Happy Mothers Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers! I hope you have a special day with those you love, celebrating the joys of being a mom....

I think there is no better calling! 

By next Friday, Lord willing,  I will have all my children home and am so looking forward to this. By Saturday afternoon our numbers will grow as we add Sammy to the ranks. 

No, I am not loosing a daughter but gaining a son. We hope to spend some fun time together the following week. There will be eight of us! 

Now on to last nights wedding shower.....

Hopefully the groom does not visit his mother-in-laws blog... at least until after the wedding, but I did want to share with you some of the fun we had last night. 

A lingerie shower is really just a lot of fun and it is of the utmost importance that there be no males remotely close to the happenings. Wine, women, cake and lingerie make for lot of laughter and a few stories....

The mousse cakes were a hit!

My neighbor Linda's mother made 8 of these beauties to decorate the church with next Saturday. They also decorated the front door and dining room for the shower last night. I am so thankful for her talent and willingness to help me out! 

There was some pretty hot stuff tonight! Kendal said that she thought Sammy should write the thank you notes! I couldn't agree more! 







There are gerber daisies everywhere around here! And it is kinda pretty. It'll all be over... (and just beginning for two love birds)... in one week.

Pampered Chefs

I thought I would share photos I took of "the couple" at a recent shower for them. It was actually a Pampered Chef shower and they now have an assortment of kitchen utensils for their teeny weeny kitchen. (more like itsy bitsy)

Allison loves to cook and bake and is accumulating all the stuff her Mom has, however her kitchen (as of next week) is just a little bigger than my refrigerator. Kind of cute. 

And NO dishwasher which amuses my husband no end.

Sammy btw, did a fine job of separating the eggs! 

Today is Allison's lingerie shower and I am thankful that, as of 6 am this morning, I am feeling much better - finally!! Yesterday I was sure pneumonia was setting in - fever and all and I left work at 12 noon, came home and slept. 

I have a full day today with shower prep and making the place look nice, however my dear husband who is also just as sick as I am will help me make the place look pretty. He does bathrooms! What a guy!

Bridesmaids will also be decorating and planning the activities of the event so we have it all covered. 

I think any girl getting married needs to have the basics for a good marriage - pots 'n pans and lingerie! I mean what else do you need? 

If I survive the day I will post pictures tomorrow because I can't wait to get some macros of these two fabulous mousse cakes I will serve for the shower. Strawberry and chocolate! Normally I would have made them...but work and the flu meant I hired Costco to make them for me....but they are real purty!

Stay tuned. 

Allison's and Harold's Birthday 2002

I have a cold - it is the last thing I need or have time for right now so I am laying low - as low as I get.....I took two hours out from house and wedding prep on Sunday aft to scrapbook. I needed to just close my mind from the to do lists and think creatively. I also did some sleeping in on Sunday- something I only do if I am sick! Sleep helps! So does Neo Citron!

Not that putting together all this wedding decor is not creative....but with scrapbooking I only have to please ME....so I can do what I want on a page. YEAH!!

Basic Grey "Bitter Sweet" line, BG chipboard letters, K&Co pink flowers because they didn't get put away from the last page, bling, pebbles (new ones in at JSI - bigger) Creative Cafe rub-ons, white gel pen and voila!

And then Harold's Birthday in 2002 - he turned 21!! This was a fun 2 page layout to do - just pulled out a bunch of stash along with the BG marrakech line and these fabulous Theresa Collins family chip board "charms" I have to get more of those. 

I have been skipping the gym - cause my lungs say "are you kidding???!!" 

But that gives me an hour in the wee hours of the morning when I am awake to get this page done too. 

This is Harold's Birthday 2008 - I finally used that great BZoo paper along with these really fun Fancy Pants chipboard shapes. We have a whole bunch of Fancy Pants paper at the store and these chipboard shapes go with most of them...and with the Bzoo line too!

As you can see, the sparklers loose their excitement over the years, but Mom still insists on a cake and a photo!

Now back to that to do list! Oh yeah..and work!

Allison's Birthday 2002

I have found myself, of late, describing my scrapbooking style as clean, uncluttered, simple.....

Then I did this two page spread. Not sure what happened but the paper and embellishments got away on me and I couldn't get stopped. But then this is a birthday and birthdays are loud and crazy and fun and a party!!!

Yes this is my daughters 13th birthday celebrated with the family and a few strangers at Fuddruckers. I remember it being rather fun if not embarressing for the poor girl.

This is the girl getting married in 17 days!

I used the new Basic Grey Lime Rickey line "Fruit Fizzy", Cherry Cola" and Hobokin" 

I also used the Basic Grey birthday chipboard from the cupcake line which is a perfect match for the lime rickey match and we happen to have about four more of these packages on sale right now at the store. 

For fun I added a strip of paper from the Bo bunny line "It's my Party" how appropriate! I threw on a few flowers from K & Co Citronella.  

And this is the confusion that ensued. But it captures the moment. 

Have a blessed day everyone and remember....You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. Deut  8:17-18a (NIV)

Penny Lane from My Mind's Eye

I managed to squeeze in one more layout and this time I used current photos and the new Penny Lane line from my Mind's Eye. Love the girly colours in this line and so much fun to do.

Allison got a nice bouquet of Gerber daisies from her fiance.

My scan cut off the bottom a tad.

Just Be YOU

I drove my sweetheart to the airport at 5 am this morning. Some of you were just going to bed...

He is off to Raleigh North Carolina and staying in the loveliest Inn. I am a tad jealous. I would be with him but I have to work.

So inconvenient!!

He will be in meetings all day every day for three days, but since he needs a car rental to get to the Inn, I could be off with my camera all day every day for three days and loving it!!
But I have to work. (do I sound a tad resentful?)

Well, no because that work will help pay for an upcoming get away for the two of us to a warm place. A warm place where I plan to take a 6 GB's worth of photographs. ...and then there is that upcoming wedding...

So at 5:30 am Sunday morning I am back home, alone, and he is on his way to the warm south.

He has a four hr stop over in Minneapolis. Now for most guys they would groan at this thought, but us ladies know that the Minneapolis airport has some of the finest and classiest women's clothing stores out there. I can EASILY spend my 4 hrs shopping. He took a book.

I came home from the airport, put on my decaf and then wandered into the den/office/scrapbook room. I spied this photo and just had some ideas thanks to some layouts I had loaded into my scrapbook ideas files a while ago.

I had great fun with the rub-ons and actually went a little crazy with them - some I have had for three years.
When I first came across this photo, I had picked up three new papers and I didn't use any of then. Just used a piece of leftover scraps. But hey..that is "scrap" booking right?

A few weeks ago I went through all my stuff and organized - including sorting all my scraps of paper by color. It is amazing how you can use the stuff up when you know you have it!!

That Just Be You rub on has to be over a year old.

Anyways, I had a whole bunch of fun (even at 6am on a Sunday morning) with a picture of Allison taken in....you got it, Feb 2002. I think we were up at Table Mtn skiing when this was taken.

I am at 31 pages for 2002.... and only about half way through the stack of photos!
And there is a wedding coming up!

Now, enough of the stash. The new Basic Grey is in at Just Scrap It and I plan to refurbish the stash with some "marrakech" and a few other pretties.

Saskatoon Music Festival 2002

Hey another 2002 page. It wasn't my intention to scrapbook today (I am writing this on Sunday) because I have been working on my photos from South Carolina and finished up a table top book today with 141 of my favorite South Carolina photos in it. It ended up being 36 pages and the coup de gras? The cover is alligator skin - okay - not real but looks pretty darn cool!! There are alligator pictures in that book! Can't wait until it arrives. I used a free shipping coupon too. Yeah!!

But these photos on this page below were in the 2002 queue on my desk today, they were black, red and white and they were about music. And wouldn't you know it, I was working at JSI on Saturday and this fabulous paper had just come in from Creative Imaginations! It was about music so I bought one. I didn't realize until I got it home what a perfect match it was. I wasn't thinking about these pictures, but in cleaning up my desk, I pulled them out and looked at the new paper and wow. I added some Prima flowers and bling, ink and glossy effects on a chipboard note, some journalling and it was done. About 20 min - not including glossy effects drying time.

This is Allison and her good fellow home schooled friend Whitney. They played a rather difficult duet in the Spring Music Festival. Didn't place, but they did well. And don't they look so sweet.

I think it has been about 3 weeks since I have done a page...spent a lot of time on the two acrylic projects before I was away. So it felt good to get a page done today AND my South Carolina coffee book. If you want to see my coffee table book try this link. It doesn't show with the alligator cover though, but it will be there when it arrives. Click on the pages to enlarge them and read the words on the page.

Whew - what a creative day today (Sunday) .... AND I also posted my Governor's House post today too - took a while to edit and shrink all those photos for my blog. So that means I will hold off posting this page until Monday night... I don't want you to bypass the Governors House. :)

And the rest of the week is work, work, work...to pay the VISA, VISA, VISA! LOL

It's the little things that make you BEAUTIFUL

This page has been sitting on my desk all week waiting for me to have 15 min to glue it down and add some rub-ons.
I love this simple picture of Allison. So innocent and lovely and she really is. It is these gentle qualities that truly make her beautiful..and so that is what I attempted to portray in this page. Not sure if I succeeded. The word beautiful seems kind of harsh for what I was going for. But once a rub-on is on the page..well it's a done deal!

I am quite enjoying the new Crate Paper - very pretty. And I bought more of the "Dotted Swiss' Bazzill paper. More colours came into JSI. So, so nice. So me.
I was able to use some rub ons and flowers from my stash too!

Don't you just love your stash?

Stay tuned! I was up until midnight (unheard of for me) taking a class with Trish Ladouceur at JSI last night. We were making THIS! Very beautiful! I still have to finish mine before you get to see it. I was very tired and Janys is a bad influence on me. We laughed way too much!! At our mistakes that is. Like a couple of hysterical school girls. The motto of the evening was "Just put a flower over it!" Hey is is all about being creative right?

Not sure how Trish put up with us. But we had a good time.

Winter fun and friends

Dotted Swiss is the BRAND NEW textured cardstock from Bazzill, and I LOVE it!

It is so me... uncomplicated, minimalist, uncluttered and clean. Add the new Basic Great chip board letters and these fabulous snowflakes from Jolee's that came in on Monday - well all I needed was my white gel pen and the 10 min page was done.

Just a few photos of us skiing up at Table Mountain Feb, 2002. I know the boys were there snow boarding, but somehow they missed the camera.

Love how delicate these snowflakes are.









And now for the photo that did not make it on the page...the one that really captures the day for me....

This one will get tucked in behind the page too. LOL

Once upon a time

..

Well this is it - page 67 and the last layout for the 2001 album. I will celebrate this weekend by sorting through all the 2002 photos and hope there are far fewer so I don't feel guilty only doing say .....40 pages for 2002?

Allison loved her dolls. She had plenty of baby dolls in her room growing up and of course a few favorites, all carefully named. There were lots of fairytale stories attached to each one and make believe was a part of every day.

For Christmas this year Santa brought her an American Doll - a very special ordered doll - with eyes and hair to specification along with specially chosen period clothing. She came with her boots, reading glasses, hair accessories and a little book with her history and family information - everything needed to make seem so very real. Also exciting for this Christmas was her two new porcelain dolls with their very shiny hair and fancy clothes.

Remembering Allison's loving care of her dolls is one of my favorite memories of her.

Christmas - the most wonderful time of the year.

She is now 19 and planning a wedding. Somewhere packed away are all these dolls and in her journals are some of the stories.

God is good...all the time ~ when we lean on Him and trust in Him.

I used the new Bo Bunny Christmas line - "Noel" and Wonderful" and some rub-one from the new Creative Imaginations swatch book "Narratives" Also used some Beary Patch and daisyd rub ons. You just can't have enough rub-ons!

Celebrate

Celebrating Allison's 12th Birthday. Sigh...birthday pages...so many pictures and how do you get them all on the page. This is page #61 of the 2001 album - I have been working on 2001 for over 6 months...hmmm that means....that means I will NEVER catch up! But I will press on. By my calculations, I have four - get that? 4...more pages to finish up the year ~ Allison's birthday party with friends, our church Christmas concert and then Christmas - which has to be a two page layout - cause there are too many of us and too many pictures. Have you noticed that I am in very few pictures? There is one of me in the Christmas batch though.

Anyways, this is my sweet daughters 12th birthday and what a lovely sweet and pure young woman she was becoming - and still is - getting married! YIKES! Of course a fine young man spotted her and immediately claimed her. LOL smart guy! ...but does he know how much she loves to shop for clothes???? And this 12 year old started University this week and is on her way to getting her education degree.

They do grow up so fast - so hug them, kiss them, tell them how much you love them and try to ignor the mess in the bathroom! Before you know it they will be married and you will have your bathroom back. :)

Birthday Party

Allison and her friends had a fun time watching movies, playing games and combing all the knots out of her Barbie doll's hair. Girlfriends are a lot of fun! Birthday celebrations and a lot of fun too!

I used the new Dream Street Paper. It is fun paper! The photos are dark - 2001 (page 62 and counting) but the event is recorded. A bit of mesh because the colour was rights and some Creative Imaginations rub-ons. A few flowers from the stash too.

Andy Rooney quote of the day...

Everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile. :)

I am going to try and remember this one!

Allison's sweet smile

Pretty simple. Two pictures on Dream Street Paper with a block of deja views timeless pp, some Creative Imaginations rub-ons and she's done. Letting the pictures be the focus. This is Allison with our Black Lab Sam during the fall of 2001.

The couple - as requested

Allison and Sam

love this shot from the lake last summer. Okay, okay this is not what you had in mind when you asked for pictures of the couple - but I love this shot.


Allison's Graduation last year. Sam is a basketball player.
Oh ...and a theology student and an apprentice electrician. Allison is in education at U of S.

point guard

I have no idea what a point guard is but my daughter tells me that is what she was in grade 12. I am thankful - she could have been a whole lot of other things, but she was top student, involved in drama, sports and everything else and she was a "point guard". She is playing a beautiful piece on the piano for her fiance as I type here. Brag, brag, brag! (I am blogging this Sat nite with a time stamp for Wednesday morning ~ so no, my daughter does not play the piano on weekday mornings - nor is her fiance here at that time. - confused?)

There is new MOXIE paper in at the store and it is all great, but the sports stuff is sooo classy!
So I treated myself - not only to the new paper, but to a photo from 2006. YUP! This is NOT a page from 2001 and what fun it was to scrapbook a 5X7 instead of a dark, tealy 4x6 from 2001. Yes, life is good. Time for another holiday so I can be diverted from the old photos. :)

The basketball is from some very cool paper by The Paper Company which even feels like a basketball (like I would know! I don't know what a point guard is or does). A good ole Sticko and some Thickers letter and 'thar she goes'!

You have to come into the store and see this Moxie stuff and stock up.....before the new Basic Grey arrives. hehehehehe

Best Day Ever

...and for this eleven year old it was. That is how Allison described this afternoon up at Emerald Lake with all her girlfriends from church. It was also the day she was baptized and had a go at watersking. So there were many good memories to record. Oh how happy I am that I made her keep that journal for all those years of home schooling. One day she will be too!

I love the simplicity of this page. Hope you do too!

Creative Cafe

Yes it is all Creative Cafe stuff from Creative Imaginations - the paper, the rub-ons the die-cuts. So easy, and so much fun. This is Allison's "Sandwomen" as she called her in her journal. She had so much fun with these girls.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful August long weekend. Enjoy the warmth and the forecast of no rain here on the prairies - imagine that!
Blessings to you all!
Julie

H20 FUN

No great feats of art, but it was important to get their first experience water skiing down on paper and into the album. First Mark and then Allison. Actually I think this was Mark's second go at water skiing. He looks way too confident for this to be his first attempt.

Baptism

A two page layout of Allison and Mark's Baptism in Aug of 2001. White card stock does not scan well and does not photograph well. It is always trying to pick up a colour. So this layout looks far more vibrant in real life.

Once the 15 pictures were chosen and cropped this layout was a breeze - just white card stock and patterned paper - MME and then those favourite rub-ons of mine from the Creative Cafe - Creative Imaginations. Added some chipboard letters and I was done.

Daughter layout ...and thoughts

Tim Holtz the guru of all things inked said something on his blog the other day that struck a chord with me. He said... ya know people ask me all the time why i give stuff away on my blog and why i always ask people to comment? well think of it this way, if you wrote letters every week to someone and they never wrote back, would you want to continue writing? i don't think so. so you leaving comments just lets me know you're out there and you're enjoying the read. i admit - i'm a blogger too! i love reading blogs, it's the morning paper with my coffee so to speak

Too bad I don't have stuff to give away...wait a minute ~ I have an old piano that needs tuning. Seriously, let me know if you want the piano. It is in the basement.

I am now about 2/3 the way through the 2001 photos. ....sigh. When I get to 2003 I started to have some digital and I was well into digital by 2004. When my scrapbooking gets to that point I should have some serious fun with the photos on my pages. I have a goal!! And I need to get caught up before grandchildren start arriving.

Now.... my latest page....Allison took a look at this 2001 photo of her that was sitting on my desk and asked why I would scrapbook THAT photo - she thinks every photo of herself is terrible so I ignore most of these comments. She came back a day later and commented on this layout - "very cute layout Mom". Perhaps the photo was growing on her...or maybe she just liked the layout. :)

I used product from every company in my stash,so I won't bore you with the list here, but do feel free to ask (maybe even leave a comment?) and I will be glad to tell you what I used.

This layout was inspired by a page from my favorite magazine - Scrapbook Trends (this is the Aug 08 edition). I don't think I have ever found a scrapbooking magazine that is so full of ideas and so worth every penny.

Have you ever done a layout inspired by something in Scrapbook Trends?