~Crafting~

I promised myself when I got the Silhouette that I would get into my craft room and play more often.  It’s hard when I’m working every day but I’ve found that even if I sneak in there for half an hour a night I feel better.  This weekend past I went into my craft room for pretty much the whole day on Sunday and had a blast!  I used my Silhouette, my Zutter, my printer, and all kinds of tools I haven’t used in awhile. 

I had been surfing the night before and ended up finding templates for creating my own daily planner.  Now I LOVE planners, something the nerd inside me loves to use!  Unfortunately I spent a lot of money on one last year and it ended up not getting used as much as I’d like when I changed jobs.  So I wasted that money! 

With my new job now a lot of my planning is done electronically so I don’t find myself writing things down as much.  I sync my work Outlook with my Blackberry and it keeps me going!  It works but I still wanted something for personal stuff…

So I made this:

February Planner VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

It’s fun, and has a monthly planner, to do list, menu planner, shopping list, and blank note pages in it.  It took me less then 3 hours to whip it up!  Love it!  I will mostly use it for planning our house stuff, activities, menus, shopping…If I like it then I will make a bigger one that will last a couple of months at a time.

~Scrapbooking!!!~

I ordered a new scrapbook kit tonight! Can't wait to have some new stuff to play with and the fun of opening the box every month. I didn't even look around for them very hard. I searched on Bing and went with the first one I picked! I liked the options and pricing and of course the kits so I went with it for 3 months to try it out.

Little Red Scrapbook is the one I went with. Let me know if you've heard of it...hopefully they have a good reputation!

~Quick Put a Mark on the WALL!!!~

I'm scrapbooking!!! Holey crap! When was the last time you heard that!!! I'll share soon, it takes me forever to finish a project these days!!! I have lots of stuff I am iching to do so hopefully it sticks!

That's all I've got for now, just had to share!

~Album Pics~

So here are the pics you've been waiting for! I blurred out the faces and words which skewed some of the page elements but you can see anyhow. It was not fun because I didn't get the pics or comments till it was almost done and then I would have changed some things because of that. So while I don't think it was 100% my best work, they loved it and are paying me!!!

So here it is!

~Ahhhhh...!~

It's done. (The album) Finally. It is a thick sucker! Anyhow, I'll post the pics tomorrow, it will take too long to upload tonight. Let me know if you think I should go buy a gift box for it or just deliver it in a plastic bag and let them deal with wrapping it. What do you think?

~I'm sad...~

Did you see the exchange rate today? 80 cents on the US dollar! Bummer! I know it is good for our economy...it should help our struggling manufacturing sector...but it means the cancellation of my much loved scrapbook kit. I just can't justify losing 20% of my spending power when money is so tight. So I emailed the girls at Sweet Pea Scraps and told them that it was time to cancel it. A sad day for me. I HIGHLY recommend their kit, Julie and Kristin have been so great and create the most interesting kits every month that are sure to inspire. I hope to be able to get it again in the future but for now it's time for me to play with what I have...

~Scrapbooking Albums~

So I was hired to make a gift wedding album this week. Only catch? It had to be done for today! It was for my sister Mary though so I said yes. I had so much fun making it and I loved how it turned out so I thought I would share! I put the pictures in a slide show...so much easier! So here is the link:

Wedding album

Also here is the album I made for my nieces' wedding gift. I made them a Honeymoon album, it was so much fun! They went camping for a week so I was able to have lots of fun with it!

Honeymoon Album

~Scrapbooking Wednesday!~

So I decided that since Randy gets two days a week that he dedicates to his hobby that I should start having at least one for mine too...so I'm going to try to set aside some time every Wednesday to scrapbook. The day may change depending on our commitments but for now it works. Randy is home and can help with Ethan.

Anyhow, so far today I have completed a project that I've been thinking about for a week now. I wanted to make Ethan a piggy bank where Randy and I could put our loose change. I know how much it adds up and Randy remembers his Grandma giving him all her change for Christmas every year and he said he had so much fun adding it up...I know even I love adding it up and rolling it to put in the bank! So anyhow...I didn't want to go out and buy a piggy bank for him, not when we already have soooo much stuff and I have so much creative stuff at my disposal. So when I was organizing my coffee/tea cupboard the other day I saw this:



It was almost empty and I thought...hmmmmmm...that would work. The top is soft plastic so I can cut a coin slot in it, I can recover it with some cool embellishments and we're off! It is a bit small so I decided to limit the coin to one type...loonies! Might as well make it a good surprise amount! With that in mind I started sifting through my supplies and came up with a color combo that I liked that was fun for a little boy and also matched his room. (I know, I'm a dork) As I got making it I couldn't decide on what to put on it for a label. You know: Ethan's loonies, Ethan's change...none of it worked. So I had the idea to make him a couple of banks with different purposes.

So I made him one for a School Fund and one for a Fun Fund. It serves a few purposes. One it helps us to save for his education. Even though we have already set up an investment for his education that we will deposit into regularily, there is always room for more! Coin can add up remember! The other purpose of breaking it up was for teaching him about money. Not today I know...but down the road I want him to learn that you need to save for the things you want.

So his school fund will get our loonies ($1 coins), his fun fund our quarters. Once I have another empty container I'll make him a donation fund and that can hold all the pennies. I'm going to take an empty formula container and make it a family fun fund and that is where all our dimes and nickels will go, and another tea container will eventually hold our toonies ($2 coins) and that will be for Mom & Dad's fun fund. It will be our fun family project.

Randy and I have always saved our change and once or twice a year (depending on how much there is) I will roll it. I don't usually take it to the bank, I put it away for a rainy day. Again I will say...it adds up fast especially in Canada where we have so many coins!

So anyhow, here are the two that I have completed, the E School Fund and the E Fun Fund. The most fun I've had in my scrap room in a long time!

~Show & Tell~

So I'm calling this my show and tell post because I have lots of pictures to share and things to tell as well! So first are pictures of Ethan and Grandma Rogers. Grandma spent a few days with us here and they had lots of cuddle time while she was here. I got lots of really cute pictures of them together.






Now I get to tell you how I've been slaving to create a scrapbooking room in my spare bedroom. I really needed both spaces but didn't want it to look too much like one or the other. So I used the closet in the bedroom to hide most of my stuff and then the rest is in baskets, on my table or on a bookshelf in the room. While I will someday like to have a smaller table for in this room so that it doesn't take up the so much room, for now it works. I still need to do some organizing of things to make it better, for now it's a jumble. Once our steady stream of company subsides then I'll worry about it. Anyhow, here are some pics of my new scrapbooking area!!!

So this is an overview of the whole area. My table with my paper rack, and the closet with my printer and the embellishment holders (sweater holders from Jysk), and my three drawer organizer.



A closer look at the closet with all the organizers. As you can see, they still need to be organized...



Under the table I have two containers, one holds misc stuff that I want to work on, the other a whole schabang of chipboard products.



My shelf that has the magazine holders with all kinds of letter stickers, 3D sticker embellishments, baby stickers etc. All my idea books and mini albums as well as my ribbon holder (that is a messy shame!!!)



A basket of projects that I want to work on or am working on.



I have some fun things I want to work on...can't wait for all my company to be gone so I can get in there and play! My Mom left yesterday and Randy's Mom will be here any minute for a few days. Then we have a few days of just us at home. We have our follow up appt with the surgeon in Edmonton on June 10 so we'll head into town on the 9th and be back on the 11th. We will have company coming back with us, Auntie Jess from Calgary is coming up for four or five days. Can't wait for that!!!

Anyhow, that's it for today...just waiting for Grandma Grounds to get here...

~Signs of a Tired New Mom...~

Empty bottle of milk in fridge? Check. Bottle of milk in purse after 2 days of not using it? Check. Hair permantly in a ponytail? Check. Makeup a joke? Check. Then there is this:



Okay so do the math. No sleep night before. No sleep during day. Dinner party for family sprung upon me at noon for that night. Hungry baby. Not breastfeeding. Need to pump. Honey I'm turning on the potatoes for dinner, make sure they don't overflow! Honey, what is that smell??? Laughter from kitchen area. Oh shit, I turned on the wrong burner! All that = melted bottle nipples and lids and a ruined pot. Well done Mom!

Anyhow, aside from that, everything is going awesome. Ethan is a nightowl so Mommy and Daddy don't get alot of sleep but he's a happy baby and easy to please. Here are some pics from the last couple of days around home!

Ethan having some tummy time in his cool Rainforest gym! Not sure he is fully appreciating it yet but he sure looked cute there!



Ethan in his crib with his new cool jungle animal bedding set! (Note: Bedding set more for Mommy then Ethan at this point...) The pink floral receiving blanket is not part of the set...a gift from my niece who didn't know to buy neutral...



Ethan having his VERY FIRST BATH today!!! Daddy gave the bath while Mommy took the "Wait till you are 16 and I meet your first girlfriend and show her the bare naked baby in the bathtub pics!!!" Hahahahaha!!!



All cuddled up in one of his bath towels with Mommy! What a face!



Iguana have some fun? Too cute! Picked this little outfit up at Old Navy while we were waiting for him to be released from the hospital. I'm guessing I'll get a couple of months wear out of it, judging for the size...



My little cool guy! Looking a little hip...



I have to give a huge shout-out to Mike, my college buddy who bought Ethan one of his very first baby gifts. He LOVES the Rainforest sights and sounds crib attachment (I have NO idea what the real name is!) I LOVE it too! It plays nature sounds as well as nursery songs. At night I switch it to just the nature sounds and it helps all of us sleep! When he is awake and fighting sleep I turn on the lights and movement and he watches the monkeys swing back and forth and the water run. Good job 'Uncle Mike'!!! Also a HUGE thank you again for letting Randy and I stay with you for almost 2 weeks. You are a true friend and we won't forget the personal sacrifices you made to accomodate us during our stay. Thank you.

Okay. So aren't you impressed with the fact that I've had Ethan home for just over a week and I'm coherent and have pictures for you? I know I am! Honestly he is such a joy right now and we are so happy having him home with us. Randy isn't working lots right now either which is sure helping, we take turns getting up with him and taking care of him. Randy is awesome with him...we are lucky, Ethan and I. Tigger is getting used to having a new person in the house. We have been careful to include him and give him lots of attention since we've been home. He's not showing any signs of aggression or jealousy towards Ethan and doesn't even get near him. He has his own room now, we opened up the scrapping room and set up the spare bed in there and he has laid claim on it for himself. It works.

Well I'm off to my scrapping room. I've got about an hour before supper needs to be started for us and then another half hour from then till the little man will be hungry. So I'm going to go play...my new kit was waiting when I got home and I haven't had a chance to open it and look yet. Maybe I'll actually make something...

~8 on the 8th!~

So the girls at DML have started a new challenge to take 8 photos by the 8th of the month (or on the 8th of the month) and create a layout. A couple of us have decided to take it further and create a whole scrapbook showcasing a year of photos. I wasn't going to initially because I thought I wouldn't follow through but a quick look at my friend Susan's mini book and my mind was changed! So tonight I sat down with some of the newest paper I got from my scrapbook kit, some cool chipboard letters, some paint, stickers and my bind-it-all and I whipped this up! I put enough pages in for a 2 page layout for each month and then went through and stamped each page with the month, date and year in the corner. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! I'm also doing it in an 8x8 format, something I haven't done before and an idea I also lifted from Susan, thanks Susan!!!

I've gone back and done January and February and today I went around Ft Nelson and took pictures for my March page and completed it too! I'm going to keep it to strictly photos, with minimal to no journalling. I'm going to go online to my favorite scrapbook store and see if I can find a doodling stencil because I would like to add just a little bit more to the page without overwhelming it. As you can see I am using the same layout for every month, a two page spread with wallet sized pictures that I'm printing at home.

For my first page I've used some awesome stickers from 7 Gypsies and stamped a journal box that matches the sticker so I could write a little intro. It reads: A photojournal through 2008~8 photos by the 8th of the month. Recording the moments that define the little things in life that are quickly forgotten. Not to be missed this year!

Anyhow, without further ado, here are some pics of my album!

I'm so pumped to work on this throughout the year! I think it will be especially fun to look back and see us morph from just the two of us with Tigger to a family with a baby in the house. Right now there are alot of pictures on Tigger, I'm sure that will be replaced to a degree!!!

I had so much fun scrapping today, I went in my scraproom around 2:30pm and completed this by 7:30pm. I'm headed to do a wee bit of online shopping (not much I promise myself!) and then I'm going back to scrap some more! I want to get started on a baby book that I just have to pop pictures into and my friend Chantel sent me a class kit to read to get ideas from so I'm hoping that it will get me headed in the right direction!

Scrapping Sunday!!!

Guess what I'm doing today? Scrapbooking! Woo-hoo! So here are a couple of LO's that I completed today. My 'Word' Layout has been sitting on my scrapping desk since the first of January waiting for me to finish it. I finally got the urge to do it today and Voila! It's complete! The other layout is for our Mexico trip album, we spent almost two months there so I have a boatload of pictures to scrap. I Love my scrapping kit (as I mentioned the other day) and the papers and some of the embellishments came from the last two months of kits. So here you go, my scrapping success so far!

~Sick, sick, sick...~

That is me today. I'm coming down with the cold/flu that is going around and I'm not too happy about it. You see, when I get sick, I get really, really sick, and since I'm preggo I can't take anything. So I'm guessing that I'm going to have a really crappy week. Waahhh! I'm hoping that work will be alright without me cause I ain't coming in if I'm sick. Problem is, June is also sick (Dragonlady office manager), and I have appointments booked all freaking week. I'm trying to not book anything for Wed and Thurs because I figure I can drag myself through today (I have appts booked till 7pm) and then can drag myself back in on Friday afternoon for a bit. Then I can stay home sick for the next two days if I need to. Hopefully no one wants to move in after today because if I don't move them in I don't get my full commission. Rules...

So that is how it's looking for me...hope that everyone else doesn't catch this. It is a crappy cold. Hot flashes, sick to my stomach, throat closing off, nose runny, head full of sand... the full works. I know that Mary & Cole have been down with it for the last week, hope you're feeling better!

Onto other news, I got my scrapbooking kit yesterday from Sweet Pea Scraps and as you can see it is super yummy!!! Maybe I can play if I'm not too sick while I'm at home fighting the evil germs. Chantel, my college buddy, (scroll down) is on their design team, and is the one that got me hooked on them. I have loved every kit I've gotten from them and their design team puts out such awesome ideas! I just finally found out about their monthly challenges where you can win additional items for your kit, so much fun! Now I just need to get into my scraproom and play! The only complaint I have about this months kit is that the grungeboard stinks! Whew, I don't like the smell of it at all! I'm hoping that it will air out and lose the stinky factor so I can play with it, LOL!

Well, off to work for a few more minutes, then to have coffee break with Randy at the shop.

Bored...

I am so bored at work today...it is so quiet and I am getting no leasing calls. What am I supposed to do with myself? There is only so much entertainment you can get from the internet in a day...and I just can't bring myself to create work here. I don't like this job that much to do that, LOL!

We got up with the birds this morning to have one last breakfast with Brent and everyone that is leaving. They left today despite a HUGE snowstorm that they are going to run into in Ft St John. I'm hoping that the storm stays in that area and doesn't come this way. The roads around Ft St John would be much more manageable covered in snow then they are up here!

I'm a little sad yet relieved that they are finally gone. Sad because it is over, relieved because it is just over. Doest that make any sense at all? I know what I mean.

We are still waiting for our TV to be connected. I'm going to have Randy call at lunch today and see what the hold-up is. Pretty soon it will be pointless to get it connected. I really wanted to be able to watch the series "The Week the Woman Went" but I've only caught one episode of it so far.

I'm hoping to scrapbook tonight. I went home last night with such a bad migraine that I crawled into bed and stayed there till 6am. So I'm hoping that it stays away today so I can do something fun tonight.

Well I'm just rambling...nothing better to do...maybe I'll go drool over some new stuff coming out in scrapbooking and pray it comes in my kit since I cut myself off from any other purchases!

~Christmas Mini Album~

I finally sat down today and finished my Christmas mini album! I made the album using scrap papers and my Bind it all before Christmas so that once Christmas was over I would just have to print off the pictures and pop them in with my journaling and embellishments. I'm happy with how it turned out, at first I thought that I would never fill all the pages but after doing up some journalling pages it filled up quickly. I used my blog post for most of the journaling in the album and added many of the cards and picture cards that we received this year as well. It's nice to have a place to keep all the ones that are particulary special. I even included the mini book that my sister Mary made me by tying the bow through the rings on the album! I think I will use this idea again next year as it was so easy to whip up! I think it took me 4 hours including making the book! Anyhow, here are the pics, let me know what you think!!!

~TA-DA!!! My 1st Acrylic Album!!!~

So I didn't put pictures of all the pages here but you can get the general idea. I just LOVE how it turned out!