My Ride

Today, I returned to work after being off since Dec 23rd.  It was a double whammy as I had to get Hailey up as well and to the babysitters with an early drop off of 6:30 am.  Ian usually does the morning routine but is out of town for work for about 2 weeks.  So, 2 weeks of getting up about 5:30 am, getting myself going and then the babe up.  We had a great break, Christmas with the family was wonderful.  We returned and did some painting in the house.  Hailey's room got a huge makeover.  I'll post some pictures soon.

This is the last of my stashed pictures of layouts.  I guess I better get creating or taking pictures!  I made this layout of little Miss Hailey when I was at SK Scraps.  I definitely wasn't shy on the product ... All product is by Bo-Bunny. 

I love this picture of her with her car.  She got this little red car as a gift from my Mom and StepDad for her 1st birthday.  She adores it, hands on the wheel as we go for walks in the neighbourhood. 

Supplies: All Bo-Bunny, Black Bazzill cardstock

The best thing

I'd like to think that the phrase on this page is Ian saying it to me ..... haha .... regardless we are better together.  I kept this layout pretty simple and just let the transparency overlay from Fancy Pants do the work.  I used a craft knife to cut along the design of the transparency so that I could insert the photo in.  The best things is a rubon and the phrase 'we may not' is cut out of a journalling tag by FP as well.  I couldn't go without a little bling so I have a pile of jems and pearls scattered on the layout.  Really this is as unembellished as I can go ....... I try but I need to add lots of lumps and bumps to my layouts.

Supplies

Paper - Happy Together by Fancy Pants

Rubon and tag - Happy Together by Fancy Pants

Bling - KaiserCraft jewels and pearls, various colors

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

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

You're a HOOT

Well this is my last layout (I think), that I have to show.  I suspect there are a few more but they need some photoshop work.  Though from the looks of this page, I didn't crop it very nicely.  Paper and flowers are all by BoBunny, letters are Thickers, chipboard owl by Riff Raff Designs, brads by Doodlebug and felt by Queen&Co.

Hailey turned '1' on Friday, July 9th.  We had a great birthday party for her surrounded by a little bit of family and a lot of friends.  Her favorite gift was her little car from Grandma Rita and Grandpa Gerald.  I have to download the pictures yet, once I do a post a recap here.

I started back to work on Monday, July 12th so today is the start of my second week back however, this is the real test this week as last week was Stampede in Calgary so the work week wasn't very heavy.  I think I have finally figured out my commute to get me to my office by 7 am allowing me to leave at 4pm to get Hailey from the dayhome by 5 pm.  Hailey hasn't noticed me going back to work much.  She had been going to the dayhome, one day a week since the beginning of May so she is right at home there and loves being there.  Ian is great as he gets her up in the morning and takes her to the dayhome so that I can leave for work early.  I am sure we are going to have a lot of growing pains but for now things seem pretty good.

Back to work isn't lasting long as I am off on vacation from July 30th - August 8th.  We are heading to Halifax to see Ian's family.  We are looking forward to seeing them as it has been a tough year for the Tompkins'/Wolfes' families.  Grandpa Tompkins passed away on Jan 1st, Grandma Wolfe passed away on June 20th and Grandma Tompkins passed away unexpectedly on July 15.  We are so glad that we took Hailey to see everyone in December.  We have a picture with each of her great grandparents.  Each of Ian's Grandparents will be sadly missed but lived full lives into their 90's.

You are a delight

July 2nd!  Wow!  Last year at this time I was ready to shoot myself in order to get this baby out of me now, her 1st birthday is a week away and my return to work is a few days after that.  I'm trying not to say it out loud or count it down.  Just enjoy the 2 weekends and 1 week ahead of me before the early mornings start.

I made this layout of Hailey at Crop 4 Kids in March using a new line from Crate Paper and mosaic tiles by Harmonie (Canadian company).

Hailey truely is a delightful child, I know all Mom's say that but this girl gives us no trouble, goes with the flow, travels all over the place with us, never a whine ..... just smiles.  Going back to work is going to be hard but knowing she is in good hands at Alexis dayhome makes it easier.  Busy weeked coming up, Hailey is going to the dayhome today while I price our stuff for a garage sale.  Let's hope people think our 'junk' is there treasures.... we do have a window a/c, 52" proj tv and tons of PartyLite items (from when I was a consultant) that I hope will move .... also piles of books as I've gone to an e-reader and am parting with my real books though I did keep the ones from my favorite authors .... books fans should come by as I am anal about my books, so there are no bent spines here ....

Special Bond

Little Miss Hailey will be 1 years old in just 3 weeks ... 21 days .... wow, where did the year go.  So many changes in this little one.  She is a blessing and even though she puked in her crib last night at 10:30 pm and we had to clean it up and her, then she didn't want to go back to sleep .... I love her.  (her puke not so much!)

Anyhow, I made this layout at Crop 4 Kids in March.  It is quite simple but I like how soft the Basic Grey paper is with the layout.  I think this sheet is from the Eva line?  can't really remember.  Cardstock by Bazzill, rhinestone brads were from my brad stash, rhinestone swirls and flower by Prima and of course, my favorite, letter by American Crafts Thickers.

Photo by http://www.mudpiestudio.net/

New Parents

A page made back in January when I took off for a day to scrapbook with some good friends at one of Jennifer Roswell's awesome get aways ..... it was just 2 months prior to Crop 4 Kids.  I loved this tree by Riff Raff Designs.  I decided to do a little layout on us as 'new parents' with a little letter to Hailey.

Supplies: Prism cardstock, Prima patterned paper, American Crafts Thickers, Maya Road flowers, Riff Raff Designs chipboard, KaiserCraft Pearls

The whole family is now suffering from a cold.  We all slept until 1:30 pm on Tuesday afternoon, Ian stayed home on a sick day.  After a long sleep in, the adults are feeling better just a tad weak and lazy.  Hailey seems to be on the mend, she was playing up a storm when she was up but she does tire fast .... it's been a breeze getting her to go to bed.

Have a great Wednesday!

Our little Miracle

This page is the first page in Hailey's first album.  I made this page and a whole lot of others using this paper pack by My Mind's Eye when I was in Arizona in February.  I love this little picture of her taken when she was 12 days old by Mud Pie Studio.  Lots of rhinestones on it and brads by My Mind's Eye Lush Line.  The felt pieces are felt coasters that were at Michael's int he $1.50 bins a while back.

Thanks for stopping by .... Hailey has had her first cold so we have been pretty close to home since Saturday.  Ian was with her all day Saturday while I was at the Summer Scraptular hosted MondayNightClass.ca and I checked in on them a few times.  She seems to be the baby that wants to sleep her cold away so she is up for 1-2 hours during the day and then goes back to bed.  So far today, I've only seen her for about 45 minutes so she could eat, change diaper, play with the cat and then go back to her crib.  Hopefully, she is back to herself soon.

Wishes in the Wind

I loves these pictures of Hailey in what was my christening gown.  She laying on a blanket that my Great Grandmother gave to my Grandma when my Dad was born.  The blanket has been passed from my Grandmother to my Mom and Dad when I was born and my Mom saved it to go to her firstborn's firstborn.  I am to continue the legacy and pass the blanket on to Hailey's first child.  I didn't even know that this was coming so you can image in my post baby state I cried!  I also just realized that I need to scrapbook the story of this blanket.  As on these pages, which were a MondayNightClass.ca kit desgined by Jennifer Roswell, I talked about the things I wished for Hailey.  The butterfly paperclip can be pulled off to reveal a hidden journalling message.  I changed the kit by only putting little girl rub-ons on the little squares rather than pictures.

Kit by MondayNightClass.ca

Almost Five

I should perhaps go back to the drawing board and get a new photo on this one.  I see a shadow on the picture and lots of glare.  But hopefully, you get the idea.  The paper is all from Basic Grey Origins line, I used dimensional fluid to highlight the details in the photo.  Ian and I actually got a picture of just us at the last photo shoot with Hailey.  I wanted to do a page that caputred where we were in our lives after having meet almost 5 years ago. 

On another note, I am trying to post every other day.  I've been scheduling posts and so far it is working.  However, if I keep that pass up I will run out of this to show by the time I go back to work on July 12th!

I didn't post this ......

On March 1st 2010, history was made in my world.  I was published for the first time in a magazine.  That publication was the Spring issue of Canadian Scrapbooker.

The Summer issue of the magazine is now out but I've been meaning to share this on my blog.  I know my close personal friends all know this but I never did put it up on my blog in celebration.  Here is my picture of the magazine with my layout and the original layout posted below.

Thanks for letting me share my accomplishment!

Wedding pages

We've been married for almost 3 years and have a daughter that is almost a year old but I am still working on the wedding album.  I haven't done a wedding page in a long while but while I was at Camp Croppin' in Calgary.  I had some new papers and lots of black, white and red out so I knew wedding pictures were in order.

Here are two quick single page layouts I whipped up using the new embossed coredinations paper.

Supplies: Coredinations, Cosmo Cricket letters, Thickers, Glitz Design papers on flower, coffe filter

Supplies: Coredinations, Bazzill, Thickers, Bazzill flowers, KaiserCraft pearls, Prima pearls and rhinestone swirl

It's June already!

So, exactly where did the month of May go .... I know the weather was miserable but it really did fly right by.  I am finding that this is happening alot lately as I get closer and closer to going back to work.  My return date is set for July 12th and it is really going to be bitter sweet.  I love my days with Hailey but I don't think I could be a stay at home Mom ..... I realized I'm not a very good housewife!  My home and life are better organized with the regular routine of work.  I have a great dayhome for Hailey to go to.  She has been going each Thursday since the beginning of May and it really is a challenge to convince her to come home.  It is a great feeling to have her somewhere that she is so comfortable.

Miss Hailey is crawling and pulling herself to stand on everything she can get a hand on.  She mastered up on the stairs on the weekend.  Though she has no idea on down and still wants to launch herself.  In March before our road trip, we had pictures taken with our photographer, Virginia Booth.  I've had a great time scrapping with them though I haven't done a layout since the beginning of May!  Anyhow, the layout I have here was up on the MondayNightClass.ca Blog sketch #9 at the beginning of May as it was based on a sketch from an old kit.  I really can't get enough of Bo-Bunny paper.  I think Bo-Bunny is #1 now with me. 

I really want to post to my blog more this year but I find that I am so off and on with that.  It isn't from lack of having material to post it is just remembering to do it when I sit down with the laptop.  I really hope I still have a few followers left that read my blog. 

Please, please leave me a comment so I am not just writing letters to myself.

Supplies:

Paper: Bazzill, Bo-Bunny Allisa

Embellishments: Prima jewels, Imaginsce flowers, Doodlebug sugar coated brads, Basic Grey bird jewel, Bo-Bunny letters, American Craft Thickers, journalling quote from internet

The new kits are up...

Seven new http://www.mondaynightclass.ca/ kits hit the internet today.  As always, some great kits up from the designers.  I loved Jen's Going Banana's when I saw it awhile back, I didn't think it was going to make it as the paper had almost been discontinued.  I am also happy to report that I have 3 kits up today - Little Prince, Little Princess and Older Than Dirt.  I have all three pictured here.  Let me know what you think of the whole kit rather than just the sneak peek I showed the other day.  I love seeing the kits go live on the 1st of the month.  Most of the designs aren't a suprise to me as I see most of the kits at Christy's as I do some admin work for the company but, seeing them go up means we suceeded as a company and were able to find all the product which is really a challenge for Cindy these days with so many companies only doing one run on a paper line and with the paper lines changing so fast.

Also, Happy National Scrapbook Day to all my fellow scrappers ... and of course, stampers get some love too!

Little Prince

Little Princess

older than dirt

Monday Night Class Sketch Challenge #6

It is Sketch Challenge #6 at the MondayNightClass BLOG again.  This is my second time as one of the designer who took on the sketch.  However, this is the first time that I had done the kit that the sketch was based off of.  All Girl & Proud of it was one of the first kits I did one time at the Bloomin' Inn.  I have included it here today as I've never posted it on my blog before.  The pages were made in September 2008 when I was at the Inn with my Mom.  The pictures are all of my niece, Katelynn and myself when Katie was just a few months old.  She is now 4 1/2 and I have my very own daughter ........

I love how multiple pieces of patterned paper are used.  I used to suck at doing this until one day, Christy told me the secret to using mulitple pieces of patterned paper is to make sure to bridge at least one of the pieces onto both pages.  It was a total revoluation to me that day now, I am not sure how I could be so silly.  The only thing I knew before was to try to use the same line of paper as they tend to go together.  However, now I can cross manufacturer lines with this little secret.  (though I didn't do this here as well I love Basic Grey)

My 'Take Flight' layout was a calbration between my husband and myself on the weekend. I was scrapping in the cold basement and he was playing guitar.  I was asking him for some ideas as I didn't want to just do the basic title 'new' or 'precious' - I wanted more!  So, he started talking about how alert she was for only 12 days and then of course, I had this butterflies that I wanted to use as I seem to use butterflies on layouts alot with Hailey (i.e. see last post and page 107 in the current issue of Cdn Scrapper where my layout was published - I should really blog about that!)

So, I wrote my journalling out in pencil of course and I came up with  .......
"At 12 days old you were so alert beyond most newborns.  It is not hard to tell that you are going to be a beautiful, adventurous little girl that will have so much to offer the world.  Take flight my little butterfly, there is no cacoon that will hold you back.  July 21, 2009"

Well after that journalling, it was easy to pick the title of 'take flight' - I should use my cricut more for titles but I have a huge infatutation with American Craft Thickers and I need to use them in order to justify buying more ... .makes total sense ... RIGHT!!

Supplies
Patterned paper: all pp Basic Grey, Bittersweet
Embellishments: all BG except butterflies, Heidi Swapp and Rhinestones are Dollarama brown color (loves these - makes not even bat an eye when I put the whole package of 100 on the layout!)

Crop 4 Kids on Saturday, MINI roadtrip on Sunday ... so much to do between now and then ..... laundry, packing (for both crop and trip) plus I have 4 kits for MNC that all need a few finishing touches on them ... I have to do that and hand them off to Christy before I leave!  I hope to post once before I leave .... if not then it might just be our trip for the next 3 weeks.

My Girl

This is a layout a created for the Canadian Scrapbooker  - summer issue which was a call for your view from ...... I choose to do one a bit unusually and I did the view from above Hailey's crib.  It didn't get picked but I still like the idea of the layout and the new My Mind's Eye product.

We are one week away from leaving on our 2 1/2-3 week MINI vacation.  The MINI part is that we are taking Ian's car on a roadtrip to a MINI rally in vacation and then driving back through San Diego, San Franciso, Seattle .... we are looking forward to it.  I have decided to use my blog as my journal of pictures and where we are as I'm not one to write it down on paper and I really want to document this so I don't forget anything when I go to scrapbook it.  But, before I leave I am attending Crop 4 Kids on Saturday.  I am looking forward to a day of scrapping with some friends and cropping to help the AB Childrens' Hospital.

I did a great 2 page layout for the MondayNightClass blog sketch challenge that Kim will be posting in the next few days.  Once, it is up I will show you my 'Take Flight' layout of my little angel.  Today, we went and had pictures done again by our photographer, Virginia Booth.  We always have so much fun at her photo shoots.  I can't wait to see the pictures.  More scrapping!

Layout Supplies:

Paper: MME, Bo Bunny

Embellishments: clear Dew Drops, MME

Her Smile

I thought I'd taken a better picture of this layout and cropped it but, I see that it is just so so. Look past my photography skills and I hope you enjoy the layout.

I had some pictures taken with Hailey in November. The one in which she is holding my finger and smiling is one of my favorites. I also, love her hat.

I made this layout when I was in Arizona. It started out as a one page then I decided to use the second picture and add another page as I had lots of elements and embellishments I wanted to use. The rose were made from the scallop circle punch, crumpled and layered up. There has been a lot of tutorials on this rose in blog land.

Supplies: My Mind's Eye, Bazzill, Prima crystals, dimensional fluid