And with a broken wing, she still sings

My little niece broke her arm last week falling off the monkey bars at school. :o( And the only thing she had to say about it was a) She didn't fall...she was trying to skip the first bar and jump to the second one and b) "Auntie, my cast is so UGLY!". Did I mention that my little Poopsie has been my princess-in-training since the day she was born? So me, being the amazing Auntie that I am, broke out all my scrapbooking bling and went to town with a Sharpie marker and some rub-ons. It's amazing what a little Glossy Accents and rhinestones will do for a 7 year old's attitude about breaking her elbow and fracturing her wrist. This is just the first installment...it's all she could sit still for at the moment. I'll be adding to this for sure.
In other news, I was on hand for the amazing Elton John concert! The hubs and I went as an early anniversary gift to each other (6 years this month!). Left both boys at home with a sitter for the first time. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa L. I could sit back and enjoy it far more this time around...saw him for the first time a couple of years ago and spent most of the concert choked up and emotional at the fact that I was actually there. So going again was more than awesome. Now I can check that off my "Bucket List". The pictures are less than spectacular as we had good seats but the camera can only do so much...you get the idea, right?



I've been trying to think of what else I have on my list...going to Europe, more specifically seeing Culloden Field. Taking my kids to Disneyworld. Going on a cruise. Finding the Soup Nazi in New York and eating Crab Bisque. Eating a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery. There are other things...but those are just the ones that fly off the top of my head right now. Funny how most of my list either has to do with travel or food. My 2 fave things. I challenge you all to write a "bucket list"...and scrapbook it. I'll get back to you with mine. Maybe I should see the movie.

Tiny fingers creating

I've been scrapping a lot lately...entering contests and challenges. So I thought I'd show a bit of what the kids have been creating. They LOVE to get out my scrapbooking supplies. And as my niece says "Auntie, can we have the good stuff and not just the kid stuff?" That is their FAVE. Prima, Fancy Pants, Basic Grey. If it's brand name, beautiful and expensive, they love it. I thought I'd go broke before the school year began again but we survived. The last thing they did were mini books. All I did was pay for the pictures and make the books with my Zutter. That's it. They cut, glued and painted their little hearts out. God bless these little hands, they had SO much fun! Love you my babes! xox

Good-bye Connie, Hello Inspiration. The two are not related.

So the move is complete and I have said good-bye to some very dear friends. I haven't scrapped anything in a while with the new babe and the move but I all of a sudden felt the need to remember our time together by making a mini album the night before Connie and Derek left. Why do I leave these things until the last minute??? I hopped on the computer, printed some photos, used what little product I had that wasn't stashed in a box and I scrapped my little heart out amid a horrid MESS. It's not my finest masterpiece scrap-wise...but that wasn't the point. I just couldn't let her leave empty handed.

*Disclaimer* The pictures suck...I snapped them in 3 seconds before I threw it in the bag and dashed it out to Connie before they got into the car.

Looking back on the photos, we went through a lot of changes with the Dyck family. We'll miss them like crazy!!!
Other great scrappy news has me sending in entries to various competitions. I know, shut UP! Hard to believe I could actually get my act together long enough...I'm not expecting grand returns within a day but the important part is to get out there and get my feet wet. With the amount I am doing all at once, consider me soaked. Diving-in-head-first soaked. Ciao for now.

My favourite good things

Martha has her "Good Things". Oprah has her "Favourite Things". Well move over Martha and look out Oprah...these are a couple of my favourite good things.


I LOVE on-line shopping. A little addiction I have picked up living so far North. I love browsing the sites. I love filling a cyber shopping cart. And I LOVE the 3 easy clicks it takes to pay for something. Maybe that's a bad thing...
And then Voila! Beautiful things show up on your doorstep. Well. OK. I don't have doorstep service per say but it shows up at the office and Hubs drags the boxes home. Did I mention he walks to work? What a trooper. Especially when donation boxes arrive. His face was 3 shades of red the last time that happened. "What is in this sucker?" He barely made it up the stairs! Turns out it was another great donation from Patty Rose and her group of crazy, generous scrapbookers from Ontario! But I digress...

Here is my latest purchase from Land's End and as a Mum on the go I am SO jazzed to try them out:

It's also GARAGE SALE DAY!!! Woo HOO!!! I love going to sales but I have to admit even with all the work involved, I love having them too. It means I am getting rid of a whole lot of stuff I don't need. If I have clutter around me it squishes the creativity right out of me. I don't know where it goes but it certainly doesn't hit a scrapbook page. So over the last month I purged every single room and closet in the house. Including the basement. As FLYLady says, just take babysteps. And if you don't know what in the world I am talking about...check this out.

So all my purged scrapbook supplies went into my class boxes, getting all ready for my new project to be started in September!!! SO excited about that too. And everything else is tagged and stacked in my dining room. My house looks like an episode of Clean Sweep right now. And as of 5pm tonight everything will be gone gone GONE!



It's going to be a gooder. We are so remote that people jump on stuff like this. They should be called garage stampedes! No need to stay open for the whole weekend or even the whole day. No need to advertise very heavily, a few signs at the grocery store will do. And I guarantee at least 85% of it will be gone in the first hour and a half. So think of me between 5pm and 8pm. I'll be wading through a throng of people trying to keep an eye on my 3 year old. Who also loves the thrill of the sale!

Get back into the SCRAP of things!!!

My little man is 7 weeks old...where did that time go?!? Most of my 10 other friends/family have given birth as well or are well on their way. That's right...10. We all had a busy year apparently!!! I'll still be breastfeeding when this little shindig is happening but I have BIG PLANS to attend:


Check out Leica Forrest's Blog for more details. There will be some freakin' FANTASTIC Canadian talent there to teach their scrap-tastic projects. I am SO excited to meet Jackie Ludlage. Like I'm-a-geek-can't-speak-properly-in-her-presence-will-probably-embarass-myself-EXCITED. Jackie is the co-founder of Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine which published a layout by Leica Forrest last December featuring my Great White Scrapbooking program for the kids up here. Excited doesn't begin to describe!

I highly encourage you all the check this out...Leica puts on a heck of a good time and thanks to the FAB people who attend and of course Leica's generosity, a lot of $$$ will be going to charity. So come out and get your scrap on!

Blog Posts and Baby Toes

I am blogless...here's why:



And I will never, never again show pictures of myself like this...nobody should have a record of what they look like in the hospital!!! Little man shot into the world in 2 hours. Went from 5cm to baby born in under 28 minutes. Boo YAH! We are currently renovating...stay tuned for more regular blogging. And maybe a little scrapbooking? It's going to be a busy month, bear with me.

As promised but months late

My scrap classes have all come to a halt until this baby decides to make an appearance. Which makes me happy on the one hand because I am big, tired and slow. But on the other hand makes me sad because I really looked forward to it every week. There is some blooming talent in those classes that I want to keep a tab on! One girl who was there every week she could be was Sasha. Always looking for the next cool project, always listening, learning. Always decorating an album or some other big project when the others were making cards. Just fun, creative and fabulous to be around. So months ago I promised her I'd feature her on my blog soon as she finished her first scrapbook page. Well one thing led to another of course and between school breaks, me throwing up for 4 months of my pregnancy and ordering in some Stickles for her to finish off the project, it just didn't get done. Until now. So here you go Sasha...your very own page on my blog. Keep up with your projects, you are some kind of talent girl and you can only get better!
This was Sasha's very first 12x12 scrapbook page. Photos have not been added yet. This photo does not do it justice...she added some Mod Citrus rub ons, Stickles and gems. In this particular class I was encouraging the students to use what they had and invent their own title letters. Sometimes when dealing with used supplies (or my own for that matter!) we often end up with an E missing, etc. This was Sasha's take on the class, she decorated each individual letter.
For the Valentine's day class, we were just making cards but Sasha decided to start another paperbag album. We had done them a few weeks prior to this so she knew what to do. I loved the layering of the paper flowers on this!
Hopefully, after the birth I'll still have one or two opportunities to teach card classes but it depends on how I am feeling. I will for sure be starting more classes when we move in the summer! I am looking forward to seeing what unfolds. More class pictures to come in the next couple weeks...we did some great stuff at Easter! Happy Scrapping!