Last Minute Birthday Invites

  It was Felicity's Belated Birthday Party this weekend and only a couple of days before I decided to make her some party invitations using the leftover scraps of black from a project I'm currently working on and her favorite colour purple of course.  I used the Wild Card Cricut cart and Zoo Balloo to cut the title and all the spiders, bats, and headstones as well as the grass edging (on the cupcakes below).  A white gel pen was used for the wobbly webs.

  The inside of the invitation was made in Adobe Photoshop Elements using an unkown free stamp for the background. I added a little purple bat which had a little Ranger stickles glitter on it.

  I spotted this tutorial over at the Cosmo Cricket blog and decided to whip up these little goodie bags.  The little bat is a rubber stamp from Stampin Up as is the Orange Grosgrain Ribbon

  We decked the house out for Halloween as that was what she wanted for this years party theme.  Her girlfriends thought it was awsome!  They met at the pool for a swim and then came back here for cake, games, and opening gifts.

  The house felt rather crowded with 12 kids (including my own) and we enjoyed the peace and quiet when the last went home.  Uncle Dave and Rachelle showed up for a late dinner from there trip accross Canada to make a perfect birthday ending.

Happy Thanksgiving

  The crazyness of september is finally winding down as we enter mid October as school is now underway, kids winter activities have been sorted out, and our newest member of the family has started the Strong Start program.  Ahhh.....I may finally have time to get back to my favorite activity....SCRAPBOOKING!!

  But enough of all that! I wanted to post a few photos I took of the kids on a beautiful October morning as my mother has been complaining that she hasn't seen any recent ones.  Most of these were taken in my backyard with  the exception of the long grass which was taken at the mouth of a trail nearby.

  Felicity has been bugging me for some time to colour her hair purple after her friend had blond streaks.  It turned out pretty cute, but will most definitely be a one time deal as I happen to love her natural chocolate coloured hair.  She squeeled and complained as I pulled her hair through a cap (just like her mother!).  The colour is temporary and will wash out over time as it was designed for kids.

  Kieth and I had a lovely walk down to Morfee Lake on his last days off.  The colour was still quite spectacular so we took a couple of quick photos using my timer and a conveniently located picnic table.  It was so warm that day we couldn't help but spend the entire day outside.

  On the way home from work, Kieths truck was attacked by a Moose.  He had come to a complete stop to let the moose cross in front of him when the moose decide to shoulder check him after being blinded by his headlights.  Thank goodness niether Kieth nor the moose was injured.

  I do have a couple of LO's I've been working on as well as a Christmas project and hope to get them posted in the next couple of days.  I hope to be posting a little more regular now that everything's a little more settled around here.   HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Big Idea Festival & Pencil Lines Sketch Challenge

  I've been following along over at Big Picture Scrapbooking's Big Idea Festival, but have yet been able to complete any of the challenge projects.  Until today that is!  With Isabelle down for a nap, I dug in and worked as quickly as possible to create the latest challenge layout with the help of Pencil Lines and Anna Bowkis' latest sketch and Colour Combo's Galore's pallette.

  Anyways, this is the layout I came up with based on my response to the starting sentence provided: I Listen.... I listen to the birds chirping and the squirels chattering as I sip my first cup of coffee in the morning.  This is my favorite time of day as the children are still asleep and the world is quiet.  The photo is a little dark, but with all the smoke and haze from the forest fires, there is little natural light today.  I have yet to finish my journaling, but I wanted to get the layout posted as soon as possible and will finish up tonight when everyone's asleep.

  I liked the addition of a little yellow to this colour pallette to brighten up the more muted tones of the papers.  I painted the grungeboard first with a soft yellow acrylic paint and then sprayed the bird with glimmer mist, so it actually has a shimmer that wasn't picked up in the photo.

Supplies:


Patterned paper - DCWV: Mi Casa,    Cardstock - Bazzil Basics and Paper Reflections,   Ribbon - Stampin' Up,    Font - Hannah Montanah Cricut Cart,  Border - Story Book Cricut Cart,    Ink - Stampin' Up: Going Gray,    Stamp - Autumn Leaves: Swirls V:I,   Alphabet Stamps - Making Memories: {NOTE} WORTHY,    Button - K&Company: Wild Safron,   Chipboard - Tim Holtz: Grungeboard,   Glimmer Mist - Tattered Angels

Precious Metal

  It was the morning of my daughter's friend's Birthday Party and we had yet to decide on a gift for her.  Normally this would involve a trip to the local toy store for a new Barbie, Bratz doll, or Littlest Pet Shop toy that these girls tend to favour.  But on this occasion I thought it would be fun to create something for once, especially since I have a room loaded with supplies for all types of crafts.  So here's what we came up with:

  Felicity and I created this tin together with her adding all sorts of sparkly finishing touches.  Her friend likes to collect all sorts of trinkets so this tin would be a perfect place to keep her treasures.  We also filled the tin with a hand crafted set of earings and necklace made by a friend in her favorite colours.  The papers are My Mind's Eye - Magnolia Starbirst "Sisters" collection and the glitter is Ranger - Tim Holtz Distressed Stickles.  Ribbons are Stampin' Up and American Crafts and gems were also unkown.

  This is a project I created for my husband when he first started working out of town.  I wanted something that would stand up to his wear and tear and would contain some treasured family photos for him as a momento while he's on the road.

  I spray painted a cigar tin with a hammered gold metal finish and stamped the word 'family' with Staz On walnut coloured ink.  I created a long accordian fold using an eleven inch strip and a six inch strip of gold Stampin' Up paper spliced together. I added metal accents from Stampin' Up's Hodge Podge kit and fussy cut floral accents from Basic Grey's Mellow 6" pad.

  Felicity had written a special note to her Dad and created this drawing which I scanned and shrunk down to put inside the mini file folder under her picture.  I used the computer to type her name on the tab at the top of the folder.

  The flap that has a picture of Tristan weaving a willow fish net with his Grandpa contains a special message to his Dad also.  It is always suprising what they will write when left to themselves.  Each message was very touching and much more than I expected from them at that age.

  A picture of Kieth's favorite toy was hidden in a pocket created behind the photo collage on the first page.  He was thrilled when he recieved this gift and keeps it with him when he's on the road.  With a new addition to our family (Isabelle), he says I have to make him another one that is up to date.  Could be a good winter project.

Back From Summer Vacation in Nova Scotia

  What an incredible experience to see the other side of this beautiful and diverse country we live in.  We had such a blast visiting in Nova Scotia and tried to see as much as possible in the short time we had to explore.  Peggy's Cove was the first on our must see tour after arriving rather jetlagged at 11:30 am Maritime time.  Taking the red eye is the only way to travel east I'm told, although not having slept a wink on the plane, I'm not so sure.  The rocks are enormous out here, and have been placed by the iceburgs all over this province.  Peggy's massive granite and crashing waves entertained us and the kids for at least a couple of hours.  I stood and watched as the waves kept building and climbing up the boulders.  A sign states that many have been injured or even killed by carelessly getting too close.

  The beach at Summerville was our favorite spot to hang out were the warm river waters meet the icy briny ocean.  There was an old train bridge that made for a great spot to dive in an float down the gental currents.  The white sand of their beaches is so soft on the feet and Isabelle loved running it through her little fingers while filling sand buckets on the shore.

  Kieth holding Isabelle on the wagonride at Ross Farm, a working historic farm in the interior of the province.  Felicity talked the driver's ear off with her many questions.

  We stopped at the "Look Off" (as locals call it) overlooking the Minas Basin on the Bay of Funday for some yummy icecream an a splendid view of the orchards and farms in the valley.  The tide was coming in and slowly filling the basin which almost emptys completely at low tide.

 Carter's Beach reminds me of the Carribean ocean with its clear teal coloured waters and white sandy beaches.  But the water there is frigid and not swimmable, although Kieth and Tristan dove in to show off there Manlyness.

  Lunenburg was full of History with all the beautifully maintained historic homes including this school that is still in use situated next to one of many local cemetaries. (Creepy!!)  I loved exploring this colourful village on foot.

  Kieth cooking our seafood feast of Lobster, Scallops, Muscles, Chicken and vegi Shishkabobs. 

  Felicity poses in front of this Nova Scotian tarten Lobster in the Halifax airport.  Hope we can make it back for another visit!

1st Birthday Pics

  Like a little pink princess, Isabelle was the star of the show at her Birthday BBQ last weekend.  The timing was perfect as her Nanny and Papa were in town as well as Leah so we were able to celebrate with them as well as our friends in town.  She's wearing an adorable little outfit picked out by her proud Daddy which matches her sucky perfectly.

  The sun shone all day and there was hardly a mosquito in sight.  I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.  It was so nice to have family and friends gathered together, an event that proves more difficult as more of us move further and further apart.  I can't believe my baby is already a year old!! :o( 

  These blue and pink cupcakes disappeared quickly with the children gobbling two each.  I even made the icing from scratch this time, not bad for the non-baker LOL!!

  Isabelle very daintily picked off and ate all of the icing from her pink cupcake, licking off her fingers carefully between each bite.  Her buddy Levi ate only the cake and skipped the icing, they could have shared one between them.

  Once she was done with the icing she decided to play with the cake that was left behind.  So much for being dainty.  She spread icing all over her tray and filled her bib to the brim.

Isabelle's first steps !!

  Just as I thought she would never walk, she took those first akward steps on the eve of her first birthday.  She was a little slow to get moving but gained momentum with each step.  This new game of walking to her sibblings continued through to bedtime.  With my other two, once they figured this out there was no more crawling.  But Isabelle has tired of this new game and is back to familiar ground scooting around on her bottom.  With some encouragement we can get her to take a step or two, but she is not eager to walk as her sibblings were.  OK by me as she is growing up way too fast anyways.

April Layouts

  Just a couple of quick layouts that I've had waiting to post for some time now, but between having company for a couple of weeks and household renos I haven't been able to sit down to my computer for quite some time.  Hopefully all is back to normal now and I can do a little more with my blog in the next few days.

  I mounted the Fish stickers onto cardstock and cut them out so I could raise them with dimensional adhesive and added distressed stickles for some texture.

Supplies:  Stickers - Hallmark Cards Inc, Patterned Paper - Prima Marketing Inc "Animal Bash-Animal Babble", My Minds Eye "Starbirst-Girly Girl", Tim Holtz Distressed Stickles "Spiced Marmalade", "Shabby Shutters"; Ribbon - Stampin Up "Only Orange", Alphabet Stickers - Stickopotomus

  The picture of Felicity sound asleep in her highchair is one of my favorites.  She played for some time with her toys and then just crashed when I tried to feed her some lunch.

  The page looks a little rumpled as it was one that was hit by water during the flood in my hobby room, so I just destressed everything to make it look intentional.  I love these cute Lollipop embelli's and have wanted to utilize them on a layout for quite some time, and this Sketch by Jana Eubank has provided the perfect opportunity to play with these circle flowers.

Supplies:  Buttons - Making Memories, Journaling Note - Prima, Patterned Paper - BG "Urban Prairie", Cardstock - Unknown, Cricut Cartridge - Ashlyn's Alphabet, Sketch by Jana Eubank, Creative Memories Cirlce cutter and Circle punches