Happy Leap Day!

I posted a challenge on MSS for today: take pictures throughout the day and then create a layout to commemorate how you spent leap day 2008.

Here are a few of the pictures I've taken so far today:






More photos and layout to follow.

Stay & Play

We have been going to Stay & Play at the Morden Parent & Child Resource Centre on and off for over five years now. It's held every Tuesday afternoon from 2 to 4:30.

I took my camera along yesterday, to capture some of the fun.

The first thing that Sage usually wants to do when we get there is make a craft.

(Look at her, cutting all by herself!)

(Displaying the finished product.)

Both Sage and Jonah enjoy playing at the rice table.

One of Jonah's favourite things to do: be pushed around on this toy...

or push his sister around on it!

(Thankfully, there weren't a lot of people there on Tuesday, so they could do this.)

We usually only stay until 3:35 or so, because then we have to pick up Austin from school.

I'm so thankful that this fun program is available to us!

Project 366, week 8

I can't believe we're eight weeks into 2008 already! Here are my photos of the day for the past week:


Tuesday, February 19th: My mom. Sage and I drove into Winnipeg to pick up a sound board for Cameron. We stopped in to visit my mom & she treated us to lunch. :)


Wednesday, February 20th: Austin and his friend, Cameron. I signed up to volunteer for some reading circles for the next five weeks. These two (with two others) are in my group.


Thursday, February 21st: Austin and his piano teacher, Mrs. Wiebe. Austin has piano lessons every Thursday morning at 8:30am.


Friday, February 22nd: Sage in the new stripey hat and mittens that Grandma Davies bought her on Tuesday.


Saturday, February 23rd: Sage and I were inspired by reading Too Many Pumpkins to make some pumpkin muffins on Saturday afternoon.


Sunday, February 24th: Austin, driving the three wheeler at the farm.


Monday, February 25th: the icicles that were forming outside of my dining room window.

So there they are. I'd love to know which one is your favourite!

Our Sunday afternoon

At church yesterday morning, it was Coaches' Sunday in R.O.X. We have three of these a year. Basically, it's a morning where the small group leaders (coaches) can hang out with their groups. (It also means a Sunday off for me. :) )

So, Austin's group played Star Wars Monopoly for their Coaches' Sunday and then Austin asked if he could borrow the game from Dave, his coach.

Well, after lunch, we set up the game and played for hours. Literally. It was so great to see Austin enjoy a game that didn't involve a screen! We totally lost track of time and forgot to wake Cameron from his nap until 3:45! (He'd wanted to go to the farm at 3:00.)

So, we left our game and went to the farm (Cameron's mom's place.)

Sage hung out inside the house with my MIL while the rest of us headed outside. I had brought my camera along, so I amused myself by taking pictures.

I love this old barn. Cameron & his mom talk about tearing it down, but I love the looks of it. So rustic.

And I got a few pictures while Cameron fed and watered the calves.

Once the chores were done, Cameron filled a large innertube with air and pulled us with the three wheeler...

And then Austin got a turn to drive.

He pulled Cameron and I around. I was so proud of how well he did. And we laughed when we let go of the rope and he kept on driving, not even noticing he wasn't pulling us anymore.

I just love fun days like this-- totally what I want my kids to remember.

A few pages...

from my Lent Journal.

So far I haven't done too much with it. (I'm very glad I didn't set a goal for one entry a day or anything crazy like that-- I would have given up a while ago I'm sure!) I've actually been inspired to work on it at different times, just not at times when it's actually possible to do so-- like during the sermon on Sunday morning!

(This was my "trial run" with my butterfly mask.)

(I covered a Scenic Route chipboard frame with patterned paper and used rub-ons to create the quote. It's one of my favourites from Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life. On the back, I journaled a few thoughts about it.)

I had fun with this next one (the following three photos). I took a piece of Bazzill scalloped cardstock (5.5x11.5") and folded it. On the front, I did this:

When you open it, you see this:

And I journaled on the back:

Thanks for looking!

My canvas

I think the thing that most inspired me from Ali Edward's new book, Life Artist, was the collection of canvases that she created at the beginning of each chapter. In fact, I was so inspired that I purchased a package of three 11"x17" canvases at Walmart before Christmas, with the idea to decorate them using song lyrics that I love.

Well, this weekend, I finally got the first one done:



(The lyrics are from a song by Starfield.)

Here's how I made it:

1) I painted the canvas green (with a combination of Making Memories paints) and used a Heidi Swapp mask to make the white butterflies. I let it dry overnight.





2) Then I laid out the Scenic Route chipboard letters to spell "forgiven". I cut out the lyrics from Heidi Swapp rub-ons and placed them where I wanted. I adhered the chipboard letters first (with taperunner and glue stick) and then set to work on the rub-ons. (This step took over an hour!)





#3) I traced the butterfly mask on the back of a piece of My Mind's Eye patterned paper...



#4) and cut it out with a craft knife. I glued it on to the canvas.

And voilà!

Family portrait sneek peek

Kristel posted a few pictures of us on her blog from our portrait session last week. Click here to check them out.

Project 366, week 7

Here are my photos-of-the-day for the past week:


Tuesday, February 12: We went for family portraits at Kristel Bueckert's studio. We have never gone for studio portraits as a family of five. Or even as a family of four. We have one photo of Cameron, Austin and I taken at Sears almost 8 years ago. So I thought it was time. This was a picture taken after the photo session at the DQ in Winkler, where the kids got ice cream cones for being good for the pictures. (Well, they weren't really that great there, but it's what I kept saying to bribe them to cooperate. ;) )


Wednesday, February 13: It was Festival du Voyageur day at Austin and Jonah's school. Sage and I went to volunteer and we had a great time. I loved seeing Austin be so affectionate with Sage! (I changed the photo to black and white because Austin's red pants, yellow shirt combined with Sage's pink & brown top was hurting my eyes!)


Thursday, February 14: my three valentines. :)


Friday, February 15: Sage & I volunteered in Jonah's class. His and the grade two class brought coloured ice to school to make an ice sculpture. Jonah's teacher suggested making a heart. I took a picture of both classes with the heart and then, when they were going inside, quickly took one of Sage and Jonah.


Saturday, February 16: I took a break from scrapbooking for the online crop to go outside and build a snowman with the kids.


Sunday, February 17: Love, love, love this shot!


Monday, February 18: Louis Riel Day here in Manitoba, so the kids were all home from school. I moved my latest project (to be posted here soon) to the dining room table to work in the sunlight (so nice and warm!) While I created, Sage did some creating of her own with crayons and a colouring book.

So, which photo is your favourite?

Some layouts

from the online crop this weekend at MSS:


This one was for a Marcy's challenge to use polka dots, thread and at least one flower on a layout. It's also for Ali's weekend creative challenge to revisit my word for the year.


This one I made using Liz's sketch & some Basic Grey goodies.


This one was for Jen's challengeto incorporate a left-over Valentine onto a layout.

Thanks for looking!

Online Crop

at My Scrap Shoppe this weekend. Click here to check out the challenges and participate.

Here are two challenges from me:

#1: Sew it on: use stitching to attach an embellishment to your page.

#2: Button up: include at least three buttons on a layout.

And here's a layout that I made last night for Marcy's Challenge to use a shaped paper for your background, raw chipboard (I inked mine white) and a bookplate:

(I am just loving the Making Memories Noteworthy line!)