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!
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!
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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. 
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!
...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!
I was happy to receive my copy of the newest Canadian Scrapbooker magazine this week, as I have a layout featured in it. This page highlights the crazy antics of our kids just before Easter a few years ago, when they spent a ton of time putting together a collection of bright, colourful Easter cookies which they then had absolutely no interest in eating. I love this magazine, since it features exclusively Canadian artists. Congrats to all of the fellow scrapbookers I know who are also featured in this issue.
After celebrating the girls' birthday all week at Disney World, we kept the celebrations quite low key here at home. We had some family over for cake and a small party, sang Happy Birthday and the kids entertained the grandparents with all of their Disney World tales. The cake had Disney princesses on it, naturally!
Later in the week, we headed out one night for a family skate at a local rink. Well, it was a family skate, all right! For a good part of the night, our family had the whole rink to ourselves. It was a great way for the girls to practice, and they are getting quite good. Evan didn't stop the whole time, of course, not even for a photo or two! 
Now that we are back to our routine after our Disney trip, I'm trying to get caught up on the Scrap Away Your Winter Blues Challenges at Scraptivity. I'm still working on Week 4, while the others are already working on Week 6. For Week 4, the challenge was to create a vintage looking layout using distressing. I used tearing, sanding, inking and crackle paint to create this layout.
The layout's photo, which is of my father and two of my uncles, would have been taken around 1925. My Dad, the eldest boy, is in the centre. They grew up on a farm, and it wasn't an easy life. Sadly, Tom died in his early 20s in a farming accident, and my Dad passed away about 20 years ago. 
If all of this cold weather and snow is getting you down, you may want to do what we just did! A trip to Walt Disney World in Florida will cure literally anyone of their winter weather blues! For the past week or so, I've been doing my blogging from Orlando. It was our first Disney trip as a family, and it was truly fantastic. Perhaps the weather wasn't perfect, but it was warm enough for lots of fun!
We stayed at Disney's Polynesian Resort, just a quick boat ride across the lagoon to Magic Kingdom, our favourite of the four parks. We visited all of the parks as well as Downtown Disney, and managed to meet some of the kids' favourite characters. Minnie and Cinderella were the biggest hits with the girls, and Evan was excited about meeting Buzz Lightyear and the Incredibles.
While I haven't yet worked my way through the 1000+ photos that we took on the trip, I've added a few fun moments here. I was quite pleased to see how well Disney delivers on their promises, with wait times minimized much of the time, characters available everywhere, and staff - or cast members - who really recognized special occasions, like the girls' birthday, at every turn.
Next time around, I definitely will bring my DSLR. I really missed it; and I realized that I shoot in manual more than I thought. My hubby felt it would be too much to carry around and it might limit our ability to go on some of the rides as a group, but in the end, it would have been fine. I'm going to add more photos when I get a moment, so stay tuned for more Disney. It was truly an awesome trip!
I had a wonderful time putting together this mini album with Basic Grey's Two Scoops papers and stamps this month with my Scrapalicious DT kit. The paper collection is truly so versatile, and I found it perfect for this album of favourite photos I put together of a recent family wedding. The album itself is a mix of two different chipboard albums from Basic Grey.
I used the Scallop and the Bracket albums, alternating pages, and I like the variety and little peeks at the upcoming pages that it added. Other than the Heidi Swapp chipboard and American Crafts velvet alphabets, the Bazzill cardstock and a few of the ribbons, everything remaining in the project is Basic Grey. It was my first time using Basic Grey clear stamps, and I must say I love them!
I used the Sweet Sentiments stamps, which match the Two Scoops die cuts and are simply beautiful. They stick to stamping blocks very nicely and stamp very crisply too. The words "Love" and "cherish" (left) are stamped first in teal Staz-On, then again with a The Essential Glue Pad, both by Tsukineko, and then sprinkled with Art Glitter. I like the nice subtle sparkle it adds.
Since the colours the couple chose for their wedding were pale pinks and greens, these photos simply wouldn't stop calling my name when I came home with this kit. There are 7 pages, 14 sides and 14 photos in this album, and while it did take a while to put it all together, I have to say that this is probably one of my favourite scrapping projects ever. I kept the journaling minimal in this album, as I am pleased with the photos I took at this wedding, and wanted them to tell the story. I love that smaller albums make a group of photos so quick to look through, while being both unique and beautiful. As you can see, I've become completely enamoured with mini albums lately, and I'm sure there will be more to come.
I mentioned in my previous post that I took some photos in the house I grew up in, which is now for sale. Here I am with my Mom and my brother in that familiar kitchen. The decor has changed, but the memories remain. I put together my first childhood scrapbook on the floor of that kitchen, with a construction paper book as my album and Elmer's white school glue for adhesive.
I'm sad to see it go, but the house has just become too large and too much work for my Mom, and the time was right to put it on the market. It will be strange to visit Edmonton and not have it to come home to.
I also spent time with my oldest and dearest friends, Cathryn and Mark. They, along with my dear friend Mary, tolerated my sentimental cravings - I don't have access to Earl's or the Olive Garden at home! And thanks so much to Connie for introducing me to yet another Edmonton must-see, Treasured Memories. It has aisle after aisle of awesome product. I'll definitely be back!
This was a great exercise for me. Typically I don't work from sketches, but Wow! This layout came together extremely quickly using one. It think I may be giving more sketches a try!
In contrast to the icy cold weather I experienced during my second trip to Edmonton in January, I arrived home to a balmy six degrees celcius and absolutely no snow. 
I'm just finishing the mini-album I've been working on with my Scrapalicious DT kit. It's a wedding album, and the yummy Basic Grey Two Scoops collection is the perfect complement to any love story. 
Nowhere else I've lived had the same degree of character and style. It had a wonderful dark wood staircase with a red carpet runner down the centre. My former living room window is in the lower left corner, behind the green sign. My suite had a wonderful view of the river valley, a sunroom and an old-fashioned, clawfoot bathtub.
First we sat with my Mom and the real estate agent and went over all the details of listing the only house she and my Dad ever owned. We then drove over to the house and wandered slowly through its empty rooms, all the while reminiscing about the orange and brown 1970's kitchen curtains and the original print carpet that adorned the living room.
Our second assignment in the Scrap Away the Winter Blues challenge at Scraptivity was to create a layout featuring journaling. My page tells of Alicia's fun-loving nature and her knack for making people laugh. I just adore the little stickers on the bottom of her ballet slippers in this photo! 
In January I made not one but TWO trips to Edmonton. The first, planned. The second, sadly, was to attend the funeral of my dear friend Cathryn's father. On that second trip, I was in Edmonton all of 25 hours. So, while it's been longer than usual between blog posts lately, there's been a good reason for it. 
We put together three layouts using Scenic Route's new Loveland collection, we foiled, we glittered, and we laughed a whole lot. If you ever have a chance to attend one of Vicki's classes, you simply must go for it! It's a blast, and you learn so much while you're there - about Disney World, Tai food, marshmallows and - of course, scrapbooking!
So, in all of my spare time ;-) I've decided to join in on the Scrap Away Your Winter Blues Challenge over at Scraptivity! I'm truly not sure where I'll find the time, but one week into the challenge, I'm keeping pace! Here's my layout for the first challenge, which was to use four different stamps from the same set. I used four stamps from Gel-a-tins Build your own Flourish set, along with 2 other Gel-a-tins sets and one EK Success set here.
While it's not ice cream weather right now, I can't wait to sink my teeth into Basic Grey's new Two Scoops collection. Here is a glimpse at the DT kit I am playing with for Scrapalicious this month. The colours are reminiscent of delicious ice cream scoops, and they're so perfect for Valentine's Day. Stay tuned for creations with this cool kit - coming soon!
3) When I moved to Ontario, I quickly dropped many of my western colloquialisms because I was teased endlessly when I used them. One favourite word I have eliminated from my vocabulary is the word "parkade". Really, it's so much more efficient than saying "parking structure", don't you agree? On my recent trip to Edmonton, I saw the happy word within moments of my arrival.
If you haven't had a chance to see We Will Rock You yet, try to fit it in. I saw it a little while ago, and found the performance a lot of fun and the music fantastic! I went with a group from work, and a few scrapping buddies came along too. We had a great dinner before the show, and I still have Queen music in my head to this day.
In October 2007, I had a great time at Canada's Scrapbooking Crop for Kids, where I took two classes from awesome New Zealand scrapper Nic Howard. I posted one project earlier here, and said I would post the other layout once I completed it. Well, here it is, and I am thrilled with it! Vanessa's outfit in this photo goes so perfectly with the florals on the layout. The journaling on this page talks about how serious she gets about playing dress up.
Earlier in the year I attended the Divine Design event at The Scrapping Nook, and I've finally finished my layout from Jen Backler's class. It's a fun 2-page layout featuring paper that I adore, Cosmo Cricket.
Our Christmas holidays were wonderful, and we managed to squeeze a lot of activities into our time off. Together with celebrating the reason for the season, we have a number of other annual family traditions. We always set out cookies for Santa, and race over to the cookie plate on Christmas morning to check whether Santa visited and ate his treats. Of course, he always does!
One of the girls' favourite gifts this year was a beautiful white satin wedding gown. They love taking turns walking down the aisle, and playing maid of honour on alternate turns. Here Vanessa is the blushing bride, and Alicia plays her best friend, maid of honour and flower girl in one. Notice the rose petals scattered on the floor! 
Having a birthday close to the holidays often means taking a back seat to other Christmas activities. My sweet hubby and the kids made certain that didn't happen to me this year. We spent the whole day together; saw The Bee Movie, sang Happy Birthday, and had a wonderful chocolate cookie cheesecake for dessert that night. Who could ask for more? Happy Birthday to me!
We took advantage of all of the extra Family Skate times at this time of year, and went skating a number of times together. The girls are getting better with each skate! Evan, of course, was skating circles around all of us, and loved playing tag and skating backwards. We also managed to get the sled out to the local hill before the warm weather came and melted away all of the snowy fun!
Here they are - my first layouts for 2008. These were created for Scrapalicious using the American Crafts Metropolitan collection papers and Fancy Pants' fantastic 12" x 12" felt shapes. If you haven't tried the felt yet, it is thick and sturdy and wonderful to work with. This page features a photo from last summer of Alicia and her eternal companion playing in the sandbox. If we let her, she would take that bear absolutely everywhere with her. You are never alone when you have a Teddy!
In October of last year, I was lucky enough to have taken engagement photos of my brother-in-law Justin and his beautiful fiance (who is now his wife), Rosa. I was thrilled to have the opportunity, and I managed to capture a number of photos that I really treasure. The fall colours of the kit I was working with this month were just perfect for my favourites from that photo shoot. Here I added a bit of sparkle with Doodlebug's sugar coated paper and my new Quickutz Metro font.
Here's is another favourite from the shoot, and I couldn't resist enlarging it, since I really love the white space that the brick wall provides. It seemed to be calling out for the title to be placed right on the photo.
Well, I've kicked off the scrapping New Year on the right foot - there have been 2 days so far and I've finished 2 pages! These are the long-awaited layouts I've been so anxious to work on for Scrapalicious using American Crafts papers and Fancy Pants felt shapes.
