Life is This...

More Layouts to share....

Hmmm... I know I know.... I still have some layouts to post... here are a few more to share.... 

This one definitely started out much differently... I based it on the colour challenge for Scrapbook and Cards Today (which reminds me I should submit it to the contest!) and I really had no idea where I was going with it - sometimes those layouts are the funnest to do!  I used my Studio Calico Kits for this - nothing like finally being able to scrap all of the products that you just want to hoard!

2012

I actually think my favourite product on this page were the awesome Cosmo Cricket Phrase Stickers... I loved the phrases and had to control myself which ones to use - they are my new favourite product!

This next one I loved when I finished it... but now I'm not to sure.  I think everyone thought I was a bit OCD how I only scrap on white.... so I went out of my comfort zone and used "PINK" ... GASP!!  I know shocking... LOL!  Still the same clean concept but just a different colour... but when I look at it something is missing for me... oh well.. in my album and on to the next one right...

I've had this photo for a number of years now - it was when I first got my iMac - playing around... yet I always kept this one - it spoke to me... and so I finally got around to scrapping it.

 

METAMORPHOSIS

For this layout I used pretty much exclusively Crate Paper Random Collection.  I "heart" this collection so much and it was the first time I got to play with it... and I really want to scrap more with it... I love every tiny thing about it! I also pulled out some of my old Ali Edwards stamps and that is what I used under the photo at the top.

Hope you all are having a great week.  Mine is full of doctors appointments and health issues... but we are getting through it... one day at a time.

Im hoping this weekend to sit down and get caught up and more organized on my project life... have some posts to show you on that soon... its on my to do list!

Have a great day everyone!

Our Favourite Winery

I realized that in the craziness of the late... there are a few SEI projects I need to share still.  This one was posted on the blog a while back and it is one of my favourites of recently.  You can see the post HERE if you like.

Living in the heart of the Niagara Region here in Ontario allows us to often hop in the car on a Sunday afternoon and drive to all of the different wineries around us.  I definately have a few favourites... some I have developed a need for their wines on my stressful days... others I just love visiting the wineries and the beautiful gardens and surroundings.  Never is it more beautiful then in the fall when the leaves are turning colours and the grapes are being harvested.

I wanted to remember this wonderful part of our fall tradition with my husband so I made a quick layout about it.

To create this layout I used the rich and vibrant Homestead Collection from SEI with twine and my own cork stamp added in.  I love the look of the rub on overlapping the photo - I must remember to do this more often!

Thanks for letting me share!

Thinking outside of the box with Holding On...

I did mention that I have been keeping busy in my scraproom.  I still can't share all of my projects but I did have one up on the SEI blog last week that I can now post here.

As you all know 2011 hasn't really been a very good year for our family.... I actually can't believe it is almost over and hopefully next year will bring brighter and happier times.  

When families - or even couples go through lots of stuff sometimes it brings along a wedge that just comes alongs and sits itself right between you and your spouse... I've seen it happen to friends... I have felt it happening to us in the past.... but kicked it out of that space very easily.  There is one thing for certain in my life and that it the rock solid relationship me and my wonderful husband have. Yes we fight... Yes sometimes we get on each others nerves... but in the end he really is my best friend... even when all we want to do is cry... we somehow manage to make each other laugh.  I know I have talked about this before... and I apologize if you are sick of hearing it LOL - but I guess I am just so aware of how lucky I am to have found my soul mate.

This layout uses A Fair Day line from SEI.  Although it has a Carnival/Park theme to it - again I wanted to showcase it in a different way.  Sometimes we have to think outside of the box and document our feelings without all of the drama.  When I first say this line I again wondered how I was going to use it as my boys are out of the ride phase - and as soon as I say the rollercoaster paper it came to me... my life.... it is a roller coaster... and I knew what I wanted to document.

You can see the layout on the SEI blog here.

Here it is with some close ups as well.

HOLDING ON

I love the background on this layout.  I used my SEI Tumble Dye inks and instead of spraying them I just unscrewed the cam and "flinged" in on the paper.  I also used some of the pearls from White Elegance and placed them sporadically with the My Fair Lady hearts on the Embellishment sheet.  I love the whimsical happy feeling it gives it.

I hope you are all having a great weekend... feel free to say hello....

Some Creativity to share...

This past weekend I had a lot of fun spending the weekend with my creative peeps at Scrap Fest Oshawa.  It was lots of fun walking around talking to people I've known for years and meeting and making some new friends.  I obviously did a bit of shopping... uh. um... or maybe a little bit more... but it was just nice to relax and be surrounded by creativity everywhere!

I arrived home Saturday and was so exhausted - but I did manage to pull out my Art Journal and make my first COMPLETED page... using Zentangles... it was lots of fun... and actually quite relaxing. I have at least a more positive attitude towards Art Jouralling when I know I can at least do this technique... anyone can do it!

Sunday was spent at football and then drying out and warming up after the game.  Not feeling to well last night I didn't get a chance to do anything creative, although I was itching to!

When I came home from work tonight I was bound and determined to do something... anything creative.  I just wanted to sit and do a layout and not worry really about how it turned out... create for the sake of pure enjoyment and it was so much fun!  I ended up finishing 2 layouts in just over 2 1/2 hours which is a record for me as it usually takes me 2 -3 hours for each layout.  I grabbed my Studio Calico kit (September) and just start to create.  There were a few things I wanted to get down on paper and I just did it... no thinking... no wondering if it is right or wrong... just dove right in and it felt wonderful!!  The funny thing is they have turned out to be two of my favourites in a long time - but then I really haven't created anything in a long time LOL!

Here they are for you to see.  The first one is just a quick layout about Juniors Bakery in New York city that we visited.  It was the most delicious, heavenly, to die for chocolate cheesecake EVER!! ... and the Red Velvet Cupcakes were a close second.  I have included journalling on the tag tucked in behind the photo's.  I loved the Hexagon shapes from Pink Paislee and mixed them in with some larger free hand cut ones... very fun!  I finished it off with SC Mister Huey's Dark Calico mist. I have to admit I think I have found my new favourite letters... Thickers has some major competition here... I need to get my hands on some more!

And of course a few close ups as well....

The second layout I created is a photoless layout.  A while back I had had heard this verse spoken on a tv show (the character was at an AA meeting) and I googled it to find it.  It just really spoke to me and I wanted to remember it.  I think I will hang this one is my scraproom as a reminder for myself... it is certainly relevant in my life right now and I wanted to just create something pretty and special to remember these words by.

I used the exclusive Studio Calico tags - Today, Yesterday, and Today and I knew as soon as I saw them in the kit that this is what I was going to use them for.  Other materials are Sassafrass pop ups and I cut up the Studio Calico Banner mounted it on white cardstock and then used Twine to adhere it to my layout.  It was really fun!

If any of you are interested, here is what the poem says:  

There are two days in every week that we should not worry about, two days that should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

One is yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed, forever beyond our control.

All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed. Nor can we erase a single word we've said - yesterday is gone! 

The other day we shouldn't worry about is tomorrow, with its impossible adversaries, its burden, its hopeful promise and poor performance. Tomorrow is beyond our control. Tomorrow's sun will rise either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds - but it will rise. And until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.

This leaves only one day - today. Any person can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when we add the burdens of yesterday and tomorrow that we break down.

It is not the experience of today that drives people mad - it is the remorse of bitterness for something which happened yesterday, and the dread of what tomorrow may bring.  Let us, therefore:  LIVE A DAY AT A TIME.

 Absolutely perfect words to live by!

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share!

Have a great week! I hope to be back having more to share soon!

Playing with Vintage Vogue

So my last post stated that I would be showing you some of my projects I've been working on and that was true.  My well intention plans were to load up my layout that I made using Vintage Vogue once it revealed at My Scrapbook Nook Scrap lift Challenge.  Last monday it was revealed and you can see the incredible work of my group HERE.

I had every intention of coming home and loading it up here - anxious to show you all some scrapping work that has been long missing from this ole blog of mine.  I was at the grocery store picking up something for dinner when I got a call from my youngest saying my mom was being rushed to the hospital... I had actually just passed the fire trucks and ambulance 10 min earlier where she was playing cards. 

That was last monday and I basically came out of my fog and hospital induced coma around Friday evening at 8:00 when I finally took her home.....

...it was a rough week.... with her age and memory someone needed to be there with her to speak to the doctors and what I always swore would be only a few hours ended up being 12 - 15 hour days - it was exhausting, upsetting, emotional but she is home now and hopefully all is well.  What started as a diagnosis as a heart attack ended as a diagnosis of ???? - not very comforting when you have no answers.... but I will just keep my fingers crossed and hope that it was a once time occurrence.

So here I am - its Monday evening and after celebrating our Canadian Thanksgiving with family yesterday I've pretty much slept the entire weekend away... but before retiring for the night I wanted to post my layout as I promised previously.

I used Pink Paislee's Vintage Vogue line and although it is my first project with this beautiful line I can defiantly see many more in my future.

When we were in NYC a few weeks ago - we passed Bergdorfs Goodman's while walking back to our hotel and stopped and took in the absolutely beautiful and gorgeous window displays.  I passed by them and was just stopped in my tracks when I looked in... I snapped a few photo's of the various displays but this one was just so gorgeous - the dressed were incredible and oh how I wish I could were something this beautiful one day!  I decided that I didn't want to forget one of these favourite parts of my trip and the photo was perfect with the Vintage Vogue line... so here it is:

Windows of Bergdorf's

 

 

 

Thanks so much for letting me share...

I hope to hit the scrapbook room tomorrow and have some more project for you later.

Have a great week everyone!

A New Adventure.

As I hinted yesterday... I am really excited to have been asked to join the DT of MOMENTA!!

I have had my eye on a few of their new releases from this past CHA and I think this is going to be a really fun and inspiring team to be on. Here is a list of the talented ladies that will be my team mates for the next 6 months...

Aymee Gandy     
Abigail Prado   
Carrie Walz    
Christine Hertel       
Christine Meyer 
Cristal (Pinky) Hobbs
Erin Morehouse
Jamie Cripps
Joanna Bandelin
Jodi WiltonKristine Berc 
Linda Abadie   
Lori Mancini (thats me!!)
Monika Wright 
Sarah Mullanix
Sherri Thompson 

Make sure to go and check out the blog - where I will have my first post up at the end of the month!  

In other news and so I wont be posting something without a photo - I will leave you a layout that I made for my Guest Design Team Spot back in May at a lovely little site called Colorful Creations.... I do believe they also have a DT call out right now so head on over and check it out!

Thank you so much for asking me to guest Design for you.... I had so much fun with the sketch you provided... I realize I LOVE working with sketches!

Here is my layout made with the new Winter Crate Paper... I hadn't had a chance to play with it and I am in love like most of are in the industry with all things CRATE.... 

And of course some closeups for the details:

 

 
Thanks for letting me share my exciting news....

Now off to work... Have a great day everyone!

Pinterest Inspiration for SEI

I think I have mentioned before I am officially hooked on Pinterest.  It is like a giant magazine full of pretty things.  Things I can make, photography that takes my breath away, cute crafts, home decor inspiration... and my absolute favourite... a wealth of funny, cute, and inspiring quotations.

I don't acutally Pin alot of stuff - only the best of the best - but I can get sucked into it for hours at a time - just looking, and thinking, and being completely inpsired!!  

While I was sitting down at my computer one night looking at Pinterest my SEI White Elegance was on the desk beside me and I was brainstorming (or perhaps procrasinating LOL!) on how best to showcase these lovely photos.  I love the SEI butterflies - "Glimmering Flutter" die cut accents - but with two boys - I was struggling to find a use for them... then it hit me.  Right there on my screen I went into my quotes and read it...

"If nothing ever changed... there would be no butterflies"

This quote just spoke to me and my life right now and I wrangled up all of the ideas in my head and came up with this months project for SEI posted on the blog.

 

This month I used the White Elegance Collection...sigh... unbelievably gorgeous!!  My first thought was wedding... but I wanted to mix it up a bit and create something more in tune to my mood as of late.  What I love most about this layout is the fun I had making it!!  It was so super easy... and all that colour... well that is just plain old Ink over the White Elegance papers.  I used my Punches for the Scalloped and the inside circle and then just started inking away - using my Ranger disstress inks and my inking pad tool!  Although it is really hard to see there is such a variety in the tones of the ink that it is beautiful in real life.  

I went on to layer some of the butterflies to each of the circles and did my final mounting on to cardstock with a border stitch to anchor the page... I just need to get a frame for it and I think this will hand in my scraproom... I love it!

So have you discovered Pinterest yet?  If you have make sure to friend me and if you are interested and would like an invitation just send me a quick email (you can find my link up in the corner under my profile) I would be more than happy to get you started.  You can find my Pinterest account HERE with all of my boards!!

Have a great day!!

PS - I have some exciting news to share - If you haven't already heard - I will post it later this evening!!  So excited!!