Warm Fuzzy {{{HUGS}}}

If you are a long time reader here you know me and my crush on the gorgeous Leica Forrest. We actually grew up in the same area, attended the same school functions, went to the same youth group/church functions. Weird hey? Small, small province. So a few years back we hooked up again (such a blessing!) and ever since then my scrap life has been rowdy as a hurricane. This lady has some causes, let me tell ya. And I am always up for a challenge. So this morning I was perusing Facebook (shocking, I know) over my coffee (that I'm not supposed to drink) and saw that the fair Leica had a call out for help. Not just any help. 180+ pages worth of help. YIKES! She was 9 books short on her project for the peds unit at our local hospital and would never dream of sending over the donated books if she didn't have enough for every single child. Well she needn't have fretted because the Saskatoon scrapbookers busted it out in rare style. Kags and Jenn and their gals pumped out 60! Can you believe that? Janet in her magical way, waved her wand and did up 113. No, you didn't blink. The lady did 113 pages today. Because Leica needed it. That's Janet. What a doll. I know Pam was busy too...getting ready for a family vacation (pretty sure they leave tonight or tomorrow) and she did 30! Wow, I am SO freakin' impressed! I myself got in a books worth (20 layouts) and was SO pleased with the results. I didn't have time to photograph them...I was literally gluing on the last star when Leica dropped by to get them. But I still had to blog about it. Leica, if I have missed anyone here please give a shout out. Every single person who dropped their to do list to create those 8x8 layouts today deserves a hug and a Christmas kiss! I am so humbled by all the generosity we have in our scrapbooking circle. Saskatoon and area has some very classy ladies. And I am so blessed to call them my friends. xo

CMHA and a little Christmas Craftiness

When we moved back to town I was surfing Kijiji (LOVE that little gem) and came across an ad asking for a volunteer scrapbook teacher. And I thought to myself, "Self, YOU volunteer. YOU scrapbook. YOU have 19 boxes of amazing donations that you could bless others with." So "myself and I" gave Sandy Stotz a call at the Canadian Mental Health Association. What a sweet, sweet lady. I started with them back in September and we have done some wonderful projects. Like these exploding boxes:

Now that particular creation isn't my own. The pattern I used last Mother's Day was too large to do with a big class so I lifted this pattern off this fab blog Glitter Adventure. The dimensions were perfect and not too overwhelming for a beginner. They turned out great!

CMHA also threw my profile up on their website. Check it out HERE. I'm super excited to begin our "All About Me" scrapbooks in January. Up to this point, I have taught them cards and single class projects to get everyone used to the process. In January we break out the scrapbooks!

With all the cleaning, shelf-making and organizing going on in my scrap space I think my art stuff is calling me today. Even though I have more baking to do, the elctrician coming at 4pm, children to entertain and a workout to manage. I can fit in some creativity, right? It wouldn't be a good day without it! Go have a good day! xo

Create on a budget (aka the "I hate money" post)

Ok, so I don't actually hate money. I am frugal enough that we can live on one income and I shouldn't complain about that. Life is great and we are blessed. But I do whine {on occassion} about my lack of extra money for all of those yummy crafting supplies that call my name when I wander the aisles at several stores in town (oh who am I kidding...in town, out of town, online...). I mean come on...if you won the lottery {besides paying off your house} where is the first place you'd go for a huge splurge? Scrapbooking. Supplies. I actually get a little shiver even dreaming about it. So a lot of the time I have to settle for trying to repurpose what I already have. I am no crafting genius {I leave that to my friends!} but I was so super impressed with myself for this little gem I had to blog it. My oldest son wanted to decorate his room with popcorn strings which was great...I had several cups of stale popcorn kernels just waiting to be strung. But I thought...how can I make this cooler? And that started a journey that ended in a mess. And that's just how I like it! Start with air popping your kernels. Do not add butter (even if this does go against every fiber of your being) Try to stop the little fingers from eating it...go ahead, I dare ya. You just might lose an arm.

Use quilting thread so it won't break. Be careful not to poke yourself.

String popcorn until your back hurts and your fingers are numb. Then continue for just a few minutes more. Until it looks like this. Oooorrrr maybe until you get sick and tired of stabbing yourself and you cut the thread, deciding that that is long enough. Um yeah, it just may have happened like that at my house.

Ok, for this next part I have no photos because it was super SUPER {deliciously} messy and I didn't want to bring my camera anywhere near that. So you'll have to settle for a rather loose description. The background info being I thought it would look much cooler if the popcorn was coloured. So I went through my card catalogue brain on all the possible ways to colour it without making it melt. Because popcorn does that. Wet+popcorn=goopy mess. I finally settled on Glimmer Mist! GENIUS! So I laid out a towel on my work surface, put plastic bags on top of that and sprayed to my little hearts content. It was grand. At the end though...there was a huge puddle of glimmer mist floating on the bags. And I absolutely could not waste it. {Refer to the opening of this post} so I took care of another thing on my holiday to do list by dipping a whole bunch of tagsinto the puddles. (the ones you can pick up at Staples for less than $5 for a box of 100) They came out beautifully and now I have some holly jolly red tags to attach to every single gift we are giving this year. I'm going to stamp the recipient's name on it in black ink and handwrite on the back who is from. Oh, and the popcorn strings turned out great too, don't you think? It looks like cinnamon popcorn. Oh shoot...making that is on my holiday list too. Must get on that!

You can make it as light or as dark as you want just make sure you spray it and don't dip it. I found that I had to keep moving the string on the table so it didn't soak in the puddle or it became so saturated it just looked black. If you were really energetic, you could pre-spray the popcorn in old bowls, lay it out to dry and then string it with alternating colours. Maybe next year. xox

Is it Spring yet?

Guess who got a very important e-mail this week?! Woo hoo! Be sure to pick up the Spring 2010 edition of Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine. Darn I looooove seeing my art in print!
I've been creating more and more...in between cleaning the scrap space. I have insane photos to share here later in the week. They are not to be believed. I'm shocked the children survived. If we had a cat, we would have lost it for sure. LOL
Like vintage tags? I do! I'm SO surprised I didn't set the smoke alarm off with these. Ever played with fire in your scrapbook room? You should try it sometime. It freaked the Hubs right out. Tee hee. Burn some paper, melt some wax. It helps you forget that it's -31 outside. xo

Well...at least it hasn't been a month...

Ok ok...long time no blog. I know. But SO much happens at this time of year and I am not talking about Christmas shopping (that's done). On to more important endeavors! I am wrapping up a circle journal rotation (SO FUN) and of course following the 12 Tags of Christmas by the one and only Mr. T!m Holtz. I seriously love his techniques. I really, really need to get over to Staples today and get more tags. But I digress...

Remember back in the summer when I had my little rant about the rude woman in the line-up at Starbucks? No, of course you don't because you have far more important things to keep in your head than my rants! LOL You can read about it HERE to refresh your memory. Well, true to the natural course of my life shortly after I posted that all medical heck broke loose in our extended family and the rest of the summer was spent putting the art aside and taking care of ours. Fall led into some catching up around the house and yard and by the time November rolled around I was ready to dive in again. Head first. No goggles. I have proof, you should see my scrap room. So I finally, finally got something 100% amazing created for Danya at Starbucks and I will drop it off to her tomorrow. I hope she likes it.

Go cut up a Starbucks cup and make something out of it...the red Christmas ones are SO adorable. Happy scrapping! xo

In honour of a friend

Many local readers may have heard the story of Dallas and Krissy Martens and the tragedy that struck their family this Fall. The Hubs and I hung with Dallas in highschool. Character doesn't even begin to describe him. After marriages and mini vans come along you don't get together much at all but we still ran in the same circle of friends. The same friends who rallied together when we learned of Dallas's death and the horrific circumstances that Krissy was now in. Please go to Leica's blog to read the full story. The big Saskatchewan Scraps event is this weekend and the lovely Hollie Logue has put together a bake sale to help raise money for a wonderful project that Krissy is heading up in Roatan. Please take the time to read the details on Leica's blog, it is such a worthy cause. Definitely worthy of putting some calories on the ole behind and buying up all the baking the girls are pumping out. So be there. Tomorrow and Saturday. Mother Theresa School in Saskatoon. The scrapbooking event is by registration only so if you want to come and sit and scrapbook for a few hours (oh, ok, I am planning for 21 if I must tell the truth) you have to sign up and all the information is HERE. But if you want to come, buy up some baking, support Krissy's Lifebooks project and have a chat it is completely free of charge to get in the door. We'd love to see you there!

Are you ready?

Canadian Scrapbooker Spring call in T-minus 8 days. And counting. Always counting...why can't time just stand still for a little while so I can get the housework done??? Then the clock can start again so I can spend all afternoon scrapbooking! My perfect world. Well, if you haven't seen this yet, it's time to get crackin' people!

Canadian Scrapbooker wants to see and publish your work. If you have an unpublished, original layout that you want to share with others across Canada, please send it to us! It’s simple. Below you’ll find a quick guide on how to submit your work. Call For SPRING – Deadline November 15, 2009
We are currently looking for pages in the below themes:
Layouts that use the colour VIOLET
Layouts using tissue paper
Layouts inspired by Ukrainian Easter eggs
Spring is in the air
Layouts using vintage tags
Easter
Layouts inspired by nursery rhymes
We are also looking for that perfect photo for our Spring 2010 cover. If you have a photo that you have taken and you feel it would look fantastic on our magazine cover, please send it to us!

There is SO much talent in this province...let's show them what we've got! It is SO uber simple to send your work in. I dare ya.

Busted

I questioned whether to post this or not. It brings up really, really painful memories for me. Not only painful, but embarrassing. Not only embarrassing...but expensive. But I had to scrap it. It's a bit busy but I like the collage-y feel. Honestly, I don't remember this happening at all but obviously it did. A picture is worth a thousand words. And the story is 100% true. It did happen on my first day back in town and they really did deliver it to Hub's office. Welcome to Toon Town!

Just sweet boy stuff. Because I have sweet boys.

Sometimes stuff can be simple. Most of the time I am of the mind that to be good and satisfying, a layout or altered project must take a hundred years to complete with nine thousand seperate steps and have my blood, sweat and tears attached to it. Well, blogging friends, it just doesn't have to be that way. This little gem took me less than 20 minutes to complete from initial idea to ink dry and I LOVE it!
I just grabbed a piece of cardboard, cut it 6x6, distressed it up and smooshed green ink onto it. Then I stapled on these wallet size photos which I am completely smitten with of course. Stamped some green circles with these great circle stamps from My Stamp Box, cut them out, glued them on, covered them with Glossy Accents, stapled on the bit of twill that says "A boy is a joy", used the same for the hanging part (just turned backwards) and Voila! Bathroom wall hanging a la Kate. But I took the picture on the deck because my bathroom light is not very cooperative for getting good photos. It's a little messy and simple and the colours are me. I didn't have to cry, I didn't bleed and it took no time at all. Maybe I am learning something here. xox

Grab a kleenex y'all

When you get frustrated with your kids today...or find yourself saying for the nine hundredth time "get off of me!" watch this. Put yourself back in check. With everyone in the house sick this week I know I had to.
http://www.oprah.com/media/20090924-tows-stephanie-struggle-crash

Enough goofing...how about some scrapbooking?

SO nice to goof around with friends this week on my blog but let's get down to work, shall we? I really have been working. In my amazingly well designed (for me) space that my husband has been diligently working on. It ain't pretty but boy is it functional. Sure, I'd loooove to have a space that is all Ikea matchy-matchy with pretty shelves and jars and many fabric lined baskets but that just isn't in the cards {or the budget} right now so I will settle for re-purposed wood, used brackets and an ugly but totally useable desk with a cool removable work surface. That my husband built with his own 2 hands. As soon as I get everything squared away I have full intentions of posting pictures. And good intentions pave the way to hell. No really, I'll get it done because I have big plans for many, many projects this week. It's exciting to go down to my room and not cringe! A couple projects last week that I didn't hate:

I started out here with a completely blank white chipboard tag and challenged myself to use stamps. I inked it with the teal and pink then tried out some foil along the edges. Never played with foil before...I like it. You may see more of the foil. Then I stamped some snowflakes in VersaMark and used clear embossing powder (picture=no justice). Burned myself with my heat gun (why does that thing get the better fo me every time???) I stamped the cute little birdie and the sentiment in black then coloured said birdie with markers. I think I would maybe change the ribbon colours next time but I had no pink ribbon that I liked. Fastened it on with my new love*, added the silver snowflake sticker and 7Gypsies dangle.

This one I started with a blank sheet of white cardstock. Apparently I need a lesson in blending...that part didn't match my initial vision. Oh well, on with the show. Everything is stamped except for the stiches and handwriting. I never change anything...I just consider it 2 photos down, 9,369 to go.

*New Love= THIS:

I held off for a long while...I mean really, it's just a stapler right? I have lots of sizes of staplers. But OH is it ever SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT! I enjoy making tags and attaching small items to my layouts and the staplers were so flimsy. This thing is like butter. Try it out. You won't be disappointed!

To Catch a Crook

Finally, our cloak and dagger capers have contributed to our cause. We confronted the charm criminal and continued to be cordial.

Courteously asking for this cruel course of crime to cease. It quickly turned crooked and copious amounts of crude, childish fisticuffs ensued.

Char has criminal charisma but we have considerable clout.
Charm victory is ours!
Now to cart her off to where she can never again contrive charm chaos. The poor gal, she needs some Saucy-therapy in her life.

Saucy Strikes Back

Dear Crazy Lady (aka Char if that is indeed your real name because if I were a CHARmed crazed criminal I suppose I would call myself Char),

This is Saucy, who has taken over Kate's blog! Yes, that's right! Saucy knows how to do these things too! The only difference between Char and Saucy is that Saucy uses her powers for good, not for evil! You have met your match, Char (and again Saucy thinks that is an assumed name and your real name is that of a true criminal... perhaps it is Bonnie, Clyde or Martha!)

Saucy demands that you return Kate's bracelet at once! This act of inhumanity will not stand! Normally Saucy does not negotiate with terrorists (and by terrorists she means the average tantrum-throwing three year old) but this case demands a certain type of justice that only Saucy herself can administer!

Therefore, for the next 24 hours there will be, in a (separately disclosed to Kate) secret location, one replacement charm bracelet that Saucy demands you retrieve and then willingly surrender Kate's prize possession to her. If this act is not completed within 24 hours from the time of this post, Saucy will hunt you down and make you over!

Sincerely,
Saucy
aka Your Worst Nightmare

PS. You might want to lay low for a while!
PPS. That means stay clear of Winners!
PPPS. Because that's where Saucy hangs out!
PPPPS. She's got her eye on you!

Char's Crafty Comeback

Apparently you aren't above some criminal corruption yourself Kate. That was a chancy, cold-blooded move my courageous friend. Too bad you were not clever enough to come across your cherished charm bracelet in the ever changing convenient nooks and crannies I have contrived.

Check it out.

I checked out the message from Saucy and comprehend your concern. Medication would be celebrated in my complex condition. I will accept this in the form of cupcakes and charms. Or the bracelet gets chopped.

Kate the Charm Crimebuster

The boys and I are cavorting {somewhat criminally} this cheery Wednesday morning. We are trying to catch up with Char the corrupt criminal who craves charms and cupcakes. Our caper begins cleverly. Are we covert enough to catch this crusader?

The crude credit card method coaxes us into Char's castle.
Confronted by Chloe! Char's cruel {possibly contaminated} cannibal cohort.
We conjure our calm and courteously continue on our way. Can we catch her?

Curses! She's escaped!

We were not covert enough to catch Char and deal her a copious amount of consequences...this time. This corruption shall not continue. We will conquer this charismatic criminal. Stay tuned.

BLOG HELD HOSTAGE BY CRAZED WOMAN IN NEED OF CHARMS AND CUPCAKES

Ooooo, I hope Kate is ok with this!

This is Char. No last name needed as I don't wish to incriminate myself further. As you can see, Kate and I have been friends, oh, forever. And for most of those years I thought she was crazy. She bakes, she scrapbooks, she tells me all about her crafty friends. I can appreciate the work but think WHY? I am on Weight Watchers and *shouldn't* eat cupcakes and I don't like to glue things. Kate makes me scrappy stuff so I don't have to. But I DO love holidays. And all the Martha-ness that goes with them. So I went a little out of my head (probably due to the lack of sugar) when I saw the "Saucy" charm bracelets and cupcakes. I swiped...er...um borrowed said charm bracelet in a Halloween decorating frenzy that left me with a crippling injury(I have had my decorations up for 3 weeks already). Channeling Martha herself, I was precariously perched on a dining room chair reaching high above my head to hang autumn leaves in my entrance when the chair leg slipped off the step and I pitched down the stairs a$$-first. Don't worry, the large bannister post at the bottom broke my fall. No seasonal pun intended there, believe me. It just goes to show what a diehard Halloween decorator I am and mark my words I did not learn my lesson as I will be on the same chair the day after Halloween putting up my Christmas decorations. Sprained toe (which required stitches they couldn't give me), crutches, huge scrape and bruise to match on my back, sore hip, leg bruises, and ego damage not withstanding. So Saucy, you have now offically met the BIGGEST decoration fan out there and I NEEEEEEEED one of your bracelets. Taking Kate's blog hostage was my moment of temporary insanity. As Kate said, everyone needs a little Sauciness in their life. Hope her husband doesn't arrest me for this one. xox

Oh the HUMANITY

WANTED:

The person who stole my gorgeous charm bracelet out from under my nose. Oh, you know who you are. I used to feed your fish and THIS is how you repay me? I know what you look like in the morning lady and I am NOT afraid to reveal those details right here on my blog. Everyone needs a little Sauciness in their life but stealing it is NOT the way. You need to turn yourself in before this gets ugly.

Signed,

Me.

Semi-Charmed Life

Lurrve me some charms. I like little things. They are so...well...little. And that makes me happy. Spent some time with some FAB women today making these FAB Halloween charm bracelets. We are all such overachievers...there are more then 12 charms. Oh was it a blast.

Seriously, no idea why this one is sideways. I didn't even take the photo sideways. Oh well, thanks Blogger.So all puns aside, I do lead a semi-charmed kind of life. I have no idea what Third Eye Blind was thinking when they wrote the song. I have no idea what it is about. (I hope nothing weird). But I love my life...with the good, the bad and the ugly. Semi-charmed. There are a lot of things going on in the world that I don't like or understand. Tear worthy and heartbreaking. But they make me appreciate my friends, my family, my passions that much more. Taking the time to bond with good friends and new friends is chocolate for my soul. Thanks ladies. xo

Wedding Hangover

No, I am not a drinker but the wedding hangover is there. My baby sis is now a Mrs. And boy did we do it in style. I really, really wanted to put a photo on here but didn't want to infringe on the photographer at all so here is the shameless plug for BOB MICHAYLUIK. He made me blush with every second comment but the man knows what he is doing, let me tell ya. He can turn a regular wedding party into a group of supermodels. I can not WAIT to see the rest of the pictures.

Everyone had a FAB time and my sis looked gorgeous. We rocked that wedding party gig. Stay tuned this week for some scrapbook goodness as I think I am going to jump right in to some 6x12. Check out Leica's blog for some inspiration today.

Just Art

My baby sis is getting married this weekend...hence the MIA in blogland. Who reads this blog anyway? Well, regardless of my so-called fan base it's a great record of life, love and art. Here is a layout I did a bit ago but I am SO in love with it. And I thought I would add it to Jennifer Johner's challenge over at KI Memories. You should check it out, the girl oozes talent. And keeping with the quaintness of our province, my sis actually graduated with her. Just goes to show that us small town chicas are a force to be reckoned with.

Can something be TOO pink?

A little cupcake creativeness for a friend's baby shower:

I overloaded the pink a bit BUT made up for it with the filling. Is that...could it be? NO. Did she bake a chocolate chip cookie inside a cupcake??? Yes friends, it's true. No idea where she got the idea but Leica was over a while ago and gave me the lowdown on how to do this. Best. Idea. EVER. Seriously...who wouldn't love a bite of moist chocolate chip cookie tucked inside some frosted cupcake goodness? Wonderful. I have always looooved baking cupcakes. The decorating ideas are endless. But lately I have been especially inspired by Saucy and her never ending stream of Martha-ness that makes me happy. Hop on over to Saucy's Sprinkles and get inspired. Have you baked for your loved ones today? xox

Another Saucy-tini anyone?

But of course! Saturday night I stayed out waaaaay too late carousing with some sweethearts of the blogging world. Did I just hear you snort? We are SO sweet, just never mind. We convened at Saucy's place where she was shakin' her thang in the midst of some a.MAZ.ing cocktails. That girl can mix a cran-tastic drink let me tell ya. I was not partaking of the alcoholic type that night but that didn't slow Saucy down for a second. Virgin Saucy-tini coming up. Sigh. It was wonderful. I mean come ON...who doesn't like a pink drink with floating fruit?!? Sigh me up.

And this is a creation I will be trying (and I use that term loosely) to recreate in the very near future. Brie cheese topped with a mouthwatering combination of brown sugar and berries. Baked on a cedar plank surrounded by toasted buttery bread. Oh you heard me.
I had 3 little golden toast rounds with this concoction on it...felt guilty afterwards and loved every minute of it!

So I do have other photos...but they aren't mine to post and the conversation was too good to bother getting much in focus. I will learn to use this darn camera properly one day, I swear.

These girls are such a riot. We laughed and hollered until the wee hours. I haven't had that kind of raucous good time in a long while. Much needed. Much appreciated! Thanks Saucy girl...you understand the desired Martha-ness of my world and inspire me to create even more good things.

Stop the love. Oh my word. {Don't worry...you aren't supposed to get that. But I bet Karen just burst out laughing.}

Share the love, don't just throw it in the trash

For those of you who don't know, I started a free scrapbooking class for underprivileged children when we lived in the North. I also used my own supplies to teach card classes to 150 gradeschoolers for every single holiday. That went on for over a year before some friends and internet acquaintences started sending me donations of scraps. Then Leica Forrest's layout Girl With A Cause was featured in the winter 07/08 edition of Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine and boxes started rolling in from all over the country. That is how my classes stay afloat. I am now volunteering with the Boys and Girls Club and soon to be with the Canadian Mental Health Association as a scrapbook teacher. I certainly don't get paid and we don't have a budget. I am forever trying to come up with creative ideas using little product or using my own money to augment our stash. So you can imagine how enraged I was when I saw this:

But Kate...why are you showing a big pile of garbage covered in pink paint??? That is pink paint...but it's not garbage. It's many, many, MANY packages of very sought after Heidi Swapp/Advantus scrapbooking product. And this is just what Lauren Ferguson was able to rescue from a dumpster at a scrapbooking show in the States. She and 3 of her dedicated friends brought it home, cleaned it up and donated it to worthy causes. Bless your hearts ladies. You are a shining example at a time when apparently SOME people (namely large companies who deem this stuff garbage) need a lesson in charity. Not to mention reduce, reuse, recycle. For the full story GO HERE and check out Lauren's blog. Show her some love! I will have to think very seriously if I will continue to support companies who have such ignorant and apathetic attitudes. Put some effort in people. The scrapbooking world is not going to stand for this.

Spoiled in real life AND in blogland!

I won this bit of scrapbooking heaven on Vicki Boutin's blog this week!!!

Vicki will be at Saskatchewan Scraps this November (are YOU signed up?!? CLICK HERE) and I am SO excited to meet her.
She is teaching an amazing 7Gypsies class that will for sure be the highlight of my day. Ok, who am I kidding? It will be the highlight of my year. I took a 7Gypsies class back in March in Calgary. Soooo, it will be my biggest highlight since then. Besides the whole baby-is-walking-and-talking thing. A girl's got to have priorities, right? LOL

I am actually thinking about Christmas right now...I have had a Christmas album idea in my head since my oldest son was born. He's turning 5 in the Fall. I know, hey? Look up "Scrap Procrastinator" in the dictionary and THERE I AM. So when I saw these on Vicki's blog they immediately went into my save file. To be scraplifted later. Isn't she FAB?



So thank-you SO MUCH Vicki! I will be stalking the postman now. I'm sure he appreciates that. {NOT} The poor guy...ever since my first publication last year, he doesn't even walk up the driveway anymore. He just stands on the sidewalk with his arm out hoping it doesn't get ripped off in the process. Hey, everyone has to have a hobby. Even if it involves traumatizing the mail guy.