Shelby's Spot

TSF Valentine's Blog Hop

2012-02-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

Are you in the mood for some scrappy love? Are you craving design inspiration for your Valentine's Day projects? What better way to 'feel the love' than to spend some time with your friends at Two Scrapbook Friends and be inspired in the process! We invite you to share in the love starting February 10, 2012 beginning at 8 am with a fun Valentine Blog Hop!

You will begin the hop at the Two Scrapbook Friends Blog and travel from blog to blog leaving a comment on each one. If you comment on each blog, you will qualify to be in a draw for a special prize from Two Scrapbook Friends! Also, you will find a RED HIGHLIGHTED word on each blog which will make a phrase at the end of the Blog Hop! Once you have completed the hop to all our designers blogs, leave a comment on the Two Scrapbook Friends blog and email the phrase to us and we will enter your name for a second chance to win!

The hop will remain open from February 10th to February 13th at midnight (EST). Winners will be announced on February 14th in the Two Scrapbook Friends' Blog. So be sure to stop back and check to see if you are the winner of a fabulous prize from Two Scrapbook Friends.

For my creation I made a variation of something I have seen done before. I used lillybee papers and some loose scrabble tiles which we sell at TSF. By far the most labour intensive part was sewing all the hearts by hand. The grid paper made it really easy to line everything up!

All of the hearts are 3D so I took the glass out of the frame to show them off.

So remember, in order to be entered to win:
1. Leave a comment on all the blogs as you go and then come back to the Two Scrapbook Friends blog and leave a final comment there.
2. To have a second chance to win, keep track of the HIGHLIGHTED WORDS from each blog and email the phrase to 2friends@execulink.com. Put "Blog Contest" in your subject line.
3. Check back at the Two Scrapbook Friends blog on February 14th to see if you are the winner. (Winners will not be contacted personally.)

Here are the featured blogs in our Valentine's Blog Hop:

Have a great time blog hoping and thanks for visiting MINE.

Snowday Survival Guide

2012-02-04T18:42:00.006-05:00

When I received my DT kit this month I wondered what I might do for an 'off the page' project. I decided on a mini album documenting all the fun things my boys love to do on snowy days. I gathered up my bits and pieces left after creating the layouts as well as a few things from my own stash.

I used wooden accents throughout the book like these ones from Maya Road and Pink Paislee. The album itself is from Basic Grey.

The lily bee letters were the perfect size to use on the tabs.

I printed out little strips for each page as 'tips' on how to enjoy yourself.

I was even able to use some of my favourite pics from the little bit of snow we've had this year.

I printed them out at home in the perfect size for this wee album.

The written words on this paper are all about winter and I cut this well known saying out of one of the journal cards and punched a few hearts.

Each page follows a similar design with small variations in embellishments.

These mitts are also from Pink Paislee.

I added some ink, stickles and some pink paper behind the hearts.

This final page doesn't have any pictures but I'm thinking I will add one or two of us drinking hot chocolate!

The back page just has a sticker with some snowmen on it.

I used ribbons,yarn and twine to tie around the metal rings.

I haven't made very many mini albums but I really enjoyed this one so I think I will definitely create more of them!

Fancy Pants~Winterland

2012-01-26T18:58:00.005-05:00

This month's design team kit was the newest collection from Fancy Pants, Winterland. I really liked the line when I saw it but wondered what I would do with all the soft colours and PINK. I was inspired by the mitten paper, I think it's really cute, and it all 'snowballed' from there. Haha, couldn't resist.

I shocked myself by designing a double page layout. I design lots of them for the store kits but rarely do I create one for my own personal scrapbooking anymore. I had these great shots of my friend Darcy's daughter and thought that they would be fun to work with. I toned down her bright pink snowsuit using Picasa and tada...

I handstitched all of the mitten strings which was by far the most time consuming part of this layout. Just a tip: half of these photos were horizontal and by cropping them vertically I was able to create the story line of Oceane desperately wanting to eat the snow.

I used a canvas tag, Fancy Pants pink letters and lillybee mini letters to create the title. The font used on the jounalling is called baby boston, Carolyn got me hooked on this one!

I cut out a sheet of the mittens and used pop dots (gotta use 'em every time!) to add some dimension to the mittens. Maya Road wooden snowflakes with some baker's twine complete the layout.

For this layout I cut out an 8" and 9" circle and layered them. I stitched the circles together with American Crafts twine. The kraft photo mat is actually a paper bag! I cut the snowman from one of the papers then made him a ribbon scarf (I even fringed the ends!). The hat is from Pink Paislee's winter collection, I just added a tiny piece of pink behind the heart. Again with the Maya Road snowflakes, they really were the perfect tone for this line. I added some dew drops, tore the edges a bit and added lots of ink. I have had those mini scrabble tiles in my stash for ages. If I ever find them again I will buy lots and share!

That's all for now. Stay tuned for a mini album created from this line too.

2011-12-18T07:28:00.001-05:00

Welcome to day 9 of the Two Scrapbook Friends Christmas blog hop.

You should have arrived here from Sharon's blog. If not take a step back to have a look at her beautiful believe banner/card holder. I will put the master list of the blog hop at the bottom of this post so you can be sure to check out all of the wonderful creations. Leave a comment on each blog for a chance to win a fabulous prize from TSF.

Two Scrapbook Friends has a wonderful selection of bulk items. Little bits and pieces that can add a lot to layouts, cards and off the page projects. For my creation I used maya road snowflakes, bingo number and ribbon along with some jillibean pins. I added some corrugated paper to wrap the candle and bits and pieces from a sleigh full of potpourri. I used 3n1 glue to adhere it all together. Best part is by using a jar candle instead of a pillar style you can actually light it!

When I originally thought of this idea I was going to use this reindeer I cut on the Cricut but I just couldn't make it work. Instead I used some pieces from an old blind (look closely and you will notice the same pieces used to make the frame on my bathroom mirror!) to make a planter decoration. Unfortunately we can't have real plants so I put it in a sleigh on my bathroom counter.

When my guests have to use the loo they will have a lovely little display to greet them. The candle smells like sugar cookies so that's good for bathrooms too!!

You will need to hop from blog to blog leaving a comment on each in order to qualify to be in a draw for a special prize from Two Scrapbook Friends! Also, you will find a SECRET word on each blog which will make a special phrase at the end of the Blog Hop! Once the 12 days of hopping are complete you can email the phrase to us and we will enter you for another ballot to win!

Today's secret word is MERRY

The hop will remain open from December 10th to December 22nd at midnight (EST). Winners will be announced on December 23rd on the Two Scrapbook Friends' blog.

The master blog list is listed below so you don't miss a single inspiring creation!

1st Day of Christmas: Joanne (10th)

2nd Day of Christmas: Audrey (11th)

3rd Day of Christmas: Avril (12th)

4th Day of Christmas: Christa (13th)

5th Day of Christmas: Dee (14th)

6th Day of Christmas: Jan (15th)

7th Day of Christmas: Back to Joanne's blog

8th Day of Christmas: Sharon (17th)

9th Day of Christmas: Shelby (18th)

10th Day of Christmas: Tammy (19th)

11th Day of Christmas: Carolyn (20th)

12th Day of Christmas: Two Scrapbook Friends Blog (21st)

I wish you and yours the Merriest of Christmases and a Fantastic New Year!!

TSF blog hop

2011-12-09T12:36:00.000-05:00

The countdown to Christmas is here and with that in mind, your friends at Two Scrapbook Friends invite you to countdown the 12 Days of Christmas Creations with them. Each day a member of the Two Scrapbook Friends team and a few special friends will share with you some of the projects and inspiration that they have created to celebrate the Season.

Beginning on December 10th at 8 am, you can begin the hop at the first Friend's blog where you can be inspired and leave a comment. That blog will then tell you where you need to hop to on the next day!

You will need to hop from blog to blog leaving a comment on each in order to qualify to be in a draw for a special prize from Two Scrapbook Friends! Also, you will find a SECRET word on each blog which will make a special phrase at the end of the Blog Hop! Once the 12 days of hopping are complete you can email the phrase to us and we will enter you for another ballot to win!

The hop will remain open from December 10th to December 22nd at midnight (EST). Winners will be announced on December 23rd on the Two Scrapbook Friends' blog.

The master blog list is listed below so you don't miss a single inspiring creation!

1st Day of Christmas: Joanne (10th)

2nd Day of Christmas: Audrey (11th)

3rd Day of Christmas: Avril (12th)

4th Day of Christmas: Christa (13th)

5th Day of Christmas: Dee (14th)

6th Day of Christmas: Jan (15th)

7th Day of Christmas: Jayne (16th)

8th Day of Christmas: Sharon (17th)

9th Day of Christmas: Shelby (18th)

10th Day of Christmas: Tammy (19th)

11th Day of Christmas: Carolyn (20th)

12th Day of Christmas: Two Scrapbook Friends Blog (21st)

Have fun celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas Creations with the Two Scrapbook Friends team!

Friendzy Friday ~ 'Tis the season to share some bubbly..

2011-12-09T11:39:00.000-05:00

Here is a little idea that you can use for just about any occasion but it works really well for Christmas and New Year's Hostess gifts (or for that frazzled teacher LOL!). Take a bottle of wine, champagne or sparkling cider and add a little tag to it decorated by you. The options are endless as to what you put on the tag but I will give you some dimensions and some inspiration.

Start with some Christmas odds and ends (or whatever theme you are working with), a 1.5 inch circle punch and coordinating cardstock

Cut your base cardstock to 9.5 x 4 and score at the 3 inch mark. Then eyeball where you will punch your hole.

If you plan to layer like this example then tie your ribbon before adhering panel to base as it makes for a cleaner finish. Use an edge punch along the bottom of tag.

Embellish however you like and tada, a quick little card to dress up your bottles.

Two Scrapbook Friends has some fabulous stickers (even for New Year's) that would make this super easy and you could do this idea for wine bottles at a party or wedding too.

2011-12-08T09:28:00.000-05:00

Beginning on December 10th at 8 am, you can begin the hop at the first Friend's blog where you can be inspired and leave a comment. That blog will then tell you where you need to hop to on the next day!

You will need to hop from blog to blog leaving a comment on each in order to qualify to be in a draw for a special prize from Two Scrapbook Friends! Also, you will find a SECRET word on each blog which will make a special phrase at the end of the Blog Hop! Once the 12 days of hopping are complete you can email the phrase to us and we will enter you for another ballot to win!

The hop will remain open from December 10th to December 22nd at midnight (EST). Winners will be announced on December 23rd on the Two Scrapbook Friends' blog.

The master blog list is listed below so you don't miss a single inspiring creation!

1st Day of Christmas: Joanne (10th)

2nd Day of Christmas: Audrey (11th)

3rd Day of Christmas: Avril (12th)

4th Day of Christmas: Christa (13th)

5th Day of Christmas: Dee (14th)

6th Day of Christmas: Jan (15th)

7th Day of Christmas: Jayne (16th)

8th Day of Christmas: Sharon (17th)

9th Day of Christmas: Shelby (18th)

10th Day of Christmas: Tammy (19th)

11th Day of Christmas: Carolyn (20th)

12th Day of Christmas: Two Scrapbook Friends Blog (21st)

Have fun celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas Creations with the Two Scrapbook Friends team!

I am still scrapbooking ...honest!

2011-11-23T20:04:00.006-05:00

Although I have been an absentee blogger, again, I am still scrapbooking. We had a friend of my husband's move into our spare room at the end of the summer and for those of you who don't know, our spare room is also my scrap space. I had no idea the impact not having my own space would have on me!! Although he is hardly ever here I don't want to infringe on his privacy and therefore haven't been scrapping as much as I would like to. I admit it, I am just too lazy to haul all my stuff upstairs after having the luxury of having it all spread out in my room. Oh well, it's not forever and thankfully I had the Two Scrapbook Friends Fall retreat to get a little of the creative angst out.

In between bouts of hysterical laughter (my tablemates were a wee bit crazy in the best possible way!) I did manage to get a few things accomplished.

I believe in scrapping the good, bad and ugly. These pics are from Wyatt's trip to the OR. He was a lot more relaxed than I was that's for sure!

Love the new canvas shapes TSF is carrying now.

As soon as I saw this paper from Little Yellow Bicycle I knew I had to have it! Unfortunately the tree paper is now sold out but lots of the other pieces are still available.

I have a feeling that part of the reason it sold out is because everyone I saw was buying two to do this layering effect on the tree.

Used up some older papers on this one and that makes ME smile!

Simple Stories makes such beautiful collections and I particularly loved the colours in this one. This was also one of my first forays into machine stitching. Thanks for the coaching Avril and Dee

These pics of my goofball crack me up. He wanted apple juice so he took a bite of his apple, poured water on it and then 'drank' it. I used a paper crimper to get the texture on the circles.

Fancy Pants papers and one button from MME. I kick myself for not buying all of these button sets as they were fabulous.

I went for the minimalist approach on this one. I had printed these pics as teeny polaroids through Picasa so I wasn't quite sure what to do.

I sprayed Maya road chipboard with mist then covered in Glossy Accents for a wet, shiny look.

I love, love, love what Avril did with this Amy Tangerine line from American Crafts so I gave it a whirl.

I had this Little Yellow Bicycle acrylic journalling spot in my stash so I cut it out around the cloud and tada. I also used up some old epoxy stickers, added some stitching and hand clouds. The 'you are my sunshine, my only sunshine' title is a MME sticker. I love it when I can mix new and old, it makes me happy!

I have some more layouts I need to take pics of then I will post again, I promise, before Christmas!!

p.s. One other reason I haven't been blogging is that I got an Ipad for my birthday/anniversary and it occupies entirely too much of my time and I haven't figured out how to blog with it (gotta put down the angry birds and learn soon!!!)

Friendzy Friday~Corrugated

2011-11-04T10:22:00.000-04:00

A great way to add texture to your layouts is by incorporating corrugated letters or papers. Jillibean was one of the first manufactuers to make 'cardboard' mainstream and now many other
companies have jumped in.

I used a sheet of kraft corrugated from Creative Imaginations as a background.

Don't worry about it bulking up your albums as it's not very thick.

I used Jillibean letters and made my trees out of cardboard for a homespun feel on this Christmas layout

Another way to use corrugated letter sheets is by cutting out the negatives like this layout where I used it to show the number 7, how old my son is.

To achieve the corrugated look you can also use a paper crimper as I did on the circles of this layout.

We have lots of corrugated letters, papers and shapes in store now so be sure to check them out and add them to your next project!

Friendzy Friday ~ Thanksgiving/Halloween Dome ornaments

2011-09-30T10:42:00.001-04:00

For this week's Friendzy Friday I am going to show you how to make something you might have seen before, especially at Christmas. I decided to change it up and make it work for October's holidays instead.

You will need themed paper, circle punch (or cut them on the Cricut etc), adhesive of choice ( I started out using terrifically tacky tape but switched to 3 n 1 Craft glue), ribbon or twine.

Choose whatever size you want for the circles depending on how large you want your ornament. I chose to use a 1 1/2 inch punch. You will need to punch 20 circles

Using a piece of cardboard punched to the same size as your circles, draw and cut out a triangle. This will be your template to fold the circles around. Place the template on top of the pattern you WANT to use and fold in.

Take 5 of the circles, adhere together with points all facing the same direction. This will form the top. Repeat to form the bottom.

Then take the 10 remaining circles and alternate the direction of the points to form a 'straight' line. Once dry, adhere the two ends together to form the center.

Before putting it all together, thread ribbon or twine through the small opening at the top of the ornament. Tie a large knot on the inside.

Adhere middle section to top and bottom and this is what you get:

I decided to try to make pumpkins too!

You could make a bunch and put them in a glass vase or hang them from everywhere!

Happy October Everyone!

September Reveal

2011-09-01T08:02:00.000-04:00

Happy September!!

For this month's kit I received a mixed bag of travel papers. I was a bit stumped as to how I was going to pull it together and they sat on my desk for a while before inspiration hit. I combined the kit with odds and ends from my stash and ended up completing 3 layouts from my California trip.

This layout is about the historical Chateau Marmont. It's the hotel where all the celebs past and present (think Lindsay Lohan lol) hang out. I don't typically use 'theme' stickers but they were in my stash and fit with the layout.

Every beach you go to in California has the most amazing piers. The Santa Monica pier is probably one of the most famous. I love these little canvas banners from Maya Road!

I love that I can add words right on to my pics now! I found these little bits in my stash too.

This is probably my fave this time around. The soft colours make me wish I was back there! I made the fishing net out of hemp twine I had in my 'junk' drawer. I added some shells and dew drops to make it feel beachy.

I am so glad I brought the shells back from Venice Beach, they made great embellishments!

Be sure to check out what all the ladies did over in the TSF gallery and I hope you had a wonderful summer!

it's my favourite time of year....

2011-08-11T20:28:00.011-04:00

And no I don't mean that it's only 26 days til school starts! (although I AM happy about that)

I'm talking CHA arrivals!!! It means boxes and boxes of goodies and samples for me to make!
I spent today working with Simple Stories and Karen Foster.

For those of you not familiar with Simple Stories I suggest you get to know them better LOL. Their scrapbooking 'system' is so smart and easy to work with. Their papers work beautifully with divided page protectors but can be used for traditional layouts as well.

It's My Party

Baby Steps

How adorable are these little owls?

Karen Foster has a more traditional approach to scrapbooking with very themed collections.

Travel

Love the stacked titles and map so you can pinpoint your travels.

Peace

This is only the beginning of many, many samples from the new arrivals. Be sure to stop in and check them out in the store or online

I've been spotted...

2011-08-03T19:01:00.001-04:00

Soup Spotted that is!

Check it outhttp://jillibeansoup.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Friendzy Friday ~ titles

2011-08-01T10:04:00.000-04:00

When I create a page I am constantly thinking of what the title will be. Sometimes the title comes first and I design the page around it. Other times I create a page and then add the title. Whatever the order it's often a challenge to come up with a title that has impact.

A title can come from your jounalling

It can describe a feeling

or the person in the photo

Diecuts make SUPER simple titles

Where you place your title is also very important to the overall design so move it around the page to see where it sits nicely. I will often have my title touching a photo so it appears grounded. When a title 'floats' it can appear a bit lost.

A big trend in scrapbooking right now is to have a title made of different fonts. Mixing stickers, chipboard and diecuts makes for a unique title.

Here are a few great sites to find scrapbooking titles:

http://theperfecttitle.com/

http://www.everything-about-scrapbooking.com/scrapbooking-titles.html

http://www.scrapsayings.com/say-top.htm

or you can simply type scrapbook titles into your search bar.

I digress for a moment...

2011-06-29T10:07:00.002-04:00

I know my blog is generally about scrapbooking and other lighthearted fare but today I just need to write about something a little tougher.

I hate Cancer. Well obviously right? Breast cancer stole my mom from me at 54 years old. It is an evil, insidious disease that can destroy you before you even know it's there. Every day it seems I hear of someone else it's affected and it makes me feel very powerless. There are loads of sites dedicated to all the things you can do to prevent it but the bottom line is YOU CAN'T. Does a 3 year old have a chance to eat enough anti-oxidants to keep leukemia at bay? Don't think so.

I am just overwrought today. I can't believe this awful disease will affect 1 in 4 people. 1 in 4!!! Not great odds.
Hug your kids, love your life and don't sweat the small stuff.
Easier said than done I know but you can bet someone with cancer is fighting for the chance to love their life.
Sorry for the downer. I am just furious today and had to let it out.

Friendzy Friday ~ Picasa!

2011-06-24T11:36:00.001-04:00

As scrapbookers obviously our whole world revolves around the photos we take and what we can do with them. A few years ago I discovered a FREE online photo management site owned by Google called Picasa. It is AWESOME. It has all the tools you need to tweak your pics and to do collages which give your pages a whole new look.

Here are some screenshots to show you what you can do:

When you load your pictures into Picasa you can start playing around with them simply by 'pinning' the images you want to use. If you look along the bottom you can see all the different things you can do ex: email, print, blog, make a movie, collage. Simply press what you want do with the selected pics and away you go.

There are several different collage options you can choose: grids, mosaics etc and you can play around with sizes such as cd cover, 12x12, digital frame sizes etc. It's super easy to add and remove photos and you can click and drag them to which part of the collage you want. You can use the collage as is on a layout or cut it up for smaller pics. I will oftern print two pics in a 5x7 size for a nice small image on a layout. These collages are also great to use on your blogs.

The beauty of Picasa is that it has all the photo editing tools too! You can fix red eye, remove blemishes, play with colour and you can add text which I used in the above collage. I journalled right on the pics with the name of the celebrity whose home it was. It's going to save me some time later when I use them on a layout.

This is just a quick look at a small area of Picasa. If you've been looking for a way to edit your photos believe me, this one is user friendly. Hey, I even figured it out!!

Here's the link so you can get started too: http://picasa.google.com/

June Design team reveal

2011-06-01T07:00:00.000-04:00

Okay so where did May go? If the rest of the summer goes this quickly it'll be fall before we know it. I know, I know - bite my tongue!

For this month's design team we were each given collections from BoBunny. Needless to say we were all pretty excited as BoBunny offers really fun papers and cool embellishments. I was given the Blast Off line which I think is super adorable. I actually had a hard time picking which pics to use as I had so many that would have worked. This is what I came up with:

The 'mission possible' sticker made the perfect title for Holden's struggle with learning how to drink out of this cup. I love that the chipboard sheet had SO many pieces on it.

Even though this picture isn't clear I really liked the way it shows that Holden was always on the go and looking for trouble! I added googly eyes to the aliens and of course some stitching!

This diecut sheet is a really fun shape and I thought it would make a great backdrop for this picture of my brother and nephew being silly. I added some fine wire to mimic tethers to the ship from the monkeys but otherwise kept it simple.

It was super easy to make a card from this collection as there are so many fun elements and great little titles.

Don't forget to go and check out what all the other ladies did over on the TSF gallery!

Friendzy Friday

2011-05-13T13:50:00.001-04:00

For this week's Friendzy Friday I have decided to focus on something that is very hot right now. Something we can barely keep in stock....The Sew Easy!

I have always loved the look of stitching on layouts and cards but was always a little intimidated as I can barely sew a button back on a shirt. Enter the Sew Easy. It allows you to add a fun element to your page without being a master sewer or even owning a sewing machine.

The tool comes with one head and has storage for needles in the handle. The mat is sold seperately and really makes using the tool SO much easier. We R makes their own floss which is so smoooooth and comes in lots of colours.

I keep the cards that come with each head on a ring so I can refer to them for the different stitches.

You can use a ruler to guide your tool or free hand it. Depending on the weight of your paper the holes might go right through.

If your paper is heavier then you may need to use a piercing tool or needle to poke them.

A little bit of stitching in a straight line or zig zag

Or a lot of stitching as a frame. You can use the scallop head to create free hand clouds and trees

And here's a little tease of what's to come in the land of Sew Easy...a case, new wider heads, baker's twine floss, metallic floss and variegated floss. Keep your eyes on the blog for more details in the not too distant future!

retreat results....very 'stitchy'

2011-05-02T13:40:00.000-04:00

I spent this past weekend away in Grand Bend at the Two Scrapbook Friends Spring Retreat. I had a fantastic time as always. What's not to like about a weekend full of scrapbooking, great food and 70 women??

I realized when I got there that I didn't really bring a whole lot of patterned papers with me so I picked up some new papers from MME and a few from Fancy Pants. I also had to purchase the jillibean dutch mustard collection before I came. Just can't get enough of the 'bean!

My friend Darcy took this pic of Holden last year and I've been hanging onto it for just the right layout. This is the first layout I did of the weekend and I blame it for the stitching obsession!

Of course I had to scrapbook Wyatt's recent stitches and I used the Sew Easy tool to create the zigzag. I tied off the end to mimic how the stitches are tied.

Oh look, is that stitching on those die cut stars? Yup. MME also brought out baker's twine with each of their new collections and I bought at least 4 colours. It's a little tougher to stitch with but the result is pretty cool.

Jillibean. I bought some Maya Road mini spools and wound floss around them to coordinate with my layout. A little glimmer mist added to the kraft to take up some of the 'white' space

For this layout I was inspired by Dee's crimped squares on a design team layout. I love how the texture looks (thanks Heather for letting me use your crimper!) Thanks Darcy for helping with the stitching of the squares!

I stitched this one around 4:15 am Saturday morning! I covered some old chipboard for the title and popped up some clouds. I LOVE these new MME papers!

I was a bit stumped on what paper to use for this one so Joanne came to the rescue and found me these papers on the flip side of some Fancy Pants summer papers. I bought the fence in the US back in Feb and have been itching to use it. I inked my chipboard letters (thanks Cathy for the faded jeans ink!) then covered in Glossy Accents. The rolled flower and butterfly were leftovers from my jillibean design team kit and I used Jenny's Martha scissors on the grass.

More jillibean along with a Prima canvas title which I love. Wish they'd do alphas in plain canvas! more stitching!

All in all a productive weekend. I used the few lines I had as much as I could. My wrist and shoulder hurt a bit from the stitching but I think it was worth the pain! LOL!

I get to spend all of this coming Saturday scrapbooking at the store for National Scrapbook Day too. I feel pretty lucky!

May design team

2011-05-01T08:30:00.007-04:00

For this month's design team kit each member was given a Jillibean Soup collection to work with. Well that made me really happy as I am a huge fan of jillibean. I received the super fun 'spotted owl soup' which is all about birthday.

I made the usual card and layouts but also thought that, given the theme, that a few other birthday decor items were in order.

Banners are everywhere right now and I'm a fan. I cut these ones out of a patterend paper and stitched a string for them to hang on. I made buttons into balloons and used up some very old Heidi Swapp chipboard letters.

More banners! LOL

I love the corrugated shapes that jillibean comes out with

I popped up my owls and used just a tiny bit of liquid adhesive to hold the strings in place

Here's my little extras...

I used a foam ball inside this cupcake wrapper then used pins to push in crumpled 1" circles. The pins add a fun touch and are so great on cards too.

Although most of this line is very fun and full of bright colours and patterns this patterned paper is a little softer so I added a Prima felt stem and used the 'bean blossom' under a die cut to form the flower. I used baker's twine to decorate the handle and voila, a pretty little gift bag for one of my friends!

This banner was cut out on the store's Accucut. There are lots of fun things that we can do for you with this die-based system. Keep your eyes on the store's blog for more amazing ideas. I added some chipboard letters then embellished with lots of fun bits and pieces. I used the baker's twine to string it up.

Another fun kit!

Make sure you check out what all the other ladies did over on the TSF gallery!

I got SMASHED!!

2011-04-20T10:12:00.000-04:00

I just stopped by my mail box and this is what was waiting for me...

A little bitty Smash book from K&Company!! For those of you who don't know what a Smash book is it's a really cool way to store your thoughts and ideas..you can see more about it here

There has been a delay in the arrival of these books so to appease the rabid public K&co offered up 400 of these mini smashes to the first people who left comments on their blog.

Even though the book is only about 5X3 it is still full of goodness including little tags to smash onto the 17 pages.

There was this cute little card with the blog on it and I suggest you check it out cause they have been giving away the full size Smash books!

The full size Smash books won't be in the store for a while yet but I can't wait to get my hands on one!

Hippity Hop it's a TSF blog hop!!

2011-04-11T20:00:00.005-04:00

Just in time for Easter we are having a blog HOP! On April 11th at 8 pm each DT member and the Two Scrapbook Friends will link up their Easter themed post on their blog. You will need to hop from blog to blog leaving a comment on each, you can find the blog list below or on the Two Scrapbook Friends blog! The hop will be open until April 14th at 8 pm and then we will have a random drawn for a prize for those who completed the hop on Friday morning. Also... if you create an easter theme project in this week, please link up on the participation thread in our forum for some bonus buttons! Any questions just ask!

Blog List

And here's my little contribution to Easter. This was my first paper-pieced stamp ever!

I've seen Joanne and Carolyn do it and loved the idea so here it is...

I hope you HOP along to the other blogs and don't forget to leave a comment on each and then back on the Forum when you are all done!

Scrapfest!

2011-04-11T13:57:00.005-04:00

CRAZY!!

Two Scrapbook Friends had another fabulous year at Scrapfest. Our booth was rockin' all weekend long and everyone was having a great time. It was awesome to see so many of our regulars and also lots of new faces.

I had a proud moment when I took some pics of the booth and saw all of the new kits I'd created

More kits and the banner I made using the Accucut..watch the store's blog for more coolness coming with this system

Our booth was hoppin' all weekend, this was the only time the make and take tables didn't have huge lines!

ooooh something new for TSF...FABRIC!!

The shelves, all full and ready to go.

Such a fun, exhausting couple of days!

Can't wait for next year!!

totally tubular!

2011-04-01T14:54:00.003-04:00

In my Design team reveal post I mentioned that we each received a little plastic tube to decorate. These are something new and very exciting that you'll see around the store. These food safe tubes will be the perfect gift/favour for any occasion. I've filled mine with beads and twine as a little party favour but the ideas are only as limited as your imagination.

Wait til you see what the other ladies came up with!!

Design team reveal!

2011-04-01T14:28:00.008-04:00

This month's kit from TSF (two scrapbook friends) held a few surprises for me. Each team member was given a "Beyond the Page" project from Kaisercraft as well as a little plastic tube. Our focus was the BTP and then with whatever we had left we could create layouts/cards.

I was THRILLED to get one of the new trays to decorate because I've wanted to do one for awhile. The paper line I was given was from My Mind's Eye's Stella & Rose, Hattie collection and well I couldn't have been happier.

I used a layers of vintage photo ink and tattered leather Glimmer mist to cover the wood

I picked up some of the extra embellishments that coordinated with the collection

I added wired ribbon, buttons and raffia from my stash

I cut these flowers out of a patterned paper then rolled them up

Can you see the tulle behind this photo?? Love the tiny little lock that is also MME

I made this layout with what I had left and some buttons from my stash

When I first stuck the buttons down I thought they looked bare so I hand stitched them

key tag days at Two Scrapbook Friends

2011-03-23T20:14:00.004-04:00

Grab your Two Scrapbook Friends Key Tag and start the car! There is a great sale taking place this weekend at your favorite scrapbook store!

It is time for our March Key Tag Days at Two Scrapbook Friends!

We have a great sale that you won't want to miss PLUS you will have the opportunity to win one of 8 Gift Baskets filled with fabulous products!

This Friday and Saturday, March 25 and 26, our key tag holders can purchase any of our in-stock Stamping Bella stamps for 30-40% off the regular price!

These fabulous rubber stamps are high quality and will give you a beautiful impression every time you use them.

PLUS with every $20.00 in product purchases - before taxes - you will receive a ticket for a chance to win one of 8 gift baskets! Each basket is filled with all sorts of scrapbooking goodness and has a retail value of $150.00!

With our sale on Stamping Bella stamps and with all the other irresistible new products in our store, your chances of winning one of the baskets is in your favour!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST the Spring Issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today will be available on Friday! This fabulous magazine is FREE with any purchase (while quantities last and they disappear really fast!)

So grab your pink key tag* and start the car! You don't want to miss out!
We look forward to seeing you this weekend during our regular store hours:

Friday 10:00am - 10:00pm

Saturday 10:00am - 5:00pm

*Note: You must have your key tag with you to qualify for this promotion but don't worry if you don't have one already. They are only $1 and you can purchase one at the store.

I'll be working Friday and Saturday so I look forward to seeing all of you at the store!

prima canvas cut outs

2011-03-17T20:45:00.005-04:00

There seems to be a trend in scrapbooking right now that is all about making your own flowers. Well Prima has come up with a very unique take on this trend with a sheet of canvas cutouts that are perfect for the 'do it yourselfer'.

The sheet is a stiff, natural coloured canvas with the outlines of several different flowers stamped on it.

The possibilities are truly endless in terms of what you can do with these flowers!

You can keep it natural with a little bit of ink on the edges

(I used one flower,cut apart and sprayed with mist, to create all the petals you see in the above pic)

I snipped the edges and used many coats of ink to get this bright yellow bloom

For this funky, striped flower I used double-sided tape as a mask.

I created this flower by spiral cutting a bloom then rolling it into itself. After spraying with glimmer mist, I attached all three layers with 3 in 1 glue.

For this one I layered brown and orange mists for a darker tone on the bottom layer.

This effect was done with a stamp and Staz On ink. Think of all the stamps you have and imagine them on canvas!

For even more texture how about embossing? I ran the flowers through the Cuttlebug then used chalk to make the pattern really stand out. I stuck the pin through the floss on the back of the button and used tacky glue to stick it all together.

You can use just about anything: ink, paint, mist,chalk, Copics etc to colour your flowers so they will be a perfect accent on your cards and layouts.

I made all of these flowers from one sheet which only costs $3.75!

(available at Two Scrapbook Friends)

Let your imagination wander, I would love to see what you come up with!

let the new products roll....

2011-03-10T20:38:00.003-05:00

It's been very busy at the store lately with all the new products flowing in fast and furiously. While Carolyn and Joanne work dilligently to get it all out on the floor I get the tough job of creating store samples. YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Here's what I came up with this week:

First from Imaginisce's Animal Crackers collection

Love the glossy papers and bright colours.

This collection works well for all kinds of activities like family movie night etc.

Next we have a little bit of Prima:

This is from the new Jack and Jill collection using the same sweet characters as their previous line. These papers cover lots of seasonal and occasion themes and are beyond cute. I hand stitched around the edge and if you look closely you can see that I drew in the boy's fishing line :)

I added some Stickles and Glossy Accents to this little cutie.

(Carolyn said that this is her in a bathing suit!!)

I did a monochromatic layout to really highlight the sepia tones of this photo my friend Jessica gave me. Don't forget that you can go black and white or sepia in your photos and they'll go with any papers you fall in love with. I used a border punch to create the dark brown frame.

The doily is from Kaisercraft and I am so in love with them.

You can even mist them!

I've also been super busy creating some new kits for Scrapfest: More Disney, camping, family fun, dance and more!

Thanks for taking a peek!

design team March

2011-03-01T20:34:00.003-05:00

I have been a neglectful blogger lately. I seriously cannot believe that February is over already. Where did it go?? It started out in California and ended in Buffalo...lol. Gotta stay in the country or get a laptop!

Anyhoo, I attended a CHA crop at TSF this past Sunday which was great because among other reasons, I was able to complete my design team projects. I had Kaisercraft's seaside collection which if full of beachy goodness and distressed colours. I also used up a few rub ons from my stash which is always a good thing.

Here's what I came up with:

I was happy to get a chance to play with the new circle stitching template from Bazzill (thanks Darcy!) The store is currently sold out but I think I'll be picking one of these up when they are restocked! I used some red mist on the Maya Road chipboard alphas then inked them to get them the right shade.

It's hard to tell but there is mist sprayed on the craft paper here. I used my new notebook border punch and I know this one will be getting lots of use in the future. I distressed the edges of my photos with a file and I also used up a few rub ons from my stash.

I took these photos on our trip to CHA California and thought they would be perfect for this paper especially the background paper that has the names of many famous beaches on it. I brought the sand dollar back from the beach and figured I would add it into the layout as a little reminder of my awesome trip.

Who knew you could put rub ons onto shells?

a simple monochromatic card...you can never have enough thank you cards!

This month we had a fabulous guest designer so be sure to check out her creations along with the rest of the team's here

sample time again!

2011-02-17T22:00:00.004-05:00

The orders from CHA are arriving at a fast and furious pace and I'm doing my best to keep up with some samples for the store. Today I played with My Mind's Eye, 'good day sunshine'. There are boy and girl collections and I love the colours in both of them as they are a bit muted with a distressed feel.

Surfboards, guitars and beach huts all in great 'boy' colours. The diecut sheets have so many little bits and pieces that really add a lot to your layouts.

So pretty, so girly. All the pattern papers are so beautiful it was hard to pick only a few to work with. I hand cut the letters/numbers from one of the pattern papers.

I saw some more boxes arrive just before I was leaving today which means more goodies to play with next week!

no more snow....please?

2011-02-16T14:01:00.003-05:00

You can tell everyone is sick of winter because the weather is all we seem to talk about lately. Between 'snowmageddon' that didn't happen on the predicted day and this weekend's expected double digit temps I think as Canadians we are obsessed with weather.

I am, I check out the weather network every day.

As much as I am looking forward to spring I am NOT looking forward to the slushy, mushy, dirty, gross process of the snow melting. The boys' snowsuits come home soaked and it's not much fun to play out in.

They did have a great time this past Saturday after the insta-blizzard ended and I, of course, snapped a few shots of them. The snow was so white, fluffy and pristine.

Holden's smiling in there somewhere

Wyatt in a huge hole he dug out

Ah, there's his smile

The snowbanks are so tall

I love how our big pine tree looks with a dusting of snow

I do have to say that I enjoy the winter for outdoor play. I can peel off their snowsuits and they are nice and clean underneath ulike the summer when they are mud-covered!

Let's hope the groundhog was right!

a little california on a snowy day

2011-02-07T11:10:00.010-05:00

I'm baaaaaaaaaack. Actually I've been back for 5 days and they've been busy ones so I'm just now doing a little Cali post. One word describes my trip...AWESOME. From the first star sighting (Gwen Stefani at the airport in TO) to the beaches, the whole CHA experience to navigating L.A.'s crazy highways (thank goodness I brought my GPS!) I had a great time. Oh and I got to wear flip flops on a beach in January, I am truly a lucky girl.

Here are just a few of the 1250 pics I took, you can find more here

The sign is really huge and I'm such a geek cause I was SO excited to see it.

On the steps of the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars and American Idol are filmed.

We went for a tour of stars' homes through Beverly Hills, this is Simon Cowell's house.

Love how the fireman took their lunch break in Venice Beach.

The start of the show. We were serenaded by bagpipers, so cool. Candy Spelling cut the ribbon.

Here are a few shots of sample layouts/projects from the show. There was so much inspiration provided by some seriously talented scrapbookers!

Maya road tray.

They introduced some new trim and chipboard and they had a great make n take

Prima. Their samples were insane. So many flowers and bling...wow.

Jillibean, a personal fave, did not disappoint!

I love, love this line from Cosmo Cricket and really adored this layout.

All in all a fantastic experience! Big thanks to Carolyn and Joanne for making this happen. I CANNOT wait to get my hands on all of these new products. Won't have to wait too long, many of them start shipping over the next few weeks!

Online Crop

2011-02-04T14:23:00.001-05:00

Two Scrapbook Friends is hosting an awesome superbowl themed online crop this weekend through the forum. NO, you do not have to be a fan of football to play!! Can't think of a better way to spend a cold, wintry weekend than in my scrapbook room!
Hope you'll join in for some great challenges and of course PRIZES!!

Check it out here

design team reveal!!

2011-02-01T10:32:00.000-05:00

Even though I'm away in California I wanted to be sure that I posted my layouts for this month's design team. I had lots of fun working with some super cute papers from We R Memory Keepers.

We R has come out with lots of stitched papers that are great for those of us who are sewing-challenged. When the papers are stitched by machines there can be a little bit of creasing but that will flatten out, no worries.

I added some bling and the brown heart paper. Gotta have bling for little Anastasia!

I have seen this idea done before on circles and other shapes and thought it would be fun to try. I cut out the heart first then cut random pieces of patterned paper to stick around it.

For the banner I cut out each triangle leaving a bit at the top to fold over the string then pop-dotted each one. I hand cut the birds to hold the ends in their mouths.

This layout is an ode to all the moms whose kids fight and argue constantly and wishing they could just get along!

I added the chipboard hearts that I covered in paper and some chalk. Here's a closeup of the journalling (if you click the pic it's even closer up) so you get the idea.

*tip: I cut out my letters on the Cricut 3 times and glued them together. It's an easy way to get some depth without cutting up teeny tiny pop dots.

Here's my card. Love those little heart stick pins!

There are some sweet Valentines papers in store now.

Thanks for taking a peek and don't forget to check out what the other ladies did over at the TSF gallery

sketch challenge...

2011-01-31T09:00:00.003-05:00

For this week's sketch challenge over on the TSF forum I chose to use this sketch I found at Scrapbooks Etc. Something about it really caught my eye.

This sketch would work for any theme but I went with the winter as I had the perfect sledding pics to use.

I really crashed my stash to create this layout. Just about everything is at least a few years old.

Play along on the forum and post your finished layouts!

california...

2011-01-26T20:06:00.002-05:00

Well, hopefully if everything is on time, Carolyn and I should be lifting off right about now. We are on our way to CHA in L.A. which for those of you who don't know is the Craft and Hobby association tradeshow.
Hopefully I'm not freaking out too much right about now although I'm sure I'll be white-knuckling it through take off. I am so thrilled to have this opportunity and am so thankful that Joanne hates to fly!! LOL! I can't wait to see the show, it's like a crafter's mecca from what I've heard. Of course I'm insanely excited to be going to L.A. too. Carolyn is a seasoned California visitor by now so she can show me all the cool spots.

I've got a few blog posts waiting in the wings for when I'm gone, challenges and dt stuff. I'll see you in a week!!

buttons

2011-01-20T08:00:00.001-05:00

Two Scrapbook Friends Buttons Rewards Program

A reward program for paper addicts… just think, you could receive free product for scrapbooking, participating in challenges or even just talking about scrapbooking!
We are trying out a little benefit program on our Forum and here is how it will work…

Post in the forum – 1 button
Play along with a challenge – 10 buttons
Win a challenge – 50 buttons

Occasionally you will have an opportunity to win larger buckets of buttons as we will be giving away buttons accumulated by either Joanne and Carolyn or members of the DT. Plus there might be random Bonus Buttons awarded!

So what do the buttons mean to you? Why should you want buttons? Well, they translate into free product, that’s why! And you choose the product!
When your bucket gets full, Two Scrapbook Friends will buy back your buttons in exchange for a gift certificate that you can use in the store or to purchase something on-line!
500 buttons = $10.00 gift certificate
A couple things you should know… this is a trial and may not last forever so best to jump in right away. Any point question can be directed to Deanna (DeeWoodland) or Joanne & Carolyn at 2friends@execulink.com.
So get out your buckets ladies, head to the Forum and start collecting your buttons.
Two Scrapbook Friends

anyone like prizes???

2011-01-19T10:40:00.004-05:00

What's new on the Two Scrapbook Friends forum…

Month 5 for 5 challenges… where each month a dt member will launch a challenge where the first 5 people to sign up get 5 scrappy items in the mail to create from!

Find this here Challenges, Contests and Prizes.

Monthly Sketch Challenge – A sketch a month with prizes at the end! Find this here Sketches!

Online Crops – First of which is the weekend of Feb 4th – 6th! We are working on the challenges now and boy are they fun. Did I mention prizes yet?? Also we have another planned in March!

What’s your Recipe Challenge – You will have to tune in to learn what this is all about!

Guest DT Members – By invitation only so you are going to want to show your work here!

Blog Hops - with prizes.

National Scrapbook Day Challenge – with prizes.

A Scrapbook Rewards Program!

Are you sensing a pattern here?

There is something for everyone over on the forum so come and check it out here

you know it's time to ......

2011-01-17T10:24:00.003-05:00

shave your legs when this is the drawing your 6 yr old presents to you while you are sick with the flu. I'll admit it, I do not shave nearly as often as I do in the summer. What's the point?? I may reconsider after looking at this picture though! Wyatt was laughing so hard when he gave it to me I knew something must be up beyond my green hair (the colour of my skin was completely appropriate as I was feeling so terrible).

He loves to draw pictures for my husband and I when we're not well so I guess I should just say 'it's the thought that counts' on this one!

challenges on the forum..get that mojo flowing!

2011-01-12T06:15:00.004-05:00

Did you know that the TSF forum is booming again?

Lots of challenges and prizes are coming your way so check it out here today.

On Wednesdays the design team posts card challenges. Well, I consider myself to be a little bit 'card CHALLENGED' so this is a good way for me to build up my card stash. This week I chose to do a baby card. Someone's always having one right?? I went a little non-traditional by using a black background but I loved the way the hippo looked against it.

So whip up a baby card and post it in the forum. I would love to see them!

bbq chicken pizza

2011-01-09T14:53:00.004-05:00

One of our favourite meals at our house has to be BBQ chicken pizza. So simple, SO YUMMY!
We make ours on whole wheat pitas but you could use regular pizza dough too.

Choose whatever bbq sauce you like, we use Diana sauce.

Lay tinfoil on a cookie sheet (helps with clean up!)

Drizzle sauce on pita, set aside

Slice up chicken to a size that suits you and mix in a bowl with more sauce

Chop up whatever veggies you like: brocoli, onions, mushrooms, peppers etc

Distribute on pitas

Sprinkle shredded cheese all over (you can never have enough cheese!)

Bake in the oven til cheese is melted and bubbly (I usually put it on a low broil for the last few minutes)

Slice and enjoy!

New year, new design team projects....

2011-01-01T14:54:00.005-05:00

I am very pleased to announce that I am returning to the Two Scrapbook Friends Design team for another term. As it is January 1st it's time for my first reveal. This month each member worked with different collections from Sassafrass.

I really liked the shade of green in these papers which is why it's prominent in all of my creations this month. I added some buttons, ribbon and letter stickers along with an ATC given to me a while ago.

* thanks for the photo Jenny!

Not until I finished all my layouts did I realize that this one has a similar look to the first one! Oh well I guess I was feeling the design!

I stuck with a tight, 3 colour scheme to keep the focus on this sweet photo of Emma and Kate. *thanks for the photo Jessica

The banner was super easy to make using Punky Sprouts canvas triangles inked in blue and some twine. I added the chipboard letters from My Mind's Eye.

This last one is probably my fave this time around. I love this series of photos of Holden playing with a super fuzzy caterpillar we found on a hike.

I was super excited to use my new Sew Easy tool to stitch around the tree. I used the scallop head and ran it around in a tree design then cut out it out. I used a blue Prismacolour pencil to highlight my letter stickers and a black pen around the photos. I snipped a tiny piece of twill Jillibean ribbon for my birdies in the tree and added some of the Sassafrass stickers that came in the kit.

A great thing about Sass papers is that they have a really cool scalloped barcode strip that you can use on your layouts.

I really loved the colours from the 'adored' layout so I decided to repeat them on this card. I pleated and folded up the green paper then used pop dots to raise up the heart paper. Each Dteam kit included a bottle of Stickles and I used a hefty amount to cover the chipboard heart (leave it to dry overnight to avoid accidents!) I used the same ribbon again and found this sentiment in my stash.

I really enjoy the challenge of working with the design team kits and can't wait to see what next month brings!

Thanks for taking a peek and don't forget to check out all the other designer's creations on the Two Scrapbook Friend's gallery

samples....

2010-12-09T21:50:00.004-05:00

Hooray for play days! No, not the kind where you do sack races and balloon tosses. I'm talking about the days where I get to work on store samples. I am so lucky to get to play around with new products and hopefully they provide some inspiration.

Here are two from the new BoBunny lines. Bobunny always does a fantastic job but these two collections in particular are outstanding.

Midnight Frost is all cool blues and greys with tiny hints of purple and green.

I crinkled up some wired ribbon and added some mini pom pom trim (they reminded me of snowballs) then used staples and glue dots to stick it down.

Crazy Love is simply adorable.

Pink and brown combined with birds and flowers, what more could you ask for?

*thanks to Cheryl for this pic of her beautiful daughter Meghan!

This collection from The Paper Loft is ideal for all of your heritage/family history layouts.

For this layout I used an old photo of my mom. The journalling reads:

"At first glance this picture is just another retro, poor quality photo. What it is to me is a connection to my mother and our shared love of photography. I can't imagine how happy she would have been to experience digital cameras!"

I must have been in the mood to crinkle and smoosh paper and trim today since there seems to be a bit of a trend with these layouts!

Anyhoo, how's that Christmas shopping going??

Pinecone Press

2010-12-07T21:33:00.006-05:00

Over the last couple of months we have been getting these really great paper crafting kits from Pinecone Press. Each kit comes with a full colour booklet that tells you how to make loads of different projects. Since I'm the 'sample girl' I get to play with all of these fun kits and make up some of the ideas. Something I really like about these packages is that you can follow their ideas exactly or add your own creativity to them. I just finished two very different kits and thought I would share them with you.

These little holders are great for Hot Chocolate but could be used for lots of other ideas like gift cards to a favourite Coffee shop.

(If you look closely you just might notice some liquid applique on those marshmallows!!)

This holder has 4 pockets and is SUPER easy to put together. The red paper and pockets are already scored and ready to go.

How cute are these penguins?!?!?

Within each kit you will find premium papers either from Pinecone Press or other well known companies like My Mind's Eye or as in the case of the next projects, Graphic 45.

All the pieces you need to make this banner come in the kit, including the yardstick to mount it on. There are loads of details on this vintage Christmas banner. The directions give you step by step instructions on how to make the rosettes and how to put it all together. I added some Glossy Accents, a bell and some Stickles for sparkle.

Here is a closer view of some of the squares:

Something else really great about these kits is that even after making the 'main' project there are lots of leftovers to make other goodies like this gift card holder:

These kits come flat in 12X12 packages so you may not notice them when you wander the store so feel free to ask about them and watch for future kits too.

Oh and PHEW am I ever glad I don't live in London (south western Ontario or in England!) right now...although I'm sure my boys would love all the snow they are getting.

Thanks for having a peek :)

mmmmmm

2010-12-04T08:24:00.003-05:00

I've been feeling rather domestic lately which is really unlike me. Although I am technically a stay at home Mom, I've never really embraced the stereotype (haha). However I've learned to enjoy baking over the last few months. I'm still not very adventuresome, sticking to easy recipes, but I've been happy with what I've made. This past week I made 4 enormous batches of banana chocolate chip muffins and mini-loaves. Last week was Pumpkin muffins and breads. I like the idea of having something homemade to put in the boys' lunches and it sure does make the house smell amazing! I drop them off to neighbours and bring them to the store because if I didn't they would be consumed quickly by ME!

I like to make the minis for the boys because they think it's great to have 2 or 3

I even managed to get some into the freezer this time!

Maybe I'll even attempt a cake again. The last cake I made was for Wyatt's second birthday and it fell apart into 5 pieces!

Christmas craftiness and a few samples....

2010-11-23T20:39:00.011-05:00

I spent 12 lovely hours at a crop this past Saturday and I decided to work on some non-layout projects. I bought this Kaisercraft tree last year and never got around to finishing it but it's done now! I used some double dot paper and little bits from the Echo Park Christmas line. I added buttons, raffia and ribbon and used the good ole' Alphalicious cartridge (I use this cartridge a LOT!) for the numbers.

I also created this little curly wreath using Echo Park's other Christmas collection. I've seen a few variations of it online and wanted to try one out. Super simple and not overly time comsuming. This one is pretty small and I'm hoping to make a much bigger one for our front door sometime before Christmas.

When I was all done attaching the curls I took it outside, sprayed it with adhesive and sprinkled it with Glamour Dust for just a little sparkle.

Things have gotten back to 'normal' around the store so I've had a bit of time to whip up some samples of the new lines that have come in.

We R Memory Keepers ~ Merry January

Such a pretty, wintery line that I had to 'grunge' up for my boy! lol

I thought the coodinations paper was perfect to sand for a snowy look. I added some snowflake buttons (have you checked out all the cool new buttons yet?) with some Stickles on top.

Echo Park is quickly becoming one of my favourite companies. I love that they have two holiday lines. Look at how cute Kate is in this cup!! (kind of hard to see but there's lots of Stickles on here too..gotta have glitter at Christmas!)

American Crafts

New arrivals in blue and pink! Such sweet collections of chipboard, stickers and embossed papers.

New for dogs and cats. Super cute dimensional stickers and felties along with patterned papers that work for more than just the animals in your life!

Lots of layers and buttons! I tried out my new Sew Easy tool too.

It sold out super quick at the store but there's more coming!

Thanks for taking a peek and I hope all your Holiday crafts are coming along nicely!

mysterious ways...

2010-11-14T20:56:00.002-05:00

Every now and then something happens to make my spine tingle a little bit. Tonight, after a tough day, I decided to take a very long bath and finish up a book I've been reading for the last few weeks. When I got to the end, for some reason, I decided to read the acknowledgements which is something I rarely do. This is what they said at the very end ....

And thank you, always, forever, in extremis, to Heather Feather, for her love, support, friendship and positive life force....to my singing, skipping daughter Shelby, who fills our house with sunshine each and every day.

This book is for my mother....she taught me absolutely everything I know about unconditional love. Thanks, Mom.

I am not skipping or singing lately but I thought it was pretty neat to read this, today of all days.

Oh and if you didn't know...my mom's name is Heather.

Hug your mom extra tight the next time you see her.

nine years...

2010-11-14T08:54:00.002-05:00

A Mother’s love is binding
Unrelenting in its power
The glow from it so blinding
Beyond her final hour

Even after a Mother’s gone
Her love will see you through
A love to help you carry on
Because that’s what Mother’s do

I'm sure that my mom would hate that I posted this picture for everyone to see but it's important to me because you can still see light in her eyes even as she was facing the worst moments in her life.

Here is a pic of her from her younger days. I have no idea how old she is here, probably mid teens. This picture was in rough shape but my father-in-law restored this for me and did a fantastic job.

I really wish I had more pictures of my mom and should probably keep that in mind for my boys because I am ALWAYS behind the camera.

Missing you Mom.

to market, to market we go....

2010-11-14T07:30:00.005-05:00

This time yesterday we were up enjoying the beautiful fall weather at the market. All the colours and smells .....mmmmm.

I had no idea that brussel sprouts grew on stalks!

Grandma and Grandpa, who are frequent market goers, supplied Holden with lots of grapes as we wandered around.

Of course Holden thought that was just awesome!

3 generations

It would be nice if every Saturday had this kind of weather so that trips to market would always be so enjoyable!

just in case you wondered...

2010-11-03T20:29:00.003-04:00

If you've ever wondered what goes on at a Two Scrapbook Friends retreat here's a little peek inside one.

It's not just about creating layouts and cards it's really about getting together with a bunch of like-minded (read:crazy) women and enjoying some time away from the stresses of daily life.

Each table designed a tshirt which was then modelled by one of the participants.

These ladies had some serious skills on the catwalk!

I wish I had taped the 'model' showdown on the catwalk. Priceless!

As always a job well done by Carolyn and Joanne!

*I didn't get signed releases for this so I hope nobody minds!

and now for something a bit different....

2010-11-01T13:41:00.003-04:00

I spent the weekend among 100+ creative women at the TSF retreat in Grand Bend. I had decided before going that I really needed to work on cards and get my Christmas tags done for the forum swap. For those of you who don't know, I am NOT typically a card maker. I will often throw something together last minute when I need a card.

I made a few cards on Friday night and completed a layout for one of many challenges going on throughout the weekend and then it happened. Emily, owner of Stamping Bella, was invited to join us at the retreat to demonstrate how to use Prismacolour pencils. She was doing a make and take which I thought I would try using a stamp, pencils and a little tube of something called 'liquid applique'. When I started colouring I felt a similar feeling to when I started scrapbooking. Uh-oh, I knew I was in trouble. It was so much fun especially when I saw what the liquid applique did. You apply this white liquid, almost like an opaque Glossy Accents, and then you apply a heat gun and that's when the magic happens!! It puffs up like marshmallows!!! Needless to say the big joke for the rest of the weekend was that I had gone a bit crazy on the applique.

I picked this little Santa up last year and thought it would be perfect to add a little applique to him

OOh I could use it on clouds too!

And for snow of course!

I made 17 of these cards! I used a Bella stamp, Memento ink, Prismas, Glossy Accents on the windows, Stickles and liquid applique to make snow under the tires. This is my first go at using Prismas and it was seriously fun! I suggest if Copics intimidate you (like they do me a bit) Prismas are such a great alternative.

It was a great weekend and I did get loads of cards made, so many that I'm not sure what I'll do with all of them. It was so much fun to work on something different and to learn a new technique.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-29T09:39:00.001-04:00

I'm just about ready to leave for the TSF scrapbook retreat in Grand Bend but wanted to wish you all a Happy Halloween before I go. Hope all the ghosts and goblins have a great time and that the weather is kind to us!

Hopefully I'll get something accomplished this weekend so I have new pics to post next week.
Take care everyone!

BOO!

a few more....

2010-10-16T20:31:00.002-04:00

I forgot to include these ones!

Little Yellow Bicycle

The naughty/nice chipboard has a moveable arrow to suit your photo(s) and there is a sheet that has HUGE holiday images to cut out. I added some pom poms cut from trim.

Jillibean Soup

Homey holiday papers on kraft backgrounds. Love these snowmen!

Imaginisce

Something non-holiday! Great dino line with all kinds of cool embellishments. Perfect for your dinosaur crazy kiddos!

These lines will be in store sometime in the near future, once everything is unpacked from Scrapfest!

samples

2010-10-15T20:15:00.004-04:00

Scrapfest Oshawa is happening as I write this and I have been insanely busy creating 35 new page kits and samples for the booth at the show.

Some of these products are available instore now and the rest will be when Joanne and Carolyn return from the show.

We R Memory Keepers "Maple Grove" collection. Papers, embossed stickers and embellisments all in perfect fall colours.

Sassafras Lass latest collections

"Mix and Mend" has some very cool papers which look like loads of embellisments are already on them. I played it up by adding real crochet trim, buttons and staples. I also hand cut around some of the designs to make them appear even more 3D.

"Indie Girl" is lots of blues and green mixed with little bits of pink. I really like the chipboard flowers that Sass has come out with.

"Count me in" has really cute critters, papers and adhesive banners that can be used for lots of different things. Chipboard number packs work perfectly for dates, birthdays or this type of title.

BoBunny's 'Winter Joy' has gorgeous, non-traditional winter/holiday papers and embellishments. They have really expanded their trim to include fabric, velvet and even leather!

I love the pom pom trim that has come in with each of the new BoBunny lines.

Thanks to Darcy and Jessica for lending me pics of their girls, again!

If you don't get a chance to check all of these great new lines out at Scrapfest be sure to pop in sometime over the next few weeks. Just be forgiving....it takes a few days to get the store back in order after such a big event!

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-10-09T11:19:00.002-04:00

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday weekend. Enjoy the gorgeous weather, time with family and of course all the FOOD!!!!

school, surgery, safari...

2010-09-25T21:29:00.004-04:00

Phew!

That's what I have to say about September so far. I just can't believe that the month is almost over!!

Of course like every other parent out there I've spent the last few weeks helping the boys get adjusted to school. Wyatt has begun grade 1 which has been a bit of a shock to his system. What? No playing all day? Now that he's gotten down to the real business of reading, writing and math not to mention french and science he's a little unsure about the whole school thing. I'm determined to help him enjoy reading which is his biggest complaint so far.

Holden on the other hand has just entered the wonderful world of JK and is LOVING it. He wants to go every day and is upset when he can't.

On September 20 Wyatt had to go to McMaster for minor surgery. He made me promise not to tell his teacher what he had done. Let's just say it was to fix an 'off to the left' issue. He handled it amazingly well and I was super impressed.

We have been working on getting rid of all the green carpet in our house and replacing it with wood flooring. In order to finish the upstairs my husband kicked us out of the house today with a free admission to the African Lion Safari. I was seriously doubtful about the weather but went anyway. We had a few showers but it always seemed to get sunny when we wanted to do something. The boys had a great time and I'm sure the highlight was riding the elephant with popcorn and ice cream coming a close second.

It's been a bit of a crazy month and I don't foresee it slowing down anytime soon. I'm working like a crazy woman to create all sorts of new page kits and samples for the store and the boys are starting sports too. Oh well, who needs sleep right??

'toot toot' goes my horn....

2010-09-15T20:01:00.004-04:00

guess who was spotted on the Jillibean Soup blog today??????

Such a good day...

2010-09-12T21:50:00.005-04:00

I spent this past Saturday at the anniversary crop for Two Scrapbook Friends. Such a wonderful way to spend the day. I worked away on some more store samples because the collections just keep coming in and frankly I can't wait to get my hands on them! I started out the day working on Jillibean Soup which I absolutely love.

Hooray for the return of corrugated alphas! 5 colours!

(you're not seeing things, that IS journalling. The sprouts lend themselves perfectly to a few words and dates. I like layering them round over scallop with a pop dot in between)

This time there's corrugated buttons, stars, flowers and other shapes! WOOHOO!!

The baker's twine comes in lots of colours and adds a bit more interest.

Can you believe how perfect this pic is for this Monster Stew collection? My friend Darcy's daughter Oceane is so adorable even with a face full of Crayola. The title is what 'O' said to Darcy when she was discovered. Graph papers make it super easy to stitch and I hand cut the monsters.

After finishing those up it was on to Crate Paper. I am a huge fan of Crate especially their chipboard as you can probably tell from this layout:

I used Glossy Accents and many colours of Stickles (thanks to Sam, Veronica and Darcy since I left all of mine at home!) to bling up the snowmen etc.

Last one of the day is from the Restoration collection. It's a very ecclectic, vintage feeling line that could be used for just about anything. I chose to scrap a pic of Holden enjoying spaghetti and asparagus. I hand cut the circle (using a bowl from the kitchen!), doilies and flowers then layered them with chipboard. The letters are from My Mind's Eye lush collection.

I had so much fun chatting and scrapping all day that I didn't want it to end. Some days I wonder if there will ever come a day that I don't want to scrap anymore and then I give my head a shake!

Thanks to everyone for a great day and I'll see you soon at the store :)

It's just around the corner...

2010-08-29T19:18:00.003-04:00

It's hard to believe that August is coming to a close and the kids are almost back to school (HOORAY!). Before we know it Halloween will be here and there are some amazing Halloween collections in the store. I believe there are at least 5 different manufactuers represented with spooky lines in the store right now. I just whipped up a sample from My Mind's Eye of their 'Haunted' collection. The papers are all a distressed craft and black combo and most have one side flocked. SO cool!

The papers all coordinate perfectly and there are some neat elements including a sheet that makes it easy to remember everything from a trip to the pumpkin patch and how you decorated the house. The flocked papers and stickers add a lot of dimension and texture that doesn't really translate in a photo.

Keep your eye out for a class designed with these papers at Two Scrapbook Friends.

I know we shouldn't wish the summer away but I can't wait to get Halloween and Christmas photos to go with all the amazing papers in the store!!!

My Mind's Eye and more

2010-08-22T20:18:00.004-04:00

I spent yesterday at a 12 hour crop at Two Scrapbook Friends. I chose to continue working on samples of the new collections that are quickly filling up the store. Amanda was unpacking My Mind's Eye's Lost and Found line and I had to check it out. First thing I noticed was GLITTER, lots and lots of glitter, everywhere. Then I started noticing all of the amazing embellishments. Beautiful brads, buttons and trim.

Here are a some MME samples:

Portobello Road

*This layout was inspired by one from the MME website by Amber Packer

Market St.

Union Square

Madison Ave.

I changed the original tissue flower by adding crochet trim and a different center

More detail shots. Seriously gorgeous embellishments!

This layout was the first one I did of the day. It's called Cottage Christmas by Imaginesce

and when you start your day with a layout called "More Glitter" you are pretty much setting yourself up for this....

I saw myself in the mirror when I got home last night and couldn't believe how much I sparkled!

One more sample from We R Memory Keepers' Funfetti line, perfect for birthdays and other celebrations.

Another great day. Can't wait to see what comes in this week!!

let the samples begin...

2010-08-13T13:29:00.004-04:00

Back to the store on Tuesday and Thursday and it was back to the FUN! The new products are starting to role in from CHA and they are going to keep me (and everyone at TSF) super busy.

So far Karen Foster and 3 Bugs in a Rug have arrived and here are a few of the samples I've created. To see them all check out the TSF gallery.

Three Bugs in a Rug-Fun collections of big die cuts and cute images. There are so many papers in each line the combinations are endless

Seriously! How cute are these penguins??

Karen Foster-Traditional themed papers and awesome embellishments and titles.

Vintage inspired Holiday

There are two school collections: one a bit younger and the other more mature

The stacked title stickers are spectacular!

(don't worry dog lovers, there's a 'my dog' as well!)

Sweet papers to document all of your baby's firsts.

A little sample of the new Echo Park line snuck in too!

There are so many new collections flowing into the store you're sure to find something perfect for all of your photos.

one more day...

2010-08-07T16:00:00.002-04:00

Well I almost made it through two full weeks without internet, some sort of record for me. Our friend arrived yesterday and knowing of my wee computer addiction, he offered to set up his laptop. WOOHOO!! I so needed a fix.
I whipped around facebook and then skipped over to Two Scrapbook Friends to check out the new releases, so AWESOME!

It's been a great vacation. Weather has been fabulous although I did get a sunburn today after 13 days of religious sunscreen application. Argh.

I've taken loads of pics,about 250 just of the chipmunks that are our new best friends.

As fun as it's been it will be good to get back to 'real' life. Oh and the boys are in camp next week which means a few quiet moments for me!
See you soon!

ahh vacation...

2010-07-22T20:59:00.003-04:00

Wish you were here

See you soon!

oooh new products!!

2010-07-15T21:19:00.003-04:00

New collections are slowly starting to make their way into the store which means time for me to play! With CHA just two weeks away it's time for 'out with the old and in with the new'! I'm really loving what I'm seeing so far and it's doing wonders to get my mojo revved up.

I spent today finishing up samples for a new 3 in 1 from Basic Grey with the new Oliver line but you'll have to watch the TSF blog for those ;).

I also had a chance to use some of the new My Little Yellow Bicycle travel collection. When I was in Montreal in the fall I took a ton of architectural photos and wasn't sure what to do with them. Well, they worked perfectly and here's what I came up with:

And yes, I did cut out all of those wee little suitcases! I imagine that's how much luggage Paris Hilton must travel with! There are lots of great embellishments that go along with this line and some have already sold out. Don't worry though, Carolyn has been busy ordering more.

Keep watching for more samples as all of the new lines roll in.

I've been a bad blogger...

2010-07-08T20:25:00.003-04:00

With summer here it's been go go go and not very much time on the computer. The boys are keeping me super busy. I haven't been scrapbooking very much but did manage to get all of Holden's layouts into one very thick book, finally. It really is cool to get them all in and then look through them and see him grow as well as seeing how my style has changed since his first layouts. Now to organize Wyatt's. In a few weeks I'll be heading up to our cottage for 2 whole weeks which means lots of scrapbooking time in the evenings after the boys are in bed. I can't wait!

Here's a picture of our cottage which is in Oliphant, about 10 mins from Sauble Beach. It's quiet, secluded and peaceful...until we arrive!!! The beach is out front and the backyard is a safe place for the boys to play and do all kinds of 'boy' stuff like get really dirty, find frogs etc. I'm very thankful that my inlaws have given us free reign over this little piece of paradise for the past few years while they spend the summer at their house in Greece.

Now if only I could figure out a way to get rid of the bats, spiders and mosquitos I'd be a very happy camper!

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer so far (despite the heat)!

oh and here's what I created...

2010-06-27T11:28:00.003-04:00

LOL just about forgot to post what I made. D'oh.

Can you say FILTHY?? Wyatt playing away in the leftover topsoil.

Here's Holden swimming at the cottage on the May long weekend.

This layout is the result of a little challenge that Joanne presented to Carolyn and I while we were cleaning cupboards getting ready for the garage sale. She put together a little kit of odds and ends and we had to come up with something. Thanks Jenny for giving me this photo to use. I distressed the photo which is something I have wanted to try out for a while.

Kick off to Summer at TSF

2010-06-27T11:13:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I spent 12(!) hours at Two Scrapbook Friends for the Kick off to Summer crop. What a great way to spend a not so great day. It took me awhile to get going and there were some definite delays in my mojo but I ended up with 3 layouts and two cards and a headache from laughing too hard. Thank you to Carolyn for a great dinner that included bbqing in the rain. Thank you to Lori for bringing me a little slice of Heaven in the form of strawberry-rhubarb pie. Thank you to my table mates for many many giggles throughout the day. All in all a terrific day...oh and I only spent 74 cents!! It was my personal challenge to use what I have in my stash for once. Mission accomplished.

A little later in the evening there was a contest to see who could keep their flower turning the longest.

Lori and Sam blowing away. Lori thought she was going to pass out but managed to win!

Donna with her card kit for participating

Melissa and Jenny taking it all in.

The party animals: Andrea, Lori, Sam and Veronica, burning the midnight oil.

So much FUN! Thanks ladies for a great day.

layout challenge on the TSF forum

2010-06-21T08:20:00.003-04:00

There are all kinds of challenges posted on the Two Scrapbook Friends forum. There is loads of inspiration to get your mojo flowing. As my term as a design team member comes to an end I have one more challenge to share with you: use animals in your layout. Whether it's the paper, the photo or embellishments add something furry to your creation. I sat at my desk last night and played with some Basic Grey Max & Whiskers I picked up weeks ago. I love this line! The colours and prints are so cool and work for way more than just your pet layouts. One thing I really love working with that BG brings out with every line now are the paper ribbon doilies. They are self -adhesive patterned paper tapes that add so much impact to your projects. On my layout the yellow strip and piece above the jounalling block are both doilies. LOVE THEM!

I cut the design at the top left out of the patterned paper using a kraft knife and the little dogs were hand cut and pop dotted. If you look closely you can see the leaves on the flower are cut from dog bone paper (thanks for the idea Kelly Goree!)

Jounalling reads: whenever we go to the beach Josie is the first one into the water. You didn't really understand why she was in the water at all and kept pointing at her as if to say 'What is she doing here?'

It has been a wonderful year being part of the TSF design team. I'll still be involved doing lots of layouts around the store and I can't wait to see what the new team comes up with!

new collections at TSF...

2010-06-08T22:17:00.003-04:00

I spent today playing with some new collections from We R Memory Keepers and My Little Yellow Bicycle. Seriously cute papers and embellishments made for a fun day of creating.

We R released a great school line with all kinds of fun, classic cartoon images. These papers would be perfect for end of year photos or to scrap your kids professional school pics.

I don't have pics yet for this one but I'm going to try to remember to bring my camera to school and snap some!

We R also has a great retro feeling summer line. The fonts and sayings totally remind me of my childhood. SO much to work with here, glitter, diecuts, stickers, tags etc.

MLYB had a great baby line last year and have come out with another adorable collection called 'Snuggle Bug'. There are boy and girl lines that have everything you need to create all your baby layouts. The bugs are SUPER cute!!!

There's always something new to play with at the store :)

best 'job' ever...seriously

2010-06-01T22:12:00.003-04:00

For about 6 months now I've been working at Two Scrapbook Friends designing kits and store samples. I use the word 'working' loosely as it never feels like work at all! It is a dream come true to be able to play around with all the new products and try out all the cool tools in the store. I love interacting with all the wonderful, creative ladies who come in the store and it is great to be doing something I enjoy SO much. I spent today creating some samples of three new collections and I was almost giddy playing with them.

Echo Park is a new company and I love their first release. The sticker sheet has so many fun things I was trying to figure out a way to pile them all on one page ( I did leave a few off! )

Kaisercraft's new 'Jungle Bug' line is ideal for all your summer bug hunting and mud puddle photos. I used a lot of rub ons to embellish this layout and they go on super smooth.

Here is a sample from October Afternoon's Farm Fresh line. There are all kinds of cute animals and fruit to combine with fun prints and awesome mini letter stickers (a big fave of mine). I decided to design this layout around what Wyatt's favourite foods were when he was a baby. The words were cut out on the Cricut.

*something really neat that they have done with the journalling cards is to make them double-sided so the backside has little rectangles of patterned paper to use on your layouts like I did with the cards around the top and under 'yum'.

Thanks for taking a peek.

It's tough work but someone's got to do it!! LOL

June's design team layouts...

2010-05-31T21:22:00.003-04:00

This month's kit was just awesome. So boyish and and I loved the colours from Paper Loft's Dude collection. I used lots of twine, distressing and ink to really 'grunge' it up. There was so much to use in this month's kit I'm sure I'll be creating with it again.

I really don't have a lot of pictures of my boys together. They are often running in opposite directions so it's hard to get them in one shot. This is a pic of them goofing around at the cottage last year.

I added the knotted twine but otherwise everything was from the kit.

There were lots of gears in this month's kit so I decided to cut them out and use them as a backdrop for this pic of Wyatt. I put each brad through loosely and then ran the floss from each one and then smooshed the brad down to hold it in place.When I saw the 'What a dork!' title I knew exactly which photo I wanted to use.

For this layout I used a sketch from an old issue of Creating Keepsakes to get started. I really liked the blocked look. I added the rub on and mini letter stickers. The gears were in the kit and I used vintage photo ink on them.

Instead of making a card this month I decided to complete a project I've been meaning to get to for awhile. I bought these heavy duty chipboard letters from a bargain store in the US. I already have Wyatt's completed but was waiting for the right paper to finish Holden's. Well the green in this line is the perfect match to the walls in his bedroom so I went for it. I used the digger stickpin I made for last week's Friendzy Friday (so not planned!) and added some more twine. I can't wait to get it hung up on his door!

Tip: Glossy Accents (my go to product for everything lately!) was perfect for sticking the twine in place. I just love G.A.!!! Seriously, I should be a paid endorser for it!

I had a great time working with this month's kit especially since I got to create while at the cottage gazing out at the lake!

Make sure to take a moment to check out all the other designer's amazing creations over on the the TSF gallery.

at the cottage for an extended 2 - 4 ....

2010-05-26T21:10:00.003-04:00

Isn't it nice to get away?

We just got back from a wonderful 6 day getaway to our cottage in Oliphant (between Wiarton and Sauble Beach). The weather was absolutely outstanding. I packed sweaters and trackpants and for the first time that I can remember we didn't use them at all! With the exception of a wet, gloomy Saturday the weather was all sunshine and warmth.

The boys were totally in their element there. Dirt, water, bugs (check out our ever so fashionable bug hats), sand and frogs. Funny, sad story about one frog that Wyatt caught. He was holding it ever so gently as he carried it up the cottage steps to show me. The frog was wriggling around and jumped right out of his hands and into....his dad's steaming hot cup of coffee!! Wyatt and Holden were devastated and I kept trying to explain that it was an accident. Poor froggy, boiled to death in a cup of Timmie's.

after Saturday the bugs were almost completely gone

Wyatt was completely obsessed with mud. These pics were taken at 7 pm, still warm and beautiful!

Holden kept taking running leaps into the water. He LOVED it! The water is super clear and shallow where we are so it's perfect for the boys (all sand, no rocks).

We spent our days at the beach in water that felt warmer than it did all summer last year. I hope this is the way all the weekends will be this year.

Hope you had a wonderful long weekend too!

~ oh and I did manage to get some scrapbooking done too but you'll have to wait a few days to see those photos!

Can I have a snack?

2010-05-19T16:04:00.003-04:00

I'm pretty sure I hear these words about 25 times a day. I really dislike the word 'snack' because it's the first word I hear every morning. I know that with two growing-like-weeds boys that they are soon going to eat me out of house and home but seriously are they never full??? I try to limit their sugary snacks, easy on the cookies etc and fill them up with fruit,yogurt etc. Wyatt's favourite snack right now is apples and peanut butter and Holden loves his strawberries. I'm grateful that they love fruit. At least they are getting to an age where they can get most snacks themselves so long as I leave them prepared in the fridge. I can't imagine what their teen years are going to be like. I'm going to have to work nights just to pay the grocery bill!

What do your kids like to snack on??

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-08T21:32:00.004-04:00

To all the moms out there I hope you have a wonderful day!

Here are a few poems by Joanna Fuchs that are perfect for my sister and my mom and how I feel many days (I'm sure you do too!)

I’ve been watching you be a mother, Sis,
And I just want you to know,
I admire you and respect you, because
As a mom, you are a pro!
I love you, Sis, and now I see
You’re amazing in every way;
You’re my sister, a mom and a friend as well;
Happy Mother’s Day!

Mom, we miss you so very much

On every Mother’s Day;
And not just then, but every minute,
Since you went away.
You were the center of our lives
Before your soul passed on;
It’s just so hard for us to believe
That you are really gone.
But we celebrate the life you lived
And all the things you gave us;
Our wonderful memories, Mom, of you
Are the things that will comfort and save us.
Please think of us, as we think of you
With hearts so full of love;
We’re looking up at you, sweet Mom,
As you look at us from above.
By Joanna Fuchs

I Want To Be Locked Up
(Thoughts from a harried mom, who is beginning to think some time in a minimum-security, white collar crime prison is looking pretty good.)

I want to be locked up
Away from everything,
Free from all the craziness
A mother's day can bring.
No planning, shopping, cooking
Three healthy meals a day,
Served up with love to finicky kids
Who throw most of it away.
No constant interruptions,
Dirty laundry on the floor,
Driving everyone every place,
Sibling rivalry (It’s war!)
No one asking me to do things,
Getting mad if I forget,
Me giving up my very self—
I’m the family marionette.
Prison sometimes looks appealing
(Or maybe the looney bin),
I get free time and three square meals;
With nothing to do, I win!
I want to be locked up
For freedom, time and such,
There’s just one obstacle for me:
I love my kids too much!

Here's hoping all the moms out there find a moment or two to relax today.

I so enjoy a challenge...

2010-05-02T12:03:00.003-04:00

For National Scrapbook Day I attended a crop at Two Scrapbook Friends. I originally said 'no' to going because it has been a rather scrap happy month but I caved (twist my rubber arm) when a couple of friends said they were going. I had to go for Friday to give my family some time with me over the weekend. When we arrived we were told about a bingo challenge they were running throughout the night. Get a line, get a prize. Who doesn't like prizes??? Then we were told if you get a full card there was another prize. My friend Darcy got right to work. She was a machine! Afer completing 4 layouts she had completed her card. She won a great prize of new adhesives and pop dots. I realized I was pretty close too so I pushed to finish and won as well. HOORAY!! Those who know me know what a pop dot addict I am so it was the best prize for me. Anyhoo, it was a great night with yummy food from Ennio's and hilarious conversation with the ladies sitting at our table. It's always so fun to get together with fellow scrappers and just enjoy our addiction together!

Here's the bingo card:

And here's the two layous I completed using everything on the card! (try and spot them all in the layouts)

This layout of my friend Jessica's girls is from them getting caught throwing Easter grass all over their house (my boys were also involved!)It is also based on a sketch by Joanne as part of the National Scrapbook Day challenges on the blog. If you need some inspiration have a look.

I have always wanted to do a layout incorporating one of the boys' drawings. As I was saying to the ladies at my table this is not one of my favourite layouts in terms of composition. One of them pointed out that it will be a favourite when I look back on it though.

After the craziness of trying to get the bingo card filled I managed to finish one more simple layout using some MME from last year.

I had planned to put ribbon with these tags but it wasn't doing it for me so I shredded the grosgrain and stuck it randomly under the buttons. Never done that before!

Another great crop at TSF. Can't wait for the next one!

Happy National Scrapbook Day!

2010-05-01T20:53:00.002-04:00

I have lots to share about this wonderful weekend but just wanted to share that I got a little shout out on one of my favourite blogs today. I encourage all scrapbookers and crafters alike to take a peek because there are some amazing ideas on this blog.

http://ideasforscrapbookers.blogspot.com/2010/04/happy-national-scrapbook-day.html

I'll be back later with more including May's design team reveal.

I wish my husband understood what an important day this is and felt compelled to give me presents!! LOL
Hope you all found a little bit of time to get scrappy this weekend! :)

home again...

2010-04-25T21:24:00.006-04:00

Just spent a wonderful weekend away in Grand Bend for another FANTASTIC scrapbooking retreat organized by Two Scrapbook Friends. I am beyond exhausted but wanted to post a little something about the great time we had. It's so nice to be away: no one to cook or clean for (unless you count having to constantly tidy my scrap space so as not to creep onto my neighbours area!), no bickering children etc etc. I had set a lofty goal of accomplishing at least 1 layout this weekend. I know, way to aim high right? Well, with all the samples I've been creating lately I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself. Of course being surrounded by so many talented ladies all sharing in our love of scrapbooking the creative juices flowed. I managed to complete about 11 layouts which is way more than I would have done at home so definitely a success. I also did something I kept meaning to do in the 6 times I've been to the Oakwood resort. I actually walked down the beach. I went down alone and had the entire beach to myself. It was incredibly peaceful and gave me a moment to take a deep breath and appreciate just how lucky I am to be able to spend a weekend away in a wonderful place doing just what I want to do. All in all a terrific weekend....is it time for the Fall retreat yet?

Had to take a photo to prove I did actually make it down to the beach!

So calm and peaceful

Wyatt, lovin' his Easter haul!

Really love this line from Pink Paislee. There is hidden jounalling that explains that my youngest will only eat pickles when we tell him we found one with his name on it.

I won a collection pack of papers from MME (I did a high kick in pj bottoms to win this!! lol) I couldn't wait to use it to do a layout of my friend's daughter, Oceane.

Holden, future Clark Kent. I used all stickers on this except for the background and one small strip of paper.

My friend took this photo of Wyatt and I love it. I was inspired by a layout from an '09 Creating Keepsakes page.

More Pink Paislee. I made the acordian fold flowers and they were the hit of the table. Have to do a Friendzy Friday on these I guess!

Joanne has started creating sketches and I really loved the one we all had to use for a little friendly competition at the retreat.

For this one I used some Fancy Pants 'rusted sun' papers which is a very beachy theme. Just goes to show that you can use themed papers beyond what they are intended for. (gotta love double-sided paper!)

There is a lot of prep work that goes in to making these retreats smooth and enjoyable. By the look of all the smiling ladies at the retreat I'd say it was a huge success. I am signed up for the Fall retreat and cannot wait for it to come. Better get snapping lots of photos!

tidy..but for how long?

2010-04-20T14:15:00.005-04:00

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. Between multiple hospital visits (husband and son) and creating like a madwoman for Scrapfest, let's just say my house is feeling a bit neglected. So when my lovely bosses at TSF told me to take the week off I went on a rampage and tidied up all the little piles that seem to pop up everywhere. I think the most neglected room in the house has to be my scraproom. Just about every surface in the room was covered in stuff and not just scrapbooking supplies either. It tends to be the dumping ground for lots of things.

It really does look as though a tornado flew in doesn't it?

Well I posted on my facebook status that I was looking for the motivation to clean it and exactly 38 mins later tada...

Everything is back in it's home.

Now to pack for the retreat in Grand Bend this weekend!

Scrapfest craziness

2010-04-17T22:10:00.006-04:00

Well Holy Cow! Those were two of the CRAZIEST days I have ever experienced!!!

I just spent the last two days running the cash at the Two Scrapbook Friends booth at Scrapfest. I had a wonderful time, yes it was nuts but so much fun. It was also a totally surreal experience for me as all of the displays and kits in the booth were all designed by yours truly :) We had such a great group of ladies: Joanne, Carolyn, Audrey, Tracy, Amanda, Regan and Deanna, working the booth and we had a great time. It was fun to see so many familiar faces and to make some new friends. I'm glad we can all enjoy our addiction together!
If you missed out this year be sure to plan now for next April.

Joanne and Carolyn before chaos errupts on Friday!

Thanks to all our friends for making TSF's booth a whopping success!

Can't wait to see you all soon in the store.

Samples galore

2010-04-17T21:53:00.006-04:00

For the past few weeks I have been creating many, many samples from all of the amazing new lines we have received. I have been like a kid in a candy store playing with these collections. Now that Scrapfest is over (!) for another year I can share some of them with you.

All of the samples are posted under Store Displays on the Two Scrapbook Friends gallery.

Thanks for having a look!

just because....

2010-04-08T21:38:00.003-04:00

While working at the store today I received a lovely surprise. My husband sent me flowers. No occasion....just because. In my opinion the 'just becauses' in life are far more important than any occasion. It was the perfect little pick me up after a not so great day yesterday. Thanks to Audrey for snapping these pics.

where did the weekend go???

2010-04-04T21:46:00.005-04:00

I cannot believe it is Sunday night! This weekend flew by in a blur. It started out iffy (Holden vomitting Thursday night) and ended up great. The weather was amazing including that beautiful, complete rainbow we had Saturday night. We had so much fun doing several egg hunts with the boys. They really got into it this year, especially Holden who really 'got into' his chocolate eggs. He kept sneaking them. No wonder he's still awake in his bed right now. I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend and fingers crossed for many more sunny ones as Spring turns into Summer.

Yes, I do realize it appears that our new van is parked in our giant pine tree. I assure you, it's not!

I also realized how incredibly difficult it is to capture a full rainbow on film!

The boys really enjoyed themselves hunting for eggs but

weren't overly patient about waiting to find out what was inside

Hope you created some great memories this weekend and of course got some of them on film!

April Design team reveal

2010-04-03T09:53:00.004-04:00

Phew it's been a busy couple of weeks!

This month each DT member got to play around with different groupings from My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary line. I was given some of the pieces from Little Boy Blue which I absolutely love.

For this card I used the sticker frame and cut strips of paper to put inside it. Added some mini alphas and a few buttons.

For 'Climb' I used inspiration from a Sketch by Becky Fleck. I finally used my Riff Raff tree that I have been hoarding for a loooong time.

A great way to show off all those great double sided papers is to use strips of scraps. I also used some of my favourite jillibean soup corrugated alphas here.

I tried a little something different and pleated the paper then used glue dots to add some ribbon. Owls seem to be everywhere this year and I LOVE them!

Make sure to take a moment and check out all the other fantastic designs over on the TSF gallery.

kid's eye view

2010-03-22T22:19:00.004-04:00

About a week ago I took the boys to a Mennonite farm to learn about how sap is made into syrup. Holden really wasn't interested in the whole process and kept begging to use my camera. I gave in and handed over my $$$ camera in order to keep him quiet and to allow the other participants to hear what was being said. Well I do believe I have a budding photographer on my hands! I was beyond impressed with the pics he snapped. He even followed the rule of thirds when photographing people! He is obsessed with taking pictures and as soon as my camera comes out he BEGS to get ahold of it. He is very careful with my camera and understands that it is delicate. I think I'll even scrap these ones for his book.

Here are a few pics he took, not too shabby for a 3 year old!

It's been a CRAZY couple of weeks. Hubby and Wyatt both had surgery and it's

felt like a hospital ward around here. Here's hoping to more normalcy and more blog posts!

Monday layout challenge~ It's Tree-rific!

2010-03-08T23:44:00.003-05:00

I was up for choosing this week's layout challenge on the TSF forum so I chose trees. Any way you want to use them, a forest or just a single tree, create something and post it in the gallery with a link on the forum.

Here's mine for inspiration:

Of course I couldn't wait to use the new My Mind's Eye papers and embellishments. I love how MME makes it super easy to create a layout and that all the papers are double sided.

Have fun and Happy Scrappin'!

Fun challenges over on the forum

2010-03-07T23:17:00.005-05:00

If you have lost your scrapbooking mojo and need a little inspiration check out the fun challenges going on over on the twoscrapbookfriends.com forum. I just whipped this up based on Bobbi's challenge to use a critter on a card.

This is a big THANKS to everyone who has ever stopped by my blog!

I appreciate you having a peek.

design team

2010-02-26T21:47:00.006-05:00

This month's design team kit featured all kinds of LOVE-liness from Pink Paislee. Reds, pinks and browns mixed with cool embellishments in fabulous patterns made this group loads of fun to play with!

I've seen many layouts lately that are more minimal with a little grouping up in the corner so I thought I would give one a try. Embrace the 'white' space! I made use of my new circle punches to add groupings around the photo. The title 'love' is chipboard covered in paper and then finished with Glossy Accents.

Thanks Jenny for lending me another photo!!

Here's my little devil...I mean angel. He seriously changes his mood every 3 seconds!

The kit included a fabric badge with a Valentine's message on it which didn't work with my theme but the colours DID work so I smooooshed it into a very abstract flower.
I added some Glossy Accents to the red heart and some buttons and brads from my stash.

For this layout of my friend's daughter Kate, I chose to place the die cut sheet off center and slightly off the page. I wanted to keep the focus on this adorable photo so I kept the patterns to a minimum and added a few choice embellishments. The red design is actually a transparent sticker and the heart is covered chipboard.

A simple little card using a rub on I won at the CHA crop.

Make sure to have a look at all the other talented designers' work this month over on the

TSF gallery

beyond the page...

2010-02-22T22:18:00.008-05:00

The last few days have been very creative! I attended the CHA crop at TSF Friday night and took advantage of the time to work on my design team layouts (have to wait one more week to see those!). It was fun to see some of the new lines coming in and of course it was great to win some of them too!
Saturday night I spent working on some store samples with new product which is always exciting.

At the CHA crop I won a paper pack of the new BoBunny line, Sophie. It had a lot of purple in it and I was wondering what I was going to do with it as it's usually not a colour I work with. I have been wanting to make one of the birdhouses that Regan did for a Friendzy Friday and figured these papers might work. Sunday afternoon I sat down and whipped this up.

Here's how it turned out (I still might add some pom pom ribbon around the roof):

I am so glad I got to put my new circle punch to good use!

The creativity kept right on rolling today. I bought some plain wooden letters when I was in the States to put on the boys' bedroom doors.

I used the Super Stud line (this name kills me lol!) from Bella Blvd and finished Wyatt's in a couple of hours. There was lots of sanding involved and I was so grateful for my Basic Grey file set. They made the job so much easier. If you work with a lot of chipboard I HIGHLY recommend picking this set up.

I'm off to the store to work on some more kits tomorrow so the creating will keep on rolling.

I gotta feeling it's going to be a crafty week for me..hope it's the same for you :)

shop,shop, shooooooooooooopppppppppppppppp!

2010-02-13T23:04:00.002-05:00

Never, ever have I EVER shopped so much in such a short period of time. Hubby and I are away on a mini vacation in Niagara Falls, NY. It's a yearly thing and it's really the only time during the year that he likes to shop. We are shopping for about 7 hrs straight per day and we are pooped! There are still deals here, you just have to be prepared to look for them. Best score for me so far is probably a pair of brown boots for $10 and 12X12 frames (my scrapbooking buddies know what those are for!)that cost $2.99. Tomorrow will be more of a relaxation day with maybe a matinee and dinner at the Cracker Barrel and then it's back to reality late Monday. It's been great to spend some time together without constant little boy interruptions (although I am missing my boys).
Wanna know what I got hubby for Valentine's day? A 'Slap Chop' LOL! Every time he sees the commercial he says he wants one and I found one for $9 today so that is his gift. What a lucky guy, I know!

Anyhoo hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day

Saturday nights

2010-02-07T01:09:00.003-05:00

The past few Saturday nights have been spent scrapping with a friend or two. Surprising what you can come up with at midnight after popcorn and brownies!

I did another transparency layout, this time it's a girly one. Check out these hilarious photos. Which one of these things doesn't belong here?!?!? I doodled the flower stems on the white cardstock under the transparency and then pop dotted the hand cut flowers on top.

It was totally nerve wracking to doodle but I did it!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend :)

am I that transparent???

2010-02-06T16:13:00.004-05:00

I've been working on some product samples for the store. I came home with some Fancy Pants transparencies and I wasn't really sure what to do with them. I've seen lots of different ones in the store but avoided them because well...I just wasn't that into them. I looked online to get a few ideas about how to use them then decided to just do my own thing. WELL now I am a complete convert. They add so much to a page and really give you a great place to start. You can layer paper under and over them, rub ons go on so smoothly and they look really cool! I have another one to work on tonight and I can't wait to get to it.

I layered the transparency over a patterned paper from the same line in a lighter colour to really make the designs on it stand out. It's hard to see in a pic but some of the strips of paper are under the sheet and some over. Two of the stars in the 'film strip' are under and the green one is pop dotted over. I used some rub ons on the twill tape, staples and brads. The bottom right jounalling spot is typed out on some kraft cardstock and put underneath except for the last strip which is stapled on top. If you would like a closer look it will be in the store soon.

If you've been a little unsure of what to do with these I really recommend picking one up. There are all kinds of them: girly, boys, baby.

Friendzy Friday

2010-02-05T09:02:00.002-05:00

Every Friday over on the Two Scrapbook Friends blog, a member of the design team shares a tip or technique to enhance your layouts and cards. For this week's Friendzy Friday I created a flower using a coffee filter, a stamp, ink and glimmer mist.

Check it out on the TSF blog:
http://www.twoscrapbookfriends.blogspot.com/

February design team reveal for TSF

2010-01-31T15:28:00.000-05:00

This month's design team kit had all kinds of snowy goodness from Fancy Pants. There were so many papers (hooray for double sided!) that the possibilities were truly endless. The kit had a sticker sheet, 2 large diecuts, pom pom ribbon, snowflake brads, a snowman Cricut diecut, blue flowers and buttons. So much to work with and many of the papers would work for non-snow layouts too.

Like last month's kit I had so much left over after creating my layouts that I came up with 4 cards and really could have kept going.

This little snowman card was the leftover half of a diecut sheet. I chopped down the Cricut snowman and added some buttons for the nose and well...buttons, lol. Googly eyes brought him to life. I used blue stickles on the band of his hat and here and there on the snow flakes. I cut out the 'brrrr' from one of the stickers provided. Inside I added a stamped sentiment, another sticker and a tiny touch of bling.

Playing up the snow theme and Valentine's day I did the 'I love u snow much card' in about five minutes! I used some red BoBunny dotted paper, matted one of the stickers on some white card stock, added some letter stickers and a snowflake from my stash. A little glitter on the heart and some pom pom ribbon finished it off.

Another super fast card using some odds and ends. I faux stitched the outside and added a Bella bauble (love that these just came in more colours to TSF) to add some sparkle to a simple card.

What I loved about this kit was how many colours there were to work with. Pinks, blues, reds, greens and even oranges. Even though the paper was snowflakes I went with a bright citrus theme for a Spring feel. I added the white buttons and ribbon from my stash.

For the "Got Snow?" layout I used a white/blue grid paper as my background which is a great way to get that popular 'white space' feel without it being all white. I added a felt snowflake border, some Karen Foster sparkly brads and the "how cool is this?" tag from My little yellow bicycle.

Here's my friend's daughter Mia, making her first snowman on Christmas Eve last year. I had to steal these pics when I saw what a perfect match her pink snow suit was to the papers. I added some pearls and bling and a piece of a laser cut snowflake sheet. I used a punch to make some coordinating snowflakes to place around the photos.

Lots of layers!

Can you think of a better title for this super sweet shot of my friend Darcy's daughters, Laura and Oceane?

I cut out the blue paper on the Cricut then put it on white with pink scalloped strips. I then added some strips of paper and a border punched pink strip.

The title is from Scrap f/x which I dipped in glue then added some pink sparkly Doodlebug sugar and covered in Glossy Accents ( I really do use GA all the time!). I took the plain brads and dipped them in glue and then in glamour dust. Lots of glitter going on here! I popped up the title to really make it stand out.

For the snowflake, I painted it white then, while the paint was still tacky, I sprinkled it with glamour dust and covered in Glossy Accents. I added a Zva pink swirl and a little button to reflect the feeling of the photo.

Once again I had a great time working with the kit and pushing myself outside of my comfort zone (as in I worked with Pink again!!!).

Please take a moment and go check out the gallery at TSF and see what all the other designers have come up with. If you feel inspired, the design team kits are on sale at TSF.

Thanks for taking a look!!

what's that...another post??

2010-01-26T22:23:00.004-05:00

Well what I said about the challenges getting you moving on your scrapbooking worked for me! I just whipped up this layout for Regan's weekly layout challenge to 'scrap a photo that's at least 5 years old'. This is a pic of Wyatt when he was just getting into the saucer, around 5 mos which means it JUST fit into this category!

I bought some of the new Bella Blvd papers last week and thought they would be perfect!

I can't wait to see what next week's challenge is!

I've been a bad blogger!

2010-01-25T21:27:00.003-05:00

I just realized it's been quite a while since I last posted anything, bad me. I've been busy working on kits, samples and design team layouts for Two Scrapbook Friends which means I've been scrapbooking like crazy but can't show you any of it!!

There are lots of fun things happening over on the forum including challenges and special posts on gallery submissions and using certain products. It just might be the thing to get your mojo going if you're off to a slow start this year.

I'm also dreaming about being at CHA which is the Craft/Hobby 'tradeshow' happening in California right now. I can't imagine how overwhelming and fun it must be to be shopping to fill a store with all the latest goodies. I can't wait to get my hands on the new products when they start flowing into the store. Check out the forum for some great sneak peaks.

And, just because, here's a little sneak of my next design team reveal:

Hope 2010 is going great for you so far!

In a Pickle...

2010-01-08T21:54:00.004-05:00

I was sorting through my holiday photos trying to decide which to print and then fixing them. I came across these pics of Holden eating a pickle at the Christmas dinner table and had to share them. There is a funny little anecdote that goes along with them. Holden's aunt was fishing one out of a jar for him a while back and he asked what was taking so long. She said she was "looking for one with his name on it" Well now every time he asks for a pickle he specifically asks for one with "his name on it" then tries to find the letters to his name on the pickles.

Another example of just how literal he is: At our friend Jessica's house this past summer we were eating jelly beans before we left. When it was time to leave we all walked out front of her house and she was carrying the bowl of beans with her. She asked him if he "wanted one for the road". He carefully selected a big red one and promptly threw it onto the street. We all burst out laughing and he looked like he was going to cry.

Don't worry, we gave him more jelly beans.

I think it's hilarious how kids interpret things don't you?

something new and exciting...

2010-01-04T22:14:00.005-05:00

One of my favourite things is chipboard covered in glimmer mist and Tattered Angels has come up with a new cool way to cover it! Check it out at http//mytatteredangels.com/educators/?p=35&cpage=2#comment-138

New Year's crop at TSF

2010-01-03T16:06:00.006-05:00

Despite the fact that my head felt like a football I attended the New Year's crop at TSF yesterday. I wasn't optomistic about getting much done but did in fact finish 2 double pages and almost finished a single too! I'm not able to show you both doubles here as one has mysteriously disappeared (you just might see it show up as a kit at TSF in the not too distant future!).

On this layout I used the new Origins from Basic Grey. There are so many amazing prints and of course my favourite, double sided pages! When I was distressing the edges of the brown paper I put a huge rip in it...we've all been there right? Well I went with it and did some intentional tearing around the paper. I added some bella dots (love these!) to the flowers and glimmer mist to the kaisercraft letters. I added some green floss stitiching and some raffia tied to the torn paper.

Had some scraps left that worked perfectly for mother-in-laws birthday card!

While there I made another layout for my friend's baby gift. I'm having a lot of fun working on it and it's an easy project to bring with me to crops. I cut out the animal/flower print from a 12X12 sheet and spread it across the double page. I added brads as flower centers and a few rub on stitches, flowers and words.

I spent this afternoon sorting through things in my scraproom and I'm hoping that being really organized will inspire me. I'll be surprised if it last a week!

New Year....New design team at TSF

2009-12-30T20:58:00.006-05:00

I almost felt like spring was in bloom when I was creating with this month's design team kit from Three Bugs in a Rug. The colours and prints felt like a breath of fresh (not freezing!) air. There was so much to work with in this month's kit I could have kept on creating, as it was I made 3 cards and 3 layouts with loads of product to spare.

For the first card I added some BoBunny pink dot cardstock (one of my faves that I always have on hand in many colours), wide grosgrain ribbon and a little scrap of green cardstock.

This card was all from the kit except the ribbon and blue cardstock

Again the pattern paper and sticker were from the kit, I added some cardstock and ribbon. I borrowed the scallop punches from TSF's crop space and I am thinking I need to add them to my ever-growing wish list of tools!

For this 'Sisters' layout I added the BoBunny dot in blue ( I told you it was a fave!), the base cardstock, chipboard swirls, ribbon, fabric flowers and bling. It was my first time working with Glamour dust and I was really happy with the effect. I first painted Craft n' Craftin chipboard swirls with white paint then while the paint was still wet I sprinkled on the dust. I added a thin coat of Glossy Accents on top and voila, sparkly swirls! The frame was cut out on the Cricut.

I used the same technique for the centers on the hand cut and fabric flowers.
(thanks to Jessica for the picture of her beautiful daughters Emma & Kate)

One of my favourite things to do with the boys is go for hikes on the many nature trails in the area. It's always a great opportunity for photos like this one of Holden this past summer. I chose to use a black and white to make it work better with these colours. I do this often when I have a colour scheme in mind and the photo clashes with it.

I used some faux stitching rubons which is such an easy way to get the sewn look for us 'non-sewers' out there! I cut out the 'Happy Trails' circle on the Cricut and used a 'my Mind's eye' diecut circle phrase to emphasize the hiking theme. That little bling bug has been in my stash since they first arrived at TSF and I have been waiting for the right project to use it. The colours worked perfectly so it finally got to 'crawl' onto a layout! Pop dots under the hand cut flowers and 'where to?' diecut add dimension.

When I saw this picture of my friend Darcy's little girl, Oceane, I knew it was perfect for these papers. I stuck with a tight colour scheme to really focus the layout on the flower face painting. The orange floral paper was cut on the Expression. I love that you can cut out really large shapes that mimic diecut papers.

I inked Kaisercraft chipboard letters in vintage photo ink then covered in Glossy Accents for the title. I added the diecut flowers and buttons, everything else was from the kit.

So much fun working with all of these Spring looking colours this month.

I would also like to extend a warm welcome to the new members of the design team.

Be sure to check out their beautiful creations over on the TSF gallery.

Thanks for taking a look and Happy New Year!!!