And the bogging continues...

Hello all! Today was a very good day! One of my fave stamping/scrapping places had their anniversary sale, so I HAD to go and check it out!! Needless to say, I indulged! I walked away with some awesome deals, and didn't break the bank too much! I added 2 sets of nesties, 3 Nellie stamps, 3 Maya chipboard albums and a whopping 7 new bellas!!! That along with some other odds and ends and I am a very a happy girl!!! If anyone is in the area, it is totally worth checking out the deals at the Paper Pickle in Chatham. It is always a worthwhile visit, now the prices are crazy good!

Here is another layout I finished this weekend. It is based on a sketch from CK's Feb issue. Some yummy Cosmo Cricket paper and some cute pics of my family! (if I do say so myself)

Have a great night everyone!

This may be a record...

... 2 posts in as many days!!! Another layout from the online crop over at the Scrapping Turtle! The layout is based on a pagemaps sketch.




Hope it was a great Monday for all!

I love Tuesday!

Why do I love Tuesday, because my boys go off to work and school and I get to stay home...alone...and I can do whatever I want!!!! Today, I want to do nothing! I think I am just in recovery mode from Christmas! I hope to get some scrapping done today, and that is about it!

The one thing I am not loving today is the challenges I have with taking photos of my layouts! I have whipped up 3 new layouts so far this year, but I can't seem to get a decent photo of them! GRRRRRR!!! Clearly something I need to work on for 2010. Dispite the poor photograph, I am going to show you a layout featuring my word for this year.

I used a sketch by Julie Bonner ( love her sketches), pp is BG Eskimo kisses

Enjoy your Tuesday!

A long lost blogger!

I finally got a day off, and a chance to update my abandoned blog!!
Things around here have been very busy, good but busy! We have had alot of changes over the past few months! My DH lost his job with the Hospital ( cut backs are everywhere) and I was filling in full time for a LOA at a local dentist. Things were pretty touch and go for a little while- but I am happy to say that DH has a new job, and I have been hired for 3 days a week at the office I was temping at. WHEW!! What a roller coaster!

With all the working and stress, my creative pursiuts have taken a back seat. I am thrilled to have some time for myself and am planning an afternoon of scrapping for today!

Here are a few layouts that I completed on Sunday!


We have had some fun too! A couple of weekends ago we went to the Detroit Zoo and the Greenfield village for the weekend. This is a photo of TX on the carousel ( sorry for the spelling mistake on the lo). We had a blast!

Talk about retro supplies!!! I was going through my stash looking for supplies to do this weeks's 52 weeks sketch ( my first layout is a sketch from this awesome site also) I can't get over how big TX is getting- he looks like such a big boy in this photo!

Thanks for checking in! I will try to keep things up better now that things are slowing down ( YIPPEEE!!!)
Have a great day all!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Well, the gorgeous springy weather I was basking in on the weekend has been replaced by...snow. Yup, the nasty white stuff is back and I- for one- am not impressed!!! I was out taking photos like this the other day



Oh well, it can't last forever...right!?!

Here is another lo I completed this weekend. I have decided that I am a bindge scraper, I will do nothing for weeks and then suddenly I scrap 4 or 5 pages in a day! Can't argue with the process, I will just go with it!

This lo was for the ongoing BINGO challenge over at the Scrapping Turtle! The challenge this week was to scraplift a lo in the gallery. No problemo- the turtle ladies are a constant source of inspiration and the moment I saw this lo by Kim M, I knew I had to lift it!!! Just me and my boys hanging out at the beach a few weekends ago ( I can't wait for the better weather!!)



That is it for tonight! I am hoping to tackle the KWerner design colour challenge this week, so I may be back!

Have a good one!

A rainy end to a beautiful weekend!

What a gorgeous weekend we had around here! The sun was shining, the weather was lovely and warm and we had nothing we had to do!!! Yeah- relaxing weekend at home! I even got some scrapping done. I took a few hours out today and did a little shopping- I picked up the cutest little purse- I have to take a picture tomorrow!

Both of these layouts are based on sketches by Julie Bonner at the 52 weeks 52 sketches site. I love this site, the sketches are awesome as are the layouts posted! Check it out!



The photo of this layout is awful-but I am really happy with how it turned out! TX is starting to play pretend and I couldn't help but scrap this photo of him from the other night when he was growling like a dinosour! It didn't hurt that I had the perfect Basic Gray paper lying around to scrap with!



These are some photos I took when TX and I baked valentine cookies! He loved cutting out the shapes and decorating! I would have taken a photo of the finished product, but they didn't last very long!

I should head off to bed! I did a couple of other lo's too, I will post soon! Have a great Monday!

I may be the world's worst blogger...

...and I am sorry for that! I have been totally swamped the last month. First we were sick( for what felt like forever) then I had a week when I worked 6 days in a row (way too much for me), and finally we had visitors ( my 3 and 5 yr old nephews, along with their dad and my mother in law) which was alot of fun, but in a word BUSY!!! This week thing slowed down a bit and we spent the day hanging out doing...not much actually! I actually got some scrapping done so here are a few recent projects!

This is a layout I did based on a sketch by Kim M over at the Scrapping Turtle. Thanks for the great sketch Kimmy! Way to get those Christmas pictures scrapped!


Here is a silly one of my little man! I saw these foam X's and O's at my local grocery store and thought they would make a great background for a Valentine's lo! It was a super quick one and it captures him perfectly!

This layout is a picture of my Grandmother (she will be 94 next month!) and I was really excited to be able to scrap this photo. I still need to do the journalling, but considering how long it has taken me to get some scrapping done these days, I figured I better get this posted!


Thanks for your patience with me! I will try to be better in the future!!!

Bad, bad blogger..

... I am!!! Sorry all- it has been a crazy month around here, and my scrapping and blogging (not to mention cleaning, grocery shopping etc) have fallen to the wayside! Grab a coffee, and find a comfy place to sit, this could take a while!!!

So, you all know that I have been looking for work for the past 7 mos or so (YIKES!!!). I was very fortunate to be called in to work a day at a local office in October of last year, and have done a fair bit of temping there since. It is a wonderful place, 5 mins from my home and I am truly loving the time I have spent there. Those temping days evolved into an offer for Fridays on a permanent basis (YEAH!!). At the beginning of February, I was called to do a week at the office, and upon arriving to work on the Monday morning, was told that the Hygienist who I have been replacing is taking a LOA- we don't know how long for, but her full time hours were available if I would like to work them. I have taken on the hours for as long as they need me, and am very happy for the work. The problem was, where was I going to put the little man?

I had checked out the local Montessori school in the fall of last year and really fell in love the program and atmosphere in the school. Fortunately they had an opening and TX started the beginning of last week ( Feb 9th) and he is liking it very much.

So all is good...right? Not quite. As is typical with a child's first little while in a "child care setting" TX came home on Friday with a bit of a cough. Saturday morning he had a fever, a really high fever!!! Long story short ( for this part anyways) his fever went up and down for Sat, Sun and the holiday Monday and by Tuesday morning he was constantly running a very high fever, is a walking runny nose and is barking like a Jack Russel ( no offence to Jack Russell owners, the ones I know tend to bark alot...they are really cute though!). So I had to miss the 3 days of work I had booked ( they have been great- everyone has kids and they have been through this themselves- thank goodness!) and now we are all really sick!!! The little man is finally past the fever stage ( 5 days later!) and is just barking like crazy ( not to mention the only way he seems to be able to communicate is via whining- I know he is getting better when that happens!) So there you go, our first daycare disease! I guess we don't mess around here- go big ( or deathly ill as it may be) or go home!!!

That is it! Sorry for my cranky rant!!!
I did manage to finish a couple of projects, and I feel you deserve something pretty to look at after living through my sicky girl ramblings!

This is a project I created for Carolyn's 5x5 challenge over at the Turtle. She did a twist this time and used a Disney character as inspiration for the items she sent. I got Donald Duck, and the pp she sent had all of the characters so I made little puzzles for Thomas Xavier for Valentines! Thanks Carolyn- lots of fun!( I have since found the lost Donald piece!)



This is a lo I started about 4 weeks ago, based on a sketch from Julie Bonner's 52 weeks 52 sketches forum. I used a sketch picture that we got from Chuckie Cheese a few weeks ago ( Emma's birthday party- too fun!). I really liked the picture and the sketch is great- the lo isn't exactly what I pictured, but it is done!!!

Finally- a card for my sweetie for Valentines Day! I have had this stamp for a while and I basically copied my friend Jenn's idea with the bling for flowers (thanks Jenn!). Thanks for the roses sweetie, they were beautiful!!!

That is it for now! Have a good day- stay healthy!!!!

Snowy Tuesday Morning!

Howdy!!! I hope that everyone is having a great day! We got a little more snow last night, not alot but I am so sick of this cold weather, I would prefer some SUN!!!
Oh well!
Sorry I haven't posted in ages, we have been very busy around here lately! My (usually sweet) 2 1/2 yr old son has been playing with some of those infamous 2 yr old attitudes of late, and we are finding ourselves at odds quite a bit! I don't know if it is all the changes in our life catching up with him, a recent growth spurt ( I just had to get out the size 4 shirts...Yes I said size 4!!!) or that we were due for some attitude problems. Whatever the reason, I am not impressed!!! He has been up to everything from pulling all the toys out in his toy space ( and I mean, every toy!!!), to biting me when I was getting him ready for bed the other night ( OUCH!!) to putting 5 double rolls of toilet paper into the toilet ( well, actually he dipped the first 4 into the toilet and then placed them in the sink. The fifth was dropped on the floor when I came into the bathroom!) AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have to admit, we have been very spoiled with good behaviour, so this is a real shock for me! I am trying to spend some extra time with him in an effort to impove things! As a result- not much scrapping for me! I did manage to get one lo done for the 52 weeks 52 sketches site. I think I am going to add something to it- it is a little too simple ( even for me!!)

We took the pics of TX reading a story with his friends Logan and Emma at a literacy day event. Can you tell I just learned how to isolate colour in a BW photo!!lol!
I think this is such a cool technique and I thought it was perfect for this lo!

That is all for today! Sorry about the vent- thanks for your patience with me!!
Have a great day!

Happy Sunday!

Happy Sunday!! I hope you are all staying warm and enjoying yourselves! I am spending another quiet day at home, doing some scrapping and just chilling out!
I had a lovely surprise the other day from my friend Dee from the Scrapping Turtle! She gave me this awesome Blog award (My first!!!). Dee is amazing and I am honored that she gave it to me! I would have posted earlier but I just figured out how to add this- sad yes?


Here are a bunch of lo's I have done over the past few days ( there is an upside to being stuck inside!). The first is my first entry into the Turtle's BINGO challenge! Our challenge was to use a transparent object in our lo. I put my cuttlebug to work and came up with this:

Here is one of about a zillion Christmas lo's that I will be doing! We did our at home Christmas on the 26th. It was quiet, unhurried and lots of fun. Pretty much a perfect first Christmas in our new home!

Finally, I was looking at the wonderful pictures of family and friends that we recieve in our Christmas cards, thinking what a shame it is that they seem to dissaper into the junk drawer a few weeks after Christmas. This year, I am going to scrap them! I loved these pictures of my Brother inlaw and his family out in Calgary, so I started with them:

Sorry for the super long post! Have a good one!

Will it ever get warmer????

Happy chilly Friday evening!!! Ok, so I realize that it is alot colder elsewhere, but it dosen't make me feel any warmer!lol
The good news about frigidly cold temperatures is that it is perfect weather to SCRAPBOOK!!!! I went to a friend's place and we let our little people entertain each other so that we could play cut and paste! Good day! The kids had a blast, I got 3 lo's done, and we stayed warm doing it! I am feeling like I am on a bit of a roll, so I hope to do some more once the muchkin is in bed!!!
Here are a couple of things I did this week!
The first is a card that started off as my KWerner colour challenge card, but I just couldn't put orange on it!!! I really like it as is, mostly because I got to use my new nestie set...Yeah!!! Now who to give it to.......

This is a lo I did for Julie Bonner's 52 weeks 52 sketches blog. I love her sketches, they really get my mojo going! The subject is my little man playing in the snow! I know I am biased, but how cute is he???

That is all for now- someone is done his bath so I better get going!! Have a great night! STAY WARM!

A couple of layouts! ( and a card!)

Howdy all! I hope your Monday is going well! I have had a few hours of rare alone time and I am loving it!!! I do have to go and pick the little man up, so a quick post before I go!
First is the card, Kim M at the Turtle message board gave us a challenge to make a card using only cardstock! Ha, ha, Kim, very funny!!! I got out my cuttlebug, a few dies and a embossing folder and here is the result:

This lo was based on a sketch by our GDT member at the Turtle ( can you tell I spend a lot of time there!) Louisa! I love her lo based on the sketch and I was happy to have a way to remember on of my favorite memories from Christmas Morning this year:


Finally, this is a pic of my Cousin's new little baby girl! It has been so long since a girl was born in our family, and I was happy to be able to use some PINK for a change! The lo is based on a sketch by Julie Bonner at 52 weeks, 52 sketches blog!

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Happy Sunday!

I am trying to get caught up on posting some lo's I completed in the past few weeks! I have decided that I am a batch scrapper...I won't do much for a while and then I will do 3-4 lo's within a couple of days! I am a similar blogger, as a result you are getting a few lo's today! Sorry for the poor photos, I should retake them but I am feeling really lazy today! lol
The first lo is from our visit with Santa- we had a lot of fun!!! Definatly on our list of holiday activities for next year! Thomas Xavier got to decorate his own tree this year! I dragged out the little 3 foot tree we decorated in our apartment and he went to it! Lots of fun!!! Turns out it is the perfect size for him, and we got a kick out of watching him show it off to all of our visitors over the holidays!

These are some older pics! I took this during the Migration Parade this year. Lots of fun- who can argue with a giant inflated duck on a float!

This final one is based on a sketch posted by Dee over at the turtle mb! Thanks for the great sketch Dee! This is my favorite story from this Christmas! What a riot he is!!!

Ok, that is all for now! Today is going to be a relaxing day at home! We got about 2 feet of snow last night, so it is looking like a winter wonderland out there! We did some playing in the snow yesterday, and I think we will have to venture out again today!

Have a good day everyone!

Happy Friday all!!!

So I said I would update last night and didn't get to it! Sorry about that! I will make up for it today! Grab a coffee, this might be a long one!

First off- here are some more projects I completed for the Scrapping Turtle online crop last weekend. The first project is an altered can ( as challenged by Dee). I kept it really simple and just covered it in a paper scrap, added some paper ribbon and added a paper label I cut on my cricut. The label is 2 pieces, I inked the border and heat embossed it and the stamped sentiment. Right now it is storing my sharpie pens! This is for a challenge to use a work or phrase from a children book or song. I think it speaks for itself! What a goof! This is a pic from the first day he pulled himself up in the crib!

This lo was a challenge to use one big photo. This sure is one big photo!!! Took this shot at Storybook Garden's over the Thanksgiving weekend. Really simple lo!

Last one from the online crop. Another take on the children's song/ book challenge. I finally used the paper my buddy Vic gave me for my baby shower gift ( Yikes- so overdue!). I haven't scrapped quite a few of TX's pics from his first year, so it was great to get this lo done! These pics were taken just before we left the hospital! What a doll!

Everyone seems to be talking about copic markers these days. I would love to try them ( I am all about the scrapbooking tools) but now is not the time to be spending money ( see previous posts re. job search!!!). My friend Vic ( she rocks!) found this online tutorial that uses Sharpie and Bic Mark it pens to mimic the look of Copic markers! Here is the link http://afterhoursstamper.blogspot.com/2008/06/tutorial-how-to-get-copic-like-results.html

I have a lot of Sharpies, so I figured I would try this out! Here is what I have come up with so far, I made some cards up with the stamped images that I couloured!

I think I like the last one the best! I found that heat embossing the stamped image helped to keep things a little neater! The stamps I used are from a pack I got at Walmart for approx. $5.00 ( it came with 2 other stamps). It is simple and very clear so it made a great first image to try colouring with!

That is it for projects- bored yet? It has been a bit of a rough week around here. A little girl at TX's daycare came down with Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. In the wonderful way that young children share germs, guess what we have been dealing with this week! FUN!

Luckly for us, he hasn't had too much of an outbreak, mostly sores in his mouth and on his legs. It has made for a very uncomfortable little man, lots of crying and very little eating or sleeping! Not a happy camper this week! The worst seems to be over, he had a good sleep last night and actually ate some cereal for breakfast! This is a huge improvement! Hopefully he should be up to speed by Monday!

Here is to wishing everyone a great day and weekend! I am hoping to get the young one out for some fresh air today- doesn't look to bad out there!

Caio for now!

Kate

Catching up on some scrapping!

Well, it is a cool, rainy, miserable day outside-perfect weather for Scrapbooking!!!!
I have been a little uninspired lately, so I was due for a good dose of Scrappin' Mojo! Well, it looks as though I got it!
I finally finished this Halloween lo I started last week. I couldn't figure out what it needed, and then I found these Martha Stewart glittery birds and that did it! I am thrilled to finally get it done! The other reason for my creative push is an online crop that is going on over at The Scrapping Turtle mb! Our DT has put together an awesome array of challenges to get us all moving! It started last night and I have already finished 3!!! I never scrap that fast, but it is all falling into place right now! Come on over and play along with us- it is a very friendly group and lots of talented scrappers to chat with http://www.turtlesoup.scrappingturtle.com/index.php.

I found some old pics of TX and couldn't resist using Kim M's sketch for my lo. Her challenge was called a "recipe for Disaster" and the pictures seemed appropriate!


Lisa posted a challenge to use the colour RED! This is an easy one for me- Love RED! I used this week's sketch from Julie Bonner's 52 weeks 52 Sketches blog as my outline! She is a very talented sketch artist and she often has very yummy blog candy! Check her out @ http://juliebonner.typepad.com/52_sketches_52_weeks/

This lo is just very silly! Regan posted a cheesy picture challenge, and I thought of this picture immediately!!! Just some silliness-not my usual style at all, but I like how it turned out!

Whew! That is enough for today methinks!!! I have ideas for a few more of the challenges, so I may have more post tomorrow (depends how early a certain little man goes to bed!)

Have a great night!

Kate

Happy Sunday!

Good Morining! We had a great time yesterday at the festival! We watched the parade (T.X. was thrilled with the candy), shopped at the marketplace and played at the children's area. We rounded the day out with a trip on the Streetcar Called Desire (seriously that is what it is called) and a bbq hot dog on the lawn of the High School. We had a great time and needed a good nap by the time we got home! I don't know if it was the excitement of the day, the cold he is fighting or the 3 lollipops he managed to suck back at the parade but T.X. woke up with a serious case of the whinies and never got over it. The day ended with a major meltdown (blessingly rare at our house) and 2 seriously frazzled parents! Oh well, today is another day!

Being the " Super Mom" that I am, I went and scrapped while Pete dealt with the screaming banshee child! Here are my finished products:

I was cleaning up my scrapspace and found these picture overlays and die cut embellies in a bag I had packed for a crop and forgotten about! I picked up a magazine and had 2 quick lo ideas within 5 minutes! I love it when that happens! If only I could actually crop that quickly! lol

I swiched out the top picture for one taken yesterday as we waited for the parade! I don't know that I will ever be as good as my bud Vic with the self portrait pics but this one came out pretty well! ( Is it wrong that I picked a picture that I look better in?). I was showing Pete (dh) the finished lo and said it was too bad that T.X. had his eyes half closed- he pointed out his eyes look exactly like mine! He is right, T.X. has inherited the Booth squint ( sorry about that babe).

Ok enough babbling on! Have a great day all!