I'm back?

This is one of my contributions to the calendar that my stamping friends (The Calgals - look for link on right sidebar) put together. We each had 2 months to make, Nancy coordinated us! I had February and my birthday month, November. The only rules were 1) no month on the layout and 2) size had to be 8 1/2 x 5 1/2.

I really like how this turned out and the whole calendar is awesome! Everyone out did themselves.

Since, I last posted Ian has come home - we spent a great week together at the end of November then on the 30th of November decided we should visit his sick grandparents back in Nova Scotia and flew out a few days later but we had already booked going to Canmore for Dec 1st and 2nd ... so we did that, were home for 2 nights, took the red eye to Halifax on Dec 5th i.e. early am Dec 6th ... ended up overnight in Toronto and instead of arriving at 7 am Sunday morning we got in at 6 pm Monday evening so much for a direct flight .... we flew back on Monday the 15th and then today Monday the 22nd have driven to Regina for 2 weeks...... the cat is starting to hate us ... thank goodness for the greated cat sitter in the world!

Here is a great picture of my 2 favorite people while we were in Dartmouth at Ian's parents .....

p.s. I had to remove my layout 'In My Daughter's Eyes' as it is out for publication! Very exciting!

p.s.s. Make sure to check out the I Love Monday blog in the new year ..... well right now too ... exciting new things coming!

Christmas with Copics

These are the 3 cards I designed for my Christmas with Copics class that I taught earlier this month at the Scrapbook Pantry. It was a lot of fun, I keep the cards simple as I really wanted us to focus on the coloring of the images and not a lot of complex cards. We did a lot of fading out to white technique on these cards. I am pretty sure most had never used their blender pen so much.

The Calgals are coming over to my house tonight as I've had to miss the last couple with Ian gone. It's a little easier on me to put Hailey down in her crib as she is at the age now that bedtime has to be in her crib. I am looking forward to seeing the girls. It is my turn to the challenge for us. I am sure we all with have something to post really soon. Then on Saturday am, I am teaching a Copic Techniques class at 9 am at the Scrapbook Pantry. Hopefully, I will have enough of a voice to get through the 3 hour class as I don't think I mentioned I am suffering from a cold/sore throat and have that sexy cracking voice going on.

New Love ....

I did this one pager when I went to Delbure and the Fawn Meadows Bed and Breakfast with some friends last April. The picture was taken in our neighbourhood of Kincora in August 2007, just before our wedding in September. The layout was actually for Christy's Scrapbook 201 class that she taught in April/May. The challenge was to create a layout starting with a blank sheet of cardstock. I choose to go with white glossy and sponged on some Tim Holtz distress inks (tattered straw, aged burgandy) The chipboard was embossed with distress embossing powder than sanded. Chipboard is by RiffRaff Designs out of Edmonton. The letters are from American Crafts Thickers, they are chipboard letters that I sanded over. The flower is an old one I have from Prima with a brown curdory button by Imaginasce.

I spent a week in Saskatchewan (Nov 11-18), I went to visit my family as it seemed Ian was going to be away still and I didn't want to spend my birthday alone. However, on Friday night about 10:30pm - Ian appeared at my Mom's. I thought it was just my Mom and StepDad coming home from friends but when I turned around there was my husband staring back at me. I was shocked and then in tears I was so happy to see him. Unfortuanly, he was only with us for 40 hours then was back on a plane to Yellowknife to catch a charter back to site in Wrigley on Monday morning. Regardless, it was awesome to see him. He thinks he should be back out on the charter on Monday so hopefully at home on Tuesday until at least January sometime. He is going to take a couple weeks off to spend with us and even send me off to scrapbook in Delburne again with the Scrapbook Pantry staff ....... I'll miss Hailey but after having my husband home only abut 8 days in total since Sept 25th I know I need the break. I'm glad I have a husband willing to give me the break.

Memories .....

Well its not the best picture but it is hard to get a picture of this layout with all this glitter. But, this is the full picture of the single page layout that I taught yestrday at the 2nd Annual Jingle Bell Crop by http://www.mondaynightclass.ca/- it was an awesome time. 24 gals took this class from me and after 2.5 hours we all were covered in glitter. Thanks to everyone that was there for being so good about me having Hailey with me. Ian being gone has been hard but great friends make it easier on me. Especially the angel that is going to look after Hailey so Momma can go have a massage on Tuesday.

Sneak Peek

This is a little sneak peek at the Mini Class that I will be teaching at the 2nd Annual Jingle Bell Crop this week hosted by www.MondayNightClass.ca. The crop is sold out! I always love the JBC as Cindy and Christy put on a great spread, there are lots of goodies and I haven't even mentioned the food yet. I hear Cindy has a new treats for us to taste. So, much for watching what I eat!

We will be using lots of glitter and sanding a lot of Coredinations paper. Looking forward to seeing some great scrapbooking friends.

Simply Beautiful

I thought I'd come by and post on my blog seeing as Hailey is nicely asleep. Time change has caught up to her and I realized she fell asleep on the floor just before 7 which to her little body is still 8.

It was a gorgeous day in Calgary however, the wind was up a little because of the chinook that blew in. Hailey and I walked down to the grocery store, didn't realize how bad the wind was until I had to walk into it all the way home which is uphill all the way. The big hill into Kincora sure put the burn into my legs as I pushed the stroller up. I guess I need to do some more daily walking now that my body has finally recovered from the c-section. I found that 6 weeks after the first 6 weeks to be a big harder than before they gave me the all clear.



I made this Scrapbook page from the Oh la la line from My Mind's Eye. It is a really gorgeous line. I made this layout back at the end of August on my first scrapbooking outing adventure to Christy's with Hailey. Hailey wouldn't really settle so I really only got this one page down all night. I hope to start posting on my blog more regularly. I seem to be getting my space back in order, Hailey's getting into more of a routine (definitely not a schedule but definitely a daily routine). It's been a long year from the time I found out pregnant to now. The newborn was definitely easier than the pregnancy.

Anyhow, www.MondayNightClass.ca 2nd annual Jingle Bell Crop is this coming weekend. I hope my babe behaves so I can get some work down, I will be teaching a small class too. Ian's been away for a week and half now hopefully he will be home within the next 2 weeks.

It's official!

Wow! A month has gone by since I last posted - where did October go ..... Ian has been away most of the month (home for about 6 days in the middle of the month) so, I've been very busy with Hailey as of course, she is now almost 4 months old and needs Mommy to play with her. She is sleeping through the night and has been for the last couple of months but seems to only cat nap through the day.

The title of this post is because - my www.Mondaynightclass.ca kits are released. The had to be delayed a month as not all the product arrived on time but this month I have two kits up. (see the HERE) - my kits are 'When I Grow Up' and 'Family Time'.

Also, I thought I'd share a couple pictures of my little ladybug from yesterday. I think I will have to dress her up again today or tomorrow for more photos as I didn't get enough and these once aren't the best quality. I really need to work on my photography skills.

In my Daughter's Eyes

Well, I thinks it's official - we need to change the name of this blog to Live, Love, Laugh and Scrap or maybe Scramp! As I do stamp still just not all that often.

LAYOUT REMOVED FOR PUBLICATION


This is might be my favorite layout I've ever made! I absolutely love it. I was driving down the road the other day listening to the radio and Martina McBride's song 'In My Daughter's Eyes' came on the radio. I thought those lyrics were the perfect journalling for this photo of myself and Hailey. I knew it had to have butterflies on it. Well, when I was at the The Great Scrapbooking Carnival by Canadian Scrapbooker - I saw this template by Crafter's Workshop that I bought well over a year ago. I knew that with some glimmer mist and this template - I would have the perfect layout. I also found the butterfly flower stem by Prima at one of the vendors there. So, when I got home I got to work late Friday night - My intention was to enter the layout in the layout contest on Saturday at the show. I didn't win but this layout did get noticed so that made me feel pretty good!

I am off to Saskatchewan tomorrow morning to hang out with my Mom for about 12 days and be home for Canadian Thanksgiving.

Hailey at 11 1/2 weeks!

I know I still count the weeks. Hard to believe that she is going to be 3 months old on the 9Th of October. Ian just left on Thursday for a work trip that is taking him WAY north into the NWT. He flew into Hay River, North West Territories then drove 6 hours north to Fort Smith (oops that is Fort Simpson) then they took a float plane another 1.5 hours. He is literally in the middle of no where. This is the picture I took of Hailey and Ian the night before he left. He will hardly recognize her after 4 weeks. I have some scrap pages to show you this week and even one card (don't fall over). It is also a special week as on the 1st of October, my first MondayNightClass.ca kits go live on the Internet for sale. I am pretty pumped.

2+1 = FAMILY

This is a page I recently made for the Scrapbook Pantry featuring this Reminisce paper. There are 27 red rhinestones on the scallop. I actually had to open up a second package as there was only 25 of this size in the KaiserCraft rhinestones.

Supplies
Patterned Paper: Reminisce
Cardstock: Bazzill Bling
Embellishments: Stickers - Reminisce, Rhinestones - KaiserCrafts

The Pantry Baby

I've been teaching various Copic Classes at the Scrapbook Pantry in Calgary since the beginning of the year. When Hailey was born, Crystal had a sale in honour of Hailey's birth where all things PINK were on sale as well as she had a little baby shower for her one night at the story.

I made this page for the story as a Thank-you for all that they did for us! The picture doesn't do this page any justice as the paper is all glittered and shimmered. There are flower rhinestones throughout. The owl for example, is totally glittered. So, anyone who has seen this in real life, please tell me it looks better than this picture!

Supplies:
Paper: Patterned paper - Best Creations Inc, cardstock - Coredinations
Embellishments: All letters - American Crafts Thickers, Flower Rhinestones - Kaiser Crafts

Win Coredinations!

I've been using Coredinations more and more lately.

Make sure to go enter a chance to win $500 in Coredinations paper.

WIN COREDINATIONS PAPER

Long time no post!

Wow! Where does the time go? Hailey will be 2 months tomorrow. We have been very busy however, I've managed to do the instruction to 2 of my MondayNightClass.ca kits which I found out will be released on Oct 1! It will be exciting to see the kits go live on the internet.

Hailey and I are in Regina right now and have been since the 29th of August. Ian was with us until Sunday night when he flew home for work this week. Hailey and I are staying until Friday. I'll be driving home that day as Saturday night is Member's Night at the Scrapbook Pantry and my copic teaching starts on Monday night.

I did become a Copic Certified Designer on Saturday, August 22nd! Sherrie Siemens was in Calgary to do the certification then she taught 3 classes at Scrapbook Pantry for our customers. I had the pleasure of having lunch with Sherrie and helping her out in her classes. She is an amazing teacher and shed some light on how I want to teach my classes. If you interested in my classes, check out the Class Calendar at the Scrapbook Pantry website.

Enough chatter! I do have something to show you - my latest MNC kit design. The is one that will be released on Oct 1. Papers are by Upsy Daisy Designs.



On another note, I will not be a Stampin' Up Demo after September 30th as I am not willing to sign the new Independent Demo Agreement. I don't want to be limited to what I post on my blog as I love a ton of products and a lot of them more than SU! Also, I want to be able to tell you about my Copic teaching at The Pantry as well as my design work for MondayNightClass.ca (BTW, there is a great article about MNC in the latest issue of Canadian Scrapbooker in the Made in Canada section!)

Hailey's Photo Shoot

Little Miss Hailey had her first photo shoot yesterday. She handled it like the rock star that she is and in pure princess fashion shined. She was alert the whole time which made for some amazing shoots. She was 12 days old in these shots. The information on the christening gown is a little off it was mine and only woren by me however, the blanket she is laying on was knit by my Great Grandmother when my father was born and has been handed down from oldest to oldest etc. Someday it will go to Hailey's son or daughter. My photographer, Viriginia is absolutely amazing with a camera. I highly recommend her, she is also the one that did all those amazing wedding shoots of Ian and I, 2 years ago. So, here is the link:

Hot Shoe Photography - Hailey @ 2 weeks

A little sweetness......

Just a little post of some cute sweetness and to thank everyone for their good wishes. Hailey is an absolute baby dream, she sleeps so well through the night leaving Mommy to have 3-4 hour sleep throughout the night before waking. She is so adorable I could eat her! My Mom is visiting for two weeks to help with my recovery from the c-section. I am doing really good, moving around with no problems and only slightly achey. The days are flying by and Miss Hailey is now 9 days old.

Baby Tompkins arrives ....

IT'S A GIRL!

Hailey Amber Tompkins arrived on Thursday, July 9th at 7:20 am. She weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

I am head over heels in love with my new daughter. I hadn't said much about the sex of the baby but my husband and I did not know what we were having. I was convinced it was a boy and he has said girl from the beginning. Well the entire first morning, he told Hailey that her Mommy thought she was a boy but, Daddy always knew she was going to be a Hailey.

I won't bore you with the birth story just give you a quick run down that my water broke on Wednesday about 11 am and we were at the hospital by 1:30 pm as I didn't hurry there as I was having no contractions and needed to have some lunch. Once, at the hospital it was the day after a full moon craziness and there was no triage bed available until 4 pm for my assessment by that time I did have some mild contractions that were 5 minutes apart. They started to get a little closer by 5 but weren't lasting long and I was a long ways away from delivery. They were keeping me because of my broke water and sent us off to walk the hospital have something to eat etc to get my labor moving as there were no birthing suites available. The walk only slowed the labor, we moved to a birthing suite around 7:30 pm and started an induction as I was 8 hours since broken water with no progression. Within 20 minutes of induction the back labor came on pretty strong and by 10, was more than I could take so I called for the epidural as I was wore out already. By 3 am, I was full dilated and started some pushing at 4 am as I wasn't progressing and baby wasn't descending. After an hour, I made no progress so we had an OB consult which recommended a caseran delivery as a small pelvic was discovered and baby's head was already swollen. I proceed with the c-section rather than continue on naturally and put my baby into distress. Hailey entered this world at 7:20 am about 20 hours after my water broke. (hmmm, I think that was more than I was going to tell!)

Without, further ado ....... here is Miss Hailey ... our little HAT ......

First Family Picture in the OR

Hailey in her first hour

Hailey, 1 day old

Monday Night Class #2

This is the second kit that I have designed for Monday Night Class, it is waiting on me to finish the instruction sheet. I have to really get on that and another one I have to write up before this baby arrives. I know the Bo Bunny paper for this one is on order and both Cindy and Christy are going to be on my case soon. I know now not to procrastinate the instructions to do it right after as this one has been waiting a month. I really like how it turned out a very nice Family scrapbook page. I hope to scrap some of our new family pictures on it when this baby arrives.

On the baby front, my doctor told me yesterday at my appointment that I was boring. I have lots of baby movement but absolutely no contraction or even Braxton Hicks to speak of. She said go home, rest up, we will see you next week and I mean you are boring in the 'nicest' way. For once in this pregnancy, it is nice to be boring. I'm finally getting a few things done around here so really not ready for baby to arrive until probably sometime by the end of next week/weekend...... besides it is a July baby..... if it comes in June that means I'll have to go back to work in June 2010 and I think July 2010 sounds much better!

MNC supplies - Bo-Bunny Abbey Road paper and accessories

Pregnant me!

I've been meaning to post these pictures, though I know I've expanded since they've been taken. The first one was taken at 25 weeks pregnant and the second one 2 weeks ago when I was 35 1/2 weeks pregnant. I'll be 38 weeks on Tuesday with a due date of July 7th, so hopefully it won't be long and I can pass from sicky pregnant to postpartum, tearing my hair out from no sleep Shannon!


25 weeks, March 23/09


35 weeks, June 6/09

Big news ....

One of the reasons that I haven't blogged much lately (other than having a crummy pregnancy) is that I have been doing more scrapbooking than stamping and have always felt this was my stamping blog however, the time has come that the two arts are going to have to share.

This past weekend was the Summer Scraptular hosted by MondayNightClass.ca - have you heard of Monday Night Class. I discovered them a year ago after my first trip to the Bloomin' Inn. They are monthly kit that are designed by several different women in Alberta. Cindy and Christy are the co-owners of this company and both of them can Scrapbook!

I am now a junior designer for Monday Night Class. I feel like I have joined the ranks of scrapping royalty in Calgary!! My first kit is in the test phase and product is on order. It is pretty crazy system, they have thought of everything to make sure the kits are perfect for their clients. It takes about 3-4 months for a kit to go from a designer hands to the website for sale, product has to be specially ordered, the instruction are gone over with a fine tooth comb by two testers. I think my first kit will be up in the fall. I have 2 kits designed right now that are waiting on me to finish the instructions but I am going to share my first kit with you today. I think it has taken a title change for the final phase but it comes with a full pack of chipboard letters so really you can make the title anything you want. This is the joy of these kits the come with so much stuff. Tons of embellishments and different categories like simple and quick, try something new etc etc .......



Anyhow, let me know what you think of my first kit. I'm pretty proud of it. I'll you a sneak of the next one soon. I have one using Bo-Bunny Abbey Road paper and a second one using Upsy Daisy Circle of Friends line, I must write the instructions for both this weekend!

New blogger!

There is a new blogger on the scene ..... my Mom. She just set it up last night and so far just has one post about her love of paper crafting. Please check her out:

Room of Treasures

Welcome Samuel!

On February 11 @ 8:50 am, my oldest and bestest friend in the world had a baby boy. Carmen and Gord welcomed Samuel Gordon Corbett into the world at 8 lbs 2 oz. The little guy gave us a bit of a scare and stayed in the NICU for the first 10 days of his life but now he is a fast growing 3 1/2 month old little boy that can light up any world.

I made this card for the new parents in February but haven't shared it until now. I also have a picture to go along as Carmen and Sam had coffee with my Mom and I before we left to Camp Caroline and the Scrapbook Your Heart Retreat (more on that later).

Anyhow, this is Sam. I am sad to say that by the fall, Carmen and family will be moving to the Edmonton area as her husband is an RCMP officer and has taken a transfer as the team lead for the Emergency Response Team.


Supplies:
Stamp: High Hopes

Teddy Bear Album

I've been encouraged by a really good friend of mine (Nancy!) to get back to blogging. I have been doing some work a lot of it is scrapbooking and teaching copic classes but I really should take the time to photography my work and share it on my blog.

I made this album back in March, one in pink and one in blue for a class that I was to teach tomorrow night at The Scrapbook Pantry but, the chipboard albums didn't come in time so I have postponed the class to June 10. I still have lots of room in the class to if you want to register, just call the store. {Class description}

Here are the covers of the boy and girl as well as pages 2 and 3.


























Supplies used include:
Upsy Daisy Designs - Bebe patterned paper - pink on one side and blue on the other
Milk Chocolate Coredination - sanded down to show the pink and blue through
Upsy Daisy Designs - Bebe rubons and stamp set