Friday Five

1. We finished Day 5 of VBS at our church this week. The theme was Egypt: Joseph's journey from prison to palace. The kids all had a great time, as did I, helping out.

2. It's Cameron's 40th birthday today. And the kids are all anxiously awaiting his arrival home to surprise him with his gift-- a new bicycle!

3. In honour of this special day, I'm baking a cake (it's cooling right now) and we're taking the birthday boy out for supper to Boston Pizza.

4. I'm looking forward to next week, Thursday, when I'll be testing for my red belt in tae kwon do.

5. Here's a layout that I posted today at MSS for my Summer Sketch series. It comes from the My Mind's Eye blog, where it was posted as a challenge with the theme of "hope".

A few July highlights

The traditional pose on the front steps on Canada Day:


A trip to the Assiniboine Park Zoo:


A few pictures at the beach during the second week of swimming lessons:




A picture taken at the Lego display at St. Vital Centre:


I can't believe how fast July has flown by!
I'm glad there's more than a month left of summer vacation-- and still more fun to be had!

Thanks for looking!

Thirteen is enough?

A couple of weekends ago, Flo, one of my fellow DT members at MSS , posted a link to this challenge at ella publishing: Eight is Enough. Basically the challenge is to choose eight items from your stash and create four layouts using those items. Because I love working with kits and find this a productive way for me to scrap, I decided to take the challenge, with a few tweaks.

First of all, I couldn't seem to limit myself to eight items, so I picked thirteen.



I chose 2 pieces of Bo Bunny patterned paper, 5 pieces of Crate Paper patterned paper from their Pink Plum collection, one sheet of Crate Paper stickers, one package of Crate Paper chipboard shapes and two packages of Pink Paislee chipboard letters.

Yes, that makes 11.

I also added one sheet of Pink Paislee alpha stickers (pink) and one package of October Afternoon letter stickers, in brown. Total: 13.

Now, the layouts.

Because I added the extra items, I decided that I would make more than 4 layouts. I ended up making six. Here they are:













I was quite pleased at how many layouts I could create with these items.
Thanks for looking!

By the numbers....

In the past week:

5 days of swimming lessons

30 or less photos taken

10 dogs walked at the Humaine Society



4 layouts created (here are two of them)





6 get togethers with friends

1 request for publication for one of my layouts (for Scrapbook Trends December)

1 trip to the local Farmer's Market

2 tae kwon do classes

1 game of ultimate frisbee

2 movies nights

6 bike rides

7 happy summer days

Summer has arrived!

We've been busy this week with swimming lessons at the beach. And would you believe that I haven't brought my camera along once yet?? Crazy, I know. Good thing we'll continue with our lessons next week. ;)

I wanted to share that I'm doing a Sketch series at MSS this summer called "Summer sketches." If you'd like, you can check it out here.

This is the layout I shared this week, for my summer sketch #2:



To create it, I used Sketch #105 at Creative Scrappers and adapted it from one photo to two. (I just love how versatile sketches are!)

Hope you're enjoying your summer!
Thanks for looking!

I wanted to share....

some layouts that I made with the July Kit at MSS.
I used a few sketches for inspiration for my layouts this month.




(To create this layout, I used this sketch at Creative Scrappers.)


(I used Sketch #100 at Creative Scrappers.)


(For this layout, I used a sketch from the Pink Paislee blog.)

Thanks for looking!

Hmmmm.....

.... do you think that maybe I need to get some new albums?



This is the basket in my scrap area where I put completed layouts. It is overflowing.
(By the way, the layout on top was made using the MSS July kit, so it's a bit of a sneak peek of the kit. For more sneaks, you can check out .... my post on the MSS blog.)

Do you put your layouts in albums right away? Do you have an overflowing basket like mine? Or are you somewhere in between?

{Almost} Wordless Wednesday

{A photo taken using my tripod and timer and many attempts. I think my neighbour is thinking I'm a little nuts. ;) }

5 random things

1. I made this layout last weekend and wanted to share it. I used Bazzill cardstock, a strip of MME pp (the stars), Jillibean Soup alphas and everything else is Crate Paper.

2. Jonah's baseball tournament was cancelled this weekend, which was really too bad, because it turned out to be a gorgeous day. Baseball was also cancelled tonight because of rain.

3. I subbed today for the last time until fall. I'm so happy with my choice to be on the sub list for the high school. I've really enjoyed it and am looking forward to going back in the fall. Seriously.

4. We have a summer to-do list going. It's mental right now, but I will write it down. It will probably become a layout, knowing me. ;)
On it so far:
aaaa1. trip to Minneapolis
aaaa2. swimming lessons at the beach
aaaa3. a trip to the zoo
aaaa4. attend the Lego exhibit in Wpg in July
And today we added #5: go bowling, because for the p.e. class I subbed today, we went bowling in Winkler and my kids were jealous.
See? Didn't I tell you I had a great job? ;)

5. I really need to set aside some time to scrap. I want to make some more layouts with the July MSS kit and some cards for my kids' teachers. Good thing I'll have the summer off from work.

Thanks for looking!

her

Sometimes I feel quite repetitive in my scrapbook pages, in the way I'll describe my kids and what they mean to me.

But then I figure, when they'll look back at my layouts when they're older, it will just be confirmed over and over again how much I adore them.

And that can't be a bad thing, right?

I created this layout about Sage last night for the MSS June Challenge.
This month's challenge was to:
1. use a corner rounder
2. use at least one 4x6 photo
3. incorporate at least three patterned papers
4. to doodle on your layout.

Can you guess which aspect of the challenge I struggled the most with? ;)

Here's my layout, using mostly AC Dear Lizzy supplies.



If you guessed the doodling, then ding, ding, ding, you are correct! LOL!
I ended up tracing the banner with a thin brown marker. Seriously challenging for me.

Thanks for looking!

A productive weekend....

...scrappy-wise, that is. ;)

Thanks to the MSS online crop and some sketches that I found online, I was able to get four layouts done this weekend.



For this one, I used Bazzill cardstock, everything else October Afternoon and a Pink Paislee Sunday Sketch.



Then, I was attempting to create a layout in less than 20 minutes for a challenge I posted at MSS, and failed miserably. This one took me over an hour! I used Creative Scrappers' sketch #107.



Another attempt at the 20 minutes or less challenge, and again, it took me over an hour. I used Creative Scrappers' sketch #105.



One last attempt at the 20 minutes or less-- this one took me 30 minutes! (Close enough, I figure.) I used a sketch from The Color Room #9.

So, two things I learned:
1. I am not a fast scrapper.
2. I was very inspired by scrapping pictures of Jonah this weekend.

Thanks for looking!

Friday's five

Five things I'm looking forward to this weekend:

1. Going for a couple of walks with some friends.

2. Taking some senior portraits of my friend, Anna.

3. A wiener roast at the farm tomorrow evening.

4. Our R.O.X. photo scavenger hunt Sunday morning.

5. Participating in My Scrap Shoppe's online crop this weekend.
(You can check out the challenges here if you'd like to play along and win a RAK. (Or if you're just looking for some scrappy inspiration.))

Here's a layout I made for the crop:



What are you looking forward to this weekend?

Something new

I love opportunities to try something new.... especially something creative.

I've been subbing lots at the high school lately and this week there was an announcement that whoever wanted to try their hand at pottery could come down at lunch on Thursday.

So, this morning, I stopped by the art room and asked the teacher if I, too, could come.

She said, sure, but students would go first.

Well, I ate my lunch and arrived just in time to get some instructions. There were five wheels and four students waiting for a turn. Ms. Rigaux said that I could have the fifth wheel.

What an experience. Totally fun and tactile and messy and new. I was such a beginner it wasn't even funny, but a couple of the students and one of the artists there helped me out and in the end, I made a small bowl.

But no photos. :(

I had taken my old camera along but had gotten so caught up in the process that I didn't take any photos. Which is okay.

Because I'll always have the bowl to remember it by. :)

Duet

Jonah and Austin played "Yankee Doodle" as a duet together for this year's Morden Festival of the Arts. When they were practising at home, the first time they nailed it, I felt so happy inside! Such an accomplishment to work together on something like that!

I hope you're enjoying your weekend. We have a few outside activities planned, so I hope the rain/thudershowers that are forecasted pass us by!

I also posted on the MSS blog if you'd like to check it out.

Thanks for looking!

Backyard photoshoot

I read these two articles online yesterday (Painting with the Sun- Masters of Natural Lighting -Michelle Moore and Painting with the Sun- Masters of Natural Lighting -- Beth Jansen) and thought I'd try out some of their techniques in my backyard after school. I bribed my kids with popsicles to cooperate. ;)











The last two photos I changed to black and white to camouflage Sage's purple lips. LOL!

Thanks for looking!

It's June!

Definitely one of my favourite months of the year. I love looking forward to nicer (hopefully!) weather, school being done & year-end festivities.

The June kit at MSS this year is definitely a prelude to summer. Fun summery colours and embellishments. It totally inspired me to scrap some of my photos from last summer.









Looking foward to taking more summer pictures in 2010!
Thanks for looking!

His first catch

Just a quick layout that I made this afternoon for Marcy's Wednesday challenge to use brads in a creative way. (I clustered three mini-brads for the one flower centre.) I used Bazzill cardstock, October Afternoon pp, Jillibean Soup cardstock letters, OA journaling card and sticker, brads: MME, Pink Paislee and Crate, flowers from the May kit (I forget who makes them), all from the Shoppe.

I'm off for a bike ride with my boys.
Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Thanks for looking!

A week in the life 2010 layout

I posted pictures that I took everyday for a week her on my blog back in April.

Now I thought I'd show you what I ended up doing with those pictures.

With my Congo album on the go, the thought of making another album right now overwhelmed me (that and the fact with working almost full time lately has seriously put a crimp in my scrappy time.)

So I decided to make a two page layout with my pictures and here it is....





Thanks for looking!

7 things

....that I did on the long weekend.

1. My friend, Beth, asked me to come to her church and photograph the women from her College and Career group. They were having a formal "mystery supper" and Beth thought photos of the girls in their grad/bridesmaid dresses would be fun. I also helped serve the meal and got to eat as well.



2. We went to Kids Zone, which is put on by the Winkler Bible Camp. The kids enjoy 1.5 hours there and I enjoy going for a walk/garage saling with Beth.

3. The Canadian Fossil Dsicovery Centre had the Official Launch of the 2010 Fossil Dig Season on Saturday. Only kids 8 and older were allowed to go to the site and dig, so Jonah & Sage stayed back at the museum while Austin and I rode with Cameron (who was driving the shuttle bus back and forth) to the site. We dug for over an hour but unfortunately didn't find any fossils. I did, however, come home with a pocket full of Pembina Valley diamonds...



4. Because of the rain, we watched a couple of movies: Hotel for Dogs and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

5. Cameron took the kids fishing on Sunday afternoon. I tagged along and read a book on the beach. Jonah caught his first fish-- very exciting! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera along, so we took pictures in the backyard when we got home.



6. I spent a good part of Monday cleaning out our summerhouse/sunroom. The storage area at the back of our house. We can now move our bikes in and out with greater ease.

7. And, again, because of the poor weather, I was able to squeeze in some scrapbooking. I made four layouts with the upcoming MSS June kit. And I made this layout for Marcy's Wednesday Challenge at MSS -- using a one word title, and using a sketch on the Pink Paislee blog .



Thanks for looking!

Having fun....

... with the American Crafts Dear Lizzy products.

I've posted a tutorial on how I made the tissue paper flower at the bottom of the layout on the MSS blog, if you'd like to check it out.

Thanks for looking!