Daily Creativity is key

Consequences

2011-05-06T07:53:00.002-06:00

As kids we knew that every action had a consequence, as we grew up we had the tendency to learn that lesson the hard way. I recently discovered why you don't buy cheap adhesive. I was showing off one of the many scrapbook albums I have made, to my Aunt after Easter dinner to only discover that whatever I made using the ad-tech adhesive I bought from my local Wal-mart(s) has fallen apart. As many of you know, if you know me well - I am a very oppinionated person who voices what she thinks on a regular basis. Well I sat down and thought about it and I had spendt over $300 on this particular brand of adhesive in either the tape runner or the glue dot variety and now I have to re-do it all. GRRRRRRR!! So I place a call to Ad-Tech directly and they said that I had to put something in writing and document the issue, so I will be doing that as well as take pictures of some of the 1,000's of pages I now have to re-do. I have also put in a call to Wal-Mart Canada and would like this product line to be take off the shelves. I am not looking forward to the hours I have to spend going through and fixing all these pages.

So make this a lesson to everyone - DON'T BUY THE CHEAP ADHESIVE!!

Wow has it been a while...

2011-02-25T15:13:00.002-07:00

Well hello everyone, I know it has been a while since I posted. I cannot believe that it is almost the end of Feburary all ready. I have been busy - I started working again and that among other things has been keeping me busy since September. I have to say with shock that I haven't created a LO and with the exception of a few cards my scrapbook room has been lonely and empty. All that changed yesterday - the kids are off for Teacher's convention and Landen is having a birthday party on saturday so I did some cleaning. My scrapbook room is now clean and organized and now it is time to make time again for my hobby. I am planning a card for Landen's Birthday and I might even make a Happy Birthday banner (if I am feeling really creative). Just a few more things to do around the house and then it is me time. I can't wait to get back in to the swing of things and get creative again. I hope all is well with everyone and I can't wait to start postin again.

H.

Another day, another creation

2010-09-22T14:33:00.003-06:00

Well finally the sun is out and maybe just maybe Mother nature got the message, "Enough with the doom and gloom and rainy cloudy weather already!" I woke up with the desire to be creative and after the kids we off to school I got to business. I started playing with tags and Tim Holtz' wonderful stamps and distress inks and this is the result. I also used glitz design stamps and The Paper Company Studio stamps. Thanks for looking!

Something new, and something exciting.

2010-09-16T16:31:00.007-06:00

Today I have decided to do a double post in one. I was playing in my scrap room yesterday and did two LO's all about my son Landen. The first one I used Jillybean soup paper and stamped grungeboard letters that I inked with alcohol inks and sprayed with my own glimmer mist. I love the picture of Landen that I used, he has such an angelic face and it looks like he is just staring off somewhere. I titled the LO accordingly. Here is the result.

The second LO I made, I took inspiration from Landen's kindergarten graduation. I only used colored cardstock and my gyspy and cricut machines. I cut the cricles using George and basic shapes, the "Hooray!" was from the Wild card cartridge and I used Don Juan and my gypsy to weld together the "Bring on Grade 1" I love the simplicity of this LO. I use my Basic Grey magnetic mat when I do all my LO (that is what the little silver circles are - the magnets) I like how I can plan out the LO and move things around and see what the LO will look like all pieced together before I adhere it to the paper.

So that was the something new and now for the something exciting. For those that don't know, today is Hello Thursday, what is that you say. Well on the third thursday of every month Cricut announces the new cartridges that they will be releasing the following month and what cartridges they will be retiring. Well in my email this afternoon I got to see those very cartridges.

The first one is Birthday Bash, it looks very cutsie. I personally prefer to create my own birthday designs but it looks like a lot of fun. Here are a couple of pics, one of the exterior box and the other is the designs on the cartridge.

The second is Nifty Fifties. I can't wait to get my hands of this one. It has everything for the fifties lover, vintage pages, or just fun cards. Here are a couple of pictures of this one. It is on my Christmas list for sure.

Now we have come to the end on my double post in one post and the something new, and something exciting. Maybe next time I will post a something old and blue. Have a great day everyone!!

Fall is here.......

2010-09-14T15:25:00.005-06:00

Things have been hectic around here all summer, not really any time to scrapbook and now with school finally started I spent the afternoon organizing my scrap space and I am hoping to get something done tomorrow. I am looking out the window and the hundreth cloudy day (it seems like that many) that we have had lately and I feel the chill in the air and I see the leaves changing color and wonder where did summer go? We didn't really have a summer to speak of, a few hot days, a few warm days and a lot of rainy yucky days. I feel like I am living in Tofino without the beautiful scenery. Misty rain, cloudy days, foggy mornings. Soon we will be shivering in winter boots, wrapped up in a scarf and a toque. It depresses me that there will be snow flying before we know it. I thought today I would post a LO that I did recently about that very subject - SNOW. We have a beautiful wheeping birch tree in the backyard and when it snows it is the most amazing sight. When the morning is fresh and crisp and the frost hangs on the the branches is what I love most about the winter - I can do without the rest. (sadly living in Alberta that will never happen) So here is a LO with the tree as it's muse. Enjoy!

Hummmm, maybe it wasn't in Vegas after all.

2010-07-21T15:58:00.004-06:00

Good afternoon all, I have been hiding in my room all day taking breaks only to feed the kids lunch and when nature called and I started and finished 3....count'em 3 LO's. I was looking through the vegas pictures last night and had a hint of inspiration, so I ran with it today. Boy did that little photo printer get a work out. Here are pictures of the three layouts that I did today.

The Coca-Cola Store

Margaritaville

M & M World

I guess my mojo wasn't in vegas afterall. I just needed to look for it in the last place I felt it.

Here is the prize for the contest........the winner.......and the result.

2010-07-20T11:23:00.009-06:00

Ok ok, I know I was supposed to post the prize for the best comment to help me find my mojo by the end of last week - but it is only tuesday. So here is the prize. I have included a star shaped board book, a 24" piece of Tim Holtz film stip ribbon, a piece of grungeboard, 2 tim Holtz journal coupons, and some Tim Holtz embellishments and some flowers. I will also be adding a surprise item that I will not be in the picture, you will just have to wait and see what it is.....

Here is the prize.

You both gave really good advice to help me find my mojo but there can only be one winner. And a drum roll please............The winner is.................Dion. I will send out the prize asaic (lol) - as soon as I can. LOL

I also found some of my mojo, funny thing is I think I left it in Vegas when I went in March. So here is a LO I have been working on, I am not in love with it but it will do. It is time to do some cleaning up in my scraproom and re-organize and see what I have. I hope I don't have to fly back to Vegas to find my mojo but I just might have to. (hee hee - but I would have to take the hubby this time.

Thanks for trying to help me get back in to the swing of things - I have a ton of pictures that we have taken and now it is time to get down to business and get some pages done.

LOST - MOJO, IF FOUND PLEASE RETURN

2010-07-13T10:47:00.003-06:00

Yes my mojo is lost, that is the number one reason why there has been lack of posting on this blog lately. I was hired to do the demo job for cricut and although it was a great job, my mojo got lost somehwere. I don't know if it was somewhere inbetween demo'ing the expression or the cricut cake but it flew the coop. So how do we find one's mojo?? I have been asking myself that very question for a few months now, so I am going to turn it over to you - my 17 followers.

"How do you get back into the swing of things?"
"How do you get your mojo back?"
"What do you do if you can't seem to get the creative juices flowing?"

The person who can help me find my mojo will win a prize. I am looking for any and all help to get my juices flowing again. This will be a contest for the best response and I will post a pic of the prize by the end of the week. Give me ideas followers - I NEED HELP!!

Second and third cakes

2010-05-05T14:44:00.005-06:00

I was playing with the cake again, one cake was for a friend and the second was another cake for us. I used the elegant cakes cartridge and the brown frosting sheets. I cheated on the second cake and just used cookie cutters. I enjoy using the cake but it is a bit of getting used to with the different mediums - I am used to only using paper products.

Cake #1
I used sugar water to get the frosting sheet to stick to the fondant and some of the color ran onto the fondant - I colored in those sections to hide my mistakes.

Cake #2
I just used a cookie cutter and different colored fondant to make the design.

Cricut Cake

2010-04-30T10:03:00.003-06:00

Well let me tell you how cool my job is, when I was in vegas for training I got to come home with a gypsy and 6 of the new cartridges. When I got home I got an expression and some tools to play with, and demo at mt Michael's store. To top it off on Monday I got the Cricut Cake. She is red with chrome accents and it is very pretty. I couldn't wait to play with it, so on Tuesday night we went to Michael's and bought some fondant and on Wednesday I made my first cake using the cricut cake. It turned out pretty good for my first attempt. I used just plain white cake from a box, I dirty ised it (so the fondant had something to stick to) and then covered it with Wilton's rolled white fondant. I used neon pink fondant to make the border and the top decorations. It looks nice - very simple. The cricut cake was very easy to use - the fondant gave me some issues. But all and all a good first attempt, next time I will make the cake a day before and not the same day.

Here is the results.

In Loving memory

2010-04-08T14:12:00.004-06:00

I am posting a LO that I did yesterday for my Grandpa, he passed away on tuesday night after almost 8 months without my Grandma. I miss him alot but I feel ok about my grief this time because I know he isn't in any pain and he is finally with the love of his life. I used graphic 45 paper and a few tim holtz things and a 7 gypsies post card. I am very proud of the results.

Rest in Peace - we will forever miss you.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

2010-04-01T14:15:00.005-06:00

Well I am home and what an experience it was. Vegas is a place full of distinction - the sights, the sounds, the smells, and the people make it unique. Now I am not saying that it is all great...the training was great and I learned some new things I didn't know before and the people from Provo craft and ASM are wonderful. But the people in Vegas are different - I saw things there I have never seen in my life (not good things either). I would never take my kids to Las Vegas - I don't believe that a place called "SIN CITY" is a great family vacation destination, you would be amazed how many people are walking around at 11pm pushing strollers or walking with their young children. There is a sewer smell every time you walk over a man hole or a drain hole, and there is no manners except by the people working in the hotels, people do not say "excuse me", or "thank you".

Ok, ok enough of my ranting. I met a great bunch of ladies from California - Kim, Debbie, Katrina, and Claudia - You guys are great!! And I also met Dion (whom I chatted with before via scrapbook.com and facebook) who is from Ontario and we hung out a lot. And Gina (Gg loves Matthew to those of you who know her from scrapbook.com) thanks for posting this great opportunity. Everyone was great and I can wait to the next convention to see you all!!

Las Vegas all and all was ok - I got to stay at the Paris Hotel and see a lot of the sights on the Vegas Strip. I went to M&M World and the Coca Cola store and I saw store like Tiffany & Co. Harry Winston and Jimmy Choo, none of which I can afford. I gambled all of $9.99 and came home with a cash voucher for $0.01 and I can't wait to scrapbook that page. I went to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville and had dinner, I walked a lot and took at lot of great pictures. I even seen Jay Leno on the corner of my hotel doing interviews of people on the street. I also had a little tag along on my travels - my DD's travelling bear "Princess". I took pictures of this bear at quite a few places and she has a few more stories to tell in her journal. I think she had a good time.

It was a quick couple of days and after 4 hours on my first plane ride in 28 years on the way down broken up with a stop over in Salt lake City on the way, 16 hours of training 2 full days in Vegas and an all day event of airports and planes yesterday (my day started at 5am in Vegas) I was so glad to see the Calgary skyline and my beautiful family waiting for me with flowers when I came out of the doors after going through customs and back pick up - I am so glad to be home. I think I need a vacation to recover from my trip to Vegas.

Here are a couple of pictures from my travels.

RAK giveaway!!

2010-03-24T10:44:00.001-06:00

I was recently surfing the net and blog surfing as I do and I stumbled upon a blog who is doing an RAK (random acts of kindness) give away. She has a great site and I think you should check her out.

http://pamelasworldofscrap.blogspot.com

Good luck!!

OMG...What an opportunity!!

2010-03-19T15:01:00.005-06:00

I recently seen a posting on scrapbook.com that Provo craft is looking for cricut demonstrators, I called the number, had 2 interviews in 2 days and I have been hired. I will be doing cricut demos at the Michael's store in Shawnessy (Calgary) and getting paid to talk about and show people the cricut. Awsome eh?? The best part is that training for this new great job is in Las Vegas! So I, after 28 years of keeping my feet on the ground will be flying to Las Vegas at the end of the month. I am so excited!! It will be 2 days of training and I hope I will be able to see some of the sights while I am there. I will be taking Reiley's Travelling bear Princess with me and I hope to get some great pictures of her. I am bouncing off the walls and can't believe that I am going to be going in a week. I have been running like a chicken with my head cut off all week, trying to get the passport forms filled out and photos taking and then back to the passport office today. I will have passport in hand thursday morning - WOW!!

I still can't believe it!

Las Vegas here I come!!

Distressed clock

2010-03-05T17:30:00.011-07:00

I have had this old form for a mantle clock for ever and I finally decided to do something with it. I drew inspiration from Tim Holtz (of course) and from 7 gypsies. I wanted it to look different from anything I had done before. And I am very very happy with the results. I did have a clock mechanism but sadly it wouldn't fit, the center post wasn't long enough so I improvised. I stamped a clock face using a CTMH stamp and distressed it and used Tim Holtz's spinners. DH says "Even a broken clock is right twice a day". Here are the pictures of the results.

New Cards

2010-03-03T11:16:00.003-07:00

Here are a couple new cards I made. I love the way they turned out. I like the soft tones of the pastel one and the soft earthy tones of the brown one. I used BoBunny paper for the brown one and Basic Grey for the pastel one. Have a great day everyone.

My new scrapping room!

2010-03-02T20:15:00.003-07:00

Ok ok so it isn't really new but it is clean and re arranged and it looks amazing. I spent the day cleaning and vaccuming and now this room looks great.I am just loving how this room looks. It is my space and I love it. I have my cricut connected to the computer and it is layed out in such a way that there isn't cords and stuff everywhere. It still has the same amount of furniture and it looks bigger. There is even more room for Reiley (my DD) to come in and scrapbook too. Thank honey (my DH) for pushing me to get it cleaned up. I can't wait till tomorrow so I can get creative in here. Night all!!

Good evening......

2010-02-24T20:43:00.004-07:00

Hello to everyone on this olympic hockey quarter final night, I thought I would blog post tonight since Hank is at a fire dept meeting and the kids are in bed and the house is quiet (for a while anyway). I started watching the hockey game was was glad to see Team Canada winning. The ankle is slowly on the mend - it turns out I did tear 2 of the 3 ligaments on the outside of the right ankle and after 4 weeks of being stuck at home I am able to drive - well only to physio and the doctor's appointments. I can't work at the scrapbook store yet, but I am hoping maybe next week if the physiotherapist says ok. I haven't done anything creative lately other than a few cards and 8 party invitations for Landen's 6th birthday party. I did get a couple of new cricut carts and I am anxious to play with them and post my results. I got dino tracks, tinkerbell and friends (not a new one but new to me) and the Mother's Day solution carts. I am very excited about the Mother's Day one - it looks so pretty. Tonight I am going to post a LO that I did that was for a monthly contest at the store that I didn't finish on time and forgot to put up. The paper stumped me and I didn't know what pictures to use. But after long last I decided on a couple with the kids on our last camping trip. Enjoy!P.S - We won against Russia 7-3, plus we won gold and silver in women's bobsled. What a night for Canada!!

GO CANADA GO!!

10 things about me

2010-02-06T10:31:00.004-07:00

I did a LO a while back for a staff challege at the store, I thought I would share it today since I seem to have lost some scrappin' mojo since this cast got on my foot.

Here are the 10 things about me:

My family means the most to me than anything in this world
I love to read
I am an ER junkie (it is still my favourite show)
I am writing a book
I have moved 9 times in 9 years
I wanted to be a vet
I am a twilightaholic
I love Almond Roca candy
I broke my lft ankle twice in 2 years
I fall more in love with my husband everyday.

Products used: Bo Bunny patterned paper, prima flowers, ribbon, brads, letters cut with cricut and don juan cartridge. Stitched patterned paper to cardstock with sweing machine, zig zag pattern.

Still stuck on the couch.

2010-02-03T11:32:00.002-07:00

Well folks, here I am posting from my living room on my laptop. Still in the air cast and still on the couch. I can't even scrapbook cause I can't elevate my leg under my table. So I have been doing a lot of blog surfing and facebook has become my best friend. Sad I know but what can I really do...a whole lot of resting. But on a brighter note as soon as I can start scrapbooking again, I am full of ideas. So I think I should have everyone email me a pic of something they have been working on and I will post them as a temporary design team for my blog until I am able to be creative again.
Email me at hfolvik@yahoo.com and I will post what you send whether it is a LO or a card, send me your creations. Inspire me for when I am able to be creative again.

Thanks everyone and I look forward to your emails.

I have angered Karma....I think

2010-01-28T11:44:00.002-07:00

Well as you may have read in my last post, 2010 didn't start out great for me. I had gout in my left ankle and was stuck on the couch for a week, I spent the next week playing catch up and things were starting to get back into routine. I shouldn't have thought that because as a family we went to Lake Louise on the 23rd and we walked from the truck to the lake and I slipped and fell and hurt my right ankle. Off to the Banff hospital we went and found out that there is unknown damage to the ankle because of the extensive swelling. So now I am in an air cast, back on the couch and crutches again. The worst part of this is that my family has to pick up the slack again, Reiley is being so helpful and DH Hank is making meals and well Landen is really trying to be good (I can't expect more than that.) The doctor is hoping that there isn't tendon damage and when he mention the word "surgery" I am hoping that as well. I hate being stuck at home, can't drive, can't walk and can't really get comfortable enough to scrapbook. I am hoping to try and scrapbook this weekend since Hank is gone again to another Fire fighting course and the kids and I will be hanging out with no place to go....(anyone feel sorry for me yet??)

Have a great weekend everyone.

Wow it is 2010 and half way through January already!

2010-01-21T09:22:00.002-07:00

I can't believe that is it January 21st already, where did this month go?? It has been a crazy month so far, I was laid up with gout for the first week, spend the second week trying to play catch up and here we are almost at the end of the third week and I have nothing to show for it. I haven't done a lot of scrapbooking since boxing day when I whipped of a record of 22 LO's in one day, friends were having twin girls and I wanted to get the album done before they arrived. I did do one page yesterday but I wanted to share something else with you guys today.
Tuesday I took the kids and went to Strathmore for the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay that went through town. It has been 22 years since the Olympics were in Canada and I wanted the kids to experience it. I took some pictures as a momento to this once (or twice ) in a lifetime event. I cannot wait to scrapbook these pictures. I am having some issues trying to upload the pictures so I will try again later.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and I have made it a new year's promise to post more often.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

2009-12-24T17:59:00.002-07:00

I just wanted to drop a line and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I am sitting here waiting for the firefighters in town to bring Santa around the homes. The kids are very excited and have gone from counting down the days to counting down the hours..."When is Santa coming?" and "be good or Santa won't come." are all you hear in our house. I am also gearing up for a full day of cooking and baking tomorrow. I shouldn't linger on line too long as there is still things to do, so I will again wish my 13 followers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Tags. tags and more tags

2009-12-20T15:55:00.005-07:00

I have been very busy this week and haven't had a moment to rest, so that is why the tags have not been posted. Well here they are! I haven't had a chance to make more than what I am posting - I am hoping to make more on Tuesday as my Monday is booked solid. Ohhhh the Christmas holidays....when do the kids go back to school??

Tag 1 and Tag 2

2009-12-15T10:54:00.006-07:00

Here are the first 2 tags, sorry I didn't post them yesterday. I had running around to do in the morning and then on my way to get Landen from school I did a complete 360 and ended up in the ditch. All is well though and it was an experience I don't want to repeat any time soon.

The first tag is my recreation of Tim Holtz's tag #1 and since I didn't have everything he used I improvised. This is what I came up with.

The second tag is one I created on my own.

This is a shot of both the front and the back.

Products used: Tim Holtz distress ink - Broken China and Faded Jeans; Various Stampin' up and Close to my Heart Stamps; black, white, iridescent embossing powders; grungeboard; snowman die cut; icicle stickles.

Tim Holtz 12 tags of Christmas have inspired me

2009-12-13T19:05:00.004-07:00

I have been patiently waiting for Tim Holtz's 12 tags of Christmas and this year he did not disappoint me. The were all amazing, and I will be posting my versions of the tags starting tomorrow and running until they are done. Since there isn't 12 days left before Christmas I will be posting 2 at a time. I hope you enjoy them!

Happy Holidays!

Another day another project!!

2009-11-23T16:07:00.003-07:00

Good afternoon to all. I have been closed up in my office being creative for the last few days and I have decided to share my projects with you. Today's project was to create a set of bookmarks for the twilight series for a girlfriend. So this morning I played with design studio and my cricut and wipped off a set - but I didn't take a picture so I will have to make another set just to take pictures of them. But over the weekend I was also bitten by the creativity bug and I would like to show you that project.

I recently picked up the new holiday cricut cartridge Snowfriends and I made all 10 snow people. They are so freakin' cute. So here is a group shot of all my little snowpeople. I love this cartridge and I can't wait to play with it on design studio - I want to make a chain of snowmen holding hands for my mantle for Christmas, (I will post a picture when it is done). Are these snowpeople not the cutest. I am going to use a few for on a gift of snowman soup (hot chocolate) for the kids' teachers and I am not quite sure what to do with the rest - maybe ornaments for the tree??

Tune in tomorrow for another project. Have a great night!

Altered tin

2009-11-17T16:32:00.005-07:00

Good afternoon on this blustery day. I have been watching a lot of demos on the Tim Holtz website lately and I decided to try out his alcohol inks. Do I picked up a tin and decided to distress it. I used a couple different colors of inks and a lot of stuff to "shabby" it up. I used some Heidi Swapp stickers and star chipboard shapes, a grungeboard skull and painted it with white distress crackle paint. I also used some glitz design glitzers, and some flowers. Here is the finished results. Enjoy.

They are on the mend - Thank goodness!

2009-11-06T14:24:00.002-07:00

It has been a rough week, Reiley is being treated for H1N1 and now so is Landen. I have to say it has been a very stressful ordeal but thank God for Tamiflu(correct spelling). This stuff is amazing, Reiley got her first dose on Monday night and by tuesday morning the fever had broke, she was still coughing but not nearly as bad as she was. Well then Landen got sick Tuesday night with a fever, I kept him home on Wednesday and the fever got worse and worse and he had a cough too. I took him in to the doctor yesterday and he has H1N1 as well. So off to the pharmacy again. Landen got his first dose of Tamiflu last night and this morning he is doing much better, the fever broke and still a bit of coughing but again not as bad as before. WE are all going to be getting the vaccine as soon as it becomes available. I think Reiley is going to be well enough to go back to school on Monday and we will see how well Landen is doing on sunday and then make the decision on if he is going back on Monday as well.
The concern about H1N1 has somewhat been blown way out of proportion but I can see when the concern is - this has the potential to become a very serious illness. I hope that everyone can see that and will act accordingly if they or a member of their family gets sick. If you get sick - stay home. If you have to go to the hospital - wear a mask and cough into your arm. Most of all, start taking Vitamin C, Cold FX or whatever you need to boost your immunity now. You do not wanna catch this bug.

I am glad my kids are on the mend, it is hard being the nurse, the maid, the cook, the cleaning lady and the wife. It is true what they say - Mothers have the toughest job in the world, thank heaven for Mothers.

If it isn't one thing it is something else.

2009-11-03T13:42:00.002-07:00

Well, after halloween there should be a constant sugar high floating around my house - instead I have a son who is active and a sick daughter. The kids were great for trick or treating on Saturday and they didn't eat a lot of candy (which was nice), Sunday was nice and quiet, we had a birthday party in the afternoon and then Reiley developed a high fever on Sunday night. I gave her some Tylenol and off to bed she went. The next morning the fever was still high so I kept her home from school, by dinner time yesterday she was complaining that she had trouble breathing so my DH said I should take her to the hospital. After an hour of waiting in the triage line we were seen by a nurse. Finally after 3 hours of waiting the diagnosis was H1N1 - well sort of. The doctor didn't want to do a culture swab because when he had H1N1 he had the same symptoms. So they gave Reiley the dose of Tamaflu and off we went to the drug store to get the full prescription of the tamaflu. Today the fever has broke but she still has a cough, so we will be keeping her home for a week like the Dr. suggested. As soon as she is well and the vaccine is available again we will all be getting the shot - I was hesitant at first but I don't think the cons of the vaccine outweigh the pros.

And since I have a sick little one I will be staying home as well, no scrapbooking saturday and I will be limiting my time at my meeting tonight, going through parent teacher interviews quickly tomorrow. I will try and scrapbook the halloween pictures this week and get them posted asap.

Have a good week.

A couple of things today

2009-10-22T09:13:00.009-06:00

First things first - I was blog surfing and I came across a great giveaway from Prima, so of course I had to enter. Everyone who knows me, knows I am a flower-a-holic. I have to put flowers on everything, so when I saw Prima's new products I knew I had to have them, and what better way then to try and win them. Here is a quick peek of what they look like.Are they not amazing?? I love the new colors and flowers. There are ideas now popping into my head on what I could do with these amazing products.

Second, I have been very creative this week, I recently picked up a Graphic 45 paper pack to work on the vintage album I am doing for my Grandparents, and I stumbled on a project where you redo a lamp shade with paper and buttons. So I gave it a whirl and I am loving the result. Here are a couple of shots of the finished shade. I used the Graphic 45 Domestic Godess paper, I painted the paper with a glossy sealer and then adorned it with buttons.

I haven't quite decided what I will do with the lamp base yet but I am thinking I will paint it, maybe with a crackle finish.

And the other project I made with the scraps from the lamp shade was a fip recipe book. I thought it would be a great idea to add recipes that my Grandma taught me and ones my Mom taught me and maybe some of my favourite recipes. I haven't decided if I am going to keep it or give it to my Mom as a Christmas present. I sure hope she didn't bookmark my Blog otherwise it won't be a surprise. Here is a couple of pictures of the book minus the recipes.

Now I just need to type out all the recipes and put them in the book - one Christmas present down.

Croppin' Weekend.

2009-10-16T08:25:00.002-06:00

I am so excited, there is a weekend crop in my town and I am going. My bags are packed, I'm ready to go....leaving on a jet plane. OOPS sorry I got a little off track there. We start cropping tonight at 6pm and runs till whenever and then again tomorrow from 9 am till 4 pm. I have so much stuff I wanna get done, I packed both wheely bags, a carry bag and my cricut. My daughter Reiley is joining us this time with her own scrapbooking stuff. There is going to be generations of my family at this crop, my Mom, my sister, my daughter and myself. Kinda exciting that we have found something that we can all do together. So I am off, I have to head into town to get pictures developed and pick up donations for a silent auction. Have a great weekend everyone.

A Challenge - ok a contest!

2009-10-06T15:22:00.004-06:00

Wow 2 posts in one day - I must be behind on my blogging or what. This is a challenge for my 13 followers, as some of you may know my Grandma passed away in July and before she passed away I was planning an album about my Grandparents and when they first met during the WWII and their wedding and just a album dedicated to them, it was meant to be a gift for their anniversary on the 29th of September. Sadly my grandma passed away before I could get the album finished, I also got a hold of a lot more pictures since her passing. Needless to say the book is a huge undertaking and I have only gotten some pages done.

Now for the challenge - I have a layout that is lacking something, I will post a picture of it and I want you guys to post ideas on what I can add to finish it off. Here is the layout.
I have used 7Gypsies paper, journaling tags and transparencies, and I have also used CTMH "make it count" stamps. I would like to stay with the same vintage theme and I would like you guys to tell me what I can add to finish this layout off. I will be picking up some blog candy as a prize to the winner. Thanks guys I am looking to you now - my the best idea win!

Finally I am working on my wedding pictures.

2009-10-06T15:03:00.004-06:00

Well after 8 years of marriage and a year and a half of scrapbooking I have started to work on my wedding pictures. I used the Cosmo Cricket wedding line "Everafter" after I fell in love with it when I was working on an album dedicated to my Grandparents. I love the colors of this line and the vintage feel to the paper. Here is a few of the layouts I have done.

And yes for those of you that noticed - I was very pregnant when we got married, Reiley came 2 weeks later.

Cricut Giveaway

2009-09-17T15:35:00.002-06:00

Help me celebrate Cricut's 100th cartridge—Winter Woodland! That’s right, they reached 100 cartridges. As a thank you they are giving away 100 cartridges over the next five weeks (20 per week), and I wanna win - so here is a link to the cartridge.

http://www.cricut.com/shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?id=361&s=1&sc=2

It looks like a super cute one - and I love cricut so I want it for my very own. Thanks for helping me win.

2009-09-10T11:35:00.004-06:00

Here are those cards I have promised to post, there is quite a few so I will make them small.

I made these two for Halloween with my new Martha Stweart "Drippy Goo" Punch - I love it!

These ones were just various occation cards.

These ones I made for Thanksgiving - I picked up a fall themed paper pack from Michael's and a Thanksgiving theme stamp pack. I love the fall colors.

2009-09-08T12:56:00.002-06:00

Sorry everyone, I have been so busy that my blog has fallen to the backburner. School has now started and Landen is in kindergarden half days and Reiley is in grade 3 all day. I am getting a lot done in the mornings before I pick up Landen but I haven't taken any pictures of the stuff I have done. That will be tomorrow's project. The long weekend was great, we got away to BC for the weekend. We started in Radium, went to the hot springs and then off to Revelstoke where we visited the Enchanted Forest. We went to "D" Dutchman Dairy in Sicamous and then back to the hotel in Revelstoke for a swim. We came home yesterday and yes it is nice to holiday but it is nice to be home and sleeping in my own bed. I did a few cards last week and tomorrow I will take pics of them and post them, still have too much to do today. So on that note, have a great day everyone and come back tomorrow to see some new cards.

2009-08-19T15:10:00.003-06:00

Finally finished - I told a friend I would do the invitations for her wedding and after a mistake on the vellum, needing to re-print, they are finally done. She didn't want anything too fancy so I used hunter green cardstock, ivory cardstock, vellum and green ribbon. I embossed the ivory cardstock with the cuttlebug swirls embossing folder and then printed the wedding info on the vellum and joined it to the cardstock with a ribbon. Here is a picture (I took out all the info that is why there is white blocks in the picture)

2009-08-14T09:33:00.003-06:00

Good morning everyone - and by everyone I mean my 9 followers. LOL I love the fact that I have people following my blog. I was playing with my cricut yesterday and the wild card cartridge - LOVE IT. But to make a great cartridge better I was playing with design studio as well. I think for those of us who have the baby bug or the create, design studio is a must have. I was playing around with cards yesterday and made two of the wedding cake (three tier cake) cards. One is for some friends who are getting married at the end of the month and the other is for my daughter's 8th birthday which is also at the end of the month. I think they both turned out great.

Materials Used: white and blue cardstock, Waterfall stickles, Frosted Lace Stickles, Prima flowers, Cloud 9 stickers, HOTP stamps, Heidi Swapp bling.

Wow, this is so nice

2009-08-09T14:01:00.005-06:00

I recieved my first award, Julie from Julie's Crafty Spot was nice enough to give me my first Blog award.

I also recieved another from Brenda at Brenda's Joy.

After the week I had, my Grandma passing and the funeral - it was nice to see that there are some great gals out there who are supportive of someone they don't know.

THANKS A BUNCH LADIES!!

I have spent a bit checking and deciding who to pass these awards to - here are the five blogs that are helping me get my creative juices flowing. Thanks ladies.

1. http://somewhereovertherainbowunicornsdream.blogspot.com

2. http://amandamuirhead.blogspot.com

3. http://brendasjoy.blogspot.com

4. http://scrapyourlife.blogspot.com

5. http://staybeautiful.tigergirl.blogspot.com

You all deserve both awards. Enjoy them and keep pumping out beautiful things to look at.

In Loving memory

2009-07-30T10:16:00.002-06:00

I am posting this LO in loving memory of my Grandmother, sadly she passed away on Sunday July 26th and it look me almost all week to finish. It isn't a busy LO, I didn't want to take away from the beautiful picture. I can't imagine my life without her in it, and this week as been very hard to deal with. I wanted to do this LO to have at the funeral reception and then to incorporate into the album I am doing based on my Grandparents. Here is the LO.

I miss you so much!

GRRR what a bad day

2009-07-24T07:38:00.004-06:00

I need to vent. I was driving home yesterday from the doctor in hwy 817 coming from Strathmore when a rock from a gravel truck smashed my window. There was glass flying all over the inside of the cab, on the dashboard and all over the front seat. After collecting my thoughts and anger I swung around and chased the gravel truck north on hwy 817 (back towards Strathmore) and tried to get him to pull over. His trailer and pup were overloaded with gravel, he didn't have it tarped and he was spilling gravel all over the road - I finally got him stopped where he proceeded to yell and swear at me and another lady who's window was also hit by the same gravel stopped as well. Well the driver told me that in Wheatland county drivers were not required to tarp their loads. He took off down the gravel road to his shop yard. The other driver and myself called the RCMP and spoke to them and decided to confront the owner of the company. Of course he wasn't there - but would be back after 2 pm. I drove home in a fit of rage, phone my DH who also became anger at what I had told him. I then got on the phone to the county, to my MLA, questioned DOT about legislation, spoke to the RCMP again. And when DH came home we headed back to the business along with the other driver and spoke to the owner - he did write us both a cheque to replace the window. I am making it now my mission to get the legislation changed in the province so that all truck drivers must tarp their loads before heading down the hwy. It is currently a mandate on the traffic safety code and on traffic safety in Alberta and also a nation code of standard but it isn't enforced. I am waiting on a call from my MLA and will also be contacting my county rep. Someone could have been seriously hurt by the negligence of this driver - I don't wanna see that happen.

Here is a few pics of my windows.

2009-07-21T09:35:00.003-06:00

Hello and happy Tuesday everyone. Sorry I haven't posted in a while - we took a mini vacation. My DH and I and our kids went to a family reunion on my husband's side. It was nice to meet a side of the family we never had - it was beautiful weather, we only got rain on saturday night. My only gripe was that the mosquitoes were on the war path - we were eaten alive all weekend. We stayed at my sister in law's condo in Radium on sunday night, went to the hot springs, vegged out in the hot tub at the condo and then on Monday we went into Invermere and checked out a LSS called Scrappy Do's. It was a great little store and I will post what I bought a bit later today - it isn't much just some paper, it is MME paper and I love MME and the line is called Breaking Free - I have never sceen it before. Had to have it.

2009-07-13T15:40:00.003-06:00

Good afternoon everyone - It has been pouring rain here today, the power has blinked on and off several times and it has been too awful out to do anything but scrapbook, so I have been a bit creative today.

I used Versamark and stamped then heat embossed in clear all the butterflies on plain white cardstock, I used the peeled paint and broken china distress ink all over the page. I used Heidi Swapp cherish and moment stamps and Heidi Swapp letters. I am very happy with the way the LO turned out.

2009-07-10T09:14:00.002-06:00

I was cruising around the cricut.com message board and I have discovered that The Cuttlebug Spot is having a contest - "The Journey to 1,000"! They are trying to reach 1,000 followers by the end of July and need your help. To enter all you have to do is go to their site, sign up as follower and complete a few easy steps and you could win a $1,000 gift certificate to Custom Crops (www.CustomCrops.com)! GO NOW and check it out at www.TheCuttlebugSpot.com , I wonder what I would buy for a $1000.00 ........wow there is a lot I could buy.

2009-07-09T13:10:00.003-06:00

I just finished the LO with the rodeo tickets. I enjoyed making this page, it isn't filled with embellishments - let's face it neither is a rodeo. I wanted to try a technique that I saw on Tim Holtz's web page. I crumpled a piece of ivory card stock and then used the aged mahogany distress ink all over it, I then lightly sprayed with water and then took an old iron and iron the page. Because I inked after I crumpled when I ironed the paper it kept the look of the wrinkles. I then used tea dye all over to the ivory card stock. On the journaling spot I did the same but I used Jumbo Java versamagic chalk ink first on the wrinkled card stock then ironed again, after which I used the tea dye again for the antiqued look. Here it is:

Product used: CTMH paper and stickers (sasparilla) Distress ink - Tea Dye & Aged Mahogany, Versa magic Chalk Ink - Jumbo Java, Stampin'up stamp, Making memories square copper brads.

2009-07-09T10:05:00.002-06:00

Good morning everyone, it has been a quiet few days around here - I have tonsilitis (sp??) so I haven't been talking much. Haven't done any scrapbooking lately, just haven't been feeling up to it but today I will be doing something about that. Hubby and I went to the rodeo at the Stampede grounds on tuesday and I didn't bring my camera - too much to haul around and too many people, I didn't want to get robbed. But I think I might scrapbook the ticket stubbs - we shall see how that turns out. Reiley is off to a friends house this morning so Landen and I are on our own today - but he said cause Mommy is sick he is going to be a good boy. I am off to get kids fedf and dropped off and back home to scrapbook, I will post later as to what I have done. Have a great day!

2009-07-03T14:09:00.006-06:00

Well folks, I have sad news - I have had to take a leave of absence from working. It makes me sad that I won't see Jodie and Joyce everyday and I am sitting at home trying to think of things to do - other than clean, but right now my family needs me at home and here is where I will be for awhile. Hopefully in September I can return to work.

On to a happier note - summer is here and I get to spend it with my kids, so that is nice. I also have some more time to be creative and scrapbook so there should be some good things coming out of the scrapbook room in the days to come. Stampede has hit the big city and I have yet to decide if I want to draw inspiration from this - we usually stay away from the greatest outdoor show on earth due the the crowds and the expense it causes but today Hank (my dear husband) called and said he won rodeo tickets from work for Tuesday. YEEHAW!! So I think due to this new development I will post the LO's I did for the kids last year. Both my children entered the muttin' bustin at the Strathmore Heritage Days rodeo - Reiley placed 2nd and Landen...well Landen got a wild sheep (so he says) and sadly he got bucked off (or fell off). Either way I am very proud of both of them and we will see if Landen will be competing again this year.

Here are Reiley's LO's:

Here are Landen's LO's

I used Close to my heart stickers and paper, Stampin' up stamps , I cut out the little cowboy and cowgirl with the Paperdoll dress up cartridge and I used some Debbie Mumm paper, and parts of a Moxie kit.

What a busy day

2009-06-24T20:40:00.003-06:00

Today was one of those days I hate, I was so busy I haven't had time to scrapbook. First I had to fight with Microsoft and then take Landen for his ECS assessment, then to Reiley's Teddy Bear Picnic, then home agin to get hubby up so he wouldn't miss his doctor apt and then to work. WOW what a day, the kids are finally in bed and hubby is at his firefighter meeting and I have some people harvesting my crop of facebook and posting on the blog, not to mention I still have to cut a pair of Reiley's pants into shorts. When does it all end.......

Any who here is the first staff challenge that I did when I started working st the LSS. Once a month we are challenged by a customer. The customer picks out the paper, the subject and the challenge. In this one we had to use a little bit of every piece of paper, we had to use a piece of grungeboard, we had to heat emboss, she gave us 4 brads to use and the pictures had to be in Sepia. This is what I came up with.

I am quite happy with the way it turned out and I love how the pictures look in Sepia.

I think I am finally getting the hang of this.

2009-06-23T10:27:00.005-06:00

Good morning bloggers, I think I am finally getting the hang of this whole blogging idea. I have downloaded a music player and added some of my favourite links and a little about this blog. I am very impressed with myself. Yaa me!

So on to the next project. These are two LO's I made using Heidi swapp masks and destress inks. The ideas were originally from the class I took in Edmonton with Heidi Swapp and I kinda ran with it.

This one I used the Star mega mask and the peeled paint destress ink and I positioned the mask all over and inked in the stars in different sizes. I also took a piece of plain white cardstock for the photo mat and destressed it up with the peeled paint ink. The Fabulous stamp is Heidi Swapp and so are the jewelled crown. The backgroung paper is BoBunny.This LO is on just plaing white cardstock and I used the leaf mask and the heart mega mask. I used peeled paint and tea dye destress inks. The stickers and the butterflies are from Heidi Swapp and the paper from the photo mats is BoBunny.

I really enjoyed doing these layout and I am in love with the destress inks(Ranger). I love how you can create your own paper by just using a plain piece of cardstock. I have made a couple of cards as well and I will post them tomorrow. Happy Blogging.

Here we go.....

2009-06-22T15:52:00.003-06:00

I guess I will start by picking a layout that I designed and submitted to Canadian Scrapbooker magazine. You were to draw your inspiration from the ladybug, I instantly thought of a customer that comes into the LSS I work at, she drives a red VW bug. She told me a story once about how a little girl said that if her car had black spots it would be a ladybug - I had to scrapbook it for her. I asked her for a couple of pics of her car and picked 2 that I liked the best I then cut out a bunch of different sized ladybugs from the Walk in my Garden cricut cartridge. I played with the layout on my BG magnetic mat and moved the lady bugs and the pictures around quite a bit until I found a position I finally liked.

This is the result. I did submit the LO to the magazine but sadly it wasn't one of the ones picked to be published - but hey I will keep trying and maybe one day I will be.

Still Learning

2009-06-22T11:13:00.002-06:00

To those of you who have checked out my blog - don't know how many, I am still learning about this blogging stuff. I am off today and after I take my son to the doctor I will finally be posting pics of some layouts and cards I have made. I also might be posting some of the designs I have made on the Cricut Design Studio. I am very excited about this blog and I am hoping to make it as good as I know how - I have been doing some research by checking out other people's blogs and I think I have a fairly good idea on how to do this now.

Be back in a couple hours.

Rain Rain go away

2009-06-05T21:26:00.000-06:00

Today was an early day in our house, it started at 6 am and is finally winding down. Today was the day that Landen got the tubes put in his ears, my poor little man has had 5 ear infections already this year - I am hoping the tubes will help with keeping those away. So we were up and off to the Children's hospital by 7am. I dropped Reiley off with my Mom and braved the deerfoot during rush hour. GRRRRRRR What a gong show! We ended up getting to the hospital right at the time we needed to be and by sheer luck Landen got in to the OR an hour before he was scheduled. He pulled through like a trooper and was so very brave. He came back to the day surgery bed with a blue popsicle and a new little mask for his giraffe. I was going to take the camera but was in such a rush this morning I forgot.

The day is winding down now and Landen is resting in bed, you couldn't even tell he was in the hospital today - full of energy. I have been trying to tell him all day to rest and settle down. It is turning into a quiet evening and a quiet weekend - the weather forcast is calling for snow. Snow blech in june:( Good night all.

Welcome to the first post!

2009-06-04T21:09:00.002-06:00

Well I am going to take the advice of Heidi Swapp and start a blog, I love being creative and find that I need to be creative at least once a day. I recently had the oppertunity to meet Heidi at a retail event in Edmonton AB. She taught a group of ladies some new techniques using Tim Holtz destressing inks - I had a lot of fun and learned quite a bit. She encouraged us to express ourselves not only in our scrapbooking or cardmaking but in other ways as well. I love to scrapbook and make cards and little crafty type things, so I thought a blog that centers around not only paper crafts like scrapbooking but other crafty ideas as well would be great.

First a little bit about me, I am a mother of two, Reiley my daughter is 7 and my son Landen is 5. I have been married for almost 8 years and we live in a quiet little town in southern Alberta. I am lucky enough to work in my local scrapbooking store with a great bunch of ladies. I have only been scrapbooking for just over a year but since I started working there my pages and card techniques are way better. My wonderful husband spoils me and bought me a cricut, a cuttlebug and quite a few scrapbooking tools and toys. Since working at my LSS(local scrapbooking store) I have learned a lot and have discovered there is so much more to learn. Scrapbooking is a hobby that is ever changing and there is always new and exciting products and techniques to use and discover.

I recently got the Cars Cartridge for my cricut and I love it. I created a layout for my son with a lightning McQueen cut out. It turned out pretty cool, it took about an hour to cut the shape out and put everything together but I think it turned out pretty good. I love playing with my cricut and the cricut design studio. I try and use my cricut at least once per layout if needed.I also made a couple of cards for some friends that just had twin boys, they both turned out great unfortunatly my husband took one of the cards today before I could take a picture of it. I am hoping to post different LO's and cards that I have made and for those of you that are interested, and directions on how to recreate them. Thanks for checking out my blog.