Final Scrappy Bowl Challenge...

  Yeah!! Managed to finish challenge #4 from Kathryn's Scrappy Bowl Challenges!  This one required using a flag or banner on your project. This is the first time Ive done a banner on a layout...guess im a little behind on that trend as I am in my scrapbooking layouts.  Hopefully all these other challenges will remedy that (more about that later....)

Isa's Birthday In Barkerville

  Isa turned 2 recently, but as Daddy was away working we waited to celebrate with him.  We decided on a family trip to one of our favorite spots....Barkerville, BC.  The kids love the ground squirells popping out of their holes, the old fashioned Horse and Carriages, and all the great Street Performances going on throughout the day.  They loved running to each of the different exibits and seeing all that "old fashioned stuff".

   Felicity dressed for the occassion in her bonnet we got from Barkerville some years back and an easter dress made of cotton eyelet.  Kieth had his Barkerville hat..and Tristan his typical teen garb.

   As always...Icecream is one of our favorite treats to end a delicious homemade style lunch.  And a great Chineese dinner ended the day.

Family Calendar Minis (photo heavy)

 Three weeks before Christmas I decided to start a project as Christmas presents for some of my family.  Photo Calendars are always a favorite and so I decided to make 3.  Needless to say these calendars were more of an undertaking than expected and Christmas presents turned into New Years presents, then Valentine's, and now St Patty's.  I was thrilled to have finally shipped them early last week and cross them off of my unfinished projects list.  Although the first 2 1/2 months have already passed, they will make great mini albums for them to enjoy once the year is done.

  The calendars are 8 x 8 and each month features a scrapbook page with pictures from 2010 and perhaps some journaling and/or a Title.  I tried to keep the pages relatively simple so that these projects could actually be finished.

  I know that these will be cherished for years to come and it makes it all worth it, and is the reason I scrapbook in the first place!  Next time though, I think I'll start a little sooner lol!!  Now on to the rest of the pile....

Sweet Summer and a giveaway

  With all the crazyness that's been going on here, it's taken me a week to complete this layout using the gorgeous Ava line by GCD Studios sent to me by the talented Juliana Michaels.  I love all the flocking and foil in this line not to mention the beautiful colour pallet that lends itself perfectly to all my summer pics.

  I fussycut the butterflys and then hand stitched with the embroidery floss following the swirl pattern in the paper. A couple of pop dots will keep those wings up even when squished by my sheet protector.

 The journaling seemed to blend in with the background, so a little outlining added the pop it needed to stand out.  I can't wait to start playing with the rest of these papers that is if Isabelle will allow it as she is most demanding as of late.  Oh well....15 minutes here and there and eventually I manage to get it finished LOL!

Now on to that giveaway!!  Samantha is having a fantastic Imanginisce over on her Blog so please be sure to stop by and check it out as you could win all this:

Supplies:


Font - Post Note, Cricut Cart - Ashlyn's Alphabet, Patterned Paper - GCD Studios AVA by Melody Ross, Cardstock - unknown, Embroidery Floss - unknown

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

Embellish Magazine Colour Challenge With Stripes

  Back with another colour challenge by Embellish Magazine , and this one was way out of my relm with the colour PURPLE arggg!!  So of course I had to try it. The problem was, did I own anything in the colours? Well, with a little borrowing from a friend, and a little digging in my scrap drawers I found the perfect papers for this Challenge.

  Here is the inspiration:

And here is my take on this:

  I added a warming photofilter to the photo to make it work with these colours and really like how it turned out. I just love this page and think purple has moved from dreaded to one of my favorite.  I can hardly wait to move on to the next challenge as they keep me motivated to get more of my scrapbooking done.

  The sentiment is one of the new stamps by Papertrey Ink, Inside & Out: Baby. I wrote the word 'Precious' using Tim Holtz Distressed Stickles Walnut Stain.

The patterned paper is from Stampin Up, and the flower is Prima - Fleur Danseur Releve.  Also used Prima - Say it in Pearls Swirls Cream.  Cardstock - Unknown.

My Layout for My Mind's Eye - Challenge #7: Three Photos

  I'm on a roll!! This is the second challenge I've managed to accomplish in the last little while, and for a Mom of a rather demanding little baby that's pretty good.  This was a rather difficult challenge for me as I'm new to My Mind's Eye products and was rather suprised to find I aready owned some in my stash (although I don't know why I was so suprised as their products are gorgeous!)  The layout had to contain 80 percent of their products and I think I managed that using three different papers to create most of the details and embellishments in this layout.

Here is the sketch they provided:

Here is my interpretation:

  These orange circles were punched from one of the patterned papers in the Magnolia collection I used for this layout.

This little dragonfly shimmers with a combination of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists.

Products Used:

My Mind's Eye - Sundance"Our Sweet Home" Stripe #MG1090,  Sundance"A Day In The Life" Dots/Lime #MG1077,  Serene"All Together" Pattern Stripe/Teal #MG1013

Dragon Fly - Tim Holtz Grunge Board, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist

Title - Cricut Cartridge Jubilee

Teal & Cream cardstock - Unknown

Tourist In My Own Town

Since Daddy's working and Big Brother's at a friends house, my girls and I decided to take a walk and enjoy another gorgeous sunny day. We brought our camera along just for fun and decided to play tourists in our own town. Isabelle slept soundly in her snuggly for the first half of the walk, so Felicity and I enjoyed some girl talk while we hike up the street to our main tourist attraction (LOL) The Worlds Largest Tree Crusher!

We met an interesting couple there from Vancouver Island who were up visiting friends. They had come back to the Tree Crusher in hopes of photographing a black bear that they spotted hanging around the day before. Apparently the wife had never seen a bear before. Felicity and I found this rather amusing after having lived in the north for so many years we've grown accustomed to spotting these fuzzy beasts on a regular basis. So we wished them luck and continued on our walk.

After we'd explored all there was to see inside our quaint little town, Felicity made the request to stop at her School Playground for a little bit. Isabelle and I watched Felicity monkey around for a while and then took a few turns on the slide. I think she enjoyed swinging with mommy the most, though my stomach wasn't so sure, I enjoyed the small breeze created by the swinging on this scorcher of a day.

A couple more turns on the slide, and we headed home for some well deserved Ice Cream.

For the Birds

One of the things that we enjoy most about having the garden is the many visitors we get each season. There are so many birds, bugs and small furry creatures that visit us and often I never think to pull out the camera.
These beautiful birds were photographed by my son, Tristan while we were sitting enjoying a warm summer afternoon on the patio. The males had such intense yellow color, but were much more skittish than the females and therefore difficult to photograph.


I wanted to be sure that I existed along with the rest of the family in photo albums and also on my own blog so I took this self portrait of Isa and I to be sure of it. No makeup, and hair just washed and blow dried, but for a mother of three with a part time husband I think I look pretty good. These days 5 hours of sleep is a good night. But my days are much more relaxed now that I'm not working, and I find that I wake feeling much more rested even with the night feedings than I did when I had to wake up to that 5am alarm.


At 2 1/2 months, Isabelle weighs almost 12 lbs now! I can't believe how quickly she's growing. Next to Tristan and Felicity, she still looks so small, but I know it won't be long before she becomes a little girl so I spend long moments throughout the day just looking at her. Trying to memorize what it feels like to hold this precious baby in my arms. Knowing that it will be some time (I hope!) before grandchildren.
I'm trying to work on a mini album about the changes in the last year or so. One of the blogs that I read 'A Spoon Full of Sugar' http://www.jessicaacs.com/ is hosting a mini album challenge each month. This month features 2 choices; a simple shape album, or one that focuses on change. With so much having happened in recent months, I felt the latter would be simple. The project is due end of September, so we'll see if I can make that deadline. I only get moments in the day to myself and find myself catching up on the computer at night. But I've already sketched the layouts and shopped for the paper and embellishments, so I'm hopeful.

Isa and Her Big Brother

Isabelle loves hanging out with her big brother. She's always looking for him when she first hears his voice in the morning. Tristan thinks his new baby sister is "sooo cute" and enjoys holding and playing with her when she's not fussing. I don't know what I would do without his help. With Tristan and Felicity entertaining Isabelle, I am actually able to have a shower and shave my legs, and my house doesn't have that new mother disaster has struck decor.

I once worried that the age difference would be a problem, but I think big brother will be both protector and teacher to his new baby sister.


Isabelle does not enjoy the tummy time that is so important according to doctors to develop her arm and chest muscle strength so she quickly figured out how to roll over on to her back. Now every time I put her on her tummy, she immediately rolls over to where she prefers to be.

I can't believe how quickly she's changing. I want to savor every moment and stop her from growing into the little girl she will soon become. Her tiny "Agoo's" and little "Gee's" will soon be the endless chatter of a little girl who can talk about nothing for hours like her big sister Felicity.

He's At It Again

Tired of looking at the unused strip of yard down the side of the house, Kieth decided it was time to build that fence he'd been talking about for the last couple of years. So hear it is! He spent 5 of his 6 days off on this latest project, but the results are worth it. The fence looks great, and it gave us another place to hang some baskets of flowers.

I thought I would post a little video of Isabelle in her bouncy saucer so Grandma and Grandpa can see her in action.

Tristan is trying to make her laugh, but I'm not sure if all those noises are happy noises. Isa get board very quickly and won't stay in the seat for long. This is why Mommy has very little time to scrapbook! But that's OK as they are only little for such a short while. They grow so fast and move on with their own lives and then you have nothing but time to yourself. So I intend to enjoy her monopolizing my time while I can.

I'm woking on a digital mini album all about my life over the last 10 years. It's a lot easier to sneak in a few minutes here and there on the computer, and when you walk away, there is no mess to clean up.