Okay- Let's Try a Slideshow!!

I love sharing my scrapbooking layouts on my blog, but for some reason, unless I make my pics REALLY small, 2 page layout pics don't fit. So, I think I have found a solution. I am going to try a slideshow from photbucket.com.

Well here goes:


Sure, it looks little now, but if you click on it, you should be moved to where you can see the slideshow.

This layout contains a ton of pictures from Bryn's 5th birthday. I can't believe he turned 5 already! People said it would go fast, but this is ridiculous!!

Here is sweet picture of little Bryn almost 5 years ago:



Cute, huh?

We took the kids on a ride on Santa's Train near Orangeville. They loved it! And they were very-well behaved to boot! I managed to get some really cute shots of them while they enjoyed sugar cookies (made by Mrs. Claus, of course!) and some hot chocolate. Then Santa paid us a personal visit at our seats. Very exciting! (Click on the little pic!)


I used my new embossing button punch on this layout. I LOVE IT!

The Santa Claus Parade - what a cold day, but great memories for the kids!



Bryn and Afton couldn't wait to put our tree up this year. So, our artificial Douglas fir came out of the box on November 23rd, right after the Santa Claus parade. After enjoying it for 6 weeks, I think the tree is coming down tomorrow. As sad as that will be, it will mean one less thing for Camden to get into!! (Click on the little pic!)

Journal Your Christmas - Days 11 - 15

Day 11 invited us to take pictures of our Christmas tree and journal about how we decorate it. Does it wear homemade ornaments? Is it matchy-matchy and decorated carefully only by the grown-ups?? The pocket holds pics of my 2 trees and some favourite ornaments.



Day 12 - Christmas Past - Journal about a favourite memory of Christmas Past. The picture here is of my father and I, circa 1977. I am about 18 months old.



Day 13 - Journal about Christmas music - What are your favourites? What can't you stand? Does the music start in December, or earlier??



Day 14 - Journal about the procedure on Christmas morning. What order are presents unwrapped in? Do you take turns? Who hands out the presents??



Day 15 - Visitors: Who is coming to visit this holiday? Family? Friends? Where are we visiting? Are there long journeys ahead?



Thanks for looking!!

New Toys!!

Being a kindergarten teacher, and the teacher of 2 classes (40 kids in all!), I receive A LOT of Christmas presents. This year was no exception! Two very smart parents bought me Michaels gift cards - and I couldn't wait to spend them!! I can't believe I have held those cards for 4 whole days before making it to Mississauga to spend them. Amongst other things, these are my new, most favourite-est toys:



Three lovely punches from Martha Stewart. I really like her stuff, but I always find it too expensive. So, when someone is giving me the $$$ to spend - I spend it freely!!

I want to highlight the button punch. It is SO COOL! I had seen it on another blog
http://scrappyfairy.blogspot.com/ (A very cool blog by the way!) and knew I had to have it too!

When you squeeze this punch, it cuts the disc shape, punches the four holes and embosses the raised cirlce around the edge. In the words of my oldest son - "Way Awesome!"

Journal Your Christmas Days 7- 10

Day 7 - Write a "To Do " list and a reminder to yourself about not letting the stress of Christmas interfere with enjoying it!! My list and note are contained in the pocket:



Day 8- Do you see what I see? Take pictures of things that remind you of Christmas around your home. My pictures are in the mini envelope.



Day 9 -What traditions have you kept from your childhood? What new ones have you created with your family? My traditions ae written in the mini-book attached to the page:




Day 10 - How do you feel about wrapping? Do you wrap every parcel perfectly? Or is pretty paper a waste when you know it is just going to be demolished by your family? I put my journaling inside the folded page, written on the cardboard from a package of sticky present labels:

Wanted to share....

Now that my Christmas holidays have begun, I have a bit more time to share some of my latest projects and some fun things my family has done recently.

First of all, we took the 2 older kids to see "The Sound of Music." We all LOVED it I am so glad we caught it before it closes in Toronto in a few weeks. Maria was played by Janna (the second place finisher from the "Maria" show on CBC.) She was great. I could have listened to her for hours ( and I am picky about singers!!)




Camden has had some funky hair lately. These pictures were taken about 3 weeks ago on one of his particularly crazy-haired days. So of course, I turned them into a scrapbook page. I am particularly fond of the title: (by the way - since then, Cam has had his first haircut. A Layout to follow, of course!!)



We had ouir Christmas portraits done mid-November. I Finally had time to scrap one. I love how the kids LOOK like siblings, all dressed in Christmas green:

Journal Your Christmas Days 4-6

Day 4 - Journal about what makes a perfect Christmas (and is it really worth all of the stress??!!)




Day 5 -Advent - What childhood memories did I have of this? What do I do now to countdown with my children? The picture is of the Advent Box that my kids use now. Each little drawer contains a chocolate kiss for each child.



Day 6 - Think of Christmas - what good memories do you have? Are there any Christmases you'd like to forget?? I wrote about the rules and routines of Christmas morning when I was a child. I also took time to write about a dear friend who recently learned she will probably lose her mother to cancer sometime early in the New year.

Journal Your Christmas- Days 1-3

Our first assignment- tell why this journal is important to you and why you must take the time to write something in it everyday in celebratioon of Christmas.



On day 2, we journaled about winter weather. I like snow during the month of December only. Once Christmas is over, the snow can go!



Day 3's prompt asked us about Christmas cards. Will we send them? Will we make them? Are they a waste of time? I am sending homemade cards with a picture of my munchkins in them.
The envelope contains my journaling as well as pictures of my homemade cards.





Thanks for looking!

Journal Your Christmas 2009

I mentioned JYC a few entries back, and now that December 1st is almost here, I am excited about getting started. If you recall, JYC is a online class I signed up for in which I will be sent daily journaling prompts to help me celebrate/recall/reflect about this festive season. Hopefully, once a day, I will have a few minutes to write my thoughts and feelings in my mini-scrapbook. Because this season can be so overwhelming, we are directed to pre-make some of the elements for our journal. I completed my cover last night. (see below) I have also made a month's worth of date tags and well as collected all of my scrapbooking materials. Hopefully now, all I will have to focus on is getting each journal and scrapbook page done. I REALLY don't want to get behind. Wish me luck!

Here is the cover of my book:

"Loot" Cookies

My oldest son's birthday party was today. I had no idea what to get for his guest's "loot" bags. I am really not a fan of these things, but found it somewhat necessary to do something. So this is what I made :



Cookie Lollipops!!

I baked large chocolate chip cookies, then stuck two together, oreo-style, using melted chocolate (Belgian chocolate wafers - Mmmm!!). While the chocolate was hot, I slipped a cookie stick (found at Bulk or craft stores) in between the layers. Once the chocolate cooled, the sticks were stuck inside. I placed them in mini cello-bags with a handful of Smarties and tied them with ribbon. Oh did they look good and tasted even better!

Bryn sure appreciated them (and so did the kids at the party!)

2 New Layouts

My turns oldest son turns 5 today (more on that later). This, of course, makes me think of my children's growth and development. I make it a priority to ensure that each child's milestones are scrapbooked for their future enjoyment. I also think it is very important to capture those little details too. Here is a layout that is a snapshot of my daughter at age 3 1/2. No milestones here, just notes about Afton, today and now.



I'll throw in an extra layout here. Just a page I put together about my youngest son. Like the layout says, I think he is so darn adorable. Lucky he is cute, because he is going through a "cuddle/carry me all the time" phase right now. It's always the "cute" that makes me pick-up his almost- 30-pound body and carry him around. : )

Celebrating my Family

Most of my scrapbooking centres around my darling family. Here are some of my favourite recent layouts:

My three sweetie-pies. This layout celebrates the fact that I have 2 beautiful boys and a gorgeous girly:


My extreme happiness with my finished Family of Five:


My little lady, confidently dressed in an itty-bitty bikini. I hope she keeps this confidence forever!


My kids love to spend time with their Nana. In the first layout, they help Nana pick beans and potatoes from her garden for dinner. In the second, they sneak some cuddles on a sunny day:




Thanks for looking!!

Yummy Caramel Apples!

I have always loved caramel apples. Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company makes the best ever! But today, we, the McConvey family, tried to make our own. And you know what? It didn't turn out too badly!

I bought this kit at Indigo. Yep the bookstore. It has the caramel mix, the sticks and the recipe.


Afton and Bryn pushed the wooden dowels into the apples. They have big muscles, so it was easy!




I did the scary, boiling-hot-sugar part on the stove. I added cream and butter to the powder mix found in the kit. It took 15 minutes for the sugar and cream to cook into hardening caramel, but it was well worth the wait!


I convinced the kids that they had to watch me roll the apples in the caramel once it was ready. Still too hot for their little hands (Afton became the photographer instead)



Look! All finished. Cooled and hardened and covered in some fall-themed sprinkles.



Afton decided that these treats were just not for her. Too much work to chew that gooey caramel. She had a plain apple instead. Not Bryn. He jumped right in!

Journal Your Christmas

While checking our Ali Edwards' blog, I came across a link to www.shimelle.com where I found an invation to join an online class called "Journal Your Christmas." For a nominal fee (About $33 CAD) she will guide class members through the creation of a book of memories about Christmas 2009. It can be in note-to-self journal form, in picture form or in a mix of both, creating a scrapbook for the season. Journalling prompts will be sent to me each day of December and continue until the 12th day of Christmas (January 6th). By the end of the 35+ days, I will have created a book of memories without a lot of stress or complication. I am already looking forward to beginning!

Shimelle reccomends that this process works best if one builds a support system to urge the everyday completion of journal entries. So I say this to you, my blog readers:

Will you join me on this endeavour???

Been Busy in the Scraproom

I really like this layout that I did celebrating Camdens' 1Oth month. It's based loosely on a sketch by Ally Cope.



Look at this one! It features pictures of both of my boys, each at about 11 months, wearing the same lion headgear. They look very similar, eh? Bryn is at the top, Camden at the bottom.



Thanks for looking!

Little Red Wagon Challenge #1

I joined a challenge blog called - "Little Red Wagon." http://lilredwagon.blogspot.com/

Our first challenge was to create something using the packaging leftover from a scrapbook product. For the card below, I punched some kraft coloured circles out of the packaging from some K&Company adhesive borders. Not my best card, but it is nice to "go green."

Folding House Decor Project

I found this amazing idea on the My Mind's Eye blog - designed by Tiffani Smith. Hers was a Hallowe'en themed album, but I changed it up a bit to feature pictures from a recent trip to Springridge Farm near our home. The kids love it there and have asked to go back twice this week! I thought maybe this display of their photos would be enough to remind them of their visit, keep their memories full and maybe we can put off another visit until closer to Christmas!



The house shapes are cut out of cardstock and are fastend together by a 2 inch wide length of card glued across the back, adding stability.