Baby Yoga

Seems like I've been out of the blogging loop for quite some time!  Finally, I have a page to post, and I really like it (I think...)

You know how when you take a picture of your work, and maybe you see it from a different angle, and you think, "Maybe I should have done something differently here?"  Ah well, it is what it is, and I think I'll be making more of these quickie pages in the future, just because of time constraints.

Thankfully, my page can be used for our challenge at Seriously Creative Challenges this month:

That's right, anything goes, so I'm expecting many entries from all my lovely blogger friends!  

Here's a close-up of the journaling:

If I could live my dreams of Olympic stardom vicariously through one of my kids, I think Brenna's the one!  Of course, it might help if we had a gymnastics club in town, but that's just a minor detail!

A couple more closies:

And credit should be given to this sketch I used: 

Although I missed the deadline, this sketch totally inspired my layout, as you can see from the speech bubbles!  

Thanks for looking, and I hope you'll join in our challenge this month!

Read More

A Birthday Card for Ailis!

My Ailis-girl was born on Valentine's Day, 8 years ago!  I made her this card (not even that late!) with a brand spankin' new, never used Saturated Canary stamp I bought from Creative Accents: 

Speaking of Creative Accents, have you seen our February Seriously Creative Challenge?  I'm seriously late this month, but here it is:

I was inspired by the colours here, although my palette turned out a bit different.  Now that I'm looking at the two images, I see that the stripes are similar, too.  Anyway, use this photo to inspire your project, link it up at the Seriously Creative Challenges blog before the end of the month, and you could win a prize!

I used this sketch from Graphicat Sketches, and I think I'm getting my card in at the last minute:

The other challenges I'm entering are:

Basic Grey Challenges- use your favourite thing(s) - I think this stamp is my new fave!

Drunken Stampers - theme - princess!  

Thanks for looking, and I'll be back soon with some more projects, promise!

Read More

Counterfeit Kits?!

So, I don't know exactly what I was thinking, but for February, I made 2 Counterfeit Kits!  Crazy, eh?  Especially considering with the new job and 2 birthdays this month, I probably won't have time to make much with them.  That's okay, I'll probably just continue using them into March.  Here is what the original kit looks like:

I loved the blues and greens, but it's pretty much the same colour scheme as my kit last month, so I drew my inspiration from the hexagons, instead.  This is the more girly kit I put together:

Everything here was brought in to match the piece of Echo Park hexagon paper.  The back row is all Basic Grey paper, and the front is all Echo Park Everyday Eclectic except for the one on the right, which is Stampin' Up.  I cut the word bubbles with my Cameo, and I love how they turned out!  Here's a close up of the inks and embellishments:

Then, here is kit number 2, a more masculine version, you could say:

First, the papers.  Mostly Echo Park Note to Self, and then some older CTMH papers and stickers from a kit I loved, Notebook.  There are also some scraps from MME and a piece of kraft cardstock I had cut into the honeycomb shape you see up front.

Then I just rounded the kit out with some scraps I cut with Spellbinders dies, some ink, brads, washi, twine, burlap, and buttons.

Ooooo-eeeeeee!  I can't wait to play!!!

Things are going well, here.  I think I've got the childcare dilemma worked out, and I'm really enjoying my job.  Life is still chaotic, but I think I'll survive.  Now, are you ready for some super-big news?  I didn't want to say anything too soon and jinx the deal, but it looks like we're buying a house!!!!!  Not only that, but it's pretty much my dream house!!!!!  I can't wait to post pictures, but we won't be in there until the end of April, so you'll just have to hang onto your britches - that's a hint as to what kind of house it is!  

I'll leave you now with this photo I snapped the other morning:

These white-tailed deer are all over the place!  I shot this pic from my deck.  Unfortunately, as soon as I opened the door, they bolted across the lake, so the photo was taken with maximum zoom.  I'll have to be more stealthy next time!

Read More

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

Read More

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!

Read More

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!

Read More

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!

Read More