Shutterbug Challenge March 29-April 4

Well, T, has been at it again! This week she has us taking pictures from the kitchen!

Since I was late with last week's challenge, I decided that I had better get this one done on time! Some of the gals have taken their photos already, and everyone's vary. We have had cakes, appliances, and of course, I had to be different with mine (AGAIN)

My photo is of something that just sits there, but brings me much joy! It is something that always brings a smile to my face and constantly reminds me of my childhood.

So here we have it, from my kitchen:

Spring's arrival

Well, today's weather is absolutely perfect, with the sun shining bright! The air is a bit cool, but the sun feels warm and the rest of this week is suppose to be gorgeous! I took the opportunity today to get out in the yard and start with the major clean up that is needed, so that all the new growth can breathe and flourish. Everything is popping out of the ground already, and there are even some blooms out there. Such a nice start to the season, and it can only getting better from here on in.
Recently at Scraptures, T has started a Shutterbug Challenge, and although I missed getting mine done last week, when she posted it, I did it today! I figure I had better get better at doing this, as she has already posted another one for this week. The challenge was to take a photo from a bird's eye view. So after being out in the yard and looking down at the beautiful flowers, I
decided that that is what I would take my photo of. (I took 3)

Creative weekend

(Bazzill carstock,Cosmos Cricket pattern papers, Prima leaves, Bohemia Chipboard letter 'A', 7Gypsy arrow photo turns, scrabble letters, Prima IEssentials, Colorbok black cat eye ink, deco scissors (ends of strips of paper)

**This layout based on a sketch from Sketchabilities


Well, as promised, I am back to share the fruits of my labour, from my weekend. My DH had to work on Saturday and so after getting some household stuff taken care of, I headed up to the scrap room and got creative. The sun was shining and I felt good, and the inspiration set in. It was a great, productive day, to say the least.



(Journaling hasn't been done on this yet, but will be before it goes into my album)
(Crate paper, Prima flowers, Making Memory brads, Martha Stewart border punch)
**This layout created using a sketch from Pagemaps
It has been my goal to use up lots of the old supplies that I have sitting around my room, most of all is paper. Some of these papers are at least 4 years old, so it felt great to use them on layouts. It has been great pulling out all the papers and seeing where the creativity will take me. Lots and lots of embellishments are getting used as well, and I am actually making room for some new stuff! Hopefully soon I will be able to look at all the newest goodies that have been coming out and not have to feel guilty because I want to make a purchase!



(Chatterbox pattern papers, Fancy Pants Chipboard swirls, Imaginisce Bling brad, Martha Stewart border punch, Title cut using Storybook cartridge for Cricut)
**This layout created using a sketch from Scrapbooks Etc
The great gals over at Scraptures, posted all of the above sketches as challenges for the month of March. I love a challenge and the gals there always offer so much inspiration. These sketches are amazing, and I was so glad to be able to use them!

FANTASTIC Monday

Well, Mondays are usually up in the air as to how they may go, but today started off with a bit of cloud cover and just kept getting better and better! The sun came out (bonus-no headache), and I have been able to be quite productive today! I have been busy putting together kits for our LSS, prepping for my class that I am teaching tomorrow night, and putting some finishing touches on a few layouts that I was working on over the weekend! Busy day so far, and it doesn't seem to be stopping any time soon!
Got a phone call today that prompted me to turn on my computer and send off an email, and boy, am I ever glad about that! I hadn't intended on getting on the computer until I had gotten all of my 'work' done for the day, because as we all know, it is too easy to get lost in computer land!
While I was in email, sending off what was needed of me, I decided that there would be no harm in checking emails to see if anything needed my immediate attention! Well, I received an email from Joanne Wallace over at Tombow telling me that I had been picked as a WINNER on their blog! What a fantastic day!!! Thank you so much! This really made my day and I just had to share my good news with everyone! Well, back to work, but will be posting again later! I have some new layouts that I want to share!!

Explosion album

Last weekend, Laurie hosted a Scrap-Hour over at Scraptures, and I must tell you, this is one fun project! If you are in need of a quick and easy last minute gift, this is the project for you! It takes very little materials, and isn't very involved, therefore you can get one done in next to no time at all. It is a great way to use up left over pattern papers and embellishments from other projects. Just let your imagination go and you will see that you will be creating these with so many different themes.


I have made these in the past, but slightly different.The ones I made were 3 tier and more involved. This one is so simple, and I know that I will be making many of these in the coming weeks. I have several birthdays coming up, all within a couple of weeks of one another, and this will be the easiest way for me to be able to give everyone a gift!


This project would be good for a baby shower, a teacher's gift, and you can even add a gift card inside. The one that Laurie did for her son's teacher had a triangle pocket in it for the gift card. Because I am keeping this one, I did not add the pocket or gift card.



Thank you Laurie for such a fun project!

Colouring

It seems that there is a really big trend in colouring these days, and Copic Markers are the item of choice to use. Since I don't own any of the Copics, and am not in any way, what I would call a stamper, I have not taken the plunge in investing in these markers. I have seen them being used, and they are very tempting, but getting into those, would mean another major expense of supplies, that I just can't justify at this point and time.
I do like to dabble in colouring from time to time though, and I usually use versamark and chalks, or my chalk pencils, which I really like! Since chalks is one of the first colouring agents that I purchased for my scrapping hobby, I am quite familiar with them and use them quite a bit for different things. They are very versatile and last a really long time.

Over at Scraptures, Ellen posted a challenge about colouring. She wanted everyone to get out their colouring medium of choice (she suggested inks and blender pens), and colour. I wanted to meet this challenge, but without these items on hand, I went to the next best thing, MY CHALKS!
Here is the card that I made for her challenge:


I really love this little hedgehog stamp and simply can't wait to colour more of these and make some more cards. He is just so adorable and could be used on any kind of card, whether it be a Birthday greeting, a Thank you card, or just simply a Hello card.
Well the sun is shining, and it feels like a creating day, so off I go to see what inspires! Hope everyone is having a GREAT Saturday!

Childhood

As scrap bookers, we very often over look preserving our own memories, especially those of our childhood. Many of us, don't like to get in front of the camera now, as adults, and seldom do we stop to think to scrap our childhood photos. It is funny when you think about it though, as our hobby is all about preserving memories, so that our future generations will know what was going on in our photos. Yet, we shutter away from being in those photos or telling OUR story in our albums.



I don't really understand why that is, but it is something that really should be rethought and changed before it is too late and our grandchildren are sitting there asking the same types of questions that we may find, we are asking about our Grandparents now.
Recently, at Scraptures, it has been brought up whether or not we have an album, a mini book or anything with our childhood photos scrapped. Many of the ladies, answered no to this very question. In some cases, it is perhaps because they are not sure how to scrap those photos, perhaps the parents still have them, or even perhaps they don't see the reason for it.



I decided that since the topic was brought up, that I would share some older layouts that I did, in hopes of inspiring others out there to remember to scrap their childhood memories. I don't really have many photos of me as a child, but felt that I should preserve them. I have many memories and in some cases those memories are written down, without photos.

The big questions that we all should sit back and ask ourselves are:

Do we want to be remembered?
Do we really want our Great Grandchildren to know who we were?
Do we think it should be a guessing game?
We have the power, deep within us, to make a change in what happens in our future. I, for one, wish I had the opportunity to sit with my Grandmother and ask her questions about her family, about herself, and about the people in the photos that she left behind. I don't want to see my grandchildren or great grandchildren to have to wish for this opportunity. I want them to be able to sit back, look at the photos, and KNOW who those faces belong to, and what kind of life those people had, including myself.


I am challenging everyone out there to scrap a layout of YOU, from your childhood. If you do, please post a comment here and link to your page!

A good day!

Well today was a much better day than yesterday was, and for this I am truly thankful. No headache and that meant I was able to get lots of things accomplished. It felt good to get back on top of every day life stuff, and to get finished up with my April Classes. Now I just have to get them delivered to the LSS and all will be perfect! It really was not fun being out of commission for 2 days, but today has been productive so far.

I finished the classes, put some kits together, and now need to deliver them. Once that is done, I am hoping to get home to some much 'wanted' personal creating! I have some ideas floating around in my brain that are just itching to get out, shall we say, on paper! I hope my evening goes as planned and then I will have something new to share with you a little later on.

By the way, I have revamped the look of my blog! I hope you like it as much as I do! If you do, and feel the need to change up yours, take a look at shabbyblogs.com. They have some really cool stuff and I just love the look of it! You won't be disappointed and they make it easy for you to customize your blog to better reflect who you are!

Not much fun

Well it is another gray, dull, dreary, rainy day and the killer headache is NOT letting up at all. I had hoped today would fair better than yesterday, but no such luck. I need to be finishing up with some April classes but my creative edge has left the building. I can not function well enough to get the finishing touches done, so have decided that it is best to leave it until tomorrow.

The sun is suppose to be upon us starting tomorrow and be here for the next few days, so I will just have to have faith, and then let those creative juices start to overflow! There is so much that I have wanted to do, so there is NO worries about the ideas being there.

Hopefully I will then have some new stuff to share with everyone soon. Keep your fingers crossed for me that the sun will, indeed, shine soon!

Busy day!

Well, the weather is damp, and not much sun is to be had here at all. After being spoiled with above average temperatures last week, this is really dreadful. I know that Spring has 'officially' arrived, but it certainly doesn't feel like it today.

I am diligently trying to get my April classes done and out of the way, and I have this killer headache. If the weather would only co-operate with me, then all would be great in my world! We know that isn't going to happen for a few more days though, so I just have to deal with things and move forward. I am almost done with classes, so I shouldn't really complain too loudly!
With Spring's arrival, comes Spring Cleaning! Don't you just love it? There is always so much to be done and when the weather is warm and sunny, I don't want to be stuck indoors. I started with the cleaning back in January, by sorting through drawers and purging closets, and lots of stuff went out for donation. This was a great jump start on things and this past weekend, I did the kitchen. That was a full job in its self with hauling everything out of the cabinets, washing the shelves and then putting everything back. It is so much better out there and who would have thought, there is actually some extra space in the cabinets.
Next is going to be the scrap room. Although I just did a revamp of things, I have come the vast conclusion that it is time for me to do a major purge. In the past couple of months, I have been doing personal creating again, and have come across quite a bit of stuff that just isn't grabbing my attention to be used, and I could really use the space for those things I will use down the road. It has come that I have spread some of my stuff into the upstairs hallway, just to get it out from under foot while working in my room, so something has got to give!!! I will be happy once this work is done. I am hoping to be able to get started with it tomorrow before heading out to teach class at the LSS.
This past weekend, I also started a project that was part of the SCRAP-HOUR over at Scraptures that Laurie hosted. It was a lot of fun, and I just know that I will be making more as time goes by. This project will make for some great gift items, and they are quick and easy to make. I will be sharing my project in my next post, so stay tuned to see!

My Beautiful Girl!

Anyone who truly knows me, knows how much my cat and I are as one! She is truly my baby and was a blessing in disguise when she came to me. I love her truly and it is just like having an infant in the house again! She is my 'regular' scrapping
companion, and I just had to create this layout all about her. It reflects her beauty and allowed me to 'play'
with a couple of different products, which is also helping me use up old supplies that I have sitting here!





I made these flowers (the 2 larger ones) using my scallop circle punches and inking the edges. The lighter one is just a scrunched flower and the darker one is sliced where each scallop joins and then folded for dimension. I inked the edges, added Prima flowers and jeweled brads to the centres and I love the way they turned out!



I also added some other Prima flowers to the page with jewel brads for the centres. The chipboard I used Aqua Stickles on Fancy Pants Chipboard Swirls, and the title letters are American Crafts Thickers. Around the photo I did pleating and the border strip was done using a Martha Stewart border punch. I just love that I was able to use so many of my products on this layout and am quite pleased with the end result!

Spring is finally arriving!

Well it is hard to believe that 2 weeks has passed since I last posted to my blog. Time certainly has a way of getting away from us and with Spring arriving (finally), more sunshine is upon us, days are now getting longer, and I tend to spend more time outdoors! There is so much to be done outside to prepare for the beautiful season ahead of us, and that is partly to blame for my lack of getting here!This time of year has so much going for it and I love to get out in the yard and be closer to nature! Look at what I found out there today:
Now with the sun shining more, the birds are singing, the flowers are sprouting, and this means good things are in store! I love this time of year!

I have been scrapping over the past couple of weeks still, although the past week, not as much as I would have liked. I have been doing some challenges along the way and this has really helped to get me more motivated with my personal scrapping again! We all know how I love a good challenge and for some reason, just can't seem to back down from them. I am pleased to announce that I have already surpassed what I have accomplished in personal pages in the past 2 years, in just over a month. It feels fantastic!

Sunny day

Well the day is sunny and bright here today, and I am absolutely LOVING it! Spring is on it's way and it couldn't get here soon enough to please me! Although we really haven't had a whole lot of snow this winter, I am so ready for the longer, sunnier days to be the norm! I am itching to get out and spend more time outdoors, working in the garden and getting out for more frequent walks. It will mean a new beginning to the year for me, for being more productive and more energized. I have been off to a great start in the creating department, but am really looking forward to being more successful in other areas of my life, as well.

I have slowly gotten back on track with eating healthier, allowing myself ME time and balancing work creating and personal creating! This new year is the year I start to take back all things important to me and am so grateful that I have family and friends to help support those decisions.

Today is a 'work' day and I am off to teach class at the The Memory Keeper and it should be a lot of fun! Take a look at what we will be 'playing' with tonight:

Feels good to be creative!

Well since the beginning of February, I seem to be on a real roll with my personal scrapping again! I have been having a great time getting some ME time in and it really feels good to have some finished layouts for my own albums. This layout was created using the February sketch for Project 12 at Scrapbook and Cards Today. It really fits these photos well and I am pleased with the way this turned out!

This layout is of my good friend, Peggy's daughter, Maggie! She is so darned cute and I love to scrap her every chance I can get! It is fun scrapping girl pages and a nice change from all the masculine pages I have to create! For this layout, I was able to use up some really old papers from Around the Block. Seems I have had this paper in my stash for about 5 years!!!! I will be sending this layout to Peggy this week, and I hope she will find it a welcome addition to her daughter's album.

Revamped my Scrapbook Room

So much has been going on with me, and just before Christmas, I decided that in order to get back to basics, my scraproom needed some attention and reorganizing.

I used to have a hutch on the counter top, which just wasn't
practical for me anymore. It had shelves and was quite nice, but it really didn't give me enough storage place for my ever growing supplies.

I had some of the cubes before, that I had purchased at Michael's, and they went on sale again, so I went out and got some more. After getting them home and putting them together, I was able to get them all on the counter in an orderly fashion, that I am truly happy with.

Everything has a place now, and I am so easily able to find what I am looking for, and clean up is a breeze after a day of creating!
Because my room is better organized, I have found that I am able to be more productive and have already found the creative juices flowing since the beginning of February. After a creative jump, cleaning up my room is a cinch too! Lots of things get pulled out, but I am able to keep it tidied up after each creative session. This works well for me, because I really don't like to have to go and clean up before being able to create again. It has really allowed me to find "me" time again, along with working on my classes, my kits and doing pages for others. I love to create and am so grateful for being able to have this personal space in my home! What more could a girl ask for?

My JUNGLE gals......

I am so happy that my JUNGLE gals are all getting back together again! I have so missed everyone being in the same place at the same time and being able to keep up to date what has been going on with everyone. Since the closing of the JUNGLE, I have managed to keep up to date with some gals, but not really the way I have wanted to. I miss all the chatter, the daily laughter and of course the inspiration we all gave to one another.

I am so glad that we have all finally found a place to gather, challenge each other and most of all keep in touch with one another. I have been having a blast getting re-acquainted with everyone, hearing all about what has been going on in each other's lives and seeing what everyone has been working on (even though most haven't worked on anything in a long time) We are about to change that....so let the creating begin!!!!

Peggy and I have challenged each other in February and both of us have managed to get 3 layouts completed. It felt so good to be 'pushed' to get back to doing what I absolutely LOVE to do and to be doing it just for ME again, has been a blast! I can't wait to continue scrapping with all of you and look forward to getting to see what you all accomplish too!

Here are a couple more of my February creations:

Life got out of control

Well, it certainly has been a very long time since I last posted anything to my blog, and for this I am truly sorry. The year of 2009 got quite busy, and therefore I have not been able to get online as much as I would like, and of course, that meant not updating my blog very often.

Scrapping on a personal note, took a back seat and without having much creating time in, I didn't have anything really to share with anyone here. This year, I have set a goal for myself to MAKE time to scrap for my own personal albums. The new year has already started off on a good note for this, and I am so excited to be creating for myself again. Of course, I am still teaching classes regularly at the Memory Keeper, but am now able to better balance both classes and personal scrapping again.

The new year has also given me an opportunity to find a new scrap booking site to visit, and they have really been a great help in getting me motivated and inspired! This new site is http://www.scraptures.ca/. You should stop by and check them out if you are in Ontario! Denise and the rest of the gals there have been so nice in welcoming me to their community and they have inspired me in depth. I have had fun participating in some of their challenges and I even won the February Challenge. I was so happy just to be creating for me again, and here I won a prize! It was a shock, but I am very excited and can't wait to see what goodies will be arriving on my door step soon. Thanks to all the gals at SCRAPTURES for all the fun, the great challenges and all the fun!!! You gals are GREAT!

I have already surpassed the amount of personal creating I have done in the past 2 years, just by being inspired by these gals! I can't tell you how much fun I have been having creating layouts and cards since February! I am on a roll, and I intend to keep it up!

Here are a couple of layouts that I created in the past month:



I will be sharing some more, but thought this would be a great start to getting back on track with creating, sharing and updating my blog! I do hope that you will continue to stop by and see what is new with me. If you stop by, why not follow my blog for all the updates that will certainly be coming in the days, weeks, and months to come! I am back on track and will be much better at keeping you up to date what is going on with me!!!