Lastly!

I'm just going to take a quick detour this morning, and share with you my latest design team assignment for Miracle's Momma's Designs.

Sketch #33 was seriously fabulous. I absolutely loved it! My most favorite aspect of it was the layered scallops. I think it marked the beginning of my love affair (just recently) with a lot of punch work and layering. Looks great, right?!

I had to pare down all the elements in my layout because I felt it would wind up too cluttered and busy otherwise, so stuck with a fairly simple, linear design. True to my nature, of course.

Lastly, I added just a bit of room for journalling, because there was a bit of a story behind the photos in my layout. Kyle was sick for a couple of days over the summer, and upon emerging from his sick room to visit with us for a bit, Addison wrapped him with a blanket and gave him a gold medal to try and make him feel better. He has such a big, tender heart, he teared up immediately afterwards (you can kind of see it in the first picture on the left). Both my girls have huge hearts, too. They must have inherited that from both of their parents. Its what makes them so incredibly sweet!

And back to our regular programming.

The last two layouts that I created around our nieces wedding are finally up. You can find them here or here.

In my Eye Spy layout, both girls caught sight of a play park just outside the doors of the community hall where the wedding reception was held. I think both of us would have taken the girls out for a little while, except that it was raining cats and dogs that night! I caught Addison standing in the doorway, wistfully looking out at the playground. My heart breaks for her every time I see these pictures. Its just so sweet.

I absolutely love the sketch that inspired this layout. It's now located in my Fave Sketches board over at Pinterest. I love the linear, clean lines (yet again), and I love the playfulness the banner adds to the design. As for my take on the sketch, I LOVE the papers I chose (which are K&Co) and the color scheme. White, blue, yellow and green just seems to be such warm and calming colors to me. I mostly wanted to pick up the colors in Addisons' dress, which is why I chose blue and white papers. To compliment them, I added bits of green and yellow, and just a touch of pink. (I had to work the pink into it, because even though its faint, there's pink in the title alphas).

Finally, the last layout, Winners, is just to document who won the silly hat contest, and what the prize was that each recipient won for their silly hats. Kyle was one of the winners, and we now have our bottle of wine (the prize) displayed in the entertainment unit in our upstairs living room. Its too pretty to hide away and never look at!

This layout is incredibly simple. Maybe I was a little less inspired than I was in other layouts; maybe I just wanted to keep it this simple. To bling it up a tiny bit, I added clusters of rhinestones in various places throughout the page. To help the focal photo stand out a tiny bit more, I matted it with a 4x6 sheet of journalling paper that I've had in my stash for ages.

And, that sums it up! I do have two more layouts to share; I'm not sure if I'll be around again today to share them; it may have to wait until tomorrow. One of the girls has already scribbled all over one of my new layouts- I'm debating whether I should print out new pictures to cover the scribbled on ones, or just leave it. One day I'll look back on it and treasure the age they were at, but right now, I'm incredibly distraught over it. And, now the girls are fighting...

Signing off for now...

~a

Hide and Seek

Long time no see!

You should drop by my online gallery- I've got a new layout up. You can find it here.

This layout was done for the latest sketch (#160) over at LCTS, which you can find here.

And, once again, this layout (and sketch) has been added to my favorites list. It was so simple and quick to put together! The ideas started flowing as soon as I sat down to get to work. When that happens, beauty is hard to resist!

Addison, the moment we got to Shining Bank (where our annual family reunion was held), began to play hide and seek. She hid behind a tree and began counting. This picture is one of my absolute favorites, as well. I'm incredibly happy I caught this moment on film- now I can share the beauty with you!!

Our family reunion happens every August long weekend, and that weekend was no exception. In the next layout, which will be posted in the next few days, you'll see some of the wild weather we experienced this past summer- from flooding to tornadoes (which isn't common for areas this far north).

But, that's all I can share about that for now!

Take care and thanks for dropping by. I appreciate it!

~a

DIlemma

Hey peeps, I have a dilemma, and I would love your help (or advice- or both!!)

I attempted to write a post previous to this one, and found out (unfortunately), that I have no more space to add photos to this blog. Unless, that is, I buy more storage. I am not up for that. I found out because I have some exciting news to share, and a picture is necessary to the news I want to share. I will tell you what the news is, because I just can't keep it to myself anymore, but there won't be a picture to accompany it. I don't want to wade through the mounds of posts I've made in the last year trying to locate the photographic item I want to share.

On the other hand, you'll just have to go out and purchase what I am about to share with you. Ha!

I bet I've got you wondering now, LOL.

I got published!

One of my layouts will appear in the next issue (which is out on new stands on the first) of Canadian Scrapbooker magazine. GO out and buy it and look for me! I'd love that!

And, since I have no more photo storage, I am unable to show you my most recent layout, which is sketch #159 over at LCTS. However, you can find it at my online gallery.

Maren (and now Addison) are in this phase where everything is 'theirs'. Maren's 'my' phase has expanded to include the word 'friend' now, so everything and everyone is 'her friend_______...' Its pretty darn cute! I love it especially when she asks about 'her friend daddy'. It warms my heart knowing she thinks that way of her daddy. I just hope she feels the same about her mama!

Till next time,

xo

~a

Deep Within

Guess what? I've got another layout to share with you tonight!

I'm in absolute.love with this one- the sketch (#158 over at Lets Capture These Sketches) was stinkin' awesome, and what came of it just blows my mind away!

Here is my take.

Rather than making the left hand column a vertical photo, I changed it to include hidden journalling. I made a booklet, of sorts, by punching two holes at the top, and tying ribbon through to secure it. Then, I adhered the bottom page to my layout, and the top page flips open from the bottom.

I'm completely in love with the K&Co embellies that have been appearing in my projects as of late. Aren't they gorgeous!? I added some pop dots to the bird to give her a little more dimension, and make her stand out from the other bird that I adhered just below my title work. Everything works so well with the neutral background I chose- I wanted the title block to shine- and the self portraits.

I won't go into details as far as the journalling is concerned, but I will say that it (basically) outlines the feelings and turmoil I felt at my lowest point(s) before things finally turned around. The title work hints at it, too.

Have a fabulous evening!

Seriously Nuts

What the...??

What a nut!! 

Sketch #28 is up over at Miracle's Momma's Designs- you should check it out! What a fun sketch to play with. 

Since I didn't actually have a layout of the actual air show, that's the subject this layout covers. None of the pictures I took really turned out all that well- except for the vintage planes, the others move just too stinking fast to get a good picture of! Luckily, the F-18 fighter showed us what those planes look like flying half speed- its still ridiculously fast, but slow enough to get a picture of! 

And, the highlight of the show, the Snow Birds, didn't perform for us because a thunder storm blew in as they took off. Luckily I got a picture of one before the show started. 

So, I know the scan didn't come out the greatest here. Its just way too bright, and the papers and colours are severely washed out. I guess it makes for a cool effect, but I think it looks much nicer IRL. 

I didn't leave any space for journalling, but to remedy that, I used the picture with a ton of white space in it. (And, because I can just see people in the future asking what plane that is in the picture, I wrote it up in the top right hand corner of the picture). LOL

To highlight our Canadian roots, I found a stamp that looks fairly similar to a Maple Leaf. For some interest, I stamped it a few times, then used some pop dots to show case the one that's cut from card stock.

Taking these pictures at night still doesn't do my layout any justice, but at least this time you can see that the one banner is actually a water droplet design. I thought that worked quite well, since it was a very wet and soggy day.

The 'adventure ahead' badge is K&Co.

And lastly, just to show the dimension- both pictures and the circle badge are pop dotted as well.

Hope you enjoyed! Seriously, check out Heather's newest sketch, and let me know what you think! If you play along, I'd love to see how her sketch inspired you!

Baby C's

Hello from chilly, wintery central Alberta! My goodness we've been getting a lot of snow over the last week. I can deal with it as long as we don't have any more freezing rain. Its made life pretty interesting when you're attempting to travel from place to place. I highly DON'T recommend it!

When the girls first began learning songs and singing, one of the first I shared with them was the ABC's. They still don't have every single letter down pat, but they have the majority of it. They are also starting to sing along to the theme songs of some of their favourite tv shows- especially miss Maren. I love listening, and I love that she's trying to sing along. It makes my heart happy. They are learning so much and growing so incredibly fast!

Anywho, Addison affectionately sang the 'Baby C's', at the beginning, because that's what it sounded like to her. Now she knows that the song is actually ABC, but I thought it was so stinking cute! I never want to forget some of the sweet things they said and did. I'm so thankful for this hobby of mine.

Why do I say that? I scrapped about it. Naturally!

Reveal day at Lets Capture Our Memories is today, which means I have another layout to share with you.

I'm not sure that Addison was actually singing the ABC's to her Oma in this picture, but she could definitely be doing it- the toy that's in the middle of the bottom part of the picture, is a leap frog fridge magnet that sings the ABC's (including magnetic letters- all 26 of them- from the alphabet). That's what they sing along to now. This picture was taken the morning of our outing to the air show this past summer.

Its incredibly hard to see (I should have stamped it in a darker shade of ink, but I was afraid to try it over again, for fear of it looking bad), but I stamped 'I love you' in SU's Close to Cocoa along the upper right hand side of the picture. The scalloped circles were first stamped using SU's Always Artichoke ink, then cut out with a pair of ridiculously sharp scissors. The journalling spot was also stamped, using SU's Chocolate Chip ink.

The lady bugs and flower are all from the Susan Winget collection of K&Co.

The patterned papers are all fab scraps. Yay!

The sketch? Can be found at the LCTS blog. As always, please let me know if you played along with the sketch challenge this week, and don't forget to post your finished masterpiece to the website, using the link tool there. I'd love to see how this sketch inspires you!

~a

Spoiled Rotten

My birthday this year was probably the best one I've ever had. Seriously. I was spoiled.rotten. by the bestest husband in the universe!

On Friday night, we had dinner at Jubilations, a dinner theatre at West Edmonton Mall. To sum it up in one word: fun!! Dinner was delicious, and the show was superb. (We saw the musical version of NCIS, for those that are interested).

Saturday, husband let me shop: I needed new clothes and bras and undies, so I hit up Old Navy for some new clothes, and La Senza for the rest. For dinner Saturday night, we went to the Melting Pot. For those that live in the Edmonton area, and want to have a romantic, out of this world FONDUE meal, go to the Melting Pot. I have a few pictures from our romantic meal:

First up came the cheese fondue

I didn't get a picture of the salad, which came before the entree, which was an oil fondue

the flowers Kyle bought for me (apparently you can have them arrange flowers for you, and placed at your table before you get there).

Your picture is also taken during your meal, too, and they give you a copy of it, placed in a nice photo folder. Here's the picture they snapped for us, just before dessert.

Oops- what's left of our dessert. I highly recommend the brownies with milk chocolate fondue. In my humble opinion- and please excuse me- but its better than sex. No word of a lie. I had three plates of it. All complimentary, by the way.

This last picture was taken just tonight- the girls sang me happy birthday. We put candles in each of our cheese cakes (that was my birthday cake) so that the girls could blow out their candles, too. It was actually kind of funny watching them try to blow it out. Addison somehow blew hers out, but poor Maren (in the purple jammies) couldn't blow hers out. (The cheesecake was delicious, by the way). Hit up Costco for one of those...

In other news, Friday happened to be reveal day over at Lets Capture These Sketches. You can find sketch #156 there.

Here is my take on this awesome sketch:

I had a lot of fun working with this beautiful sketch. I think its one of my favourites! For a little added interest, I stamped the white card stock in the background- I felt that it was too white. I used SU ink in Summer Sun. The hearts are also stamped using the same ink.

My new favourite colour combo (after making this layout) is red and teal- what a gorgeous combination! Yummy! THe one piece of teal card stock is stamped using SU Not Quite Navy ink. Looking back at it now, I kind of think I should have stamped the other teal piece of card stock with the same stamp and ink, but at the time, I like the contrast.

When we took the kids to the air show in town this past summer, one of them fell to sleep in daddy's arms. I think it was Maren, but my memory has become a bit rusty. Anyways, I love this picture and just needed to scrap it! The journalling reads, 'we love to snuggle with you!' The chipboard 'favourite things' helped to reinforce our love of snuggling with the girls, as did the hearts.

Some of you may be wondering how things for me have been going in the recent past. I thought I'd share a bit of an update with you.

At the beginning of September, Kyle and I began seeing a marriage counsellor, to help us break the communication barriers, and improve our relationship. Its helped us out immensely! During the course of our counselling, it became apparent that I've been suffering from Post Partum Depression. I knew that I had it- my ob/gyn told me I was displaying symptoms already when I was pregnant. We let it go, because I couldn't take anything while I was pregnant, and the symptoms worsened after the kids were born. Mind you, Addisons' colic and terrible constipation for their first year didn't help matters, either. Every doctor I talked with after the kids were  born wouldn't listen. They kept telling me I was just stressed out, anxious, and they didn't necessarily think it was PPD. Not until my counsellor asked me about it. She encouraged me to see my family doctor again (which I did- and brought along the depression scale questionnaire I filled out at the beginning of counselling as proof that I did indeed have depression- which she says is severe).

I've been on medication now since the beginning of October, and honestly began to notice a difference immediately. I've progressed to the point where I'm doing things again that I haven't since before the kids were born. I feel like myself again; human again.

I am also researching different discipline/raising methods in regards to the kids. I've began to implement  1-2-3 Magic- which is working beautifully with the kids, and I seriously want to read Raising A Spirited Child. (Though I'd like to read 1-2-3 Magic, too). Any other material/child rearing methods are definitely welcome!

Lastly, we received news today that Kyle is diabetic. Things went south again after I got straightened out. It seemed like we switched roles. As soon as I lost the grizzly bear persona, my husband picked it up. I strongly encouraged him to talk with his doctor again, and have blood work done, and this is the final result. His fasting glucose levels are slightly above what the doctor would like to see, but no matter how high or slightly high it is, its still diabetes.

Life is about to change drastically for us! But, in a good way! Its unfortunate Kyle has diabetes (its hereditary), but now that we've had this wake up call, it'll do us all some good, I think. Once I"m done this post, I'm going to print out some diabetic friendly dinner recipes. Even though it'll be a few weeks till we meet with the dietician, there's no reason why we can't start making lifestyle changes now!

Sorry for the novel!

~a

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween everyone! Did you little ghosts and goblins score a lot of loot tonight? Mine sure did! We filled an entire Walmart reusable shopping bag- to the brim- with goodies! My word- they still have goodies left over from last year! All this sweet goodness will last us the next couple of years, I think. Did you stay warm while your little gaffers ran from door to door? We nearly froze- the wind is bitter!! We've all got wind burnt cheeks! I'll have pictures up here one of these days. It'll probably (most likely) have to wait until next week.

As promised, here is one of two DT assignments that were due recently. The other will be posted in the next day or so. Hopefully it'll be posted before the weekend, which is shaping up to be another whirlwind adventure for this gal. Only this time, it'll be solely for dear husband and I. Its my birthday, and he's treating me to a weekend for ourselves. I'm so happy that he heard what I said when I would love- just once- to have a birthday that wasn't all about hunting. I have the best man in the universe!

Don't you just love the simplicity of this design?! I sure do- it came together so quickly and effortlessly- Heather did a remarkable job on the sketch behind this layout. She's such a talented lady! You can find the sketch by going to her blog, Miracles Momma Designs. But, you won't find it there tonight. Check back in a few days, and you'll certainly find it there! I'm getting this up early because I'm certain I won't have the time until next week to jump back onto the computer. There's no better time like the present!

Smokin'!

Hi everyone!

What a fantastic weekend! Oh.my.word. Seriously, I had such a blast! It went all to quickly, unfortunately. But, doesn't it always!? In addition to having my hair done, and then having my boudoir photo session on Saturday, I also had the chance to (just barely) buy the girls some new winter coats, boots, running shoes and dress shoes. I wanted to hit Costco for their winter attire, but they had nothing out yet! What???! I was astonished. Walmart didn't have anything, either. Luckily, we found two (of three or four) coats in their size, and that.was.it. I still need to buy snow pants for the kids. I find it incredible that the supervisors at Walmart under ordered at this time of year. Another brownie point in my little black book for lovely Walmart! LOL

Here's a little preview of what my girlfriend and I looked like after we were all made up. Here's what we looked like before:

Dramatic difference, huh? I can't help but continually stare at the picture of us...I SO need to learn how to do my make up that way! We were smoking!!!!

Since I didn't have the time to, and since I hadn't uploaded the camera before this last weekend, I thought I'd take the time now to share with you some close ups of the last layout I completed.

Later on this week, I'll have a couple more DT assignments/reveals to share with you. I can hardly wait to get them posted!

In the mean time, I'll share a card with you that I made for our nieces' 3rd birthday two weekends ago:

This was super simple to make, and I think the final result is super duper cute! I used my Cricut to cut the cupcake card, using the Wildcard cartridge; I cut the cupcake liner out of blue/turquoise card stock, and the icing from white card stock. The candle and flame (as well as the birthday sentiment) were made using scraps. Everything is adhered to a kraft card stock background. For some sparkle and bling, I added clear rhinestones (to mimic sprinkles, naturally), and I used MS glitter in Crystal Fine for the sentiment.

Enjoy the rest of your evening, everyone!

Till next time,

~a

Lipstick

Phew! I just checked Lets' Capture These Sketches' blog to make sure the reveal post was up, and thankfully it WAS! I was worried that I'd be posting this layout a little too early. The girls and I are heading into Edmonton for another whirlwind weekend adventure- I have a hair appointment today, and then a {tasteful} boudoir photo shoot as part of Kyle's Christmas present tomorrow. The bad/devilish side of me has wanted to do one of these for eons, and I've finally worked up the courage to go and do it! Thankfully, they don't have to be super risqué or x-rated. They are actually fairly...tame, for a lack of a better word. They are as sexy as you want them to be. I'm pretty stoked about it!

After my photo shoot, my girlfriend and I are hitting up the town, since we're both going to be dolled up for our photo shoots (she's having lifestyle photos done). Its going to be a blast!

So, back to sketch #155. I had so.much.fun. working with this sketch! You can find the sketch over at the LCTS blog site here. I twisted and turned the sketch to fit my layout and the amount of pictures I had. And...about those pictures. To begin with, I didn't have any more pictures than the one of my lipstick (which has sentimental value, by the way--its the lipstick my make up artist gave me while she got me ready on my wedding day!!) I wanted to include a couple pictures of my girls with their lipstick on to help illustrate the story better. Since I'm fairly certain I had nothing with them wearing my actual lipstick, I chose a couple of pictures just of each of them- for all I know, they could have been wearing lipstick in those pictures! (The pics were taken the same day, I think).

The banner along the bottom of my focal photo is actually supposed to be stacked pictures (in the sketch), but once again, I didn't have enough pictures to support that. So, I improvised, turning the photo cluster into a banner, and turning the centre square into an embellishment. To resemble thread or string that the banner is adhered to, I used pearl rhinestones instead of actual ribbon, and I love how it looks! Really kind of girly, flirty and flattering.

I used a few bits of scraps on my layout- the blue polka dotted paper is scraps, and the title work and silver circle peeking out from the side of the picture are also from scraps. The half circle is a pull tab for my hidden journalling. The rest of the paper is Recollections and basic card stock (in kraft and black). The green patterned paper is K&Co. Lastly, the brown banner at the bottom, sporting the 'bribery can be flattering' sentiment is MS.

As always, if you use the sketch, I'd love to know, so I can drop by your blog or website and have a little look see!

Till next time,

~a