Adore

Blog titles are so much easier as a scrapbooker!  This is one of the four! layouts I have completed so far this month.  Of course, all 4 are for Hailey's album.  I love this one.  It started out based on the My Mind's Eye blog challenge  #7 {HERE} However, apparently I didn't read or remember the whole post as you were to use 3 photos for the challenge with the sketch .... yeah as you can see I only used 2 so I didn't get to enter it into the contest which was to win some of the new collections from the CHA release.  Oh well, I got a gorgeous page.  I think one of my blog readers will really enjoy this layout.  {Love you! Mom/Grandma!}

Anyhow, majority of things on this page are papers from MME, Life Stories collection, Prism cardstock, American Crafts Thickers and KaiserCraft Pearls.  The rose is covered with dimensional fluid, not sure if you can tell from this.

Friday is stamping with the Calgals!  I hope I get my 2 cards done so I can fulfill my monthly goals.  I have started a counter on the right side bar to keep me accountable on my personal crafting goal.  So, far the scrapping is complete.  Looking forward to sharing an awesome layout that I did for the MondayNightClass.ca blog sketch challenge that is going to be posted on February 1st. 

I don't know about everyone else but I am loving what I am seeing coming out of CHA this year.  I really need to stay away from the stores though as 1) I am making maternity leave wages and 2) I have enough paper in the basement to scrapbook everyday for the next 10 years and not run out .... though I probably wouldn't have the right color! LOL

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

A single rose .....

I tend to color an extra image when I am working on a project especially something with Copics, you never know what is going to happen. I've been known to spill on my image or drop something on it to ruin it. So, when I was coloring this image with my Copics for our 2010 Calgals Calendar - I wanted to be sure I had a spare. Well, I didn't need the spare so I made it into a card right away.

Supply info: Copic markers, Atyou Spica pen, stamp by stampabilites, paper all SU, black rhinestones and white satin ribbon

I had a great weekend, scrapbooking with some friends.  I worked on some stuff for my class sponsored by Monday Night Class that I am teaching at the Okotokos Scrapbooking Convention on March 6th and then on Saturday, I cropped for myself all day.  I got there after 11 so I had 11 hours available though I did go shopping for another hour.  I managed to finish one double page layout and two single page layouts.  I need to take photos very soon and post.  That means my scrapping goal for the month has been meet but I haven't meet my goal on the card side, good thing the Calgals on meeting on the 29th ... I think this will have to be my 2 card night.

Calgals 2010 Calendar

I talked about my Calgals group the other day and then back in December I did post my take on one of the months that I did. I did February and November ..... Merlie just put together a post with all 12 months shown ..... go take a look at her post: The Calgals 2010 Calendar.

I truely love the calendar and I am glad we did it even though I was pressing myself to get it done. Thanks to Nancy for organizing it.

Sam's Page

Hello ..... second blog post with a project this week. I am on my way ..... nothing here is new though just projects I made last year that I never blogged! I am happy to say that I should be creating something new this weekend. I am going to go scrap Friday night and Saturday at a cropped hosted by Scrap 4 it, a great not for profit organization by my fellow MNC design team member, Jennifer Roswell. She also does Crop 4 Kids which is already sold out for March 2010! Way to go Jen.

Anyhow, about my layout. I made this layout for my girlfriend, Carmen using Sam's announcement card. It is hard to believe that Sam is now 11 months old ...... he 1st birthday is next month already.  Carmen and family moved from Airdrie to Spruce Grove as her husband was transferred with the RCMP.  I really really really miss them.  We've been friends since Grade 1 and when we were both pregnant thought we'd have a lot more time together while on maternity leave.  I hope to get up to Spruce Grove to visit them really really soon.  I then framed it in a shadow 12x12 scrapbook frame for her. The paper by Best Creations did all the work.   I just added the cut out zebra and rhino from another piece of paper plus photo mat, photo and the big blue circle brads.  Hope everyone is having a great week.  I'll report in at the end of the weekend and let you know if I was creatively successful!

The Calgals

I talk about my stamping group of friends a lot.  I do have a link to all their blogs on my right sidebar but, I wanted to do a special post and request everyone go check out these talented girls.  Gals like Allison and Nancy update their blogs daily! 

Allison – Stampin’ When I Can
Dianne – Little D Creations
Merlie – Cherish My Fetish
Nancy – Nancy’s Creative Mess
Shannon – Live, Love, Laugh and Stamp (ME)
Tracy – Tracy’s Happy Place

So, your probably wondering how we came to be and why do we call ourselves ‘Calgals’.  Well the story starts with Nancy, I meet Nancy a long time ago and Nancy also knew Tracy – back in 2007 blogging started to be come the big thing perhaps even sooner but I got in on it at the beginning of 2007.  Anyhow, Nancy wanted to get some gals together and she asked myself and Tracy to come over and also asked Allison as we had gotten to know her through her blog but had never meet.  We all meet I think it was July or August 2007 for the first time.  I remember it was before my wedding and I thought in the summer but perhaps it was sooner maybe Nancy will correct me.  So, we started out as 4 gals stamping in Nancy’s basement.  Soon after that Nancy started working at the Scrapbook Pantry and one her fav customer’s was Merlie and her two little girls so, she asked us if she could invite her over one time ….. and then their was 5 at the same time Dianne came over with Tracy one time so we could sort out some dewdrops from a share – we loved her so much we became 6.  I look forward to our monthly nights, I try not to miss them even if I know I am not going to create a thing.  I love catching up with these women and their lives – back in August, they insisted I bring Hailey to our first stamping night since she was born.  Well, I think I was the only one that showed up with stamping stuff as it was a surprise baby shower for us!  These women are inspirations and a very important part of my life, both in friendship and papercrafting. 

Oh, the name Calgals ….. that comes from Allison.  She has a thing for naming everything …… seeing we are the Gals from Calgary – Calgals works – it much better than the option of Cowtowngals or Cowgals (Calgary’s nickname is Cowtown) – Calgals is definitely more acceptable.

That is how the Calgals came to be and how the became so important in my life!  We have spiralled into a group that now trades off who brings a challenge, food and a Starbucks run!

I think we need a picture so that I can scrapbook about this group!  I’m going to have to bring my camera when I know we ALL are going to be in attendance!

Allison rocks ......

I am singing the praise of one my Calgal friends tonight, Allison fixed my blog banner. I changed the background and got a new banner yesterday but I couldn't get the banner to display. I could see that the file was loaded but it wasn't viewing so, I knew there was something wrong in my html code. Well, I've got an engineering degree however, the lowest marks on my transcript are English 100 (no big suprise) and Computer Science 100 (I thought I wasn't even going to pass this one if it weren't for a classmate, the entire final exam was foreign to me!) so, basically I didn't understand Fortran and C+ I knew that HTML code was beyond me too.

I sent an email to my Calgal blogging friends asking for any ideas. Allison seems to be our resident guru of figuring things out. I gave her my password and off she went fixing. She found a fix on how to do it {here}. So, if you can't load a new blog banner or are having problems visit this blog link and it explains how to fix it up.

Anyhow, I hope you all go visit Allison's blog - I am sure you know it 'Stampin' When I Can'. I won't see Allison until the end of the month at our next Calgals night - then I can thank her in person ..... I bet I should make her a card ..... oh boy ... that is a lot of pressure!

I think I failed already ....

I posted last Sunday and well low and behold it is Sunday again ... or it is Sunday as I start this post with 10 minutes left in the day .... I doubt I will get this post done fast enough to consider it Sunday .. oh well, my intention to blog is here. My reason for not blogging sooner ..... the new Super Mario Brothers Wii, seriously this is the most addicting game. I am suppose to have the Wii for Wii Fit but I've been on my A$$ playing Mario. This game is the best game out since the original Mario for the orginal Nintendo. I was addicted then at 12/13 and 20 years later here we are again. Ian and I have been managing to play together and haven't hurt each other yet. He is a tad competitive and I have to remind him a lot that it is a GAME!

Anyhow, on to my layout.



This picture is of my niece, Katelynn when she was about 2 years old and Grandma Rita had just given her new rubber boots and rain coat, she had to go out and try them out ....... the title 'Splash Boots' is because that is what Katelynn and Cooper have always called them. Guess you know what they like to do in the puddles.

The paper and letters are by Piggy Tales. I love Piggy Tales paper but they are a one print run company so I can't use them to design kits as by the time Monday Night Class goes to order the paper after my designing the paper is out of stock at the distrubitors. This is really too bad as I designed an awesome (if I do say so!) kit last year with Piggy Tales but then we couldn't get the paper.

It is now 12:05 am ... not quite Sunday but not bad!

Happy New Year!

2010 is upon us. Remember 10 years ago when the world was going to end as it was feared the computers etc wouldn’t roll over…… seems like a light year ago. 2009 was a great year for the Tompkins’ household. Welcoming Hailey into our family has forever changed us, I have to say that I love my husband today more than I did last year and each day that I see him grow as a father brings us closer together as a family and couple. The year leading up to July 9th (Hailey’s birth day) was a hard one, I never thought the nausea and all day sickness would ever end. Even though I ended up with a c-section, really the only memories that remain with me aren’t the surgery or the recovery but day after day of gagging and vomiting.

The first day of 2010 has been bittersweet for the Tompkins’ household. On New Year's Day at 6:30 pm Atlantic time, we lost Ian’s Grandpa Tompkins after a long battle with kidney disease. Grandpa Ron was a extraordinary man, a veteran of World War II and a retired principal. He will be greatly missed by the family however, we are happy that he is no longer suffering. I first met Ron, in December 2005 when I first visited Ian’s grandparents in Antigonish, NS with Ian. At the time, both he and Grandma Flo were living on their own, at 88 and 86 (yes, folks Ian is the 3rd generation of Tompkins’ men to marry an older woman). We are very glad that we were able to go to Nova Scotia at the beginning of December and visit Grandpa Ron one last time. This picture is of Hailey and the only Great Grandfather that she was able to meet.



I am not one to make New Year’s resolutions. Ian asked me if I had a resolution the other day and I responded, ‘My resolution is to love my family and make the most of the 6 months I have before I go back to work’ – he didn’t think that was much of a resolution and perhaps it isn’t as Ian is very goal outcome orientated as most engineers are … that resolution does not give you any end result. So, then he asked if I had any goals for 2010. Well, I think do have a few of those. First, I want to revitalize my blogging life. So, my personally goal is to blog at least 2 times a week. Secondly, I want to set a both a monthly stamp and scrap goal. I find it funny I teach all the Copic classes at the Scrapbook Pantry and I think I have 3 cards displayed in there. So, my personally goal is to scrap at least 2 pages a month and make at least 2 cards a month. I know this aren’t very lofty goals but if you’d seen what I’ve done in the last 16 months you’d understand – oh wait you have as you’ve read this blog or lack of blog. Anyhow, this goal is outside my designing for www.MondayNightClass.ca and my Copic teaching at the Scrapbook Pantry. This goal is all for me, my personally crafting which I haven’t been doing enough. Thirdly, I vow to attend as many Calgals events as possible this year and to post the card from our sketch challenge on my blog right away (ok within 2 days – who am I kidding!)

Anyhow, these are my ‘goals’ in my little craft world. I am sure they aren’t what Ian was getting at but, what does he know!

Before I show you a card I created I want to tell you about one of the new things at the blog for www.MondayNightClass.ca – our blog name is I Love Mondays (I personally love the name cause the only way I could possible love Monday's is when scrapbooking is involved). The designers (including Cindy and Christy) will be taking an older kit and creating a sketch from that kit then 2 designers will be posting their rendition of that sketch. The first MNC Sketch Challenge was posted today, this will take place on the 1st and 15th of the month. My first official page will be up on Sketch Challenge #3 but I hope to play along with the majority of them. I think it is a great idea and shows a whole new take on the kits, they just aren’t a one time thing, the are an idea for another page as well as a sketch for a whole new page. Christy posted a 2 page layout today and Kim posted a 1 page layout as well on the first sketch challenge. Make sure to check out their work and the information on the new challenge by clicking HERE!!!!

On to my card, I think I made this card at one of the last Calgals I was at before I had Hailey I am pretty sure it was June (and I was the size of house). The image is airbrushed and I coloured and airbrushed this at my Copic class in April when I taught airbrushing to the class. I think the Sketch was by Merlie though I don’t remember where she got it from and I’m too lazy to go back through her blog posts to figure it out. (at least I can admit it!)


Details
Stamp: House Mouse – Stampabilities
Paper: SU Rich Razzleberry and Orchid (I think)
Misc: SU embossing folder, Brides Flowers from Mike’s, SU Rich Razzleberry ribbon, Copics plus airbrushing system, Plum KaiserCraft pearls

*** Newsflash that probably everyone knows but me! Did you know that Dollarama has the pearls and rhinestones that look exactly like KaiserCrafts ones. There are 23 in total I think 16 rhinestones and 7 pearls well at least that is all they got in Regina. My Mom got some and then went back and got a few for me in my stocking but they were sold out of most however, we went to the south Regina Dollarama and I was able to get all 23. They are divine!

So, this is post #1 of the week – see you back here in a few days. I forgot to also say make sure to check out the new kits that were released on today from www.MondayNightClass.ca!!!! I don’t have any up there but the ones that are up there are awesome. I think my favourite is ‘Ahhhh’ as I am dreaming of a beach right now but ‘Deck the Halls’ would be great for the holiday pictures!