Layout #102 - from the weekend.......

This is one of the layouts I completed this weekend. It was a picture of our trip to the cabin, and I love the picture. Grant says that his form isn't perfect, but I love the spray from the ski, the glass between him and the wake, and the glass in the background.
My favorite part of this layout are the overlapped pictures. The horizontal picture didn't really lend itself to a lot of embellishing above or below it, and so I needed to do something with the picture itself.
I am really pleased with how it turned out.
And I am really pleased to use up old stuff - paper, eyelets, thickers.
TFL!

10 Randoms.... things I will miss about summer

1. the spray park in High River.... a buck a person for the whole day??? too good to be true.
2. boating. the kids are finally old enough for us to have on the boat, and not have to worry every second about them. (we still worry.... because we still have hearts... just not as much)
3. the fruit truck. even though it is so expensive, i love me a good BC fruit.
4. daylight. i just ran in from an amazing sunset, and realized that it is 8:30... remember when the sun didn't set until 10 or 10:30???? I am dreading the dark at 5 o'clock
5. back to school, dance, etc..... in other words, a real routine. I love the freedom that comes with summer. no major commitments, no binding plans. just rest and relaxing.
6. when summer ends, harvest begins. i am the world's worst farm wife. i really am. i hate harvest.
7. tanlines. whatever. i love them. it tells me that i built up a stockpile of vitamin D.
8. flip flops. i will wear them until the snow flies, but in Alberta, that could be tomorrow.
9. eating outside. i don't care how messy the kids get when they eat outside. i can just chuck them in the pool before we come in!
10. road construction. just kidding.

Layout #101

I just got home from a day and a half of scrapping just outside of Pincher Creek. The Monday Night Class girls got together for some well deserved R and R. I managed to get 10 pages done! I was pretty proud of myself considering some weekends away I manage to do much less in more time!
This layout isn't one from the weekend, but one I did this past week. I will have more to post soon though!
TFL!

Layout #100 - yet another MME

I will never get tired of their stuff. I love it so much that I really don't want to use it. I would love to just frame it all and put it up around my house as art.
But, alas, that would be silly... so, I have completed this layout of Avery in our backyard blowing dandelion puffs. Nothing like reseeding the damn things! But what a cute picture.... so.... whatever.And... this is my 100th layout I have posted since January! Wow! I am excited. Especially because I am going to Pincher Creek this weekend and will hopefully get a lot more done!
Ahhhh... Pincher. A night away from the screaming, chasing, battling children. One minor escape before back to school! Yay!

Layout #99

One more until 100 layouts this year! Wahoo! That is awesome!
This is a layout of my dear friend Haley at her son's first birthday. She hates the picture. I love it, because this is how I know her. She is always laughing. And she always makes me laugh. So a little shout out to Haley. Holla!
TFL

Layout #98

I love this layout. I think it is because I love the picture so much. This was on our summer vacation this July. We spent a very long afternoon on the boat, got 13 miles down to the other end of the lake, and the boat quit. When we first got our boat, we were on the lake at our place and the same thing happened. It was a wicked hot day, and the boat vapor locked???? whatever that means? so I suggested that was what happened that day as well. That suggestions was not well received as it would mean paddling to shore, and then finding a way 13 miles back home on foot.....
Needless to say, we spent some time just floating around, and Avery finally calmed down enough to give me this cute little grin. And shortly after, I realized that the stop/run switch had been knocked off..... and yet again I saved the day!

Layout #97 - and not MME

I finally pulled out some other paper. It was hard to cut the cord, but I did, and I am happy I did! I love how perfectly this line from Kaiser Craft went with the colors, and theme, and the actual photo itself. During the summer, Grant's helicopter is often hired to fight forest fires. One way they drop water on the flames is with a Bambi Bucket (because you are saving Bambi...), but to work on the bucket, you need to actually get inside it. So, here he sits, my Bambi Bucket Boy.

10 Randoms reasons why my friends are better than yours...

okay.... I don't know that they really are better than your friends, but I do know that I have a really awesome circle of friends around me.... and this is how I know.

1. It isn't hard. I hated jr. and sr. high because fitting in and friendships seemed so hard. there was too much drama. with the friends I have now... there is none of that. we don't have to plan, or lie, or conspire to get together. We just do, and we don't feel bad about it.

2. They get me, and my amazing humor. clearly amazing is subjective.

3. They let me owe them money, and I let them owe me money.........

4. We hang out together because we really do enjoy each others company. We don't do it out of guilt, or obligation.

5. We have a lot in common. My friends scrapbook, I scrapbook. My friends have kids, I have kids. My friends like to drink, I like to drink. Enough said.

6. I love that sometimes when we are on the phone with each other, we will spend more time talking with our kids, and trying to distract them, than we do with each other.... and we are all okay with that.

7. I love that I can call up a friend, ask for something awkward (like treatment for a yeast infection for my daughter), and she will answer with..... I totally have some! My daughter gets them all the time! Come on over. And then when you do get there, she has a glass of wine waiting for you. (please know that my daughter was not in any agony while I was drinking wine, and not returning immediately with said yeast infection treatment.) (this post has exceeded my limit for talking about yeast infections.... and anything else related to bodily functions, and particularly feminine hygiene bodily functions.)

8. The silences between us are not awkward. If you know me, you know I like to talk. But sometimes, I get tired of talking, and there is silence. I don't mind these silences.

9. We laugh. a lot.

10. We have great private jokes. It is inevitable that at some point in our days together, something will happen that we in turn have to turn into a private joke. I love these........ some examples include, purple stickers, ba ba ba bangs, the lady with two bums, and on it goes....

So. I am not going to end this post with a sappy, hokey blah blah about how you have touched my lives..... I just want the "world" to know that I have some great great friends.

mmmmmmmmmm garden.

I love my garden. I really do. I will admit I have not had the greenest thumb this summer. The weather has been so wacky, that the ground is too muddy to weed, and then it finally dries up enough to get out there, and what do you know??? It pours again. And I really hate weeding. I don't know what it is about Southern Alberta weeds, but they grow like, well, weeds! When we got back from our 10 days at the cabin, I could not believe the size of those suckers. Most were taller than the potato plants! It was crazy.

Last year we planted carrots, potatoes and dill. We had a ton of potatoes and carrots at the end of the season, but didn't store them properly, and well, we had a ton of stuff for compost....... This year though, this year is shaping up to be a great garden year!I was also concerned about my potatoes because only one plant out of two and a half rows bloomed. I was sure this meant that I would have nothing under the plants, but last night, we dug a hill, and the potatoes were HUGE!!!!! I was actually a little sad that there weren't more little baby taters because I love oven roasted baby potatoes. Love them.So we dug potatoes, and carrots which were also amazing, and picked some green onions as well. I put all of those together in some foil with some Red Garlic Sansel from Epicure, and cooked them up on the BBQ. They were to die for.... and remarkably healthy too. There is so much to be said for having your own veggies, that you grew with your own hands. I can't wait to pick my dill and make pickles with Tara this fall. So much to look forward to. I think that next year I will up the ante and plant lettuce and brocolli too!

Layout # 96

yet another layout with MME stuff. So what? whatever? I love it. and it was too perfect to not use on the pictures of Cohen and our neighbor girl Lily eating chocolate ice cream this May Long Weekend. They were "hiding" in the playhouse at our friend's place and got covered in ice cream. they loved pointing out the other's sloppiness. never mind their own!
I love that both Avery and Cohen have kids that live so close to us that are the exact same age. They will be friends before school starts, which will make going easier.

I should run. i have neglected my family all day so I could help Haley with layouts at her store. What a dedicated friend I am........ ;)

And.... I also need to go and bath the kids so I can chuck them into bed and I can watch Big Brother!

My Better 1/2 (#95)

I just found these layouts. I did them in July, and then tucked them away for safe keeping. Obviously very safe keeping as it took me a month to re-locate them. Either that, or maybe it is a sign that I should really cut the cord with a bunch of stuff in my scrapbook room, and find a giveaway table somewhere. I think I will start sorting stuff for my retreat in October. If you are going to Blairmore in October, get excited! I will be bringing a ton of crap! (And by crap, I mean great stuff I just won't ever use again.)

This is done with the MME Breaking Free line. Is there any other paper out there? I doubt it. Anyhoo, I don't have enough of Grant and I in my albums, so this is my attempt at remedying that.

TFL!

MME Layout #94

I can't not use the stuff! This layout was done with the new Ooh La La MME line. It is their masculine Ooh La La line, but it is pretty pretty if you ask me, and perfect for wedding photos.
So.... another wedding layout! I might have their book done by Christmas at this rate! Yay me!

If you haven't checked out the MME website, you really really should. In fact, you should really really check out their blog! They recently announced their design team, and two of the four (half of their team!!!!) are Canadian, and better than just Canadian.... Albertan. Seriously. How cool is that? Trisha Ladouceur, and Anam Stubbington are the ladies worth taking a peek at!

MME and Page Map Challenge.... (#93)

So I was on the MME blog the other day, and there was a blog challenge to use any of their product to create a layout based on the following Becky Fleck Page Maps Sketch.... So, this is what I came up with. It is the new Abbey Road line from Haley's store (available this tuesday!)


And if there are two things I like about scrapbooking it is coordinating lines, and sketches to follow so you really don't have to think, and you can just get pages done!!

So, with that in mind, keep your eyes open for some exciting classes at Sheep River Scrapbook Co. this fall!

Balance.....

This post was on Haley's blog... and although I know I won't like my answers... I think I need to do it.... so here goes....

1. Quality Time with Children

2. Quality Time with Husband

3. Personal Time to Relax (Doing nothing)

4. Time for a Hobby (Scrapbooking, Sewing, Reading...)

5. Time for Personal Health (Fitness, Yoga Class)

6. Time for Grooming (Getting hair/nails done, Showering)

7. Time Spent Online (Blogging, Facebook)

8. Entertainment Time (TV, Movies)

9. Time with Friends & Extended Family

10. Time spent Cleaning

11. Time Working (away from Home)

12. Time Spent Running Errands

13. Time Spent on Faith

14. Sleep

______________

Put these items into two lists

A. What you spend MOST of your time doing.

B. What is MOST important for you to spend your time doing.

(most desirable to you).

How do these two lists compare?

My Results

A. 7, 1, 12, 9, 4, 6, 10, 8, 3, 5, 14, 11, 2, 13 - yikes
B. 2, 1, 3, 4, 9, 5, 6, 14, 8, 10, 13, 12, 7, 11 - I really wish..... How do I do this?

This is a real eye opener.... I need to get my butt off of the computer, spend more time playing with my kids, and as a family, we need to find a way for Grant and I to get to spend some of those 2 weeks he is at time, together.......
thanks Haley....

omg! omg! omg!

(this is the pile of stuff i came home with today..... yikes!)

have i ever mentioned how much I LOVE LOVE LUHVE My Mind's Eye???? there are really no words for the feeling that this scrapbook company evokes in me..... I was fortunate enough to go and visit Haley today and get a sneak peak at all the new stuff that will be in her store on Monday..... and by "sneak peak" I mean a few hundred dollars of paper, embellishments, and tons of inspiration left with me. I can't put the amount of money I spent on this because my husband reads my blog.... but, I will need to start subbing the day school starts to pay for all of this. I really like the Abbey Road collection for boys. I can't wait to take a trip to Drumheller just so I can use the dinosaur paper.....For a look at all of the lines, check out Haley's blog. She has all of the new lines there.... Christmas! Halloween! OMG! I gotta go and scrapbook.

Peace....

Layout #92

Something Blue.....
These were Jani's shoes for her wedding. How perfect? Anyhoo, I took a picture of her rings, and the shoes on her dress before she got ready. I have cropped most of the dress out of the picture here... but there are sparkles in the original picture.... i promise.
Old Stuff? You bet your butt... all of it!
PDQ paper, PDQ chipboard, ribbon, bling, flowers, stickles, brads, and Dymo that I stole from Haley.... yipee!
TFL

That didn't take long......

Literally. Not only getting a page done in my sister's wedding album four days after the nuptials... but this also came together in like... no time at all. Maybe twenty minutes. I did a wedding album for my middle sister four years ago, and am now doing one for my little sister. Neither scrapbook (obviously... or they would do one themselves), and so I wanted them to each have one. This means I get to make them. But, I am not going overly crazy on every page. I am going to keep the embellishing to a minimum, and I am going to use up a lot of my stash!

Case in point: EVERYTHING on this layout (with the exception of the patterned paper that is the background) is old!!!
Wahoo!

(sorry the pic is crap... i didn't realize I was getting glossy enlargements, and you can see my reflection in the picture...)

tfl!

Congratulations Jani and Rob!

Today was the day that my youngest sister got married. I have never seen her more radiant than she was today. She was glowing, and beaming, and smiling from ear to ear. (isn't she gorgeous?)
It is obvious how much love her and Rob share. And despite a host of things that made taking their pictures a major pain in the butt (including what has been discovered a dislocated rib on my part), I think that what we did get are amazing. (If I do say so myself...)

The Cronquist House

We started at one of the landmarks in Red Deer; the Cronquist House. It is in Bower Ponds, and it is significant to our family. It was the first house my grandfather sold when he started in real estate. I love that we got to use it as a backdrop.We also went to the water treatment plant.... seriously. The water treatment plant. And the funny thing is, we weren't the only wedding party at said plant. Anyhoo, there is a wicked awesome red brick wall at the back of the building, and so we snapped a ton of pictures there. At one point I made the professional comment of "I am so good, I almost want to vomit..." I have no idea what that means, but it did generate several laughs.

Finally we ended up back at the church for some family shots. It was a great day, and even though my mouth was so dry not even four bottles of water could help..... we got the stress of pictures out of the way before the ceremony.
The reception was so good too. I only wish that Grant could have been there with us to share their joy (and to help chase down the kids... Cohen disappeared more than once. At one point during the day he was nowhere to be found. Needless to say... there were tears. My tears. I was terrified. And the lesson I learned is....... even though people say they will watch your kids so you can go and take wedding pictures, they don't really mean it. I don't know how many times I returned to the table, and had to ask others where he was. Great feeling.
Anyhoo... here are some pics from the day.

Pity Party

Yesterday was mine and Grant's seventh wedding anniversary. It seems like such a short time ago that we were married, but so many exciting things have happened in that time, I know that is really has been seven years.
I was feeling a little down about the whole anniversary thing yesterday. It should come as no surprise to me that I would be alone for it, and so would Grant. I said to him that we had only spent two anniversaries together, and his response was, "That many?" Needless to say, when we were planning our wedding, it didn't occur to me that just because the beginning of August 2002 was sort of inconvenient that year, that it would continue to be inconvenient for the rest of our married life. Getting married in August to a farmer, and a helicopter engineer who works on forest fires all summer long is really poor planning. But, in my defense, at the time Grant proposed, I was so happy he finally did it I wasn't thinking about the rest of our life together, just that moment in time.
So, long story short, I whined about being alone and lo and behold, at 9:30 last night (as I was getting ready to go to bed) a van pulls into my driveway, and out pop Catherine and Arren...... with Aprikat. Happy Anniversary to me! They stayed until midnight (when my anniversary was officially over) and we just talked and laughed, and talked some more. I have awesome friends.

it's done, it's done, it's done, it's done, it's done!

To fully understand my elation with the completion of the guest book, you must picture me jumping up and down in my scrapbook room, and singing. It's done!(the outside cover)

A few months back I offered (I wasn't even asked... I offered) to make Janelle's guest book for the wedding. I thought, how much time, and money, could a little book be? Well... a lot on both counts. But, it is DONE!(the inside front cover)

I used a Rusty Pickle album, and the Bo Bunny Mango Luau paper line. The patterned paper matches their wedding colors, and they also just returned from Hawaii, so how perfect is that? (one of the inside pages. on the right are three envelopes to hold notecards.)
Anyhoo, I covered 5x9 envelopes with paper, and trimmed off about three inches on one end. This is where the little notecards will go. I included pictures of them on the larger pages, and on some envelopes, and on the remaining envelopes, I wrote out the words to their wedding song.

(a close up of one of the envelopes)
I am super pleased with how it all came together, and now have nothing to worry about until Friday, and the rehearsal, and the wedding pictures. Ahhhh..... such is the life of a sister who cannot say no.

Thank you Arren......

So Catherine had a little get together last night because she is leaving us for the cottage in Ontario soon, and she likes to feed us, so I took the kids to their place last night. The kids played really well together, and food always tastes better when you don't have to cook it. Even hamburgers taste like steak when you don't have to cook them.

Anyhoo, Arren said that she missed me while I was at the cabin, and she knows the only way to keep my friendship is to buy it, so she bought me a case of Aprikat, and then..... she scrapbooked it. How funny is that? She covered the box in patterned paper, and then used die cut shapes, and letters to ensure that everyone in attendance knew it belonged to me.

The best part? Each bottle had a little raffia ribbon around the neck, and each bottle had a toast on it. "Here's to peanut butter" was one of my favorites. "Here's to grumpy kids" won't last long. Let me tell you.

So, thanks Arren. If you continue to buy and scrapbook my beer for me, I will continue to be your friend. ; -)