Wednesday stuff

A few things going on today...

I am making preparations for Austin's 10th (yes, 10th!!) birthday party tomorrow. We're doing a town-wide treasure hunt idea, but with a mission/spy twist. We did an Amazing Race party two years ago and the kids all really liked it. It's fun and keeps them busy!

I scouted out some locations today and the cake is in the oven as I type.
Tomorrow, Sage & I will be going to Winkler in the morning to pick up some treats, icing the cake and I'll type up the clues.

(Austin's party is tomorrow, but he'll turn 10 officially on Saturday.)

Also, my basement is coming together. My shelves are up and I am just waiting on some folding tables that a friend from church is making for me. I can't wait for it to be done. I've been scrapping on the diningroom table, but I strongly dislike having to clean everything up so we can eat. ;)

I received my first kit from Scrap For A Cure on Monday. Here's the first layout that I made with their May kit:



And it's my day to blog on the Create My Keepsake blog. This is the layout featured there that I made with their May kit:

You can check out my Wednesday words challenge here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Taking a hike

Yesterday, we took the kids to the Pembina Valley Provincial Park and hiked one of the trails. We picked the shortest one (Oak leaf) and had a really good time. The kids did really well, no complaining or requests to be carried, etc.

We took a few photos, too.

And I got a third layout made with the MSS May kit last night.

Thanks for looking!

May 1st

Today is:

1. The nine year anniversary of my dad's death. We lost him to cancer in 2000, just before Austin turned one. I still really miss him.

2. The six year anniversary of the day I started scrapbooking. My friend, Anita, was selling Creative Memories at the time and I had a beginner's party at my house. I don't think anyone else I invited caught the scrapping bug, but I sure did!

3. A day of shopping today for my friend, Val, and me! We usually plan several trips a year where we drive to Winnipeg and hit all of our favourite stores (Costco, Winners, Mexx...), eat out for lunch and supper and come home late. It's great!

4. Day five of me posting on the MSS blog. I've been posting tips with scalloped punches all week. If you'd like to check them out, click here.

5. The day that the DT at MSS post the layouts that we made with the May kit. Here are mine:

What is today for you?

Work, work, work...

Lots of work involved with our basement reno.

This past week, as we've been getting ready for new flooring in our basement, I've been pulling staples out of walls, patching, sanding, priming and painting. Cameron closed in our stairs and I painted the back of the staircase. The walls are all painted and ready, too.

Our carpet installer called today and said that he'd be here tomorrow morning. Was eight too early?

Not. At. All.

:)

I'm so excited that we're in the home stretch now. Once the carpets/linoleum are in, we'll install the baseboards. And then we can put our stuff back.

I'm especially excited about some changes that will be happening so my scrap space. I can't wait for that to be done!!

I'll be posting pictures, don't worry.

And it's my week to post on the MSS blog, so if you'd like to check out today's post, you can click here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to the CMK blog hop

Welcome to Create My Keepsake's May Kit blog hop reveal!

Be sure to check out the CMK blog for the links to all the design team's blogs so you can see them all. I loved how colourful and fun this month's kit was and it inspired me to scrap these photos from last spring (Jonah looked at my layout and said: "Mom, let's go to Darlene's again soon!")

Here's my sneak:



...and my layout:



Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Friday

Well, I've definitely been busy this week.
Doing lots of work in our basement. Pulling out staples, painting trim, sanding, priming, starting on finish coat...
Our carpet is getting installed on Tuesday.
I can't wait to get my basement back-- and it'll be more functional, more area and look better than ever!

A few things to highlight today...

I posted on the CMK blog today for today's Scrappy Formula (I ♥ using sketches to scrapbook!)

Today's post is up at The Inspired Scrapper. You can click on the link to check out Heather & Sonja's fabulous work.

And because I dislike posting without a photo, here's a layout I made using some Pink Paislee goodness.






Thanks for looking!

Earth Day

I'd like to say that as the years pass, I've been trying to make more of a conscious effort to do my part for saving the Earth.

Now that the snow is gone, we try to bike most places in town for errands, etc, instead of driving the van (Of course, my boys still balk at this quite a bit... even today at lunch, they asked if I'd drive them back to school, because it was cold out. I'd sent them with two jackets and a pair of mitts this morning. They only came home with a hoodie. *insert rolleyes emoticon here.)

I also carry my own bags when I go shopping (& reuse the few plastic ones I have for garbage.)

I've started buying green cleaners, as I've run out of my old ones.

And I recycle. Even in my scrap space, I have different containers one for garbage and one for recycling.

And I try to reuse things if possible.

For instance, I rooted through our leftover paint yesterday and found some that was a nice colour (Benjamin Moore Brandy Cream), so I used it to paint the basement bathroom. I tried it on one rec room wall, too, but Cameron thinks it isn't bright enough for a basement. I think we're going to go with Pittsburgh Paints Sugar something (this we'll purchase). But, there's also almost a gallon of Benjamin Moore Bradstreet Beige which will use for the long wall as a feature wall and we have some leftover Benjamin Moore Cloud White which I'll use for trim.

I have to say though, a lot of my reusing strategies probably have more to do with saving money than with saving the environment. ;)

So, today, I have the fun jobs of painting a second coat in the bathroom, removing some wallpaper border (I think they used super glue to put it on initially!) and painting some trim.

Before I go, I wanted to share a layout that I made on Saturday.

With my scrapping supplies, I really try to use most of my patterned paper on as many layouts as I can. If I decide I don't like it anymore, I give it to Sage or sell it at MSS's scrappy garage sale. My scraps I save (I actually reorganized these by manufacturer recently and am finding that this system is really working well for me!) & reuse on other layout or for cards.

I love this Fetching line by Pink Paislee Fetching line by Pink Paislee:




Thanks for stopping by!

*Edited to include this: check out Paper Trunk's blog to see what super fun thing they're doing for Earth Day.

Thirteen random things

1. It's Cameron and my thirteenth wedding anniversary today.



2. I can't believe I haven't blogged in almost a week!

3. I posted on the CMK blog this morning. Here's a sneak:



You can check out my post here.

4. We had our church's annual Spring Carnival on Friday evening. There were over 100 kids in attendance and I'm pretty sure that everyone had a great time!





5. Austin performed in a sketch on stage at the carnival and did a great job!

6. I attended Super Scrap Day (MSS's all day crop) on Saturday and got five layouts done.

7. Austin attended his first tae kwon do tournament on Saturday and won a silver medal for sparring!



8. Austin wasn't feeling well yesterday, so I stayed home from church and from our Easter gathering with Cam's family to stay with him. We watched movies and hung out together.

9. I set up my scrapping stuff on the dining room table and got 3.5 layouts done.

10. My team for our Amazing Race Pool at MSS came in first last night!

11. I went for my first run of 2009 this morning!! Sage rode along with me on her bike (2.5 km).

12. We are still in the middle of our basement renos. I'm hoping that the one wall we're taking down will get done tonight and that I can start painting on Wednesday.

13. I posted this layout in the MSS gallery this morning for our April DT challenge.

Easter, cards & some good news

We got up early for our sunrise service on Easter Sunday morning. After church, we picked up some burgers to eat in the truck and drove to Winnipeg to visit my mom. Here are a few pictures:









My mom bought the kids each chocolate bunnies and hid them so they could play "hot & cold" to find them. Then I hid the gifts I'd gotten them (an owl Webkinz for Sage, a koala Webkinz for Jonah and $15 cash in a card for Austin) and they played another round of "hot & cold."



Here's a close up of the card I made for Austin:



And this is a card I made for my sister-in-law and her family:



And another card I made for my friends, Beth and Greg, who celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary last Thursday:



And the good news, in the form of emails...

First of all, I got an email from Scrapbook Trends on Saturday, requesting four of my layouts for publication-- one for their September 2009 issue and three for their Holiday Idea book!

And second, I got an email last week from Diana at Scrap for a Cure. (They had asked me to be their guest designer for the month of January this year, (see this post) which was super fun!) Well, now they've asked me if I would join their Design Team!! I'm very honoured to be asked and thrilled to join their talented team and work with their fabulous kits! :)

Good Friday

We attended our Good Friday service this morning (& were 20 minutes late!!) I thought that the service started at 9:30, but it was actually at nine. I was really disappointed because this service is usually on of my favourites of the year. It's a community service at our Rec Centre with five churches participating.

We got to sing one song and then sat down. I had to pray that God would change my attitude because I was so diappointed in being late and I didn't want it to bother me throughout the whole service. I prayed that He would be glorified.

And. He. Was.

They played this song after the sermon and a group of people came up holding signs that said things like "insecure" and then they stepped across to the cross on the stage and put the sign down on a table behind it and picked it up again, but flipped it around to show us the other side: "secure in Christ."

Other examples were:

"Father's suicide" to "Heavenly Father's love"
"Worry" to "Trusting Him"
"Chasing drugs and alcohol" to "Chasing Him"
"Adultery" to "Forgiven"
A child had one that said: "Autism, cancer" to "Jesus loves me this I know".

And tears just started streaming down my face as more than twenty people made themselves so completely vunerable in front of this large crowd of people, in order to testify to the work that God had done in their lives. Austin asked me why people were crying and clapping. I said: "Because it's just so amazing what God can do!"

Amazing.

I was trying to think what my sign would be. And I came up with this:

"Never good enough" to "Accepted by Jesus."

:)

I'm so thankful for the sacrifice that Jesus made years ago for us on the cross on Calvary. I'm thankful that He took my place to pay the punishment for my sins. I'm thankful for the forgiveness that I receive when I bring my sins to Jesus. And I'm also so thankful for the work that he is doing in my life: the healing, the working at changing my character, making me into the woman He desires me to be.

I hope that you are enjoying this Easter weekend. We are having supper with Cameron's family tonight and are spending Sunday with my mom, after church.

(It is also my day to post on the Inspired Scrapper's site today. Click here if you'd like to see the layout that I made for Challenge #15.)

Did you ever have...

a day when you've planned things a certain way, and then nothing really went as planned?

That was my day yesterday.

Sage had a optometrist appointment at 9:10 and we didn't get home until 10:30am. Then I wanted to clean the house and got started on that, but Sage wanted to go through her spring and summer clothes to see what fit. And because she couldn't do that alone, we did it together.

After lunch, I took the boys back to school and ran some errands... of course this took longer than expected. Then I arrived home to realize that I was a half hour late for a meeting at church. But it still worked to meet. Well, I packed everything up and out the door we went. We got home at 3:30. So, my plans of cleaning the house, doing the laundry and some baking kind of got thrown out the door.

Although we did a "30 thing tidy" where everyone puts thirty things away, which helped a little. And I made puffed wheat cake while I was making supper. And I managed to bake some pumpkin muffins before we went to tae kwon do. So I guess the day isn't a complete loss.

Sigh...

Onto more cheerful things:

Firstly, check this out: I was mentionned on The Scrap Review. (Thanks to Joli for pointing this out to me!)

It's my day to post on the CMK blog today, so if you'd like to check out the mini-album I made with the April kit, then click here.

I wanted to share a few more layouts from the weekend with you, too.



This one I created after being inspired/challenged to do so at Scrap for a Cure. Erin B. posted a Monday challenge to scrap a size you've never scrapped before. I wasn't sure if I'd attempt the challenge or not, but then got the idea to make a layout for my mom that she could display in her living room. So I picked colours that would match the room and made this 6x7" layout.

This layout was for the Scrappy Formula posted during the Spring Fling Crop at CMK. I love using the formulas to scrap photos that I put off scrapping for one reason or another. Here, I think I was stumped by the colour combo, but I thought that the We R Memory Keepers products that I got in the mail from Scrapbooks and Cards Today were a good fit.

And lastly, I created this layout as a part of a Scraplift Tag game that we've been playing at MSS. To see the other layouts in the game, you can click here.

Thanks for looking!

Palm Sunday

It's a tradition at our church that the preschoolers come into the church service waving palm branches on Palm Sunday morning. Sage has been looking forward to this for weeks!





Then they go on stage and sing. Sage has been singing the songs for me at home. I love how happy she is on stage. Here, they're singing about Jesus riding on a donkey. :)



That was pretty much the highlight of our weekend (well, Sage and mine, anyway!)

Although, it's a bit of a toss up, because I have been scrapbooking, too. I've spent a good part of the weekend doubling up on challenges for the MSS and CMK online crops.

Here's what I've made so far:


This one is for the challenge that I issued to use fabric on your layout (I used a leftover piece of fabric from the dress I made Sage. I also made the rosette out of ribbon and a button to match the ones I put on the waist of her dress.)




This layout was for Tina's colour challenge at CMK (to use spring colours). Liz at MSS posted a similar challenge, as well as a challenge to use up old stash items. The smaller chipboard letters are Heidi Swapp ones in light blue and orange that I painted all light periwinkle to match the layout.






And this layout was for my challenge at MSS to use a movie or tv show title as your title. Shannon at MSS issued a challenge to use the negative of something, so I used the We R Memory Keepers patterned paper that was left over from cutting out the big flower to frame my journaling. Sherry at CMK challenged us to stamp with bleach on our page, which I decided to brave (once I was wearing some old jammies that I didn't care about bleach staining, of course!)



Hope you're enjoying your weekend.
Thanks for stopping by!

I'm ready...

to scrap!!

After the movie yesterday afternoon, we stopped at MSS and picked up some goodies:

Woohoo!! I'd been saving and waiting for the new Pink Paislee products to arrive and picked these up. (AND, there's still more coming!!)

So, I'm definitely ready to scrapbook this weekend, which works out perfectly, since there are two online crops that I'll be participating in this weekend!

The first is at MSS and you can check out the early bird challenge that I posted this morning here. (More challenges to come this evening and tomorrow.)

And the second is the Spring Fling Crop at CMK which starts tomorrow morning at 8am.

Should be a great scrappy weekend! Is anyone joining me?

Our week...

it's the Thursday of Spring Break and so far so good!

We haven't been too busy and have enjoyed just hanging out at home...

This guy wasn't feeling so hot on Tuesday:



He spent most of the day on the couch and fell asleep watching Zoboomafoo.

And this little girl has been asking me to make an outfit for her for the longest time (she saw an episode on Berenstain Bears where Sister asked Mama to make her an outfit and figured she would do the same to her Mama, I guess.)

So, I gave it my best and made this dress:



It's too big-- I'll have to pin it in the back and hide it with a bow. But Sage is thrilled, so I guess that's all that matters....

I posted on the MSS blog again today: Journaling tip #3.

I thought this looked like fun:



You can check out their blog here.

And I created another layout using the MSS April kit:

Well, we were suppose to go to Winnipeg today to visit my mom and spend the night, but since it's icy and they're forecasting more snow (grrr!), we're staying home. I'm going to take the kids to see Monsters Vs. Aliens this afternoon, so that should be fun!

Have a great day!

MSS April kit reveal

Here are three layouts that I created with this month's MSS kit:







Thanks for looking!

Exciting stuff!

It's spring break and we have a few fun things planned this week... Friends are coming over today, Austin has a friend coming over tomorrow and I'm taking the kids to go and visit my mom on Thursday.

And, Friday evening and Saturday, I'll be busy cropping with two online crops: both CMK and MSS are hosting online crops this weekend which should be lots of fun!

And something that I'm quite excited about is... that I wrote a scrapbooking article and Scrapbooks & Cards Today published it on their website! You can check it out here.

I've been busy scrapping with some kits lately, and should be able to post some things soon (hint: check back tomorrow! LOL!)

But for today, I'll share the card I made this morning:



And if you'd like to read a tutorial about printing on journaling cards, I posted one today on the MSS blog: Journaling tip #2.

Thanks for stopping by and for your kind comments!

Welcome to the CMK blog hop!!

This is a sneak peek of one of the layouts that I made with the gorgeous April kit at Create My keepsake called My Fair Lady (which you can order April 1st if you're not already signed up.)

Here's the full layout:



And some detail shots:

Make sure you go to the CMK blog to get the links to the rest of the CMK Design Team's work for the kit reveal blog hop!

And you might want to save the date for next weekend!

CMK is having an online crop with a Spring theme on Saturday, April 4th from 8:00 am - 4:00pm (CST)!! Be sure to check out this thread at CMK for sneak peeks of the projects, including the schedule for the crop and supply lists.

Here's a sneak peek of my challenge, which will be posted at 2pm CST:

Hope to see you there!

And thanks for stopping by!