More fabulous blog candy!

I've just discovered this amazing set of blog candy that Melissa is giving away. Check it out!

Practical Scrappers Blog Candy

Check out Practical Scrappers for a chance to win some blog candy. All you have to do is sign up as a follower.

I've hit 2,000! Time to give out awards.

I'm excited about getting to 2,000 hits! I'm not sure how many of them are me, especially since I've been playing with backgrounds! But, hey, that's okay. To celebrate I'm going to finally get around to those awards I promised to give out.
I have gotten two awards in the past, but I'm going to just hand out one.
The Lovely Blog award:

Here are the rules for this award:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. (I did this a while ago.)

2. Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Here are my award recipients, in no particular order:
Karen, I just love all her projects.
Kelly, I appreciate the way she writes and the artwork she creates.
Melissa, She inspires me to work my business and not just my projects.
Barbra, I love her tutorials.
Nellie, She is a true artist, and a teacher; I don't know how she does both!
Sarah, I love the simple cards she makes, still so beautiful.
Emma, She's so honest in her writing, love that.
Antoinette, I love her workshops and that she's so willing to share them with everyone!
Brae, Her artwork is beautiful and she challenges me to bump things up to the next level.

I know that's not 15, but my kids need lunch soon. ;) I love all the amazing blogs that are out there. So many of them are so inspiring for me, in more ways than just my crafting. So, thank you to everyone for your comments on my blog, but also for posting and sharing yourself.

My Parents' Wedding Album, Part 1.

I am so excited to be able to share these pages with you! I was able to give this album to my parents yesterday. I thought I would have a few more weeks, that our family wasn't going to be all together for a while and then my mom called me up on Saturday afternoon asking if we could come to Peterborough for dinner out on Sunday without the grandkids. Well, of course, I said yes! Then it was a mad dash to get the photos printed, since I'd only used quick print-offs to create the pages, and a trip to Michaels to buy an album, since I didn't have one yet, and then working like crazy Sunday afternoon to get it all put together. This all happening after a double workshop weekend, both Friday and Saturday evening. Phew! I was exhausted by the time we got home last night. But all that craziness was completely worth it. Mom and Dad loved it. And there's still more pages to be done with their childhood and family photos.
I didn't want to wait until it was all done to post, so here's the ones I gave them yesterday. Just click on the photos if you want to see them larger.








I went to our How-To books (Cherish, Imagine and Reflections) to do most of these layouts. I used PageMaps for one of them. CTMH's Sihouette Level 2 paper pack was perfect, especially when I was able to match Crystal Blue cardstock to the men's tuxedos. I also had fun using all our fabulous rub-ons. They look great against the black, white, and blue. Most of the flowers and brads are from CMTH's Big Pinks, but there are some embellishments from other companies. I'm afraid I don't remember where. I should say also that most of these photos are from my parents' original wedding album. They were all 8x10, except the black and white ones. I simply took photographs of all the photos and then I could print them out in the sizes I wanted. The black and white photos were from an album of extra photos they had. All of them were faded and brown so when I took the photos I turned them black and white. I think they look much better now.

I'm looking forward to creating pages with photos they've just had in a box. I'll be using clear photo corners so the photos can be removed to make copies of them if that's ever needed. Stay tuned. I'll be posting them as soon as I have them done!

Why host a gathering? Here's a little peek.

Maybe you're wondering what's so great about hosting a gathering. You have some work to do, after all, like cleaning the house, inviting all kinds of people and keeping track of who said yes and who said no, getting after those people who didn't get back to you, making sure there are goodies. Is this work really worth it?
Of course it is! In fact, it's more than worth it. Not only do you get to hang out with your friends and family, in other words, your favourite people, but you get all kinds of perks. The first is the free stuff. Based on what you and your guests order, you get to pick a certain $ amount of free product. This free product includes any paper pack, any stamp set, any My Stickese, any ink pad, any marker, so basically almost anything in the Idea Book considering that these products take up a huge amount of space in the book!
That aside, there's also the fun project to make, that you don't have to plan or figure out. It could be a one-page layout or a card like this one:

Products Used: Emporium paper, Colonial White, Cocoa, and Sweet Leaf cardstock, Cocoa and Sweet Leaf ink, Colonial White brads, stamp sets: Treetops, Thank You.
Pattern from Wishes: On the Edge, pg. 53.

But I also have a draw at every gathering and, of course, I have to have a prize for that draw. Here's an example of what a winner at your gathering would get. It's got some surprises in it.

Products Used: stamp set: July SOTM (You've Got Flair), Sunflower,
Hydrangea, Tulip, Juniper ink with blending pen, Creative Basics ribbon.

Pattern from www.victorineoriginals.com.

And that's not all. I love treating my hostesses to something special. You do a lot to help the gathering go well and I want to thank you. So I make a little gift just for you. My last hostess, Corrie, got these little cuties, all wrapped in a pretty bow.

Products Used: Perfect Day paper, Cocoa, Juniper, Colonial White cardstock, Cocoa ink,
Clear buttons, Heartfelt shapes, stamp sets: Journaling Jots, Simple Stitches
Pattern from Wishes: Three in a Row, pg. 41.

So don't delay. if you live in the Durham Region or in Peterborough in Ontario, just email or call to book your gathering today!

I should be going to sleep, but...

It's been an exhausting day, tons of fun but exhausting! My hubby's first week of holidays started a day early and we decided to take the kids to the Metro Toronto Zoo. Our friend came along as well. We had a wonderful day. Both Arianna and Nathaniel just loved seeing all the animals, playing in the splash pad and eating ice cream and Beavertails, a special day needs special treats, after all. If you don't know what Beavertails are think Dominos Cinnastix, but made with pastry. Yum!
Arianna's favourite part of the day was looking at all the animals, mine was taking photos of the animals. Unfortunately they're still on the camera so I can't post any, but the fact that I wanted to post made me think about other photos I had wanted to post, so here they are.

These were all taken at my parents' house, in Mom's garden. Mom has always had all sorts of plants in the livingroom window. In fact she has so many that she puts some away when we visit so that there's room for the kids to play. I'm in awe of her green thumb. I have a few plants, but they need to be hard to kill or I might do just that. So I just have fun taking photos of my mom's beautiful garden.

I have no idea what kind of plant this is, but the leaves are so neat!


Beautiful lavender.


Lupins, is that the right spelling? I discovered that these are my mom's favourite flowers, not gerbera daisies like me, as I thought.


And now my all-time favourite flower, the friendly daisy! I know I just said gerberas were my favourite; I love any kind of daisy, but these ones are a head above the others.


This next one is my favourite photo of all the ones I took that afternoon. It's now my computer's desktop wallpaper. Looking at it just makes me smile.

I hope these make you smile, too.

Happy Creating!

Scrapbooking Again!

I've been making so many cards lately, for all kinds of reasons like workshops and to give away for birthdays, but also just for fun. I really needed to do some scrapbooking. I'm still trying to plug away at my son's first year album and catch up on layouts for my daughter as well as family pages. On top of that I'm working on a special album for my parents' 35th anniversary later this month and I haven't even really started yet! My hubby is on holidays next week and so I hope I'll be able to get a lot of work done then, in between all the around-the-house-type things we want to accomplish. It's a lot to do, but it's oh so fun!

Here's the first layout I completed.

Close To My Heart Dimensional Elements letters, Colour-Ready Alphabet, White Daisy
flower brads and cardstock, Crystal Blue ink, Journaling Jots stamp set.
Other: rub-ons, stickers, patterned paper and cardstock.

This page was made from a Reflections pattern. Unfortunately I don't remember which one. We were trying to get the perfect Christmas photo, in 2007 (see how behind I am?), to send in our cards. It took 2 sittings and a lot of bad shots to get one where Nathaniel wasn't crying and Arianna was actually looking at the camera.

This next layout was made for Helen Onulak's scrapbooking challenge. Each week she posts a pattern from one of our books and we create layouts using it. Check out the new one here. This was the first time I participated. The layout was from Imagine, Creative Team, pg. 104-105. Finally another page done for Nathaniel's album.

Close To My Heart products: Lazy Days of Summer Level 2 paper pack, White Daisy, Crystal Blue and Black cardstock, Journaling Jots and Friendship Alpha stamp sets, My Legacy Writers, Heartfelt in Garden Green, Pewter brads, Black Bitty Brads, Journaling Spot, Dimensional Elements alphabet and numbers.
Other: chipboard letter.

Of course I did still have to make a card. I've seen so many great ones made by other consultants and I had to copy this one made by Amy Hervey. I'm trying to use rub-ons on my cards instead of stamped images so this was perfect inspiration.

All products Close To My Heart: Key to My Heart paper pack, Chocolate rub-ons,
Sorbet and Juniper brads, Chocolate ink, 3-D Foam Tape.

And now, I'm starting on my parents' album. I just have to put the laundry in the dryer, feed the kids lunch, put them down for naps, fold the laundry, exercise, prep for a gathering on Thursday... Hmm, maybe tonight?

Happy Creating!

It's July already!!

Happy Canada Day to all of you Canadians reading this! Did you enjoy fireworks? Our kids are still too little, Arianna is actually scared of them, so we just stayed in playing Settlers of Catan with my friend, who now lives with us, and my brother-in-law. It was still a fun way to spend the night.

I can hardly believe that July is here already! Where did June go? I had so many plans for June that I never got around to. So many goals that didn't get reached. Well, it's a new month so a new chance to start again. One of my goals is to start exercising again. There, it's out there, in blog world, for all of you to see. I'll be going to El Salvador with my hubby in February and I don't want to feel uncomfortable and embarrassed in a bathing suit like I was last time we were in Central America. So now that I've told you I guess I'd better stick with it. ;)

A new month means a new challenge. I wasn't sure what to do this month, until I thought about the last card I made for a member of my family. It was a birthday card for my dad. He turned 65 last month! I know that masculine cards can be difficult sometimes. So this is the challenge, make a masculine card. If you're not a card-maker, then make a masculine layout. That might actually be a bit easier!

Here is the card I made for my dad:

All product CTMH: August Stamp-of-the-Month (It's Your Day), Desert Sand Textured cardstock, Colonial White, Twilight, Outdoor Denim, Desert Sand cardstock, Aspen Level 2 paper, Twilight, Desert Sand and Outdoor Denim inks,
Pewter brads and bitty brads, and hemp.

I lifted this card from another consultant, Alisan Smith. She used different colours, but the design is all hers. The finished size is 5x5.

If you participate in this challenge, leave me a comment with a link to your post. I'd love to see what you do. Maybe, just maybe, I'll have a prize again this time.

Just a reminder that Saturday is the last day to sign up for the Unique Card Workshops. See post below for more information.

Happy Creating!