Father's Day Present (What, I'm late?)

My good friend Roz is giving away some blog candy to celebrate her 100th layout of the year. Go check it out here, and make sure you tell her I sent you!

As for this Father's Day present, I started making it for Jason in June, but just never got around to finishing it until this week. Now he can put it on his desk at work! I posted one just like it that I made for my Mom in May, and I just love how they turned out! The only credit I can take is for producing the featured children - the entire project is CASED shamelessly from Vicki Wizniuk. Check out her blog here, she has some fabulous creations and lots of great tutorials!

I haven't been working on any layouts lately because I am trying to finish my December Daily foundation pages. Have you heard of this? It's a project "invented" by scrapbook superstar Ali Edwards, and she's got a couple of hundred people on board so far. The idea is to create an album that you journal in and/or include pictures in for every day of December. I have so much Christmas themed stuff that it's been easy to use scraps for this project, and I will post it as soon as I have more done. Have a great day, everyone!

Supplies (all CTMH): 6x6 Accordian Album, Miracle Kit, Exclusive Inks stamp pads in Crystal Blue, Twilight, and Olive

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B-Day Card for my Man!

When I saw the colours for Design Dollies this week (Black, White, Grey and a pop of Orange), I thought they would be great for a masculine card, and seeing Jason's birthday is on the 6th, now I have a bit of a headstart. I really like the clean lines of this card, don't you? I was going to put it in for the Design Dollies elements challenge, too (which is clean and simple with brads and beads) but I don't have many beads, and definitely none that would go with this card.

Supplies (all CTMH): White Daisy cardstock, Exclusive Inks stamp pad in Black, Noted Backgrounds and A Little Everything My Acrylix stamp sets, and Irresistables bracket

Other: Cosmo Cricket blackboard asterisk, unknown chipboard button and heart, Creative Memories grey and black cardstock

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Layout #81 - Get Picky and SPCC

Yay, I get to enter 2 challenges with this one! I used the November sketch from Get Picky, and the colours from Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Challenge, which are Real Red, Tempting Turqoise and Whisper White this week. When I first started piecing together this layout, I was going to use a bright green, but even though it probably would have looked fine, I'm glad I went with this colour combo because I think it just pops! Speaking of popping, the second photo is supposed to show how I cut out and popped up the clouds with some red underneath. That small photo of Nolan had a bunch of distracting elements in it, so I trimmed him out and put him inside a stamped frame with some more fussy cut clouds.

Here is where I digress a little (okay, a lot!) so feel free to skip this paragraph! I remember this day from last summer quite clearly. I was traveling solo with the kids, and it was hot and I was feeling yucky pregnant (1st trimester) and I thought it would be a horrendous 5 hour car ride. The kids had behaved themselves for the first half, so I thought a little splash at this big city park was in order. I was watching from afar, and I could see Nolan just having the time of his life, and then a woman was talking to him, and he spoke back, and then he just continued on. Nolan can be quite rowdy around other kids, so I always watch him like a hawk, but this time everything seemed fine. When we got in the car, though, he asked me who owned the park. I told him it was a city park and no one person actually owned it. Turns out the lady who spoke to him told him he needed to wait to use the spray gun because her kid wanted to use it. He asked her, "Are you in charge of this park?" I can just picture it! He wasn't back-talking, just sincerely curious. Anyway, she told him that she was, indeed, in charge of the park, so he assumed that she owned it. He was sooooooo upset in the car the whole rest of the way! He kept saying, "Why would she say she owned the park if it wasn't really hers?" Good question! Really, I think some people get off on telling little kids what to do, don't you? Let your kids fight their own battles (except if it's getting violent, then you should get in there and bust some heads, ha ha!) Anyway, I kept the journaling simple so that he doesn't remember the mean bossy woman who said she owned the park from that day!

Supplies (all CTMH): White Daisy cardstock, Splendour and Blue Ribbon patterned paper, Clear Detail embossing powder, Cranberry and Crystal Blue ink, brads, Intrinsic Backgrounds stamp set

Other: paint, patterned paper, Autumn Leaves stamp set, and Versamark ink

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Layout #80 - another trifecta

This layout came together relatively quickly. I used the colours (baby pink, grass green and white), theme (silly), and sketch from Design Dollies for a trifecta, and I really like the fresh look of it all. The background pp is random stamped with the Tickled Pink stamp set from Close to My Heart, and then the rest of the paper is from my stash of scraps. The photos are from last summer, and my mom could not for the life of her get the kids to give her a proper smile. The journaling says "Sometimes the silly ones are the best anyway!" And it's true, too!

Supplies: cardstock, ink and stamp set from Close to My Heart, patterned paper from Basic Grey and unknown, Doodlebug Designs sugarcoated paper, Heidi Swapp chipboard letters, Creative Memories pen, unknown mulberry paper

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Mistletoe Cards

Just a quick post this morning. Here are the 12 cards I made with the Mistletoe Workshop-on-the-Go kit available from Close to My Heart. The technique featured is rock 'n' roll stamping, which I have played around with before, but rediscovered while making these cards. I really like how everything is included in the kit and I still have tons leftover for layouts. I am totally in love with the stamp set as well - I think I will get a lot of use out of it! We have a local hockey tourney this weekend, which means lots of volunteer hours. It is also -20 with several inches of snow on the ground. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

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Book Review Time!

A few people have said that they like looking at my list of books over in my sidebar, which is so cool! I've always been an avid reader, and I like books from many genres, but my last really exciting reads were surprising for me, because I wasn't expecting to like them so much.

First up is one from my library book club. We meet once a month and take turns choosing books. Last month was this one:

This book was just tremendous! I loved it, and I never would have chosen it on my own: weird title, and it's basically a compilation of letters, which I thought would be annoying, but for some reason worked really well. This is a definite must-read!!!

Next up is a series I got into by accident: The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare.

I don't mind admitting that I frequently choose books by their cover. When I picked up City of Bones last week, I didn't realize the target audience is teen girls, and I normally don't even go for urban fantasies, but for whatever reason, I bought it. After the first few pages, I realized it was probably going to be something like Twilight, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but again, not really what I was expecting. Well, I whipped through it in a couple of days, then bought City of Ashes and whipped through that one (it was even better!) and now I can't wait to get my hands on City of Glass. These books are not classic literature by any means, but are still a lot of fun, even if you're not into demons, vampires and werewolves.

Finally, I have one that I borrowed from the library and suggest you skip:

I don't really like the cover of this book, so I must've chosen it based on the title. I mean, this is so "me" right now: the main character is trying to fit in pre-pregnancy jeans, not sure if she wants to go back to work after mat leave, etc. But she's also really annoying. She whines about not having enought time to spend with her baby daughter, and yet she goes out binge-drinking with her girlfriends all the time. Ya can't have your cake and eat it too, Missy! Her misguided priorities and many, many typos made this one a pass for me.

It's my turn to choose the book at book club this month and I just started reading it. It's a debut novel from a Canadian author named Jessica Grant, and it's called "Come, Thou Tortoise". Now how's that for a title? I'll let you know how it was when I finish it!

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Layout #79 - Let there be snow!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not really hoping for snow right now, it's just the title of this page. I made this layout as a Design Dollies trifecta, but alas! I missed the deadline for the colour challenge. I had the concept in mind all week, but I just couldn't pull it off in time. Here is where I will insert my life story, so feel free to skip to the next paragraph if you are so inclined! We had a very hectic week last week - meeting with the school principal Monday, hockey practice and book club Tuesday, dance recital Wednesday, try to keep the kids from going mental on Remembrance Day Thursday, hockey practice and dinner at a friend's on Friday. Then the boys went to Smithers for a hockey tourney on Saturday and Sunday and I stayed home carless and phoneless with the girls. Yeah, something's up with the phone, we have no dial tone and when it rings and I answer, I get this horrible cross between static and a fax machine in my ear. And yet we get internet access. It's a real mystery... Yesterday I had a couple of friends over to make Christmas cards, but before they arrived, I had to clean like a mad woman! You know when you live in your house, you think it's looking all right, maybe not spic and span, but passable. Then try looking at it with an open mind, as if you're a stranger crossing the threshold for the first time, and ACK!!! The upside to this frantic clean-fest is that the house now looks presentable, and I don't feel guilty for taking time to write this super-long blog post! And I may even have time to finish my cards, seeing as when you host people, you never actually get any work done - or is that just me, hee hee?

So this photo is one of Nolan playing in our big fresh snowfall last year. I used lyrics from "Frosty Returns" on this page - Ailis was watching it on Saturday, and I had the song in my head all weekend! Seemed appropriate. I misted over a felt snowflake to make the circle accent, did some random stamping for the little flags, and used a background stamp and brayer to make the houndstooth strip. That's right, every piece of paper (except the black) started out white!

Supplies: CTMH cardstock, Cosmo Cricket photo corner, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Hero Arts, CTMH, and PSX stamps, CTMH embossing powder and inks, Versamark ink

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Layout #78 - Trifecta!

I found a gap in one of my family albums, so I created this layout using 2 photos I found in my stash from Dawson City. Unfortunately, these photos are not the best, but I thought I should scrap them because they illustrate just one of the fun events that were happening all summer long. I really miss that about living up there. It's unusual that a small town like that would be full of action, and if I could go back, I would do even more! So I managed to turn this page into a Design Dollies Trifecta by incorporating 1) colours: turquoise, yellow, red and black, 2) elements: little wee things are the teeny flowers on my patterned paper and 3) a sketch, which I flipped upside down. I created the background paper by brayering with blue ink on white paper, and I left the coverage kind of uneven to make that blocky effect, and then I added a homemade tag with little embellishments to cover up distracting elements in my photo.

Supplies: CTMH White Daisy and Honey cardstock, Chocolate Alphabet Small My Acrylix stamp set, Hemp and Exclusive Inks stamp pads in Crystal Blue and Black, Cosmo Cricket blackboard piece and patterned paper, Doodlebug Designs patterned paper, Colorbok glitter letters, Creative Memories pen, and Beutron buttons

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Layout #77 - Get Picky

This picture is from 2 and a half years ago when my mom treated me to a trip to Hawaii (yeah, she's pretty special!) That's her on the right, and my aunt came as well. We went to a luau, and this is the photo that they take of you as you get off the bus. It felt kind of cheesey, and then they sucker you into paying $20 or something to get the photo at the end of the night, but it is a good shot of the three of us! It was our first luau, and we laughed our butts off the whole time - it was a riot! I am entering this into the Get Picky inspiration challenge for November. The photo they have for inspiration is full of pastel colours, and banners, so I incorporated these into my page. I also added some glittery swirls inspired by their swirly lollipops. I used a sketch I saw on the Scrap-tures blog last week for Finally Friday sketches, and it is one from Got Sketch, although I couldn't find it on their blog. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Supplies: Bazzill and CTMH cardstock, CTMH Tickled Pink and unknown patterned paper, Little Yellow Bicycle letter stickers and epoxy button, CTMH hemp, Ranger Distress Stickles, Creative Memories and Sakura pens, unknown chipboard and fussy cut flower (courtesy of Mel!)

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Layout #76

This is the third of my Design Team layouts, and I think it's my fave! First, I loooooove the photo of Ailis, I think she looks so adorable! Then I pulled the colours from her dress and used Distress Inks to make the cool background and frame. The third thing I love about this page is the handmade flowers - I made them by cutting cardstock circles into spirals and then coiling them around and scrunching them up until I ended up with what you see here. The journaling was really simple, too. I have an old issue of Simple Scrapbooks filled with quizzes, so I just asked Ailis what some of her favourite things are, and there it is - instant journaling!

Supplies: CTMH cardstock in Colonial White and Cocoa, Tim Holtz Distress Inks and stamp set, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Glimmer Screen, Adorn-It stickers

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Layout #75

Here's another layout I used for my Design Team application a while back. I really like how all of the distressing and machine stitching turned out, as well as the misted crowns and the little green Grungeboard crown on Nolan's head. For anyone who hasn't realized yet from reading my blog, Nolan is a very interesting little guy! He is never conventional, and here he proves it with his mandarin-eating-technique! Insert toothpick into various spots all around a mandarin, then suck as much juice out of the hole as possible. Just makes me laugh! I've since learned to keep the toothpicks far out of reach, because after this harmless experiment, he continued using toothpicks for all manner of things, which led to broken toothpicks hidden in carpet waiting to stab people in their unsuspecting feet!

Supplies (all CTMH): Goldrush and Olive cardstock, patterned paper from Splendour Level 2 paper pack

Other: Tattered Angels Glimmer Screen and Glimmer Mist, Tim Holtz Grungeboard, Distress Ink, and Perfect Pearls, Bazzill cardstock, Little Yellow Bicycle patterned paper, American Crafts letter stickers, Creative Memories pen

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Layout #74 - Surprise Envie Challenge

This is a layout I whipped up a while ago for the Scrap-tures Surprise Envie Challenge. Teresa sent me and three others a little envelope with the same supplies, and we were to make a layout using all of the supplies. It was really fun, and so cool to see what others came up with. (Click the link to see what others came up with, and if you become a follower of the Scrap-tures blog, you could be in on the next envie challenge!)

Supplies (from the envie): Paper Trunk patterned paper, Bazzill cardstock, Prima flowers, Sweetwater wooden circle and paper embellie, Jenni Bowlin journaling card, brads and green twine

Other: CTMH cardstock and marker, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Creative Memories letter stickers, unknown doilies and date stamp

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