Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge!

Yes, I'm squeaking in at the last minute at one of my favorite challenge sites, Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge!  One of the challenges for August is to scrap about a pet.  While technically Hunter is Nolan's pet, seems like I have most of the responsibility for his care.  If you are contemplating getting a puppy, just remember, they are a LOT of work, especially if you don't have a fenced in yard for them.  (Oh yeah, get this:  Jason finally built the fence about 8 months after we got Hunter, and as he's making it, he's telling me, "This is pretty easy!  I wonder why I didn't do it months ago?"  Please tell me, because I am wondering the same frickin' thing?  Can you tell I'm maybe a bit bitter after cleaning up all these messes?)  Well, without further ado, here is my page:

 

 

This page was a lot of work due to the amount of distressing and inking involved, but I'm pretty pleased with the results.  It correlates nicely with the real life mess Hunter made on a daily basis for the first several months we had him, as evidenced in the grouping of photos at the top left!  I've been known to use cardboard on a layout or two, but never as a base for the entire page!  I drew inspiration and materials from the packing boxes I'm still surrounded by in my scrap space.  Let's see, what else?  Some ruffled up washi tape, tags made from linen paper, inkable crinkable ribbon, and some crumpled up book paper add to the tattered layers.  Here's a close up of some of the elements:

  

 

And a pic of Hunter with his innocent face on:

 



The thing I don't like about this page is that the journaling is hardly legible, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to fix it.  Basically, I talk about how Hunter makes a mess every time I leave the house, but then he looks at me like this and I can't help but forgive him.  Dogs, eh?  So manipulative!  The place we're renting now has 20 acres with its own lake, so he's now allowed to roam free.  He is in heaven, I tell ya!  And much easier to look after, too. 

 

 

Everything on this layout came from my August Counterfeit Kit.  I'm so surprised I was able to make three layouts from this kit, what with a move and all.  Not sure I want to say goodbye to it just yet, but I definitely want to get in on September's kit.  I also used this great sketch from Scrap Friends:

 



 

But, alas, I missed the deadline.  Ah well, they have some fabulous sketches, so maybe this month I'll get in on one!

 

Well, have a great weekend, everyone!  I rented the Hunger Games for family movie night tonight (hopefully won't be too scary for Nolan and Ailis).  Then tomorrow we go to look at a house (fingers crossed, might be the one!) and I have a bunch of last minute school supplies to buy.  Other than that, just hanging out.  Hopefully I'll get some scrappy time, and remember, I have some celebratory candy coming soon!!!

 

Read More

400th Post!

Here's a page I made using my August Counterfeit Kit and an old Design Dollies sketch.  Whatever happened to Design Dollies?  I sure miss them!)  I played around with the background of this one, and I'm not sure if I really love it, but... it is what it is, I guess!  Close up of the title and journaling:

And a better view of the photos:

I tried to make the different elements stand out from the busy background paper (Simple Stories Summer Fresh, love it!) by distressing and adding a dark brown border.  Then I thought it might be fun to spray some of my new Dylusions sprays at the top to tone things down, but that idea kinda backfired.  So, I tried some bubble wrap/paint stamping, and that made it even worse!  Finally, I needed to find a way to make my journaling and decided to finger paint some white lines.  Meh, maybe this whole layout will grow on me.

Can't believe this is my 400th post!  Almost get a little tear in my eye when I think back over how this blog started and how many wonderful friends I've made over the years.  And when I look back at my past layouts and cards, I can see drastic changes in my style and the products I've tried - it's pretty neat.  I get so inspired every time I open my blogger dashboard and visit all your blogs.  Not only that, but everyone's been so wonderfully supportive of the tough times I've been through with moves, a new baby, job loss, and Nolan's diagnosis.  To thank you all, I think I may need to offer up some CANDY!!!  Yes, stay tuned, I'm going to give it some thought and figure out the best way to do things over the weekend. 

Well, that's it for now.  I'm off to hopefully finish a third Counterfeit Kit layout before the end of the month, so, TTFN, ta-ta-for-now!

Read More

Finally a Page from an Absent Roxy

Yes, I am here in Vanderhoof, alive and well (for the most part - I won't mention the little breakdown I had yesterday, as I am fully over it, and I also won't mention the amount of weight I've gained in the past few months, because that's just depressing!) and am sharing this layout I made when we first got here.  (I wasn't able to post it until today when I finally got internet up and going.)  I had my August Counterfeit Kit packed where I could grab it easily, and all my essential tools and adhesives ready, and this lovely page of my boy and Jason's mother last year is the culmination of my efforts.  I used this fun and interesting sketch from Creative Scrappers to pull it together:

Because the photos are B&W, I felt I could go a bit crazy with the patterns here.  Here's a close - up of one of the rainbow embellies, and some of the twine I stapled in place.

I have another page to share, but maybe I'll save it for tomorrow.  I should probably do some more unpacking or clean up the kitchen before Brenna wakes up, but I will tell you this:  I went to the Dr. today to see about my thumb.  She stuck a needle in it!!!  It friggin' hurt, but all that came out was blood, so maybe that's all it was, a blood blister needing to be drained.  I'll keep ya posted!   

Read More

August Counterfeit Kit

I'm trying not to freak out over this move, but...I'm kind of freaking out!  So, instead of gettting organized and putting things in order, I decided to get my August Counterfeit Kit together.  (I work better under pressure, so if I leave things to the last minute, then my stress level increases and... well, I'll keep telling myself that, hahaha!)  Here's this month's inspiration kit:

Isn't it purdy?  It's a digi kit, which is just so cutting edge!  When I saw the colours and papers in this kit, I thought it just screamed "Summer Fresh" by Simple Stories, and since I bought a few of those papers not long ago, they were my jumping off point.  Here are my full 12x12 sheets (top row MME Bright Side and bottom row Simple Stories Summer Fresh):

I think the back sides will work well, too:

Here are some scraps and embellishments I pulled from my stash to go along with it, as well as inks, sprays, a stamp set and some floral dies (just realized I don't have any alphas in there, oops!):



And finally, the part I'm most proud of, some hand made felt embellishments:

What do you think?  Now that I'm seeing them from above, my rainbows look a bit crooked, but overall I think they're pretty cute!  I have the pinwheel instructions pinned here, and the rainbows - well, I know I've seen them somewhere, but I searched and searched and could not find the exact ones I used for my inspiration!  Anyway, I would love to give credit where credit is due, so if these are your rainbows, please let me know and I will amend this post.

Sigh, I think all the kidlets are finally going to sleep - Brenna's been an absolute beast these past few nights, staying up until 10 or 10:30 p.m.  I don't know if it's the heat or if she's getting some molars or what!  Maybe she's just pushing the boundaries like a typical 2 and a half year old.

This should make you laugh!  As promised, I went to the walk-in clinic to get my thumb looked at.  I had all three kids with me.  Now Nolan tends to be a real hypochondriac, and he kept asking if I was going to die or if I would need surgery, etc, and he was pretty much in tears whenever the subject of my thumb came up.  Well, the doctor I saw is from Madagascar and has a very thick accent.  He didn't know what was wrong with my thumb, but he said it could be a ganglion.  Nolan gasped and almost started crying right there, he thought the doctor said "gangrene"!  I couldn't help it, I just had to laugh!!!  I know the situation is not really laughable (I've talked to 3 doctors now and none of them know what it is just by looking, and this third one wanted to refer me to a hand surgeon) but to see Nolan nearly pass out because he thought my thumb was going to be amputated, well, that just made me realize how much he really cares!  Seeing that we're moving so soon, the doctor suggested that I go in to the clinic RIGHT AWAY as soon as I get to Vanderhoof and they can refer me on from there.  What a hassle!  I'm pretty tempted to just take matters into my own hands - a bottle of wine and a sterilized needle and I'll drain the damn thing myself!  That would probably be pretty stupid, though... 

Well, the movers get here Tuesday to start packing things up, so I'm not sure what I'll be able to do with this kit before the end of August.  Here's hoping I can get in at least one page, from our new (rental) pad, before the kids start school and everything gets all fall-ish.  Wish me luck, and I'll try to keep posting comments even if I don't get any crafting done!  Hugs from Roxy!!!



Read More

From Screen 2 Scrap's Birthday Challenge

Yesterday was Nolan's 10th birthday!  All week I've been thinking about this special day, and so when I got home from Vanderhoof (had to drop Jason off at his new job!) and got a bit of time to play with some BRAND SPANKIN' NEW PAPERS!!! these photos were what popped out at me, needing to be scrapped.  They are from 2 years ago, and I'm not sure why they haven't been scrapped before now, but I'm glad I finally got around to it.  I also haven't played along with From Screen 2 Scrap in a while, and they are currently having a birthday celebration/theme going on for August.  Hello, inspiration!  Here's the sketch I chose to work with:

And here's my page:

I had to change up the sketch a bit, but I stayed true to the basic design.  What do you think of the new Basic Grey Paper Cottage?  It's pretty busy stuff, so I combined it with a piece of red and an extremely old piece of blue Chatterbox (are they even around anymore?) in an effort to ground it.  Normally I probably would have chosen green papers to match Nolan's shirt, but I wanted his beautiful blue eyes to be the focus here, hence the blue paper strip.  Did I succeed?  Normally I wouldn't use doilies on a boy page, either, but they reminded me of cake doilies (which is what they are, in fact!) so, I think they work.  I didn't want to overembellish, so I just made some candles out of paper (MME) and number stickers (Echo Park) cut into flames.  (I also needed something to cover up where I tore the red paper a bit!)



And here's a picture of my baby boy from yesterday:



He's getting pretty big!  I just realized the other day that his feet are the same size as mine!!!  He was so awesome yesterday, just so polite to everyone, no meltdowns - it was awesome!  The only thing missing was Jason, sniff.

Hey, you wanna hear something cool?  I was messing around on pinterest the other day, and I must've typed "smash book" into the search thingie.  I scrolled down, and saw some of my pages!  One of my pages has been repinned 117 times!!!   ( Seriously, here's the link!)  I just about freaked!  It's these types of moments that make me say to myself, "They like me!  They really like me!!!"  (Or, they like my smash page enough to pin it, anyway!)

As for my thumb, I tried getting it looked at one day, but couldn't get in to the clinic in a timely fashion (they only had one doctor on).  I went so far as to go to the ER, but I had groceries in the car that I needed to get in the freezer, etc.  It's like my follower Sue said, if it was one of the kids with a puffy thumb, I'd be in there in a snap, but as a mom, it's just one of those annoyances that get put off until...  Well, tomorrow, I promise!!!

And, one more little announcement while I have your attention.  My scrappy friend Tanya is having a "500 post" blog candy for 5 lucky followers - make sure you check this one out, she has the most wonderful copic colouring around!

Read More

Gettin' SMASHy With It!

Time for your new Seriously Creative Challenge:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to complete a project with a summery theme and include the colour YELLOW!  I love yellow, it's such a happy colour, so I had no problem using it on these here SMASH spreads:

The first page is one from my red SMASH book, the one that's all about moi!  I used to love going to concerts, and I kept all my ticket stubs.  See, even before I was a smasher I was thinking like a smasher!  Anyway, I had a lot of fun trying out new techniques here, like doodling on the tree, and using watercolour pencils for my background.  The mandala is one I printed off (found it on pinterest here) and thought it would be fun to use as a sun.  I love all the art journals I've been spying on pinterest, too, which inspired me to try my hand at some fancy lettering on this postcard - probably not a professional job, but not too bad for a first try, I guess.  I attached the postcard to the binding with paper clips to make an insert (another idea I found on pinterest here), and when you flip it, the spread looks like this:

Score!  I found this postcard from Arts County Fair in my stash, and it adds just the right amount of orange to balance out that mandala.  The photo is one taken at Edgefest circa '98 or '99.  Wow, how the years blur the older you get!

Here's the second layout from my red SMASH:

In 2008, I trained my butt off (literally - my butt's never been that small!) to enter a fitness competition.  I traveled from Dawson City to Vancouver to compete, wearing a jeweled bikini and heels on a stage in front of hundreds of people.  Crazy, yes, but it's one thing I can cross off the bucket list!  My mom and aunt traveled to Vancouver to watch the competition, and then spirited me away for a week's vacation to Hawaii.  After two weeks of -50 degree weather, it was wonderful to just relax and lay on the beach in the heat.  This page is more about body image, however - how it felt to wear a bikini and not feel self-conscious for once, and how I feel now about losing that figure and struggling to get it back. 

I added a postcard insert again, and here's how it looks opened up:

On the postcard I wrote about how wonderful Hawaii was, especially the food (hard to see with the flash lighting it up like that!) and I stuck in a card that my aunt sent me after our trip.  I just love the watercolour picture of the dolphins on the card, so pretty!  I used some Graphic 45 paper here, as well as some Tim Holtz tissue tape and some shell shaped buttons made from coconuts that I bought in Hawaii.

Are you still with me?  Well, here's the final page for you today:

This one is in my orange SMASH.  As soon as I saw this paper printed with logs and orange paint, I knew it would be perfect for my forester husband.  Quite often when he goes out in the bush, he takes these photos of himself, and I find them later on the camera and think, "What were you doing?"  The orange ruffle across the second page?  That's flagging tape I found in his pocket when doing the laundry.  He let me use his brand new RPF stamp to make the white circle accent on the left hand page (RPF stand for Registered Professional Forester, and it's a pretty big deal to pass the test and call yourself one here in BC).  The second page has a couple of stories about him and Ailis.  They're pretty cute together!  Jason tries to have daddy/daughter time with her quite often, as we both spend a lot of time troubleshooting with Nolan and Brenna.  Ailis is not one to make a fuss, so if we're not careful, we can easily overlook her need for attention, poor thing.  I like to think I did a good job here of capturing some simple, everyday moments that might otherwise be forgotten. 

And one last pic in case there are any nurses or doctors out there that may have any clue as to what is going on with my thumb:



See that bump on the side of my right thumb?  Well, it's squishy, and I don't know how in heck it got like that!  All I know is it's been that way for at least 2 months now, and I don't remember whacking it or getting a splinter or anything.  Some nights it hurt and throbbed so bad I couldn't sleep, and other times the swelling would go down a bit and I totally forgot about it.  But now I'm damn sick of it, I have trouble grasping a pen or scissors (how can I scrapbook?!)  and I think I have to get it drained or something.  Weird, eh?  Anyway, if any of you have any advice or knowledge about strange puffy thumb syndrome, feel free to send it my way! 

Have a great (long) weekend!  I'm heading up to Vanderhoof today to drop Jason off at his new job, but I'll be back hopefully with a new post soon and before I make the big move with the kids (long story, I'll fill ya in later). 

Read More