44

Another year, another birthday. So, at 44 I prefer to wear jeans and a t-shirt, I like my toenails painted blue, I enjoy reading novels every chance I get, I love my music and my children for buying me an MP3 player for my birthday and showing me how to download music onto it. I have to have a cell phone to keep in contact with my kids at all times and I am enjoying having short hair for the first time in many years. Just another milestone. It really hit me hard though, when I registered Lucas for school and realized I only have one child in elementary school and three in highschool. Put me in a whole new class of individuals and thank you to Noreen Duguid for saying to me, "You don't look old enough to have children in highschool." It helped a lot.

Ready to Ride

Again, I did a horse page; Sky tacking up Neeko. Ralna had a Tim Holtz stamp that looked like the leather flowers on the saddle, so I embossed them with Versamark and clear embossing powder. I used old metal letters and metal plates. I love that I have so many memories for my children.

Jack

This was a really fun page to make. I used really old paper and stitched the "x's" with Scrapper's Floss. Then I "flocked" the title "Jack" and the arrow.

Jump On, Hold Tight, Shut Up

Whenever we went to the farm to go riding, Sky was the one in charge. She is the best with animals and isn't afraid of the horses. Lucas got his turn on Neeko and I had to get a page done for him. I used old Cosmo Cricket paper because it was "horsey".

auntie

This is a very simple page using some new paper. I must admit, it is kinda nice being an auntie when your kids are older. Babies are much more fun when you can sleep at night etc.

Wasp Swatter Slick

I dare you to say that one three times real fast!. "Slick" was a nickname my father gave Faith when she was young . . . it stuck! While we were over at my parents house for supper on Aug. 20th (my 44th Birthday), we were swarmed by wasps while trying to eat outside. Finally, Faith got fed up and asked for the swatter. She got quite a few, but by then, most of us had escaped to the house. She gathered up her catch (which she wants in a plastic envelope on this page) and tried to save them before the ants carried them away. I love the expressions she has on her face on this layout. She has quite the personality and isn't afraid to use it.

Race Fans

Thank you Shawn/Shaun (sp) for the tickets to SIR. I went with my daughter Faith, who has decided that the Camaro in Cal's backyard is calling her to a life of drag racing. We sat in the stands and listened to engines and talked about cars. While her boyfriend is a NEON SRT4 fan, Faith and I are '60's and '70's Hotrod fans. Whenever, she heard the rumble of a "real" engine, she'd nudge her boyfriend and say, "That is what you call 'real' music to my ears."<- That's my daughter! She wants me to teach her a bit more about which cars are which: Chargers, Camaros, Cudas, Chevelles, Novas, Challengers, Mustangs, etc. Can you tell we had fun??!!

Beautiful

Well, this was my first attempt at watercolors. I know it doesn't look like much . . . but it took me six hours. It is a delicate, pretty page and that is what I wanted it to look like. I added some flowers, brads and bling along with the title from the Sizzix machine.

You know, I wondered why I put this page on the blog afterall. I was warned about not putting other people's pictures or names on here and once I got started I almost blurred everything. But I think you still get the idea. I just found this picture and thought Lucas would want it scrapbooked.

Wedding Party

Again, another wedding page with the new paper. I added some glitter flourishes using a glue pad and flourish acrylic stamps. Then I added some greet bling flowers and put some cinnamon stickles in the center. Finally getting some of those Wheeler Wedding pages done.

Bridesmaids

We got this new great paper in the other day. Fortunately, it matched Rhea's wedding really well so away I went with some new pages. I added the rub-ons on the bottom corners and used the Big Shot for the title. Simple again but effective.

Moooooooooooooo.......

Ty came over (and brought Rhea) the other day. We went out for lunch, did some shopping at McNally Robinson and then headed back to the condo. We visited for awhile and I got to play with Ty. I thought it was time for some newer pictures of "my" baby. I pulled a 1990's and paper pieced the cow on his outfit and then diecut the fence and title. Very 90's but also very baby. Is he not cute, cute, cute!

Thirteen

Well, this kind of goes with my other page. You know the one "Redrum". Well, as the story goes, this is what Sky did when I asked her to smile for a picture. Thirteen is a tough age. I guess that is why there is a movie called "Thirteen" about a girl who is wild at the age of thirteen. I don't even think there are any pictures of me at that age because I wouldn't let anyone take a picture of me. Either that or I wasn't home long enough for my family to take a picture of me. Well, if you have been wondering how I have been doing lately, this page and my 5 Rules page may explain some of it.

Chaa

Ya, a bit bizarre. The bird's name is Charlie. My children have been watching this U-Tube video called Candy Mountain about some unicorns going to Candy Mountain. They repeat the "Chaa---r---l---eee" constantly or even just the "Chaa . . ." Jade has the Chaa on her nametag at work and people actually think it is her name eventhough "Jade" is on it above it. I was going to use the new bird paper (we have gerbil and hamster too); but this old paper looked better with the coloring of Charlie so I went that way.

Snapshots

Okay, can anyone say "Old Paper" Sheesh! It matched so I used it. I also used some new magic mesh and creative cafe felt ribbon, title, buttons and flowers. Like the page, love the colors and the pictures. Fun, Fun, Fun . . .

Ach Du Lieben Bill

This is one of my favorite pictures of my grandparents. They always bickered playfully with each other in their kitchen. Bill would go out visiting around the neighborhood and Erna would wait and wonder where he was. "Where have you been Bill Follack" was a frequent question. Bill would smirk and reply something like "What, have you missed me?" They were the cutest couple, Bill always reaching for Erna's hand or leg. She would always look embarassed but smile. She passed away after a lengthy illness and Bill was left alone for a few years. He couldn't survive without his sweetheart and his health deteriorated. He ended up in a nursing home and developed dementia/alzheimers and then cancer eventually overtook him. At his funeral, the family did not want an open casket because he looked so weak and sick; but the "church ladies" had to see him (I think they were morbid) but it gave them something to talk about . . . how horrible he looked at the end. Can you tell it still bothers me because it hurt my mom so much? Anyhow, while the casket was opened, the family stayed in another room and were visibly upset by the request of an open casket. I looked at my mom and her siblings and said: "Think of it the way I see it: I see Grandma waiting for Grandpa at the gates of heaven saying, "Bill Follack, where have you been?" It made everyone smile and helped us get through the rest of the day.

Waikiki Beach

Why not? Doing a few old pictures, using the new Bigshot and old paper. I love the fact that I can use pictures from my honeymoon back in 1986 and there is no husband in sight (what the heck, he isn't around anymore so why scrapbook him?). I love Hawaii and since I haven't been on any type of a holiday in years, I brought out some old vacation pictures. Again, I say "Why not?"

Life in Pictures

Jade's birthday got out of my hands this year. She couldn't make up her mind what she wanted. First it was a new $500 phone. Then a laptop. Then she decided to pay for the laptop herself. Then she thought her IPOD died so she wanted a new one of those. Then it started working again so she didn't know what she wanted me to get her. So, on her birthday we went out for supper to celebrate. Then she went out with friends and we didn't have cake. We had her cake days later when Faith and Mike showed up. Then almost 1 1/2 weeks later we went to Lululemon and got her some "stuff" there. She loves it. She is a tough one to get pictures of lately. 16 though . . . scary.

Blaize

Again, I am using up old paper . . . as you can tell. I used some old buttons and flowers and some new creative cafe felt ribbon. I liked the page up until the buttons went on. They never seem to go on when you glue them the same as when you set them there. I usually take a digital picture of them before I glue them down so they go down as I had them set. Didn't have my camera this day. Shoulda' waited I guess.

It's a Wrap

Once in awhile, I do a basic page. This would be it. Lucas and his friends were wrapping their beachtowels around their heads at the pool. I used our Bigshot and the most "wonderfulest" font we have. Seemed like a good page idea for getting lotsa pictures on a page.

SPLASH

This was a fun page to do. I used some wavy paper and added some vellum circles, then the pictures and then I used some glossy accents to make some of the waves darker. I used the HotShot to cut out the title and then glossy accented it on to the page and then put it on top too. It will go along with his other birthday pages, so I did no journalling on it.

Lucas is Turning 11

I included various pictures of Lucas's birthday party and birthday so that he could remember what he did. I included one of his party invitations and the names of the boys that were invited to his party. I used old video"ish" papers as well.

REDRUM

Okay, so this is my controversial page. The photographs were taken just out of Saskatoon of an old abandoned farmhouse. Someone has painted satanic symbols on it. The entire house is so rundown and seemed like it could fall down anytime. I did the page for a few reasons. It seemed so ironic that what was a homestead and a symbol of safety, love, belonging and family has been transformed into something that most people are scared of and don't want to look at or think about. I also found it interesting that this building is so close to Saskatoon and most people don't know about it. Who knows if anything weird happens in the house or if some teens were just goofing around with spraypaint. I hope no one finds it too upsetting to be on my blog . . . it is just a reality of our society . . . something that we have to be aware of.

Summer '08

My family went out for Jade's 16th birthday supper on Monday. I snapped this picture of Faith on the deck of Specklebellies (SP?). It looked so much like a billboard. We had this wonderful paper at JSI. I added the bottom right flourish from a rub-on from the same line and then used our Sizzix to do the title "Summer '08". I borrowed Ralna's pencil crayons to do the secondary boarder around Faith's picture. I like the photo so much I didn't want to clutter the page up.

Dream Come True

It is time to get Mike and Rhea's wedding album done . . . so get ready. I have Lucas and Jade's birthdays this week so I will attempt some pictures of them too and try to get some memories in "the books". For Rhea's album, I went through everything of mine and everything of the stores and then put everything into one place. I will just use those things for the album. Mainly oranges and greens/blacks and whites. Hi dere, Ho dere, Hey dere!

A Walk to Remember

You will be seeing quite a few wedding pages. I have decided it is definately time to get Rhea and Mike's album done. Lynn (Rhea's Mom) saw this page today and loved the father and daughter theme of it. I think Rhea was happy to see some more pages done.

To Have and to Hold

Sorry, forgot to make this larger and my children have made my computer almost useless so if anything uploads I just make it work. I really like this page. Made some strips from different patterned papers and then used some bling and rub-ons. A bit like Laura's page . . . but different.

Mark's Place

A friend has this amazing place outside of the city. He has antiques everywhere. But what I noticed in most of these pictures were that there were Coca-Cola products everywhere so I went with that theme on this page. I even used up some old stickers from Jolee's . . . YES!

Birthday Invites

Just thought I'd let you see the birthday invites I made for Lucas's birthday party on Wednesday. He'll be eleven and tomorrow . . . on Monday, Jade will be sweet sixteen.

RuneScape

Quick page about Lucas's new obsession . . . just so he has it.