WHO KNEW?

Who knew how hard it was to get eyeliner on a 4 year old? Not me. But let me tell you, it is near impossible!! Painting his nails black however, was much simpler than I thought....

Meet my son. The Rock Star.

And now see him doing his best Rock Star impression after I told him that Rock stars don't say cheese but are grumpy...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE !

I am old...and a SOTW!

Howdy ho scrappy friends!
So I have finally recovered from my fabulous trip to Fredericton... and have discovered that I am discovering that I am old...yep. old. dang it.

5 days. 24 hours of sleep. tired. tired. tired.

But SUPER FUN! Those APOS girls really know how to have a fun time! The canvas class was fabulous and the retreat was fantastic! Thanks so much to Alissa @ APOS - what a treat to join in your fun! And if anyone in Edmonton (and Fort Saskatchewan doesn't count) can tell me where in this city I can find a donair panzerotti like the one I had in Fredericton, I would be grateful FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been super busy since I got back - my baby turned 3, the LSS had a weekend crop, and I had a Glimmer Mist class tonight. So I am hoping to wind down a bit as November is looking just as busy! My son's playschool has an all weekend crop on November 20 and 21st and then I have one at Creative Scrapbooks on November 27 and 28! Send me an email if you want any details!

And finally....the SOTW! Would love to see some play-alongs! Have a great week!

I wish I was singing...

I wish I was singing a couple of different songs....like maybe
Summer Loving had me a bl-ast...because then maybe I wouldn't notice THE SNOW OUTSIDE! (insert grumpy face here).

Or maybe I wish I was singing...
All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go ........

But the little problem with that is... MY BAGS ARE NOT YET PACKED (insert panicky face here)

But the good news is that I can sing the other part of that song !!

I'm leavin' on a jet plane (insert happy face here!).

Because the count down is on and I am getting on an airplane and heading to New Brunswick tonight to hang out with some scrappy peeps this weekend! A PILE OF SCRAP! was oh so generous and is flying me out for the retreat AND I get to teach a couple of classes while I'm there! I am looking forward to seeing some of the gals again and meeting some new ones. It will be a HOOT, I am sure of it!
Until then, my chickies, I'm outta here!!

I'm such a cheater?

Okay.....so for those of you that don't know how crazy (aka dumb) I am, I signed up for LOAD with Lain. This means I need to do a layout a day and post it before midnight.... Right. This also means that my scrap area needs to be clean enough every day for me to sit down and do said layout. Right..... I was doing well with it......but then I had to get my class projects up at the LSS and well...that kinda blew the whole clean scrap area right outta the water....... so

I got a brilliant idea.... since I already do a sketch of the week using Photoshop, why not do a few digi-layouts?!

And so this is where I feel like a cheater.... but isn't cheating supposed to make things easier?! Because let me tell you, this didn't make things any easier for me! Sure, I can continue avoiding cleaning up the scrap area but man oh man does it make the process HARD! H...A...R...D!

I will blame this on two things:
1. I really like the texture of real-life scrapbooking. I like adding the layers and the ribbons and the buttons and the whatever else I can find. If I had time to download all the digi stuff, I know I could add a boatload but for right now, I have a few files and somehow they just aren't floating my boat as much as I would like.
2. I like techniques...a lot. I like grunging it up with ink... or spraying it with glimmer mist....or adding dimensional pearls...or (are you getting the idea yet?).

But, I shall persevere. The great thing about LOAD is it is getting me to scrap pictures that I have been meaning to get to and haven't. When I scrap in real life, there is always some sort of rush to get pictures developed and now I am going through old files and finding the ones that I loved but just never got around to developing. And the 0ther great thing? The inspiration! Not only from all the other scrapper's works, but their words AND Lain (and I think Tami too??) send out a great email every day to get me thinking and ready to create. I love it!

I love it so much, I may even be brave enough to do it again! (although feel free to ask me this at the end of the month!)

And without further chitty-chatty, here are the three digi layouts I have done so far - honest opinions welcome!

SEPTEMBER DT REVEAL @ APOS!

Yikes September sure got away on me! We were given a beautiful package from A PILE OF SCRAP! this month with Bo Bunny's Calypso line, Heidi Swapp masks and invisible paper, and a Prima stamp. However, this month there was a twist as we were all informed that we could do anything other than altering items or 12 x 12 layouts! I really thought that the paper just screamed mini-album to me but I just ran out of time...but do hope to do one up soon!

The first layout I did was a 11.5 x 8 layout which seem to be all the rage lately. I have to admit that they are not my favourite but I think that may be due to the fact that we always do them for my kids' playschool albums at the end of the year and we always have to keep them fairly simple as we have a budget....however, when you have freedom to do whatever, it actually is fun!
MOMENT - I used the Bo Bunny paper on the right and the Heidi Swapp mask on the left and again on the corner of the photo. And I have to say just how much I love this particular Thickers font - isn't it beautiful? I think I need more!!!

And because I am a last minute kind of girl, I did these next two items today.... I had seen a layout in an old scrap mag that was hanging out in my bathroom last night and when I sat down to do one this morning, I had an email from the LOAD team telling me to go scraplift something...so I did! Really this layout doesn't much resemble the original but the one thing that stuck in my head was the ribbon through the photograph so that was what got lifted! The original layout is by Shelley Laming in Creating Keepsakes July 06 edition. I tried to find her blog but no luck so far? If anyone knows of it, please send it to me so I can give her a link.
NERD BIRD - a few scraps, some beautiful ribbon by Jilliebean Soup and some Smooch added to some dollar store foam letters. Simple yet I like the overall look!

And last but oh so not the least....

I finally got over my chicken-itis and did a canvas! I had it all thought out in my head....but trying to find chicken wire this morning was impossible so my idea changed a little bit.......but I am thrilled with the outcome!

This canvas has so much Glimmer Mist, paint and ink on it that I think it may have gained a few pounds! I added some masks and brushes to the photos in Photoshop, the black mesh is from a screen door replacement kit (because apparently people only buy chicken wire in 25 foot rolls!), the silver piece was in Michael's as I was wandering the aisles trying to find something to appease my chicken wire dream (it was in the jewelry making section-this is the back side of it as the front was way too shiny), the heart is Riff Raff (did I mention how much I LOVE Riff Raff??), a couple of eyelets and twine and believe it or not, that paper is from the Calypso line (it is amazing how grungy you can make things!) and was almost a florescent green when I first started! It is now hanging on my wall and I think canvases could become my new obsession!

Be sure to check out Cheryl's beautiful round wedding layout, Valerie's stunning mini album made from the Heidi Swapp invisible paper, Jen's gorgeous star album, Candace's funky and inspiring canvas, and Vicki's inspiring 8.5 x 11 layouts - great job ladies! Hope you enjoyed the reveal - have a great week!!

DEAR LAIN

This is an open letter to my dear friend Lain - CEO of Ella Publishing/creative marvel/phenom writer/inspiration giver over at LOAD

Dear Lain
I hope this day finds you well. I wonder if you are able to find this email in amongst the massive emails you have been receiving lately.... I am writing to apologize for my part in that.

You see Lain, when you moved to the other side of the country, you dashed my hopes of inviting you up to my frozen part of the country. Gone were my crazy ideas of maybe meeting up with you at a crop one day..... and so I decided to settle with reading your blog (daily...in hopes of an update) and admiring your works of art. I thought about signing up for your last LOAD but I was scared that I would sign up and be the only one that didn't complete the daily part and I hate disappointing people.... I was thrilled when you announced you had a kit coming out - and decided to break my "I'll never buy a kit" motto, thrilled with the goodies that arrived in the box! Your Snippets book sits by my bedside table and I read it often when I have a deadline looming and need to remember the fun side of scrapbooking. I spoke often with my friend Alissa who owns A PILE OF SCRAP! telling her how jealous I was that you now lived closer to her. I actually panicked at the thought that you may one day decide to go for a little drive and wander into her store and she would get to meet you first. Panicked. And then...

They invited me back for a crop in New Brunswick. I was so excited to go back and meet the ladies again and then it hit me. Lain. She would be thisclose. THISCLOSE. Sooooooooooo why not invite her? So I calmly sent you an invitation...and then checked with Alissa to make sure it was okay... good thing it was because when you sent back a request for more information, it was all I could do to contain my excitement!!!!!!! And then, after contemplating LOAD, I was actually lucky enough to win a spot from Tami.....surely it was a sign??!!

And so here comes the apology part....... I got really excited..... SUPER DOOPER EXCITED.... so I kinda let it slip on our scrappy forum.... and kinda encouraged the gals to tell you how wonderful the store is and how much fun the retreat would be.....and I think you know what happened from there. Can you feel the excitement?!

But the good news out of all of this is....... I am vowing here and now to behave myself. I won't hide under your scrap table and jump out with my camera to take pictures. I won't follow you around the entire weekend so that you may wonder where exactly the lake is to push me in. You won't even know I'm there (okay...once we get past the meeting part. Could you give me half an hour to get over it?!).

I realize you have a lot on your plate. Family makes it hard for us to get away sometimes so I do understand that. If you need any help persuading anyone else in your family, let me know and I'm sure we could [strike] send emails their way [/strike] find some sort of exclusive Canadian goodies to send home with you to help make up for it - have your kids ever had Smarties? Or an Aero bar??

I hope this letter will help you to forgive me and my craziness (ok, slightly stalking-ish). I must run as I need to get a layout done for LOAD before I head into work this evening...would hate to be the only one who didn't get day 2 done! Oh, and this is just to help you have a great day: