The Name's Bond...Vagabond!

Happy early birthday to meeee!! I got my new Vagabond today, and I must say Tim, you have outdone yourself on this one!! It is AMAZING!! For all of you who think you don't need this because you already have a die cutting machine (like I did), you're wrong!! You soooooo need this! It cuts through chipboard like butter, and you don't have to worry about getting tendonitis from cranking your dies through the manual one...trust me, it's well worth the 275 bucks!! And to top it all off, it's the coolest looking machine EVER! (I swear I'm not getting commission, but I should! lol)

Well it's been over a month since I last posted anything, and I do apologize for that, but we've been sooooo busy in December I can't even believe I had time to breathe!! I did manage to get in a teeny bit of scrapbooking this month, but I'm not sharing it until I get the whole album finished (It's a daily December album), and don't worry, it shouldn't take too long now!

Anyway, I thought I'd share a little of my December with you!

First things first, we always have to have our tree up as close to the first of December as possible, and this year we did it on the second, so we weren't too far off!! It was our first Christmas in our new house, so it was extra special!


This year Ethan is old enough to do quite a few crafts, and he is quite creative and artistic. We made quite a few Christmas crafts this year, but this one is my favourite!


Every year, the church down the road from our house hosts a gingerbread decorating day. It's a fundraiser, it's 5 bucks and you get the house all prepared, plus all the icing and decorations you could ever need! It's pretty amazing! It's definately become a family tradition!


Ethan also performed in his first Christmas concert this year! The kindergarten's stood up on stage and sang songs and did actions to go with the songs. When there were no actions for the songs, Ethan made his own up and decided to play air guitar! It was pretty stinkin cute!


Of course, we also have Ethan's hockey every weekend too...


Then two days before Christmas is Ethan's birthday. We did his party for his school friends on the 15th, so they could all come before school was out for the holidays. Ethan wanted a "Mighty Bean" cake...



And a "Lego Indiana Jones" pinata (which took me about 6 hours to make)


And then, we celebrated Jesus's birthday, and it was Kieran's first time! I also hosted Christmas dinner for the first time!



All in all, it's been a crazy busy month, but one I wouldn't change for anything!
I'm heading to a "Wrestling Day" crop on the 3rd of January, and I'm sooo looking forward to getting some creative time in! (For those of you who aren't from Williams Lake, Wrestling Day is a holiday celebrated in Williams Lake. It's the day after New Year's Day. You know...Boxing Day after Christmas....Wrestling Day after New Year's...lol I know...we're a crazy bunch!

I'm baaack ;) with a super late challenge!

Wow! It's been a while since I've posted anything here! Life has been quite busy these days! My oldest son started hockey in September when school started (and I haven't quite adjusted to having to take Ethan to school every morning, let alone hockey 3 times a week! My youngest son has just started getting his teeth in, and my middle son is just getting over tonsilitis and double ear infections, so sleep has been a little shady, and I guess I was just feeling like I had way too much free time, so we got a puppy! His name is Luca, and he's a Black Lab cross. With what we're not sure, but we think maybe a Border Collie. He's such a good puppy too! I've definately been blessed to have a pup that's calm (most of the time) and really smart! He's 3 months old, and (dare I say) I'm pretty sure that he's almost house trained! So you can look forward to some doggy layouts in the future!


Isn't he cute?!

So, I'm extremely late on this challenge! The rest of the "Seriously Creative Design Team" had this out on monday...I'm working on being a week late on it! The challenge was to do a take on this fab sketch that one of our fellow DT members, Cheri made. I had a bit of a hard time with this sketch. Don't get me wrong, it's a great sketch, but I think it's geared more towards cards, and I am extremely stubborn, and refuse to make a card unless I absolutely have to, so I made a layout...lol, but I tell ya, I almost made a card! I was wracking my brain as to how to create a layout with this sketch. I actually had a dream about what I wanted to do with it. I guess when I don't get a chance to scrapbook enough, I start dreaming about it! lol So, here's my take, I hope it was worth the wait!





here's what I used: Cardstock: Bazzil, PP: Basic Grey-Pyrus collection (freakin LOVE this paper!!), Die Cutting Machines: Silhouette (vinyl cutout), and Quickutz font: Gazebo, Glimmer Mist, and Smootch Spray, Brads: CTMH, letter stickers: Making Memories, punch: EK Success, Copics.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Pumpkins and pure cuteness!

I sooo love the fall! And I was totally feeling like I haven't been doing enough fall pages, so I printed these pics from last year's pumpkin patch, and they are soooo cute! These pics were of Caleb at his first pumpkin patch! He was so teeny there, it's hard to believe that he's walking and talking this year! Time does go by so quickly!




products: I don't know what pp I used for the base, but I used Basic Grey for the strips (I soooo Love this new paper!!) I sprayed some smootch spray and glimmer mist on the pages, and I used distress inks on the pumpkins (both cut with Quickutz), the bling is unknown from Chris's stash. I couldn't find the color I wanted, so I colored it with Copics. (thanks Chris!!), and the alphabet is Katie from Quickutz too. Hope you like it!

It's a quick post today...I'm feeling kinda sick and I think I'll be off to bed soon...have to get up ridiculously early to take Ethan to hockey in the morning! ugh!

Finally! Tara's birthday card!

Well, I finally got Tara's birthday card done! It only took me almost 2 months to get to it!! I hope she thinks it's worth the wait! here it is:





I used papers from a basic grey 6x6 pack, I used alcohol inks on the flower and the button. the stamp is from magenta and used perfect pearls on it. I also painted teh butterflies with Glimmer Glam the fab new sparkly paint from Tattered Angels. the little pins came with my stamp of the month last month from Creative Accents, and I have no idea who makes them! I used a quickutz die cut for the label, and the sentiment was from CTMH. The felt design in the back is from Prima, the Valerie Foster collection (I won these from Valerie Foster's Blog ! She's so sweet, she even sent me a hand made card with it too! They're border felt designs, so I cut it in half and the original color was cream colored, so I sprayed it with 3 or 4 different glimmer mist colors until I got the color I loved!

Well Tara, I hope you like it! I dropped it off for you at Creative Accents today!
have a good night all!

Some fun family pics, and a Page Maps Challenge

Well I finally cut Caleb's hair, and I must say that I'm kinda sad about his curl being gone, but tonight as I was looking back at his long hair, I definitely love his haircut now! He was starting to look a little shaggy...and I had a few people say to me "so you have 2 boys and a girl?" (for those who don't know, I have 3 boys!) So after we came back from Vancouver and my husbands' grandpa kept calling Caleb "her" I decided it was time to give him his first haircut! I was a little worried about how he would sit while I cut his hair, but I must say he did fabulously! He sat so still and just squirted himself in the face with my water bottle the whole time! It's nice cutting kids hair when they sit still...you don't chop your fingers off that way! lol

Ethan and I got outside today and raked up our leaves. I'm really behind on taking fall pics this year, the colors are almost gone! It's making me kind of annoyed that I just haven't had the time to have a great fall photo shoot! But I was happy to get out today and snap a few pics of Ethan jumping in the leaves! He was also such a big help too. He filled a whole pumpkin bag full of leaves all by himself! He's such a good boy! This is off the topic of leaves, but definately worth a mention, because it was pretty stinkin cute: today, after we dropped Chris off at the bus stop to go to work, Ethan asked me if Daddy was still going to be working when he was a grown up. I told him that he would be, and he said "good, because I want to work with Daddy" Isn't that the cutest freakin thing EVER?!?! I love my boys!







This layout is based on a sketch challenge from Pagemaps. I really liked the design of the sketch, but I'm not too crazy about hearts, so I had to change it up a bit and use circles instead. Plus I've been a little obsessed with making grungy paper flowers lately...This layout actually sat on my desk downstairs half done for over a week! I had the idea for it as soon as I saw the sketch, but then when I executed my plan, I didn't like it, so I had to do a complete overhaul, and it took me forever! But I think it was worth it because I'm really happy with it now! Also, I surprised myself and did a lot of stamping on this layout, which kinda makes me happy since I really like to buy stamps, but rarely use them!! Well, enough blabbing, here's my take on this sketch! Hope ya like it too! (btw, this is my first layout of Kieran!! it only took me 5 months! lol)







Supplies: Crate Paper, Basic Grey and random scraps of patterned paper, Bazzil Cardstock, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Glimmer Screens, Spellbinders and Silhouette die cuts, Tim Holts stamps and Distress Inks, CTMH brads, and one adorable baby pic!!

Thanks for stopping by!! I hope it was worth your while!

Freebie and a Sincere Request

Over at Dustin Pike's Blog he's giving away these SUPER CUTE Free Images!! He is asking this time for a donation of 1 dollar to help a family who has had some intense, serious heartbreak and they're experiencing something right now that I couldn't even imagine having to go through...I have tears streaming down my face right now as I think about what that family is going through right now. I know that money is tight for everyone, but I urge you to go and please check out this site and help with whatever you can...Money is tight for us too, but I like to think that you get what you give, and you will be blessed just knowing that you can help this family, because money should be the last thing they should have to worry about right now. When you go to check out on paypal for this freebie, you can buy as many as you'd like, and I totally understand if you can only buy 1, but a dollar can make a big difference! And you still get these cutie pie digis!



I am sending my prayers out to this family, I hope you all do too!
Thanks

125 Sketches Guest Reveal at Creative Scrappers!!!

Well, today's the day! I've been holding onto this Layout for a while now, because I wasn't allowed to reveal it until today when my interpretation of this sketch was revealed at Creative Scrappers.



They're having a big celebration there in honor of their 125th sketch so there's big prizes for taking part in it!! So if this sketch inspires you and you create a page based on this sketch, go over to Creative Scrappers and add your layout. You never know, you could be the winner!!

So, here's my take on the sketch:


I can't remember what PP I used, I've been a little obsessed with making these paper "flowers" if you will, I like this version though, because they're not really flowery, so they can be used on boy layouts without them looking too girly! lol. I used my silhouette to cut out the circles, bracket and the title, and I used a CTMH stamp for the checklist I painted a border on the picture with paint from Making Memories and I think that's about all the details! Hope you like it!
PS: Don't forget to go to Scrapbooks Etc. and vote for my layout in the Inkadinkadoo contest!!

Inkadinkadoo Finalist!!!

I was selected as a finalist in the Inkadinkadoo Creative Contest. It was to use a stamp in a creative way on a layout. I think you win like 1200 bucks in inkadinkadoo stuff!!! So if you love me, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Go Here and vote for me every day until Halloween!! I will be forever in your debt if you do!! and who knows...if I win, I might be willing to share my winnings in the form of some candy!!!!! Please vote every day!! (because you have nothing better to do! lmao!!) I know you're all busy, but I would love you forever if you do!!!! thanks!!!!

PS: this is the layout that I won the finalist spot for:

Don't forget to VOTE!!!!

Another Birthday Blog Hop! Happy Birthday Cheri!!

So it's another one of the girl's birthdays from the Seriously Creative DT today, and we had so much fun doing the surprise Blog Hop for Tara's birthday, we decided to do one for Cheri too!! Happy Birthday Girl!!

So if you've just wandered in here and you want to join in on the hop, head on over to the start at Janet's blog. If you're already hopping along, you should've come here from Eulanda's blog.

So, my mother in law has a tradition in her house that on someone's birthday (if we're having a birthday dinner for them or something) everyone goes around the table and says something nice about the person. Not just because it's their birthday. It has to be genuine. I think I've decided that I like this tradition, and I'm going to adopt it into my family traditions, so I might as well start here: Cheri, you are insanely talented in your craft, your creations inspire and amaze me every time I see them! You have a very kind and giving spirit too! I hope you have an amazing day!! I wish I could make it to lunch with you ladies, but I'll definately stop by to drop off my card for ya!

Well, without further adieu, here's my card!








I know that Cheri really likes pink, so for this card I pulled out all my pink stuff (which was suprisingly a lot considering it's definatley not my fav color and I have 3 boys!) I sprayed a white lace ribbon with pink glimmer mist, I also used glimmer mist on the "grass" and on some of the paper. I used the quickuts clouds border die to cut the "grass". the stamps are CTMH and ink is Distress Ink. Cardstock is Bazzil, and PP is basic grey, crate paper and some random stuff from my stash. bling is from the dollarama.

I hope you enjoy all the talented ladies' cards on this hop, and if you didn't plan on hopping, you should!! Please hop on over to Teila's blog next, and don't forget to finish off the hop at Cheri's blog, and wish her a happy birthday!!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Birthday Cheri!!!

up coming stuff!!

i promise there will be something fun here soon!! trust me! tomorrow maybe!!

I'm sorry there's been nothing new happening here lately. I've had kind of a wicked cold, and I'm still trying to get used to my son going to school (which means I have to wake up at 6:30am to get everyone out the door on time). But I promise there will be new things to come very soon! A friend of mine is coming over tomorrow night for a little scrap time! So, stay tuned!!

Naughty Things...

It's raining, and storming here and my husband took my oldest son camping today! I really hope the weather clears up for them, but for me, I'm kinda liking it! It just makes me want to cuddle up with a hot cup of coffee, light some candles, and watch the new Grey's Anatomy (which is what I'm doing right now, as my two youngest are sleeping!)
I was trying to think of all these things that I could do with my time right now. I've got a layout on the go, I could work on that...I could clean my house (yuk), or I could watch Grey's and write on my blog! So, I guess you've figure out what I chose to do with my free time! I must say, the coffee is fab! lol

I did this layout a couple weeks ago, before I went away to Vancouver to see Hedley (which was pretty awesome, minus the rain!) I crammed 3 double page layouts and a single into 3 nights so I could qualify for a challenge at my favourite LSS to do a double layout every week in the summer...It was due before I left for the Coast, so I got em all done, and it was totally worth it, because I WON!! I won a 50 dollar gift certificate to Creative Accents! I was so excited, and I totally need to go buy a lottery ticket now, because my husband just came home from work on Wednesday morning with 50 bucks that he won at work too! I think we might have some horse shoes up our butts or something! LOL

Anyway, I'm blabbing now! This LO is of my middle son Caleb doing his first naughty thing! The journaling says something about how little I knew then about how many naughty things there were to come with Caleb! lol he's definately my little challenge, but I love him to death!!






Here's the deets: I used Bazzil cardstock (brown and craft), I can't remember the PP I used, letter stickers are Cosmo Cricket, alphabet is Quickutz Espresso, chipboard letters are from Crate, border punch EK Success, I had cut the heart and painted it with Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint, I used paper towel and sprayed it with blue and green glimmer mist and crumpled it together a bit until it dried, buttons are random, also used distress inks.
thanks for stoppoing by!

My Sistah in Law

I just love this pic of my Sister in Law! She always says she's not photogenic, and I keep telling her that no one is when they squish up their faces and try to hide from the camera! lol When she actually lets her picture get taken, she looks quite beautiful :)
Here's the deets: I used Making Memories paint (mixed it with water so it would flick easier onto my paper), I painted the edges of the picture with white paint too. I cut the pic into 4 to give it a little funk. The papers I used are bazzil cardstock, and coredinations, the pp is crate and an unknown. Flowers are prima :) I also used a Tim Holtz texture fade (love those things!)



thanks for stopping by!

Creative Accents Fall Challenge and Blog Hop!!!

All right everyone it's Challenge Time at Creative Accents, and once again we're going to kick it off with another Blog Hop! There are some amazingly creative ladies on the Seriously Creative Design team that are joining in to kick off the Challenge and I can't wait to see what everyone has in store for the hop!!

The challenge is pretty simple!

Create any paper based project and include:
A- Alphabet (letters or words in any form)
B- Bling (pearls or gems and other blingy things)
C- Chipboard (letters, shapes, or whatever you've got in your stash)

Your project can be any theme, but if you want 'extra credit' make it an Autumn or Halloween project :)

This challenge is open to participants until October 15 at midnight. You can enter using the linky gadget at the Creative Accents blog and/or by bringing your project in to display in the store! The prize (randomly chosen from all challenge participants) will be a surprise package of goodies from all of our ABC categories worth at least $30!

We'll also be selecting another random winner from those who:
1- comment on posts along the hop and
2- are a follower of Creative Accents' blog
You do not have to comment on every post along the way, but this will increase your chances of winning a surprise ABC gift worth at least $15! Plus these ladies are amazing artists and it's just plain nice to show em some love!! So don't forget to tell them all how fab they are on their blogs!!

So now, on with the hop!! If you just wandered in here and want to join in the hop, you can start over at the ever so talented Tara's Blog. If you're already hopping along, you should've come from the fabulously creative Carla's Blog .

So here's my take on the challenge. When I heard that we were doing a fall challenge, I couldn't wait to start scrappin some Halloween pics! I absolutely LOVE Halloween and I've been getting into it lately, specially with this crisp fall air we've been having! These pics are from my sister's first Halloween party she had back in 2008. I'm starting to realize that I'll never be one of those scrappers that is actually scrapping pics from the present time! lol I figure as long as I'm getting them done, it doesn't matter how long it takes me!
I used a couple different (A's) Alphabets in this LO, for the "Sparkler" I used the Katie Grande font, and the "Scavanger Hunt" part of the title actually uses both the "A" and the "C" in the ABC Challenge. I used chipboard alphabet stickers by Cosmo Cricket. The (B) Bling I used is some unknown bling I bought from Creative Accents like 2 years ago! I'm not a huge user of bling (probably because I have 3 boys that I primarily scrap about!)...but lately I've been wanting to use it a bit more and I thought it was perfect for this layout! For the (C) Chipboard I used some chipboard accents from Imaginisce. They actually came in a paper pack that had chipboard shapes to match the stickers in it, so you could use the stickers with the chipboard, or without. Kinda fun :) So that's the ABC's of that layout! The patterned papers I used are all from Imaginisce except for the main PP which is from Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland (LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS PAPER!!!) I also used the Cosmo Cricket Core Impressions cardstock too (this stuff is really fun to play around with too!)
Additional Supplies: Stickles (more bling!), QK special delivery set (stitching die and scallop die), Distress Inks, edge distresser and thread.
I hope you enjoy this Layout as much as I do!! I had a lot of fun making it too!







Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog! Now it's time to hop on over to the AMAZINGLY talented Eulanda's Blog. Don't forget to leave some love for everyone for your chance to win a prize!!! Thanks for hopping with us!!

Cuteness

Well, I found my battery charger for my camera in the glove box of my van. Good place for it eh?! lol Just in time too, because Creative Accents is going to be doing another blog hop on monday, so stay tuned for that! I was scrappin up a storm last week to finish a challenge of doing a double page layout every week for the whole summer. It was due on the 11th of september, and I finished like 3 doubles and a single in 3 nights! So, now I'm taking a little break (I hate to admit it, but it was starting to feel a little like work!) I have been feeling the urge to get back at it the last couple days, but I've been pretty tired. My oldest son started kindergarten last week, and I've been getting used to having to get up early again! Maybe tomorrow I'll make it downstairs to do some scrappin!

This is one of the layouts I finished for that challenge. It's my middle son Caleb when he was around 2 or 3 months...I have to admit that I don't know how old he was there (I have to look it up on the computer one of these days), but he is stinkin cute isn't he? lol




The papers are Crate paper, and Bazzil cardstock, I used glimmer mist, and distress inks, the flower is from the quickutz special delivery gift set, and so is the alpha (Katie Grande).
Thank you for taking the time to come and check out my little blog spot :)