Nature

I took these photos while on a walk with a Grade 5 class. We went around Arbour Creek. Like any other scrapbooker, I was taking pictures of everything: the sky, the ground, flowers, weeds . . . you guys know. The students were whispering: "Look what she's taking pictures of now! HeeHeeHee! I explained to them that I was a scrapbooker and did what I did for the love of nature, memories and the craft of scrapbooking. I developed the pictures in wallet size and did a single page out of them using Heidi Swapp Ghost letters, Mini Flowers and of course, my acrylic stamps. Just my way of preserving my days!

Recipe Project

For some reason this project has not wanted to download . . but this morning waalaa, it worked. I again, used the Zutter machine and made it so that it would stand. I put my favorite recipes in it so that I would always have them very handy. We continue to get "food" paper and embellishments in at JSI. I only used a few on this project so we could keep them in the store. It is in the store for those that want to see it in person.

Girls Rock

I found this picture while I was cleaning under Faith's bed. The colors were very difficult to match. While the page was about a girl playing an electric guitar, she is also wearing a pretty dress . . . oh, what to do? Flowers, metal, hearts, wings, skulls . . . it works I think!?!

This is the project that Julie and I did together. I love the colors and think that it would be a very pretty present to give to a mother or grandmother. I painted the inside of the box with acrylic paint and covered the rest with paper, sanded the edges, inked the edges and attached embellishments.

Wild Thing

Cal decided to put his pool table on his deck . . . so we have all learned to play pool. We have jumped from the coolness of the pool to the deck to play pool, had some snacks and refreshments and done it all over again. What REDNECKS! My little Spud loves it and we all enjoy playing it together.

Dan Brown

Just another one of those things. I really enjoyed watching the DaVinci Code movie so I decided to read the prequil to it: Angels and Demons. I loved it. So, I read the novel DaVinci Code (which really gives much more detail). . . then I watched the movie again. Now I am beginning one of his other novels Deception Point which also looks to be a great novel. So, in keeping with me trying to do some pages about myself for my children down the road, I thought I would do a page on these novels since I enjoyed them so much. I put numbers on it that only mean something to me and symbols from the book. I doodled and added stuff until I thought "any more and this is going to be a gong show". I must admit: reading again is such a relaxing thing . . . one that I enjoyed before I had children and am now again since they can sit and read or amuse themselves while I get back into it. Lovin' it!

Baby Lucas

Yet another project. A small book with older photos of Lucas that I have already scrapbooked. It could be a brag book for Grandparents. I just wanted a smaller album that was quick and easy to do. Again, I was playing with the Zutter. The shape of the book was one that we have on the DieCut machine at JSI. It is an envelope die. I just cut the flaps off and used them. What remained was a square which can be used for another album or scrapbook page.

This is one of the projects that I did with our Zutter Machine. You can do almost any kind of binding with it. This album is small and every second page or so is a different size. It is fun to do and doesn't take alot of time. It also helps you to use up quite a bit of scrap paper, stickers and embellishments.

PINK

Since the store only got a few pieces of the new basic grey line, I decided to make the most of it. With the line being quite PINK, Jade was my subject of choice. I had to laugh though, because after the shift that I did this page, I picked up Jade and her boyfriend Nathan and told them that I did a page of Jade. Nathan, of course, asked what it was about. I just said it was titled "PINK". He laughed because anyone who knows or knows of Jade . . . knows that she is such a PINK girl. It suits her perfectly. I tried to use some Elsie doodles, Wilna journalling, ribbon, buttons, glossy accents, bling. Brit says my style is changing . . . everything evolves right? I like this page . . . and have gotten silly with a Dan Brown page I am working on. You'll see that one soon. Using a lot of old with the new. Fun, fun, fun!

Doodling Teen Girl

This is a 8.5 x 11 overlay that I thought was so appropriate for any teenage girl, so I found a picture of Jade and doodled a bunch of things about her life around it (I know she should have done it, but she wasn't around to do it that day). I like it and think it looks like a magazine cover with Elsie doodles.

It's Off . . . Finally!

After my hassle at the hospital two weeks ago, Lucas decided when his cast would come off. The wrap inside it was virtually destroyed, hanging out all over the place; so . . . in the middle of Scotia Centre, he pulled it all out and slipped off his cast -- in one piece! The wrist still looks a bit out of shape which I hope will straighten out with some use. It looked hilarious to see him hold his arm straight up and his hand flopped sideways -- so he held his hand back up and it flopped to the other side. Then he wanted the cast back on. After a few hours, he was feeling better about the whole thing.

Mom's Birthday

My children and I took my Mom or "Gramma" out for lunch on Tuesday to Boston Pizza for her birthday. In a kind of hap hazzard kind of way, all worked out -- getting all the kids there and organized (not on time) and getting me to my eye appointment across the street (on time -- without time to eat). I think she enjoyed herself (she loves spending time with her grandchildren). We picked up her car from the shop, got Jade's boyfriend and got me to work -- even with the drops in my eyes that dialate them to a point where soft sunlight feels like knives slicing them to pieces and tears pouring down my cheeks. I looked like I was really mad all day until the pupils closed (around nine o'clock). My children were left with the camera at lunch. You will see the "wonderful" photos they took for me for her birthday page. Anyhow, I hope to get some of my new pages and projects up on the blog. Just have to take my camera to work and take some pictures. Julie and I worked on a photo album/gift box together on Saturday. It turned out great -- it was quite a bit of work -- let's say we "bonded" over it. Thanks Julie for helping me out -- I couldn't have done it without you!!!

Sweetheart

I haven't wrapped my head around the Elsie line yet, so I thought I'd start slowly with one piece of patterned paper. It was called Math class and I thought it was appropriate for Jade with all of the doodles on it. I had to add some pink bling (I used an old circle dot template to help me place the blings). Next, the magazine cover transparency. I think I will try that tomorrow if I can get a photo.

Dream a Little Dream

See . . . if I snap enough pictures of Jade, I get a great one or two or a dozen or so. You should have see the ones before this. Geesh! Anyhow, I used my acrylic stamps and added some bling here and there. I wanted to add some flowers to make it a totally girly girly Jader page. See why I wanted some pictures of my girls. They inspire me to do some of my best work.

Escape

It doesn't happen very often anymore that my Jade finds the time to "play". But, while we were goofing around on the beach at Lake Diefenbaker, she found this STICK! She giggled and played with it for awhile while I snapped shots of her just being a kid. Being a teenager has it's ups and downs; when Jade finds some time to just play, I want to be there taking it all in and enjoying this time with her. I guess the title escape refers to both escaping from the city and escaping from any type of responsibilities of growing up.

Hooch & Lucas

One of Lucas's best friends is moving to Regina this summer. I wanted to ensure that he has a remembrance of him so of course I took some photos at their year-end bike hike. Austin (Hooch) got a class photo signed by the entire class and Lucas got Hooch to sign his cast. I am glad that they are moving only to Regina and not to Nova Scotia as previously thought. I know that they will still be able to stay in contact because Austin's sister Telia is Lucas's sister Sky's best friend as well. I think they will be able to see each other in the near future. I had Lucas do his own journalling down the left side of the layout.

Your Eyes Sparkle

Well, my girls saw what I wrote on my blog. Faith was walking out the door when I said, can I get a picture of you girls when you pick up Sky. Her response was . . . "not right now". So, when they all got home, I showed them again, this time Sky washed the face paint off and Jade came downstairs. The wind was blowing like crazy Saskatchewan wind does, so we had to take the pictures in my livingroom. They turned out okay I guess -- Faith's were the best. I could hardly wait to get them developed so I could do a girl page. Ralna must have wondered what I was doing at the store so early Wednesday. I got this almost done before Faith called bored at my condo. I drove home and finished it later in the day. I like it. See, she is beautiful.

If anyone sees my three beautiful daughters anytime soon, please ask them if they'd be dolls and allow their mother to take a few photographs of them. I can't do the pages if I can't take the pictures. Geesh! You'd think with such beautiful daughters, I'd be doing their pages. But nooooooo, there is always a reason for "not right now" "not today" "later mom".

My Boy

This was just before Lucas broke his arm, we were walking home and I happened to have my camera. With a kid like Lucas, it is difficult to get a serious picture. The little Spud has figured out that my camera flashes light twice before it takes the picture (to eliminate red-eye), so when the flashes start, he makes a face. He always, always, always, makes me smile.

Beautiful

One of my new favorite pages; because of the colors I think. I love the photograph; it is so nice when the picture is the page. It can stand on its own because it is beautiful; the embellishments are simply for fun. The meaning it has for me is just for me.

Time for a Cast

So far, so good, the cast went on and is still on. He's played baseball with it on, ridden his bike and gone swimming. I'll have to get a close-up of all of the signatures. I think that is his favorite part of this whole thing -- if there can be a favorite thing.

Mischievous Boy Trouble

Lucas says for me to say he is a loud, annoying kid who loves to bug Jade. Well, true to some extent . . . he can be loud, he loves to bug his sisters -- but what is a boy to do when all he has is sisters . . . five in all! He is pure mischief with a side helping of pokemon games. I am really beginning to enjoy the arrows -- and of course the rub-ons will always remain a favorite of mine (of course that is what I said about cardstock -- I didn't know how to use patterned paper for awhile -- now what do we all use the most? . . . patterned paper of course. Well, if capri pants can come back into style . . . anything can happen.

Time to Scrapbook

It's not good when life gets too busy to scrapbook. Well, hopefully this weekend I will be able to get some pages done. Last weekend I was at a 50th Anniversary and got some photos. Also, Cal's mother gave him his share of photographs from his childhood. I can't wait to get to them and get a "Childhood Album" together for him. Some of the photos are so fun (like the Christmas morning when he opened up a "Rock 'em Sock 'em robot" gift). I love to be able to scrapbook something different once in awhile. We'll see what the weekend brings for productibility.

Broken Arm

I guess I shouldn't have complained that I have no recent pictures to scrapbook. Yesterday evening Lucas came home from the park in tears. He had fallen from a swing and handed on his arm. I looked at it and saw it was not straight so I made a "home-made sling" and rushed him to the hospital. It wasn't the most pleasant thing seeing my nine-year old son on morphine. The pain was intense; but, his mood worsened when he realized he probably couldn't play baseball for awhile because of his newly broken arm. I always joke that I am one of those people who always think of pulling out the camera at every opportunity; however, it didn't cross my mind until his tears stopped and he smiled and I knew he was going to be okay. He has a splint on until friday when the swelling should go down, then he'll have a cast for about a month. Plenty of time for pictures.

Belong

I found this wonderful picture in amongst some other family pictures. I don't remember it being taken; but I love it. I'm the little one in the front with the big brown eyes. The only thing I don't really like about this is that I am in the page and I consider it a "heritage page". Arghhh!

This Girl Didn't Scream or Nothin'!

I had quite a scrapbooking weekend. I scrapbooked a man kissing a man, a man grabbing another man's chest, my foot -- crazy stuff like that. This one had to be done. I had a 100 lb. bundle of shingles dropped on my foot. I had to remember it.

A Guy Thing

For all of those scrapbookers who feel that most scrapbooking items are for girls, I will try to keep you up to date on some of my "Guy Pages". I love this one because it is so typical of guys hanging out and talking about guy stuff.

Creecher

While teaching at St. Mary's Community School, I was so taken with the personalities of the children that one day I decided to take some pictures of them. It was a sunny, warm day and the kindergarten class was out on the playground. Everyone was eager for me to take their picture. I guess why I like these kids so much is because when they call me "Cree Teacher" it comes out sounding like "Hi Creature". So, I joke with them about them calling me creature and they giggle and giggle.

Precious

These two photographs are especially precious to me because they are the only two photos of me as a young baby. Being the fourth of four children, there just weren't any pictures taken of me alone. There are some taken of me with my sister and brothers; but, because it is a group shot, you can't really see me. For this reason, I tend to take many photographs of my son -- he is the fourth of four and the only boy.

Mother

I had so much fun with this page. It is a very recent photo of my mom. I got to use some fairly new paper and had to buy some buttons I keep saying I'm not going to buy. My unblingy mom finally got some bling. I used my second most recent acrylic stamp purchase and completed a page unlike most of my pages. When I was done . . . I liked it! What more can a scrapbooker ask for.

Blaize

My brother just got a new puppy. I had to share just how cute he is with all of you.

Camping with Karl

I must admit, certain pictures strike me at certain times. There is no rhyme nor reason; maybe it is the paper at the store that I can see working with them. I have a ka-jillion pictures to scrapbook. The majority of them right now are older pictures that I NEED to get down before I forget "who, what, where, when, why . . ." Sometimes it is not about "winning a prize" or "blowing everyone's mind" for me . . . it is doing what I enjoy: picking paper and embellishments, enjoying my time with my pictures, getting down the information I want to get down while the therapy of working with my hands, mind and creativity bring peace to my crazy life. My wish for everyone who scrapbooks is: to enjoy scrapbooking for yourself, not trying to "top" your last page. If you do come up with an amazing page . . . good! I see it all the time at the store -- just don't make it run/ruin your love of scrapbooking.

Erna Emma Elizabeth Kramer

My mother received all of her parent's photographs after they passed away. She had them in a big box for years. When I started scrapbooking, she asked if I could do something with them for her. Slowly, I have been organizing them, researching my genealogy and putting some pages together. My father's mother is from England. I have found her family on Census Records. His father is from Finland. By fluke, I found his brother's daughter who speaks english and lives in Finland. I have found out much about my family history from him and her. My mother's family is all from Germany. One of her Uncles is still alive (89 years old). Tonight, my mother received a phone call inquiring about my e-mail address so his daughter can e-mail me and fill me in on their side of the family. Yes, yes, yes . . . I was excited. This page is of my Grandmother just before she came to Canada. Now, besides the statistics, I will (hopefully) be able to find out more about her family history and who is still in Germany and what they are like. It does get addicting -- looking for your family history. I hope to get more information together for my children and my children's children.

It Was My Day Off . . .

This was one of those pages that just happened. I decided to ride my bike to visit my dad. I was going over the overpass at Preston Crossing and realized that it would be fun to chronicle my bikeride. So, I held my camera and took some pictures as I rode. I decided that Saskatoon is a beautiful city in the spring. I smelled the blossoms everywhere. After my 20 minute ride to see dad, I rode my bike across the University Bridge, down Spadina and back over the Old Train Bridge. I found myself smiling to myself. I was thoroughly enjoying my time alone, exercising and snapping photos of my day.

Mother's Day Gift from Faith 2007

When Faith came home from work for supper for Mother's Day this year, she came just in time to eat. She walked in with a huge bouquet of flowers. I opened them and realized she really knew what kind of flowers I like or she has the same taste as me. I had to take some pictures of them. The tulips are on my header for my blog and the roses are the background for my computer screen. I had to do a page as well, to document a really nice Mother's Day gift. I sent her copies for her computer and she agreed -- they are gorgeous.

Busy Lives

You know it really doesn't matter how busy our lives are. I was substitute teaching daily for a few weeks, while working my part time hours at Just Scrap It, keeping my kids' lives together, maintaining a home, a vehicle and a relationship. Ya, I got sick with a cold (because as all women do) I put myself last on the list of what/who to take care of. I shouldn't have complained because the teaching has slowed down (and I realize now that I thrive on it and look forward to it). Sure, I worked yesterday and work again tomorrow; but man, do I feel guilty for being at home. However, the creatures that we are, we find things to keep ourselves busy. I have resigned myself to the fact that I only scrapbook at work (which lately none of the employees have had time to do while on shift because the store is crazy busy with new amazing stock, classes, customers and projects). I manage a few pages (usually after my shift when the store is closed and I hope no one will miss me for an hour or so) here and there which has kept me sane. My down time has been devoted to getting this blog up and running. I must admit it is fun. Just don't know why that new header got so big. But, as I sit here, telling myself to get my application in to the Public School Board, I decide I must go and visit my father and do laundry and dust and wash the floors and exercise. What I mean, is that we find things to do to fill our days and make us just as busy as we have been when we complained we were too busy. I guess we have to do what makes us happy and content. If I get these things done, I will feel that I have accomplished something. I think I will ride my bike to see my dad (save some gas). We'll see this weekend how my muscles react to a long bike ride. Oh, by the way, the tulips on my header were from my daughter Faith for Mother's Day. She got me "Jade" roses too -- a dozen and I got carnations from my mom. Jade cooked me supper and Sky cleaned the majority of the condo. All in all, a really good day. Me, my children and my mom had supper together . . . what a hoot!

Be Yourself

You don't find many pages like this done of me by me. Lately, I have been a bit disappointed in the trends of scrapbooking. It seems like the "most impressive" pages are of large professional photographs with thoughtful, reflective journaling. While there is always a place for these, I find myself out in another field because I scrapbook day to day occurances. This page was a challenge at the store -- to do a page about ourselves. I decided to do this page for one reason really: after Trina (a friend and fellow scrapbooker who many of you know and love) passed away, I realized that I haven't made any pages for my children about me. I do pages of who everyone else is. I have done many heritage albums and what I am always looking for and writing to relatives for is to ask: "Ya, I know when they lived, where they lived and what they did for a living; but . . . what were they like, who were they?" I wanted my children to have a few pages of me, saying what I like, what I think about and who I am. This is one of a few I have done lately.

Angels Reveal a Leak in Fairytaleland

I don't think anyone will ever forget Sky's performance in her Grade 7 play. She had to be a "spazzy" Chickenlittle". The moment she set foot on stage, everyone burst into laughter. Then, when she started squawking her lines in a hysterical way, the audience lost it. She was suppose to run around the audience and squawk at them, but the stairs weren't put out so she couldn't get off the stage. After the play, everyone commented on Chickenlittle being the hit of the play. She was hilarious. I am always so glad when I tote my camera around with me to every single one of the kids occasions. You truly can't capture the memory without the photo.

Gordie Howe Park

As Ralna stated on the Just Scrap It blog, I do a lot of pages of my children in their day to day tasks. My son Lucas got to play on a "Big Kid" baseball field last week. He was overwhelmed at the size, the soft sand and the dugout. He was really impressed when he heard the announcer say his name over the loud speaker when he went up to bat. Another memorable moment!

TOGETHER then & now

I grew up in a family with four children. It is rare that we ever all get together anymore. This past April we all gathered at my parents home just before my dad went into the special care home. My brother Ken suggested a "kid's picture" . . . duh . . . Well, we got it and after a little bit of digging, I managed to find a few photos of us in the sixties as we always were . . . lined up for a picture. I thought it would be fun to put them all together on a page. Amanda, thanks for the ideas for the layout.

Hard Core "AC DC"

I just did this page. I was cleaning up my room and found all of this AC DC stuff. I realized that I have so much AC DC stuff because I have listened to them since highschool. I wish I was into scrapbooking and photography when I went to the last AC DC concert a few years ago. I managed to find an old highschool picture of me and had to include it. I used an overlay (cut up) and chopped up a couple of photos to make the left side piece. It's just another part of who I am.

the LOVE of my life

My daughter Sky wanted this page posted to my blog . . . because it has the love of her life with her. This page was done as a staff challenge at JSI. During February, we had to do a page on love; well, if one person loves unconditionally . . . it is Sky and her horse BREEZE. She writes: "I love Breeze" or "Sky loves Breeze" on everything in our house, so it seemed fitting that I do a page on her and her best friend!

Wilna

The Just Scrap It staff has been very fortunate to be able to call Wilna Furstenberg their friend. She is the best scrapbooker I know. I love to look at her pages and listen to the comments she has for all scrapbookers. This was at the JSI Spring Fling where she taught a class. Everyone was enlightened by her comments and talent. Besides being an amazing scrapbooker, she is one of the sweetest, down-to-earth individuals I know. The one thing I have to thank her for is her urging to journal more; afterall, what is a scrapbook page without a story? Thank you for encouraging all of us to further our scrapbooking creativity and pour our thoughts and feelings onto our pages.

Love Blossoms

These photos were taken at Christmas at Faith's Grandparent's house. It was the first time Mike had been included in a family occasion.

Spring Melt

Leave it to me to find something to photograph in a junkyard. After all of the snow we had this winter, the junkyard was so muddy. By the time I was ready to leave, my shoes made a squishing sound and were so muddy. But, I loved it and really enjoyed my first afternoon out in the fresh spring air.

Motherhood "Unplugged"

When I first saw the Mommy-isms rub-ons by Daisy-Dees, I knew I had to do a page. So many of them have flown out of my mouth over the past sixteen years. Of course, I had to add some acrylic stamps to the page to finish it off.

Thank You Ralna

I had to post a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Ralna, for spending part of her day today with me showing me how to add to my BLOG. For those of you that don't know her personally, she is one of the busiest ladies I know; running Just Scrap It (ordering amazing new product daily, teaching classes, managing us "characters" {her staff}, running the day-to-day business stuff at the store and scrapbooking pages) and caring for her busy family. I know there is much more she does including her photography etc., but I think you get the idea. I uploaded photos tonight and added "stuff" so apparently you are a great computer teacher as well. Again, thank-you!

Donna and Daddy

I did this page awhile ago and had it on my computer. I love it so I thought I would put it on my blog. My father always did this with my big sister Donna (her and only her). It is another one of those special things that had to be scrapbooked to be remembered.

Horace, Florence Maud and Kathleen Hope

This is one of the most important heritage pages I have done. The smaller photo in the upper left hand corner the one and only original photograph of my Great Grandfather Horace Hope. I have done much research into my past and this man's image had illuded me for years. I finally came into possession of it about a year ago, had it restored and enlarged. I did a shadowbox with one of the enlargements for my father with his grandfather's woodworking tools inside. It made my search all that much more worthwhile when I saw my father's face when he saw it for the first time.

New Special Care Home

This was an extremely hard page for me to do. As a child, my father was the strongest person I knew. He was the man that could do anything. He worked in construction; therefore, I saw him make things, pick up heavy things, supervise many men on a construction site as their boss. For the past 22 years, he has battled Parkinson's Disease. His physical and mental health has deteriorated drastically. Just before Easter of this year, he became a permanent resident of Lutheran Special Care Home. I felt I had to scrapbook this event and put it into my family album. I guess seeing it on paper put a realization to the fact that my parents are getting older and will be looking to their children for care now.

Jade's Haircut

Sheryl Schmidt came over to cut the kids hair one night. Everyone was easy until Jade . . . Her hair is beautiful and she knows exactly how she wants it to look. She just didn't know how to explain it to poor Sheryl. Amazingly, Sheryl figured it out and cut it exactly how Jade wanted it. Thank you Sheryl.

Body Parts

I LOVE CARS!! So . . . I do the majority of the car pages at JSI. This year at the Car Show, I decided to take pictures of my favorite parts of cars I like. This is the page I came up with. Guys like the photos and the title . . . wonder why?