Rumour Has It

I'm still pluggin' away at making a dent in my January Counterfeit Kit.  Shortly after I made my kit, I just went through my little recipe box of photos to see which ones would match my kit, and these two little pics of Jason's mom with Brenna 2 years ago were begging to be scrapped!

This is the sketch from Let's Get Sketchy that I used:

And here are a couple of close-ups of the banner:

and the chipboard cluster:

I've been wanting to take part in Scrap it with a Song's Challenges for a while, but it hasn't worked out until this very moment.  This month's "Rock" challenge is to get inspired by Adele's song, "Rumour Has It", so that's where I got my title, but it also helped lead my journaling.  This page was emotionally difficult for me to do because we've recently found out that Jason's mom has Alzheimer's.  She's changed a lot since these photos were taken, and although she remembers our names and who we are right now, I know there will come a time when she won't know any of us any more.  I can't help but feel sad for Brenna - the other kids will have happy memories of time spent with their grandma, but Brenna probably won't.  I'm hoping pages like this will be valuable to her when she's grown, just to let her know that even if she doesn't remember, her grandma loves her so much!

Wow, almost makes me cry again!  I've been a bit of a basket case these past few days what with trying to find day care and other stress.  Yesterday morning, I thought I had it all figured out, only to realize in the afternoon that I was mistaken.  The lady I thought would be able to watch Brenna twice a week has decided that she does not want to watch Brenna at all - apparently Brenna is not self-sufficient enough for her.  Huh.  Soooo, that sends me back to the drawing board.  Argh!  Why can't there just be an abundance of well-qualified, loving individuals that want to take care of little kids when I want them to? 

Also linking up to:  Southern Girls Challenge #61 - Get Krafty

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Dempster Dreaming

I have a couple exciting things to tell ya, but first here is a layout I completed for our challenge at Seriously Creative Challenges:  

 Our prompt this month is "Winter Wonders":

I hope you'll join us this month, just create a project that embraces the spirit of winter and link up!

I had a lot of fun making this project, getting inky and crazy with my January Counterfeit Kit.  I was inspired by this sketch at Creative Scrappers:

At first I was going to make a circle out of patterned paper, but then I read Alison's blog and was inspired to try "painting" with toothpicks!  I just dipped a few toothpicks into my bottle of Lindy's Stamp Gang mist, and  scratched out a circle and outlined the stars.

Here's a couple of close-ups of my layout:

The titles and black stars were cut with the Cameo, then I backed them with patterned paper and washi tape respectively (that's my big word for the day!)  The doilies were cut from another piece of patterned paper (Echo Park) and the hearts are Pink Paislee mistables (those things are awesome!!!)  Oh yeah, I also made a frame out of washi tape for my photo.  

I really miss the Yukon!  Have I said that before?  (Probably only a hundred times!)  Anyway, if/when I ever go back there, I want to travel the Dempster highway again and see the Tombstone mountains.  Now that I've documented this wish in a scrapbook layout, it is officially on my bucket list, which is the prompt for the Fabulous Friday Challenge at Frosted Designs!  

Okay, now for my big news!  (No, I'm not pregnant, thank goodness!!!)  I got the job!!!  I'm pretty stoked, I will be working 20 hours per week as a rehabilitation assistant, which is the first real job where I'll be able to use my overpriced education - finally!  Now I just have to figure out the daycare situation, which is easier said than done.  

Well, that's it for now!  Hope all my bloggy pals get some crafty time in this week!

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First Layout of the Year!

True story:  in September, Jason took a picture of this little mouse eating an apple on the walkway.  He thought it must be a little bit intoxicated, as he didn't scurry away or move at all, so focused was he on his meal.  Two minutes later, Hunter roared out of nowhere and swallowed the mouse and apple in one gulp!

Kind of loving how this layout turned out!  Everything is from my January Counterfeit Kit, and I was able to incorporate Challenge #1 from the CKC blog:  use only three patterned papers, three embellishments (wood veneer branch, layered chipboard stickers, and stick pins from Crafts & Pieces), and a three word title ("the daily NEWS").  I used this sketch from Stuck?! Sketches:

And here's a couple of close-ups of journaling and embellishments:

Well, that's it for me!  My thumb is doing a whole lot better, seems to be healing nicely (looks a bit like Frankenstein's monster with the black stitches, though).  Won't be long before I'm fussy cutting and colouring like a mad woman again!!!  Thanks for looking!

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More December Daily!

Hope you're not sick of my December Daily album yet!  On the 15th, Jason took Nolan and Ailis to see a play in Prince George (in our smashed up car - Nolan was cold the whole way back because he could feel air coming in the back!).  Jason's cousin played Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol" and they were able to get front row center seats!  Jason bought a Prince George newspaper with a photo collage of the play, and I wanted to include it, so I put an envelope on the right hand side and decorated it with a star background cut with my Cameo and another journaling from Simple Stories: 

I haven't done much to the other side of the envelope, just inked it and added a longer journaling card/insert. Then, for the 16th I had these cute photos of Ailis and Brenna playing in the snow:

I was able to journal right on the photos, then just added some stickers to dress them up a bit.

Those pages were finished before I went under the knife!  Here I am dozing on the couch: 

Yeah, I'm milking it, but it's not often I get a day off from housework!  So the other day, I wanted to get some more done on my album but was a bit limited with the thumb situation.  I had to improvise and type my journaling.  Cutting with the paper trimmer is still doable, so I was able to finish these two pages:

Thanks for looking!  I have a #2 to change downstairs, this should be interesting!

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January Counterfeit Kit

I had surgery yesterday on my right thumb (ganglionectomy), so I'm doing this post one-handed, which really sucks!  But, I was pretty excited to put together this kit with some brand new supplies (thanks, Auntie Judy, for the birthday money!) and I just had to take a break from DD duties to make it!

 Above is my selection of patterned papers.  MME & BoBunny up top, EP in the middle, and Amy Tan and Simple Stories on the bottom.

 Here's my cs and extras - inks, mists, alpha stamps, washi, labels, twine, Pink Paislee mistable hearts, etc.

And a little bit of a close-up.  The flowers are CTMH, as are the stamps.  Man, sorry if this post is a bit random, but I think I may now need some more of those T3s!  Later!

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