I'm a Guest Designer!!

Yep. I received an email from Kim Jones over at the Scrapping Bug. She was hoping I would join her Design team members in creating some art using the August Monthly Bug Kit. In other words, she would give me a bunch of free product ("Heat Wave" by American Crafts) and I could use it as I wished, making 2 or 3 layouts and a card. Of course, I agreed!

It wasn't until a few days later that I realized that I wouldn't be home for very many of the days leading up to when my layouts were due. Between camping and a trip to NYC, and very little time during the day because of my 3 crazy kids, I knew I'd be working late into the evenings. But I didn't mind...

I survived and everything is done on time. I made 3 layouts and a card.

"All Smiles" (Pics of my older son and daughter cuddling - a rare sight!)





"The Beach" (A cold day at the beach, but it didn't stop my kids from going in!)





"Life's a Splash" (Pictures from our recent trip to Great Wolf Lodge)







"Butterfly Kisses Card"




I hope Kim likes everything I have done with this kit. I felt challenged and creative, and I love how everything turned out!

Has it Been That Long??

Hi! I am back. It feels like I haven't written a blog post in ages. Well, I have really good reasons. We took the kids camping for several days, then my hubby and I escaped to New York City for a few more days. We hadn't been away, just the 2 of us, for over 6 years - before Bryn was born!! So needless to say, I am exhausted and a bit behind in blogging ( and in laundry!) but I promise a few more scrappy thigs in the next few days.

"The Scrappiest" - #71 & #73

Sketch # 71:



And my take (8x8 layout)- I rotated the sketch so that I could use 2 photos taken on our retreat to a cottage up north for the weekend. The pictures are the views from the cottage to the lake and vice versa:



(All products are from Echo Park Paper)

Sketch #73



Once again I rotated the sketch for my 2 pictures of my older kids cuddling on the couch.





(All products by American Crafts)

Imaginisce's July Sketch Challenge

My parents have been married for 37 years. Wow. That's a long time. But I bet the time flew for them. They've had some wonderful adventures together - 3 kids, homes, vacations, pets - the list goes on and on. But the most wonderful thing is that they still love each as much as they did way back when they married in March of 1973. In fact, I am sure they adore each other even more today. What wonderful role models for marriage - happiness and sorrow, sickness and health, through the good times and the bad- still holding on strong!!

What a Love Story!!










All products by Imaginisce.

Get Sketchy #47

Here's the sketch:



And here is my interpretation: (Yep I'm getting my Xmas cards done early this year!)



Paper and stickers - October Afternoon
Snowflake - Imaginisce

Card Patterns #73

A quickie post......

SKETCH



CARD

Sketchy Thursdays and "Dad & Our Little Boy"

Here is the weekly sketch form "Sketchy Thursdays." We needed to use this sketch as a starting point. As well, the colour yellow had to come into play. Finally, we were challenged to make a homemade embellishment.



Here is my complete layout:



My homemade embellishments are circles made from spiraling a long string of crocheted chain stitches into a circle shape.



All products by Creative Imaginations except for the letter stickers by Making Memories and Jillibean Soup.

The Scrappiest - Sketch #72

Quick post - baby is busy and happy for a few minutes......


Here is the sketch:




And here is my take on it:



I modified the sketch a little bit to fit in a picture of each of my 3 children riding on a large Tonka truck, rolling down a big hill, on a recent cottage visit.

All products - Cosmo Cricket except for title rub-on which is by BoBunny.

"Trees" and Little Red Wagon

The lovely ladies over at Little Red Wagon issued this challenge this week:

Use a tree image somewhere on your project.

So, here is my completed 2-page layout:



I used stickers and diecuts from Doodlebug's "Nature" line.






Thanks for looking!!

Some Random Pics...

My big boy has learned how to ride his new bike without training wheels! He and his father have been going on countless bike rides around our neighbourhood, and Bryn has been loving every minute of it!!



While on a recent trip to the Milton farmer's market I snapped these colourful pics:







Summer is rough on this little dude. All that running around, playing in the pool and throwing all that sand!!

The Inspired Scrapper Sketch

Hmm.....I think I might be the only person who does the challenges over at "The Inspired Scrapper." I wish some of my scrapping friends would join me (!!?!?))

Here is the sketch they posted this week:



I used this sketch to make a layout using some cottage pictures of us around the fire making S'mores. Mmm....



(All products by BoBunny.)

Card Patterns #72 - Another Christmas Card!!

Love this sketch. I looks like a patchwork quilt to me. I changed it up a bit when I decided cutting so many perfect squares would mean having to concentrate!! : )

Instead, I pulled out my trusty 1" circle punch and went to town. This is what I came up with:




(All products are Imaginisce.)

What do you think?? I LOVE that little cardinal!!

CPS # 175

Another sketch, another Christmas card!! This is one is from Card Positioning Systems and it looks like this:



And here is my take on it:



(All products by Imaginisce.)

Christmas in July? Yep. I like to get an early start!!

"Get Sketchy" - Number 46

Here is this week's card sketch over at "Get Sketchy." I am not usually a card-maker, but I really wasn't up for a big project today so I joined in, making a Christmas card of all things!!



(All products by Imaginisce)

There. One card done for 2010. Now, how many more Xmas cards do I need to make??

Sketchy Thursdays and "H2O"

Here is this week's sketch from "Sketchy Thursdays:"




As soon as I saw this sketch I knew exactly which 2 photos I wanted to use.



(All products are Bella Blvd)

These 2 pictures are my 2 favourite shots from our recent mini-vacation up north to a cottage on Silver Lake. I am in the midst of creating an 8x8 album of the whole trip, but I wanted to make sure that there was a 12x12 LO of the vacation in our family's summer album.

2 Birthday Cakes!!

Yep. And they were both mine! I guess you could say I turned 34 twice this year. Kevin, our family and my in-laws had a BBQ and cake on my ACTUAL b-day, the 23rd of June. Kevin whipped up this extra-ordinary Black Forest Cake just for me. The story goes that I had planned to make my own cake in just this exact manner, but never got around to it. Luckily Kevin was off early that day,whipped home and baked this delicious treat from scratch!! Gotta love a man who can bake!!


The other birthday cake was made for me by my dear friend Chris. She is an amazing baker and as a special treat for my second b-day party, made me this layered Peanut Butter chocolate cake. Oh! It was scrumptious!!

I am so glad so many bakers love me!!



(All products by BoBunny)

My LO is based on this sketch from the BoBunny blog:


Thanks for visiting my blog!

June- Project 12 and a Mini-book

Here is my take on this month's Project 12 sketch:







(All products by October Afternoon)


I had a ton of Canada Day pictures from earlier this month. As I continued to take more and more photos throughout the day, I had no idea how I would use them all. Then, at our second last event of the day (a BBQ at close family friend's), the hostess was using some circular coasters with the word "Eh!" on them. I asked her if she had any extra and she handed me a handful. This is how I used them:









I managed to use 43 photos in amongst several journaling circles and some patriotic symbols. Hope you like it!!