.

This is a copy of the ad I chose. Don't you think psychedelic rock when you see this design?

I had a ton of fun creating this week's layout, although I don't think I want to admit how late I had to stay up the night before the deadline in order to complete it! ;-)

For the story behind this tiny rock and roll sweetheart, see here.