Happy National Scrapbook Day!

Can you believe it's May already? As this year flies by, I can't believe it's not still February! Do you ever feel completely behind on everything? I'm behind on mailing RAKs - they've been boxed and in my car for what seems like weeks, and I haven't been to the post office yet. I have so much to blog about, but no time to write. I'm behind on posting my Scrapfest projects, too. Here's one with lots of embellies - clear, cork, die cut and felt!
I love every single product on this page - the lace cardstock, the shimmer cardstock, the die cut title block, the butterfly wings that I trimmed in half and blinged up with rhinestones. All of this artsy.licious product is packaged at excellent prices at Scrapalicious, so if you can, get there and check it out.
As a mom, this is my first year dealing with dance costumes, putting the girls hair up in ballet buns and putting make up on them. After the time it took for me to master mascara and eyeliner on my own, putting it on a 7 year old is a whole other thing! It's such fun, though, and the girls enjoy it so much.

It's wonderful to watch them learn and grow into their own, sweet little beings. That's what this layout is all about.

Are you scrapping this NSD? I'm looking forward to spending time with Jen, Sue and Lori this weekend chatting, drinking tea with Bailey's and perhaps a few margaritas, taking photos and hopefully squeezing in a little productive scrapbooking!

Whatever you're up to this NSD, I hope it makes you smile. Wishing you peace, tons of creative energy and a wonderful National Scrapbook Day weekend!

Thoughtful People

This is my friend Jennifer of Life - Be Scrappy. We first met at a scrappy site online about five years ago, were on Just Cre8's DT together, and have cropped and road-tripped together a few times too. I was pleased when Jen recently featured my home on her blog, although a little surprised it was my powder room toilet that prompted an admiration post! :-P

Jen sat with me on Saturday night at Scrapfest, and she was bummed last week when I wrote a Scrapfest post and only mentioned the two gals I booked my crop table with. (shhh - I sort of pre-wrote part of that post before Scrapfest - sorry Jen!) Anyway, I thought I would make it up by showing off one of Jen's most stunning, prize-winning projects.

The album that Jen is holding above is one of the most stunning pieces of art that I've seen. Jen entered it in a Coca-Cola employee contest related to the Open Happiness campaign just before the Olympics and not only did she win, I'm sure she amazed the judges at how gorgeous this album is. If you haven't seen it in person, look here for some photos of it. Although you really need to see this in person (and hear the jingle playing in the background) to truly appreciate it, the photos give you an idea of the degree of detail and hours of work it took to make this album so beautiful. Jen won herself and her hubby a trip out to BC to see the Olympics, lucky gal! Well deserved.

In addition to being an incredibly talented scrapper, Jen is also so sweet and thoughtful. Jen received one of the first of the Peace canvases I gave away in my 29 Gifts project back in February, and she then dropped by my office in the middle of the afternoon with these flowers to thank me. Thanks so much, Jen!
On the topic of thoughtful people, my hubby, who you may have seen in a similar photo on a recent post, was just featured by Scrapscene. See the post here. Stephen seems a bit indifferent about his 5 minutes of fame, although I think he's pleased it was just a link and not the photo that made the news!


I have more Scrapfest projects for Scrapalicious to post later in the week, so see you then!

Denim Display Album for Scrapalicious

One of my favourite projects for the Scrapalicious booth at Scrapfest is this denim display book from Chatterbox. The album has denim covers, comes in a canvas bag, and a display stand is also available. I loved the idea of mucking up the covers with lots of paint, crackle paint and embellishments from the recent Chatterbox releases. I also used Rock Candy on the cork scallop trim at the top, which made it look a bit like worn leather.
I decided to create an engagement album for this couple that I shot engagement photos for a few years back. I left all of the journaling spots blank so that they can fill in their own sentiments and thoughts on each page. I'm not sure how soon I'll have an opportunity to give this to them, but I like it a lot and hope they will too. I thought a grungy, distressed style went well with the casual attire they wore for the shoot.
Since this album flips upward, I left most of the B sides blank, but I wanted to do something fun with them. I covered each back with alabaster artsy.licious lacquered paper, and sprayed each with a different colour of Maya Mist, then aged each page with ink and paint.
The pages are a wonderful, versatile size (approx. 5.5" square), and work really well with multiple, wallet-sized photos, a 4 x 6 photo, or a square photo. If you are local, drop by Scrapalicious and take a look. The photos really don't do this album justice. The photo at left is also one of my favourite pictures from that shoot. It was Thanksgiving Monday, the leaves had just turned beautifully, and the air was so very positive and optimistic.


You can view the album in its entirety in the slide presentation below. Click on the window to view at full size.

You can also see posts about this engagement shoot, the wedding photos I took at their beach wedding (where I was not the official wedding photographer), as well as a wedding mini-album I made for them in previous posts.

A page I made with a wedding photo was also published in Canadian Scrapbooker magazine. You can read about it here.

I'll be posting more from the Scrapalicious booth at Scrapfest soon, so check back.

artsy.licious Title Pages for Scrapalicious

I had a fantastic time at Scrapfest this year!

It was the first time I stayed overnight and cropped. I also took a class from Cathie Allen, so it was really a packed couple of days. I think Sue, Nancy and I had more fun than humanly possible! And if you are a scrapper and you haven't heard yet about my huge wipe-out during the scavenger hunt, I'd be surprised! :-) The Scrapalicious booth was hopping all weekend with great make 'n takes and these beautiful artsy.licious papers.

When I received a stunning DT kit of Chatterbox papers and embellishments, I looked at the brown, red, blue and green and realized how beautifully they would match the American Crafts albums that I just bought for my Library of Memories. I couldn't resist making my album title pages using these papers in a monochromatic way. Starting from the top, I used brown for my Things We Do album.

For each page, I selected a meaningful photo for the focal photo. On the Things page, the photo depicts my hubby and kids playing cards with my cousins' kids in our favourite Montreal hangout - Tim Horton's. The blue Places We Go page highlights places, both near and far, that are meaningful to us. The large photo is taken from Whistler mountain during an airshow. See the three planes in the upper right of the photo?! (Much easier in person!)

Our home, the place we go most often, is pictured right below the title. For the green People We Love, the photo is of Stephen's grandmother's 85th birthday, which we celebrated in our former backyard with most of Stephen's family. And the red We are Family album will house pages with photos of all 5 of us. Since I am usually behind the camera, I was surprised that I was able to find enough family of 5 photos to fill this page! :-}


The upper right photos is the first "family of 5" photo we ever took. It was taken at Easter, right after the girls were born, and is the first of hopefully very many more of all of us together.

If you didn't have a chance to get to Scrapfest, stop by Scrapalicious and see these beautiful papers. The artsy.licious line includes stunning flocked, embossed, glittered and many other beautiful papers, either individually or in multipacks.

I will have more of the Scrapfest projects I created for Scrapalicious to post soon.

RAK Haul!

For those of you still waiting for RAKs from me, here's a peek at the haul you will be sharing. Stamp sets, punches, ribbon, ink and all kinds of embellishments! I have the goodies separated and boxed and just need to get out to the post office to get them off to you. Thanks for your patience as I get everything together.

Scrapalicious sneak peeks for Scrapfest

If you're at Scrapfest this weekend, come by the Scrapalicious booth and see the beautiful artsy.licious lines from Chatterbox. These lace, embossed, flocked and glittered papers are truly gorgeous! For my denim album, I Maya Mist-ed ivory glossy embossed papers various colours and just love the result!
There are soooo many embellishments to choose from. Ranging from transparent, cork, chipboard, paper, brads, frames and mattes, felt, borders, journaling boxes, titles - you name it, it's available from Chatterbox. I love the butterfly wings I created for my daughters here by halving a butterfly.
Chatterbox's mini-albums come in a variety of colours and have embossed pages to match the cover. I had a ton of fun creating an album of our top ten favourite photos. It was a quick and easy album to make, as the embossed pages look decorative all on their own. This would make an awesome grandparent's brag book!
Scrapalicious is also featuring beautiful textured papers by Shizen Designs. The green floral paper here is truly beautiful. I want more of it so I can get into some hand-cutting! :-} The couple in the photo released butterflies at their wedding, so I thought the butterfly embellies worked well.

All together, I created two mini-albums, 7 pages and a canvas for Scrapfest, and I'll post them all sometime soon. I still have a few more pages roughed out that I'm hoping to finish at the crop this weekend.

If you're heading to Scrapfest, I hope we'll have a chance to visit. Either way, have a great weekend and I hope you manage to fit in some scrapping! Cheers!

LOM Category Drawers and More!

Whew! So much to say, so little time!

This is always such a busy time of year for our family. The school routine and activities keep us hopping all week, weekends have been beautiful for getting outside, at the office we're non-stop right now - and I'm up late packing for Scrapfest this weekend (yahoo!) and getting RAKs ready to be mailed.

In the midst of everything, I've been managing to stay reasonably caught up (believe it or not!) in my LOM class. I found awesome 6-up albums at Wal-Mart for my Storage Binders, and the above photo is a peek at my category drawers. These drawer units were a cast off after many years of use at the office, and since they are index card sized, they're perfect for storing 4 x 6 photos. I just covered the well-worn fronts with patterned paper. The drawer in the photo is my Us/People drawer. Since I only have 2 drawers, I've put Us/People together and Places/Things together. I feel so organized! :-}

I've been taking quite a few Project 365 photos - maybe not one every day, but at least 7 every week - however they are not even uploaded from my camera yet. I'm hoping I'll have a chance to post some soon. I found another sweet photo connection to an old photo of the girls, so I'm hoping to get that posted next. I also got a lovely shot of all 3 kids on Easter Sunday at their Grandma and Grandpa's.

I've been so busy, I've barely had time to be excited about Scrapfest! I'm really looking forward to seeing so many of my scrapping friends there. If you're going, drop me a line and we'll try to meet up. I'll be cropping with Sue and Nancy, and hopefully being reasonably productive, and not just socializing, right Sue? :-} I'm also in Cathie Allen's Faux Leather Album class on Saturday afternoon, so if you are too, let me know. It's such a beautiful project. You can join me, Janice, Patti and Elia in having the rowdiest table! :-}

I'm also planning a quick trip to Edmonton for my Mom's 85th birthday (85 - can you believe it!) in mid-May. So Edmonton friends, touch base and we'll make the most of my short visit. Of course, a trip to Treasured Memories (if you want to meet me there, let me know!), a meal at Earls and a visit to my beloved Olive Garden (non-existent out here) are definitely in the plans!

I'll be checking in again once Scrapfest is over. I can start posting the projects I've been keeping under wraps until the show. I can't wait! Stay tuned. :-}

To Clip or not To Clip?

If you're wondering whether a Clip It Up is a great purchase, my answer is a resounding "yes"! My sweet hubby bought mine at Scrapalicious for my birthday in 2008. I'll admit, I couldn't find the right spot to put it in our former house, but since I didn't have a dedicated scrapbook room then, getting it up and running was harder. Now almost all of my alphas are stored on it. It's so easy to spin it and locate my beloved Thickers or Heidi Swapp chipboard alphas or MM tiny type (yes, I have a few of each of those)! It holds so much product, and I love seeing what I have at a glance. It makes me feel so organized, and it fits so perfectly on an art cart that I made in college.

On the topic of clips, I had a little clip done to my hair now that the warmer weather is here. My shorter do is so much fun, easy to care for and dries so much more quickly. Time is such a rare commodity at our house, I have to save every minute that I can. Like it?


For those of you waiting for RAKs from me, I sorted all of the goodies this weekend and will be getting boxes into the mail for you this week. If I'll be seeing you shortly at Scrapfest, and you're willing to wait, please let me know and we can hook up there, rather than worrying about shipping.

Speaking of Scrapfest, I'm so excited to be attending the crop there for the first time. I've attended in past years, but this is the first time I'll be staying overnight and cropping there. I'll be with Sue and looking forward to meeting Nancy too. If I haven't been posting layouts lately, it's because I'm a busy bee at home working on Scrapalicious projects for Scrapfest that I can't reveal until that weekend. So yes, I'm still scrapping. I'll have new projects to add to my blog coming up soon.

Peace in my Scrapbook Room

I love altering clocks! My latest project is this clock for my scrapbook room. In keeping with my OLW for 2010, peace, I wanted peace to be the theme for this clock. When I saw this clock in the store, I loved that I could alter both the inside and the outside of it. I can't wait to see it hanging in my scraproom.

The sentiment says "grow in peace and love". I absolutely adore BG's Wilma chipboard alphas, don't you?

When I was designing for Just Cre8 before the kit club folded, I wrote an Altered Clock tutorial for their blog. Unfortunately those links don't work anymore, so perhaps when I get a chance I will re-post the instructions in a future blog post. Altering a clock is so much fun, and they make such memorable, personal gifts.

You can see some of my previous clock projects here, here and here.

The draw date has come and going for this RAK, and since I haven't had a moment to spare to draw a winner, I'm going to send something out to each of you! Please be patient with me, though; your goodies will be in the mail sometime soon!

LOM Clipboard

I'm still caught up in my LOM class, believe it or not! Here's my clipboard, which - OK, I'll admit it - I received when I first took this class in 2007, finally done! Back then, I chose the papers to use for this project, and I still love them! I also used them a while ago in this layout of my Grannie, which I cherish so very much.
The papers are from a Wild Asparagus release by My Mind's Eye. I used Thickers for the title, and lots of Tim Holtz crackle paint on the clip. Now that it's finally finished, (you can see my hubby re-attaching the clip here)
:-P I'm so happy with it. Now it's time to get some pages scrapped!

Wrapping Up Round One

I had a wonderful month of giving away 29 gifts in 29 days. So many members of 29gifts.org say that after a first round, they are so fired up that they start Round Two immediately. Whew! I'm too busy scrambling to get caught up now to try that right away, but I do know I'll be doing it again sometime!

Thanks so much to all of you who sent notes of thanks, e-mails, PMs, and even flowers! I appreciate it so much, but additionally, I appreciated the chance to brighten your day just a little, and to share my OLW for 2010, peace.

The papers I used for this project were oldies but goodies from 2004. Sue answered correctly that the manufacturer was Creative Memories, but no one knew that the Pink Passion paper collection was from their Jumpstart January product line. It's sweet, isn't it?

Since Sue was first to come up with the paper's maker, I have an extra RAK for her, but guess what? Everyone wins! I have a little something going out to each of you who posted a comment on this post before March 5th. Congrats to all! I hope to have your RAKs in the mail later this week (but please be patient with me; I'm a bit behind right now!)

Giving 29 Gifts in 29 Days is a concept that anyone can undertake at any time. For more information, I encourage you to visit 29gifts.org.

Another Year...

. . . and another RAK!

Not only did our girls' 7th birthday just fly by, but my blog turned 3 years old yesterday too. Wasn't that fast? Plus my blog just passed its 15,000th view! Wow, thanks so much to all of you for spending time here. I appreciate it so much! Since I'm late in having RAKs for each of those events, how about I just give out one big one?

Remember this post when I mentioned that after sorting all of my scrap supplies, I wanted to give some stuff away? Well, the time has come! Tell me what scrap supply you originally thought wasn't all that interesting, and now you can't live without it. Maybe you thought glimmer mists were passé, but now you don't make a layout without them? Or perhaps you didn't see yourself using bling, but now you love it! Leave a comment by March 14th, and I'll include your name in a draw for a kit of scrappy goodies I've put together.

Better yet, become a follower of my blog, and I'll throw in an extra entry! :-}

Oh, and I haven't forgotten this RAK! Details are coming soon. Have a great week!

Photo Connections

I'm so happy with my progress to date in the Library of Memories class I'm taking with Stacy Julian. I've never really felt tied to chronological scrapping, so I'm already on board there. Stacey's photo triage process, though, has really helped me to get (most of) my photos from a mess to organized!!
All the photos that friends and family took at our wedding. Sorted. Those Sears portraits and kids' school pictures. Filed. Most of our digital files, too. I still have old prints to sort, but the latest 5 years are done! I'll get photos of my system up soon, (once I've had a chance to take some!)
Here's a really simple example of a photo connection I found while filing photos. When Evan made his Swiss Chalet for Social Studies at age 6, the girls were only 3 years old. We were in our previous house (and yes, I actually miss that wallpaper!) See how young Evan looks? Now the girls are in grade 1.

They're at a different school than Evan was for grade 1, and we live in a different house, but they are studying the same curriculum, learning about the foundation of our community (ironically, it seems to include many fast food restaurants!) They're studying in French, just like Evan did. I realize how much alike they are in appearance, although Vanessa is miles ahead of both her siblings when it comes to missing teeth for her age!

This connection is so much fun, and I am looking forward to creating a layout about all three of our kids and their collective experience with this project, which they all loved doing. I've seen much more complex connections too, including ones that link my kids' childhood experiences to my own. Places - for example my aunt and uncles' homes in Montreal. Activities - like camping. Music. Outdoor play. So much more. It makes scrapbooking so much fun.

I'm still planning to do annual chronological highlights albums about our household each year. But other than that, chronology definitely doesn't live in my scraproom!

Enjoy Peace (and a little RAK)

I've wanted to participate in the annual LOAD challenge for years now, but I know that between our business and our family's crazy schedule, there's no way I could create a page a day for a month. But creating the same project 29 times - that seemed a bit more feasible. So this year, I did it - my peace project.
Each peace wall hanging is a little different from the others. Each one is special. Each one is going out to someone who deserves it, someone who makes my life a bit happier, someone who is a gift. I hope the recipients can find a place for these in their home or scraproom, to remind them to enjoy peace.

In keeping with the theme of giving, I have a little surprise that I will send out to whomever can name 1) the manufacturer of the paper that I have been using for these wall hangings and 2) a bonus if you can also tell me the release name and the year it was released.

See the photos above, or peek at another photo here.

A few little hints - you couldn't buy this paper at your LSS; you would have to look waaay back in your stash to find it; and there is the name of a month (not the current one) in the release name.

Leave a comment with your answer, or - if you've given up on finding it - leave a comment with the name of one of your favourite realllllly old releases, and I'll put your name into the draw. You have until March 5th to leave your comment.

Giving 29 Gifts in 29 Days is a concept that anyone can undertake at any time. For more information, I encourage you to visit 29gifts.org.

More Project 365

We've been incredibly busy this month - nothing new there :-} - but what is different is that regardless of what we're up to, I'm documenting it all with Project 365. The Olympics has been on the TV more often than not at our house, and there's no shortage of Olympic wear, for the girls particularly. Check it out!
Since I didn't manage to get Christmas letters out the door this year (don't give up hope - I'll still be mailing something eventually!), I haven't said much about our recent love of astronomy. Evan just loves it, and since the kids received an awesome telescope for Christmas, we're slowly getting to know more.
Hockey, hockey, hockey! Our weekends are typically taken up by multiple trips to the rink. Evan's team is now in the playoffs, and in this photo they are celebrating winning the first of their playoff games. That's Evan in the foreground skating toward me. Let's hope we see our Olympic teams rejoicing too!
We had intended to have the girls join Evan in piano lessons this fall, but due to the move, it took a while to put that plan into action. I finally had them start lessons two weeks ago at a local music school, and they think their teacher is the most awesome young man they've ever met! So, lots of effort on their part! :-}
It was also the girls' birthday this month, and they had a wonderful time celebrating with family. Scooters were a big hit this birthday along with the latest version of Bop It (the one with "shout it". What were we thinking??) Oh, and don't forget more Olympic clothing. Notice their Miga shirts in this pic - again!
Of course, there's the regular routine to document. The daily ride to and from school. An abundance of field trips - to the skating rink, to the ski hill, to the Safety Village - all via school bus. The kids love travelling by school bus, and we are lucky enough to have a totally awesome driver.
Reading time is a daily event in our house. Evan is required to read 20 minutes per day as homework, but in actuality he usually reads far more than that. The girls are doing regular French reading this year too. Even I try to steal a few minutes every day to read a novel (as opposed to scrapbooking mags!)

Yes, there's never a dull moment at our house, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

In the midst of all this, I'm still participating in the 29 gifts challenge and LOM, both of which I am reasonably caught up on, along with my design team work for Scrapalicious, both for the store and for Scrapfest (are you going? See you there!)

I know I've been scarce, but I'm running around like crazy when I'm not here. Thanks for checking in. Whew - you read the whole thing! :-} There are photos of more peace wall hangings coming soon, as well as a little RAK being posted shortly, so be sure to check back in. See you soon!

Priceless!

Crop-a-dile - $25.00

Clipboard (nicely altered for LOM and in need of having clip re-attached) - $3.00

Capturing a pic of hubby as he admits that nothing punches holes for rivets like your pink scrapbooking tool - priceless!

For the Next 29 Days

Welcome, February! This month, I am embarking on a challenge that I've wanted to take on for quite a while now. Inspired by the website 29 Gifts, I'm going to give one away little gift, a peace canvas like the one below, each day for the next 29 days.

Why? Because to see our world change, we have to do something to change our world. I chose the word peace as the gift I'm sharing this month as it is particularly close to my heart. peace is my One Little Word for 2010, inspired by the awesome Ali Edwards. I'm hoping to post about it often this year.
The canvas says: peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.
So simple, yet so meaningful, don't you think? I still have to post the story of why I chose peace, so stay tuned!

It's only Day 1 and I'm already having so much fun making these and envisioning the face of each recipient as they open them. I think this challenge is going to be one of the most rewarding I have undertaken. I'll be posting more pics of these canvases throughout the month, so be sure to check back again.

Giving 29 Gifts in 29 Days is a concept that anyone can undertake at any time. For more information, I encourage you to visit 29gifts.org.

This Year I'm Ready!

A few years ago I heard about Stacy Julian's Library of Memories concept. I loved it instantly. Before I had kids, I was the kind of person who had all of my photos organized and in albums. I wanted to get back to that place (and better), so I signed up. Oooops! I only made it through the first 2 lessons.
Not this time! Alumni registration for LOM 2010 started today, and I am totally IN! My lesson binder is altered (see it above), my pre-workshop handouts are printed, my clipboard is ready and my AC albums are on order! The unit on the right in this picture houses my storage system, labeled and ready! I can't wait!

I jumped the gun when I originally signed up for this workshop, since when the girls were tiny I just didn't have the time to devote to setting the system up. This time I'm going all the way. If you are also taking this class, as a newbie or an alumni, touch base and we can work on our systems together.

Scrapstrong! :-}

Make Yourself at Home!

Our girls seem to like my new scrapbook room as much as I do. Yesterday as I was making lunch they decided that VersaColor ink cubes were a quick and easy alternative to nail polish! Alicia put on Orchid and Vanessa tried Grape. Fortunately it washed off easily. Good thing I didn't leave any StazOn on my desk! ;-}

Gorgeous lines from Scrapalicious

OK, I totally love Basic Grey! Who doesn't? I don't think I know a scrapbooker who doesn't have a passion for one (if not all) of their lines. I'm lucky to have had so many opportunities to create with their products, for example the recent wedding album using Wisteria. I finally scrapped my wedding!
I love the wedding album that I created for Scrapalicious, and in the years I've been designing for the store, I cherish my BG projects as favourites; this Stella Ruby clock, a family photo frame using Marrakech and Ambrosia, a few Marrakech layouts, and this Two Scoops wedding mini.
This time my kit contains pieces of a few lines, starting with the beautiful Origins (top photo); so pretty for both heritage and modern pages. Gorgeous fall colours of Indian Summer are perfect for autumn photos, and Eskimo Kisses will keep the Christmas Spirit alive all year. How lucky can I get?

Keep checking back, as these creations will be coming some time soon!