Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

We've arrived in Saskatchewan and have begun the celebrations.  Hailey is having a ball with her cousins.  She is definitely going to sleep well tonight and tomorrow night.

Having a Ball

I absolutely love this sequence of pictures that our photography, Virginia captured of Hailey playing in the yard back in September when we were getting new family photos.  These pictures are so Hailey, the carefree spirit that she has.  She is so relaxed and at this time in September was really starting to develop her little personality.  I have to put a shout out to Nancy for giving me the title.  I didn't know what I wanted to call the layout and at the Jingle Bell Crop - Nancy said 'having a ball' .... so appropriate.  Thank you Nancy. 

Supplies:

Paper - Bazzill cream cardstock

Patterned Paper - Echo Park

Letters - K&Co

Flowers - Kaiser

Brads - huge mix, Bo-bunny, Doodlebug, candy dots, some unknowns

Best thing about this is I used up a lot of things that I've had for sometime!

You make me SMILE

I'm not the girl that always has a smile on her face.  I have the serious picture face.  I do know how to have a little smirk but I don't have the wide open mouth , teeth showing kind of smile.  So, this layout is appropriate as Ian does make me smile in life, sometimes it is just more on the outside then on the surface.  He is my guy and after 3 years of marriage and 5 years together, he still makes me smile. 

I made this layout months ago just realized it was on my hard drive.  I don't do many double page layouts anymore I have quite a few in my wedding album. 

Christmas is getting closer and I have piles of things to do and really no energy to do any of them.  But I have 8 days until we leave to Saskatchewan so I guess I better get cracking.  This weekend I will be wrapping up a storm but first, there is Calgals on Friday night!  Looking forward to seeing my girls.  A little lunch with a couple we know on Saturday that has a Christmas present for little HAT but other than that a wide open weekend.  Hope I accomplish some things so I am not the nutcase next Wednesday packing and wrapping before we leave on Thursday. 

34

My 34th birthday was not quite a month ago.  I started last year making a layout 'about ME' for my birthday.  It's a nice reminder to look back and see what was in my head that year.

This layout was a lot of fun.  I did it when we were in Saskatoon at SK Scraps.  I figured a lot about me needed some sparkle and bling.  The base is a piece of paper from House of 3 that I used tattered angels glimmer mist and chalkboard on it.  You can click on the layou to read the journalling.  The picture was taken at the end of September by our photographer when we were getting family photos done.

Supplies

*Patterned Paper - House of 3

*Flocked Paper - Fancy Pants

*Embellishments - Bling - House of 3, Letters - American Craft Thickers, Ribbon - Tim Holtz

*Misc - Tattered Angels - Glimmer Mist and Chalkboard

Scrapbook Design 101

My dear friend, Christy is launching her Scrapbook Design 101 course as an online course starting in January 2011.  I am so excited for her as this course is amazing.  Christy uses her background in interior design and art and applies that to your scrapbook layouts.  I actually meet Chrity in May 2008 when I took this course from her at a local scrapbook store in Calgary.  I did my first 12x12 layout in her class, before that point I was a self declared stamper and I'd put together a couple mini albums that were 6x6.  Anyone that knows me is aware that I've gone from being a stamper to mainly a scrapbooker that might be due to my little girl but I love the larger canvas of scrapbooking.

Anyhow, registration for Christy's class started on Monday, December 6th.  To read more about her course, visit her blog and to visit the MondayNightClass.ca site to register.

Free Spirit

Well, I have to say the only good thing about a migraine and having to take some imitrix is the amount of things I get done through the night because I can't sleep.  I did however, have an amazing 6 hour sleep after popping the pill.  I woke up with only a mild feeling left from the migraine which was a good thing as I was in tears my head was spinning so bad. 

So, seeing as I couldn't sleep.  I spend several hours editing pictures in PSE5 and sending them to Costco to get printed.  Then I decided to get my blog looking better.  It has been so long since I have used blogger extensively, I didn't even know about the new templates and editor etc.  I have a new background and now with my new skills in PSE5, I made my very own banner.  I am pretty happy with it as I threw it together in about 10 minutes.  I had to keep resizing then I realized as I was uploading that the pixel width would be strunk to 910 pixel ... would have saved me a bit if I had read that.  Oh well, I'll remember for next time.

On to my scrap page .........

My little HAT has grown so much in the last year.  This picture was taken in January 2010, she was a mere 6 months old.  We are a few days shy of 17 months now.  I made this page when I was in Saskatoon with Christy for SK Scraps.  It is heavy with product!  But, I figure it looks better on a page then in the package and as Christy pointed out to me - I still own it when it is on my page.

I really am going to try to make this an active blog again.  I won't make any promises but I have been feeling creative lately which is better than it has been since I came back to work in July.  Perhaps I have finally found a routine?  Doubt it ..... just when things start running smooth something throws a wrench at my head ..... next week Ian is out of town so I'll be dropping Hailey at the dayhome at 6:30 am.  I hope she makes it as she is my little sleeper and a 11 hours isn't enough for her.

Supplies:

All paper and embellishments from Bo-Bunny Delilah line

December 1st!

Not sure where the fall has gone.  It is now December and Christmas is what around the corner.  I figure I better get my Christmas shopping done sometime really soon.  I have a visit to Chinook mall planned to get Hailey's 2nd Christmas picture with Santa.  I love their sleigh Santa display, great rich colors for scrapping.

In the last couple months, I haven't crafted all that much.  I did manage to make one card at Calgals at the end of October.  And have done 4 single pages in November when I was at events.  I, however, find I have no light to photography my projects in.  I leave for work in the dark, I come home in the dark and when I do come home at night, I have Hailey in tow, who needs to be feed and watered (haha) pretty much as we get in the door.  Then it's playtime, bath, some cuddles and bedtime!  I tend to flop exhausted from day.  I've been googling buying a light tent but I'm just not finding the right sites for what I need? or do I know what I need?

I have been so fortunate to spend a pile of time with Christy Riopel and http://www.mondaynightclass.ca/ throughout the fall.  I worked at both Scrapbook Carnivals in Calgary and Edmonton for http://www.mondaynightclass.ca/.  The consumers definitely kept me running in Edmonton as they were shopping up a storm.  It was great to spend time with the girls in the industry that I know, Donna Houston from Inspired Designs, Michelle Zemlack with The Hope Chest and I was fortunate enough to meet so many of the Canadian Scrapbooker team, Jackie Ludlage, Katarina Doyle, Allison Orthner, Leica Forrest and Cathie Allan.  These girls are so funny and had me laughing until I had a stitch in my side.  I took Cathie Allan's class in Calgary and learned so much about taking ink to paper. 

On October 28th, we lost my amazing Aunt Matilda to Ovarian Cancer.  She fought a hard fight with the disease and after a little over 2 years of chemo, her little body couldn't fight anymore.  I travelled to Hope, BC to be with my Mom and celebrate my Aunt's life.  Thanks to the Hospice staff and nurses at the Hope Hospital that cared for my Aunt throughout October and made sure that her family was doing good as well.  We had to visit to the Hope Emergency Room as Hailey got a terrible ear infection while we were there.  It is near impossible to keep a child with an ear infection quiet while in a hotel room!  Though it was a sad week, it was amazing to see my cousin, Gwyn who I haven't seen since Easter 1997 and meet her new husband and 7 year old daughter, Shaelynn.  Shaelynn was great at keeping the running Hailey at bay!

November crops brought the 3rd annual Jingle Bell Crop, hosted by http://www.mondaynightclass.ca/.  I love being on this team, Christy and Cindy are both so amazing.  They feed the troops, keep up entertained and I love the new addition to the 10 minute scavenger hunt!  The following weekend I motored to Saskatoon with Christy to attend the Saskatchewan Scraps event hosted by Leica Forrest.  It was http://www.mondaynightclass.ca/ first visit to Saskatchewan.  The fog started to roll in when we were about an hour and half out of the city, so we never did see much other than fog.  The fog did cause some havoc with air travel and the wonderful Cathie Allan wasn't able to make it in but Vicki Boutin and Jill Hildebrand were there.  Vicki ran classes throughout and the sweet Jill spent the day doing a make n'take using Nikki Sivils product. 

So, that has been life in a nutshell.  My little one is now running, climbing up and down the stairs, she has so many new tricks and she lives us in giggles most nights with the things she comes up with. 

And because I don't have any photographed creations to share.  I'll leave you this picture of my babe, eating chili for the first time with a spoon that she did all by herself.  She hit her mouth most times! :-)