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!

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

My Spirit{ed} Child

These pictures just screamed at me to be used when I sat down to complete my layout for the LCTS latest sketch (#151). You can find the sketch here.

I originally had other pictures picked out, and after I got them printed, I looked through the rest of the album that they came from, and decided that these pictures of Addison playing in the living room curtains needed to be scrapped instead.

The chipboard 'spirit' piece defines Addison to a tee. She's head strong, and knows what she wants and doesn't want- and when she wants it (or not), and nothing else will persuade her to think or believe otherwise. Learning how to raise her and discipline her has me stumped, but thankfully I've come across some resources lately that will hopefully help out with that!

Having said that, she's also our fun-loving clown in the family. She sure knows how to make us laugh- and she sure knows how to have fun! She isn't shy- she's a bigger social butterfly than her daddy and I combined!

To sum up, I just wanted to capture the essence of Addison in this layout. I think this defines her perfectly!!

Winners

Happy holiday everyone! How did y'all enjoy your weekend?

Ours was a blast- full of surprises and lots of fun! (More on the surprises later).

I just wanted to drop in quick with the winners of my giveaway:

Congratulations Melissa and Sharon! 

Please send your mailing addresses to my email: k.a.krogsgaard@gmail.com

I'll have your prizes in the mail before the week is out!

Small Gestures

Did you hear? I'm having a giveaway! For more details, scroll down, or click on this link to head straight over there, and click here to see what's included in the RAK!

One of the things that I've wanted to cross off my scrappy bucket list is painting/chalking/inking (and for those of you that have mists- misting) using a template of some kind. Since I have none of those things in my arsenal as of yet, I used what I had on hand. While it may not look as nice as spray inks and proper templates do, I still really like the effect this created.

I used what I had on hand- being Stampin' Up ink, and a paper (dollar store) doily. Then, I took a sponge dauber and inked away! Once that was done, I layered on the elements and called it done.

Before that, though, I altered a few other items. The bird within the frame is a K& Co chipboard frame, and it was fairly blah being an off-white with barely there script scrolling across it. If you were going for a monochromatic colour scheme, it would be beautiful. I wanted more colour, so I used Summer Sun ink (SU) to fill in the scalloped edge, then Cameo Coral for the flowers, and lastly Old Olive for the leaves. For the bird, I used Martha Stewart glitter in Peridot. (I used Always Artichoke ink for blending in the shape of the doily).

The butterflies are vellum, and they're also K&Co. We all know what vellum looks like, and they seemed to be a little lost on the layout- blending in with the white background. Once again, perfect if you're going for a monochromatic colour scheme. With my sponge dauber, I painted them in using Cameo Coral and Ruby Red.

To ground my picture, I threw on a piece of scrap patterned paper (from K&Co's Itsy Bitsy 6x6 paper pad), and then flipped over a smaller piece of the same patterned paper for the sentiment, which is a rub-on and I'm not sure where it came from anymore.

I think the girls sat outside one evening with their daddy while he had his 'yucky smoke', and when they came back in, they were holding some flowers that had come from the flowerbed underneath my living room window. Never mind they came from my own garden- they're still beautiful, and I loved the gesture!

Besties

Did you hear? I'm having a giveaway! For more details, scroll down, or click on this link to head straight over there, and click here to see what's included in the RAK!

Do you have a friend that is very special to you? Do you get to see her (or him) very often? Have you been friends for so.long that you don't even remember when you first met?

We've been through a lot, A and I, and our friendship has weathered a lot of storms. There have been times where we haven't been close and haven't had much contact, but somehow, our friendship has defied the 'friends for a season' cliche, and its withstood the test of time. Not many friendships last that long, and if they do, they're one in a million. Our friendship is one of those that even if we drift apart and our lives get in the way, we'll still be able to pick up where we left off.

I'm so thankful that happened with our move back to Alberta. Not that we didn't stay in touch while we lived in a completely different province. We did. But, now that we're so.much.closer, we've renewed the desire to meet up as much as our schedules allow. We often don't get to talk much in-between, but when we do have a coffee date planned, there's a ton to share! I actually kind of like it that way. Then we never have anything dull to talk about, and its never repeated 20 million times. Its always fresh and new.

We've discovered that the best way for us to get the most amount of time to visit (while also knocking off a must-do chore from our ever-growing to-do lists), is to book our hair appointments together. Yeah, it only happens every 6-8 weeks, but it works so well for us! We usually meet up for lunch beforehand, chit chat through our meal, and then continue on while we're having our hair done. Its wonderful! And, kudos' to our hairdresser for being willing to do our hair at the same time. She's an absolute blessing! In the end, that's an entire afternoon catching up with my bestie.

This layout is a mix and match of all sorts of papers. Some of it is Recollections, some of it is K&Co, some of it is DCWV (I think) and some of it is even Sandy Lion. That little piece of ribbon at the top, above the picture? Hidden journalling.

Tomorrow I'll be sharing another layout, but that one is fairly personal. Upon hearing that scrapping the hard times as well as the good could be therapeutic, I decided to take that advice and get 'er done. It may not appeal to some of you, and if not, that's totally fine. Just come back whenever you're ready!

Till then,

~a

Peace Out

Hey hey everyone!

Just wanted to drop in and say a friendly 'hello' before stumbling off to bed. Its late, I'm tired, and so looking forward to a day off without the twinlets (though they'll be home around supper time tomorrow night), and a much needed appointment at the massage therapists in the afternoon. yippee!

but, before all that great stuff happens, I'll be back to share the weekend, some pictures, and a few layouts! 

peace out and sweet dreams!

UR the BEST

159* the robin that had quite a bit to say this morning
160* the kind gentleman that asked if I needed help lifting bags full of pea gravel
161* this:

While I was peeling potatoes for supper tonight, Maren came up to me and hugged my leg, and said: "you're the best, mama"


I hope it wasn't my ears playing tricks on me, because it sure sounded like that's what she said.

One can only hope- and hope- right?

I'm kind of intrigued by the notion of following a sketch when it comes to scrapbooking. It began with joining MMD's design team, and now has expanded to another site (when inspiration is lacking); and so when I came across got sketch? I decided to try following a sketch (the most recent one), and after thinking on it for a few days, threw my inhibitions to the wind, and will submit it!

Here it is!

Its dark, I know, but I'm a nut when it comes to taking pictures of my projects, and will sometimes take them at 10:30 at night (or whenever I finish them), because I don't want to have to worry about getting it done the next morning (because 1- I'm too excited about it; and 2- I might not get around to it the next morning).

Addison has been practicing how to do her somersaults. Being the cautious child she is, she isn't brave enough, and hasn't learned to push herself completely over yet, so I help her do it- to the excited 'do it again!' pleas. And, what totally melts my heart, is that she must hang on to Kiki and not let it go. You'll see her kiki (blankie) in the bottom left side of the pics.

162* hearing the children playing at recess and lunch (a couple blocks away)

Back Then...

How was your Mothers' Day?

Ours was great. The weather was beautiful, we had good visiting over at my parents place, and the food was fantastic!

The kids played outside all day long. Literally. No naps, not a lot of fussing, lots of laughs and giggling and squealing...and for mama, a quick solo trip to Michaels for some retail therapy. You know, the upside to Michaels selling off all their brand name stock is that its all massively marked down!!! I bagged a lot of goodies- including a really great sheet of rooster paper and a rooster stamp for an upcoming lo i'm doing about my other obsession: roosters! Unfortunately, a lot of goodies were still left behind. Hmm...I foresee another trip in the near future!!

My favourite picture of the day?...

...is this!!:

Isn't he cute???!


He asked mom if there was anything he could do to help her get supper ready, so she sent him to the barbecue to grill the delicious turkey burgers she'd made for us. Yum! She also dressed him up in Oma's {my Oma--the kids' great Oma} old apron. So, in a way, she was celebrating with us, too, though she wasn't there with us in person. And, on a side note, mom says she's doing good. She went to visit her the other day, and she was quite chipper and talkative- repeatedly mentioning something about flowers. Mom's not sure if she has a bunch of flowers in her room at Miller, or if she's in another place and time in her memories. She said she was sitting at the table in the dining room, which is really great news.

(And, for those that don't know, my Oma is going to be 93 on the 24th. She's suffering from dementia and lives in a long term care facility. Its actually the same place Grandma Murray lived- and on the same floor, even!!- before she passed away a couple of years ago).

And, its another painful reminder that I've got to get over to Miller and visit Oma...She's only seen the kids a couple of times. The last time we saw her, she asked me when I'd gotten so big. LOL. Apparently she remembers me as a little street urchin. And, she wondered who the little kids belonged to. Me, of course, but to her it didn't make sense :)

I have a lot more pictures to share- that my beloved sister took- but I don't have them to the computer yet. I'll get them up here sooner or later!! (The batteries to the camera died after a few pictures were taken, so the rest were taken with our iPhones, and the shots sister got were while I was gallivanting around Michaels').

It was a long day- but a good day!- and we got home about 10 o'clock last night. It was about 11:30 when the kids finally settled and fell asleep. Oi! Kyle and I were beat when we got home! We thought the kids would crash, because they'd gone nonstop all day long, but that wasn't the case. They still wanted to play outside- at 11 o'clock at night!! Maren kept saying while the sun set, 'mama, its dark!', and I kept telling her that it was getting to be mommy and daddy's bed time; when it gets dark like that everyone goes to sleep. She mustn't have believed me!

Hope you all had a fabulous Mothers Day, and I'd love to hear in which ways you got spoiled!

My own mama spoiled me with a beautiful hanging basket. I can hardly wait to get it hung up!!

78* solo anything
79* massive savings when shopping
80* good food
81* hot weather
82* memories


Ohhhhhh memories!

The picture I really wanted to use I can't find, so these will have to suffice. THese are from our move back to Alberta from Saskatchewan. The kids were still babies in these pictures! I can't believe how much growing and maturing they've done in the last year. It totally blows me away! The kids were 14 months old when we made the trek up here, and now they are just over two.

I couldn't help but reminisce while I was sitting in moms' back yard yesterday, thinking about when we had just moved here. Addison hadn't learned to crawl yet, she was still very clingy and sensitive. Maren had mastered crawling not long before we moved, and it wasn't long before she began walking on her own. They were just beginning to talk- at least Maren was. Addison was still fairly behind, and we were concerned about her development. Looking back now, I realize we had nothing to worry about. She just did things in her own time; when she was ready for it. Its amazing how quickly she's catching up to her sister!

Now, Addison is as talkative, busy, goofy, mobile, accident prone, stubborn, cuddly, sensitive and outgoing as her sister.

And Maren, well, when she discovered her legs, and she began kicking them, there was no stopping her. There's still no stopping her!

83* flowers
84* neatness and organization

...but, more on that later :)

For the Mama's

For all you BEAUTIFUL mama's out there, hope you have a wonderful MOTHER'S DAY!!


69* moms
70* a day to celebrate our moms and being mom, and all the other special women in our lives

Since the creation of this and this (which are mounted on 8.5x11 sheets of paper, then adhered to 12x12 page refills- and further elaborated on), I've began contemplating creating lo's in a size other than 12x12. I liked that they were so much easier to pull together and create. I liked that there wasn't such a large area to cover- things seemed to fall into place much more easily, and there wasn't so much 'dead space' between all the elements. I don't want to call it white space, because that wasn't the intention for all the space that's being unused- that could certainly be used; I feel like my projects are a lot more cohesive on the smaller scale.

So, needless to say, I have begun dabbling in 8.5x11 size lo's. I created my first one last night:

Until all my page refills are used up, the lo's will be mounted on 12x12 pages. Once they're gone, I'm shopping for an 8.5x11 album!

And, truth be told, this isn't my first 8.5x11. The scandal! Gasp!

I know...but...I have to keep my lips sealed on that for a little while longer, yet.

The suspense is killing me, though.

But, there you have it. I've got a secret.

Its simple, but I love every inch of this little layout. I've been wanting to create something with a sun on it, so I've got that checked off my scrappy bucket list. It actually works perfectly, since this is a page about poor Maren coming down with our latest cold. Daddy brought it home first, but she was the first of us girls to catch it.

The sun, by the way, was pieced together by yours truly. And, as my girls famously say, "TA DA!!! Thank you, thank you"


The clouds were cut with my cricut, and then I embossed them using my cuttlebug.

I love the visual interest my title work creates, too, using the different fonts and elements (circles, squares, stickers...)

And, other than the card stock background, every other element on here are SCRAPS!

The story behind this:

Maren is our little ray of sunshine. She's always been our happy girl. She's always laughing, giggling, bright, happy- and when she isn't, it usually means she's not feeling good. The other big clue she isn't feeling well is if she's happy to just sit and cuddle. Every other day, she doesn't have the time or inclination to do such a thing. There's too much to do and see and explore!

In the pictures in my layout, she's sitting on the couch with me, watching tv, but also trying to play her 'game' on my iPhone (a learning game all about animals). Just before that picture was shot, she was snuggled right up under my chin, watching tv. Even when she isn't feeling well, she's easily distracted.

Both girls get that from their mama. If it isn't something sparkly and pretty, its something that's caught their attention on tv. Bad mama!!

So, the title actually does double duty. First, it tells the entire story, all on its own, and secondly, its a way to describe my little girls' personality. 'Neaky, isn't it?? I love it!

71* creativity
72* variety
73* surprises that take me off guard- but that are happily and definitely welcome

Dear husband showed up at home last night with a few groceries that I'd asked him to pick up. I had made spaghetti for supper, and thought it would be a nice treat to have some garlic bread along with it. I also noticed that we were desperately low on milk and chocolate milk, so asked him to grab that for me, as well. I did get the grocery shopping done two days ago, but it didn't even occur to me that milk needed to be on that list! When I checked last (in my brain, that is) we still had lots of milk left. I don't know where it all went so quickly! I mean, the kids drink it by the gallon, but it usually doesn't go that fast!!!

I was still in the kitchen whipping up supper, but I could hear the kids squealing excitedly, 'present, present!!', but I just thought it was the groceries they were referring to.

When husband came into the kitchen, and I turned to greet him with a kiss, I learned that flowers were the present the kids were giddy about. My heart melted. Its been sooooo looonnngggggg since husband had enough time to think clearly and logically enough to actually be on time for anything, I could have burst into tears. My heart was definitely happy, though. He actually thought of me, and he actually went out and bought me something. My day couldn't have been any better, right in that moment.

And, those are the flowers you see at the top of this post :)

And, to add just a bit more humour, the kids were scrunching up their noses and sniffing at the air as I was unwrapping the flowers, saying they 'smelled'. I hope they meant it in a good way! LOL

A Thankful Time of Year

~ 113 ~ becoming a pinterest-er

~ 114 ~ just happening to see her trying to stand on her own- without holding onto anything- from the crawling position. TWICE in a row

~ 115 ~ they really are well behaved kids

~ 116 ~ thanksgiving

~ 117 ~ she came out of their room, right up to mr while I was elbow deep in dish water, to tell me she'd made a poopy. Way to go, girl!!

~ 118 ~ 12 days and counting

~ 119 ~ color

~ 120 ~ cornbread of the homemade variety

.......

Yes, I am officially on pinterest now, and I've been browsing up a virtual storm. I'm curious, though, how does one pin directly from the net? Must find out...

And, what is the point, unless you have a specific goal in mind- like collecting ideas for a party, wedding, or home inspiration? What does a person do with what they've pinned? Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of it, but I'm just not sure what to do with it once items are pinned.

It's thanksgiving weekend, and there is so much to be thankful for this year. It's a year with new beginnings (once again), new friends, more family- and this time much closer to our beloved family, and gorgeous weather. The trees are quickly losing their leaves now, and soon the white blanket of snowy perfection will cover the ground. So will little footprints cover the ground in our very own home and back yard.

I realized, while I was doing the dishes after lunch, how HAPPY I am as a mother. My ultimate goal in life is realized- and it IS good. Nothing makes me happier. Those little feet are SO precious to me!!

....

~ 121 ~ being their mama

~ 122 ~ their little feet- the sound they make on the floor- no matter how rough or gentle they may be

More

~11~ how utterly distraught she was when I left her at a friends so I could bring her sister and myself to the clinic. It broke my heart hearing her sobs- even when she was back in my arms and STILL not settling, and it was touching at the same time.
~12~ sweet little Nibbles, the puppy that goes bonkers when we come around
~13~ sunshine and warmth
~14~ slushies on hot summer days
~15~ camping trips and road trips
~16~ the sweet smiles they give when I turn around in the front seat to check on my previous cargo
~17~ gathering with relatives and loved ones and sharing a fantastic long weekend with them
~18~ a cleansing and refreshing shower after a hot, sticky and dusty long weekend!
~19~ freshly washed and dried bed sheets
~20~ snuggles with kitty

Simple Pleasures

Each day my children find something new to delight in and it makes me marvel at their careless abandon for simple joys. It's inspired me, as has a friends blog (you can find her over at kimscorner1.blogspot.com), although my reason for remembering these moments might be different than hers.

~1~ riding in the grocery cart, which always makes her erupt into squeals and giggles
~2~ the way she holds my face in her soft, warm hands and looks unabashedly in my eyes
~3~ oh how my heart melts when she does it!
~4~ pleasant surprises and the blessings that accompany them
~5~ a pending visit from a missed, dear friend later this summer
~6~ the way they both go nuts over their bath times
~7~ how she says "cookie", "no" and "peeka" in that sweet, angelic voice of hers
~8~ listening to her talk in her crib at bed time. The happiness and contentment she exudes in those moments make me so proud!
~9~ finally having some common ground with a relative and *finally* getting over my inferiority complex around her
~10~ warm, sunny days

Tomorrow we are leaving for the weekend; I am looking forward to the annual family camping trip. It was something I dearly missed when we moved to Saskatchewan! I'll post how things went when we return.

Happy long weekend everyone!

Something New

Neither of you had seen anything like it in your short baby lives. The lights were bright, the air was cool, and then soon there were men gliding around on ice in bright colored jerseys, pushing around black round objects that made loud noises when they hit the glass in front of us.

You looked at the ceiling, rippled and poorly absorbing the heat the furnace was undoubtedly throwing into the air, at people filling up the lobby, at the policeman in his uniform standing directly behind the chair I was sitting in, taking everything in. Faintly, a slight smile crossed your mouth (behind your sucky), or did it? I couldn't really tell. Daddy thought he saw it, too.

You were about to witness your first hockey game- fights and all. It was going to be the battle of the towns: Arcola vs. Carlyle. (Go Combines, go!!)

In my lap, you were lightly bouncing binky's pink bunny ear in the air, staring intently at the men on the ice warming up; then you were in mama's arms as I stood rigidly in the corner, in front of the plexiglas separating us from colder air still, and flying hockey pucks that could knock a person out, leaving pretty colors in its wake, should they hit you. The loud, sudden sound of the puck hitting the glass evoked no fear of any kind in you--not even a response.

Daddy and I looked at eachother in surprise--and relief. We might have a good night afterall!

I underestimated just how good the night would be for you and I. Shortly after the game began, you began slouching in my lap, you began whining and wouldn't settle down. Finally, upon standing for the thirtieth time, I decided to cradle you to sleep like I had done so many times when you were itty bitty tiny.

Sucky in mouth, binky tucked under your arm with soft ears at your chin for easy access (to either play with or chew on--of course all at your own discretion), and blanket covering you for extra warmth, you settled. You stared for the longest time at the policemen (by that time a few more had dropped in to visit--must have been a real busy night) and paramedics standing behind us, talking to the couple with a baby there, just as if you were eavesdropping on their Newfie-accented conversation; your sister was intent on playing with the mama and the baby at the same time. For her, there was too much going on, too much to absorb, too much to miss should she go to sleep.

Nope, she'd keep going till she dropped in her tracks.

(Where does she get all her energy, daddy asked. Its beyond me, truthfully, but all I told him was babies are supposed to be full of energy, and as we grow up, we lose it...)

Finally, eventually, you fell to sleep. Deeply enough, I might add, for sucky to even fall from your mouth.

 Twice.

(Of course, you woke a few times in between to cry and whimper, but you soon were back to dreamland each time).

Even though the rest of the night was rough for the three of us, thank you so much for this small gift. I love moments like this.