Today is Mother's Day

This is probably my favorite page of the weekend. I used some Wild Asparagus and found my coveted Wilma Basic Grey Chipboard letters. I Glimmer Misted them with various colors to find the right shade and then Glossy Accented over them. Again, it is a simple page; but I wanted to see the roses that my children got for me for Mother's Day this year.

Spittin' Flies

Man, am I bad with product names. I look at them thinking I will remember them to blog them and then . . . poof . . . gone. Anyhow, this is the line Trisha used in one of her classes. I think the papers are called "Dude" and they matched so well to the boy's clothes. We had so much fun on our first bike ride of the year except for the swarms of flies. After about the millionth time, I had to stop and take a picture of the guys literally "spitting flies". I also had to include a rub-on of a fly and a picture of my shadow riding my bike. It seemed like the only way to include a picture of me in any of these memories.

Pull Up Your Pants

The Graffiti Paper by B-Zoo ended up working the best with these pictures. My biggest problems was that I couldn't find the right blue paper anywhere. Since I wanted to see just how short Nathan's legs looked with his pants sooooooo low, I wanted to { } that picture. And yes, he has the "L"oser sign behind his head. Also, this is one of the only pictures of him with his eyes partially open so I made it a bit bigger. Let's see if I can get the journalling . . . it ways: This will rack it up as one of the most stupid fashion faux pas' of all time. Waist band under the ass . . . what the junk. I will continue to protest this way of wearing your pants. Boxers cover your butt, but your pants don't and then your shirt has to be long enough to cover your butt that your pants don't cover. Eventhough Nathan is over 6' tall, his legs look about 2' long because of the way his pants sit. Anyhow, I used some old chipboard letters again and journalled around the pattern.

21

A little bit of Basic Grey and a new {}[] punch helped to make this page. Simple and uncluttered probably because I loved the pictures. Besides, I whooped his butt. One thing I can still beat one of the kids at. Bit of journalling under the wavy paper. Another memory.

Opening Day

Very plain page about Mother's Day at the race track. Just used some grey cardstock and black for tires. Used some old rub-ons for the arrows and old chipboard letters and black and white pens to fill er up.

Shooting Hoops

It was a wonderful day except for the cup of hot coffee that spilled on my lap on the way to work first thing this morning. Quick change and then back off to work. I got slurpees on the way home, made chili for supper, dyed Sky's hair, played some 21 with Lucas over at the school (whooped his butt), got some pictures and printed them already; along with the racetrack pictures from Mother's Day and pictures of the flowers the kids got for me for Mom's Day. I'm pooped right out . . . but happy for spending some great time with the kids . . . be it helping with algebra, watching Kevin Costner in The Guardian or peeling potatoes for the kids . . . we had fun!

Everyday Life

This is a very simple page done with Fancy Pants paper letters and a saying. I put everything on black cardstock and painted it a bit with acrylic paint. This was my favorite page of the weekend and it only took me a bit of time to do. I keep looking at my pages and have come to the conclusion that I take pictures of every day life and put them on paper. I occasionally take out my kids to take pictures because I want to see them in every stage of their lives and preserve what they look like. However, there are no formal "photoshoots". I mean, I wanted to make sure I had a picture of Lucas with his long hair and then laughed the day I saw him dipping his strawberries in the canister of sugar with his pants pulled way down and his Family Guy boxers sticking way out. While I love some of the stuff people do with their pages, I really don't have the time (or maybe the creativity and talent) and energy to make each one a work of art. In other words, this is the scrapbooking of a very busy mother whose therapy is scrapbooking.

Family Roots

Laura said she missed my heritage pages so I dragged out some old pictures and did this page. I will check with my mom as to exactly who all of these people are. I used Wild Asparagus, Prima flowers and lace and some left-over bling. I was kinda happy with it when I was done.

I Am A Mother Because Of You

Lucas needed a picture of me for school, so I decided to make a copy for myself and do a page. Lucas and me just before Mothers' Day 2008. I used Wild Asparagus paper and Prima flowers.

Oopsie Daisy

A dare is a dare. Everyone at the Spring Fling expected me to wear jeans and a t-shirt--so . . . I dressed up. It was quite the sight for everyone. I had to take a few pictures so that I would remember just how silly I looked. I painted some chipboard daisies and for some reason OOPSIE DAISY seemed like the perfect title. CRAZY DAISY!!!

Kristen asked me to publish a few pages from this album that I showed her in the store. This is a Prima chipboard book that was embossed with these words. I used various media to draw over the words that I wanted to highlight. I also used a pack of Prima paper inside and various ribbons and Prima ribbon. It is a neat book that will take time to complete. It is about the person I am and how things that have happened to me in my life that have shaped me into the person that I have become.

Growing Up

I had to try something new again. I took this picture while I was tickling Lucas the other day. He slid down onto the ground and I took the picture from above. I loved the way his eyes looked. They were so blue; but the color in the picture was so red. All I wanted to get across was just how beautiful he is inside and out and that he is growing up way too fast for me. Once in awhile I want just want to catch the real Lucas in a picture.

Celebrate

Again, with all of the new paper arriving at the store and me getting a few photographs last week, somehow I managed to get a couple of pages done over the Prima Party weekend. This page was really easy since the background was from the same line as the patterned paper. The three patterned papers are a part of a quad from the same line. I used the three on the background and the fourth quad was the two flowerful corners that I also used on the page. Then I added some new Prima flowers, leaves and ribbon.

Busier Than Ever

Well, tonight I will try to upload some pages. I have only done two in the past few weeks since we have been so busy at JSI with the Crop and Prima Party. I have some great pictures to scrapbook and want to do Trisha's 6 x 16 Build a Book. I have three nights off so I plan to get something done. It will probably be cleaning the condo, but scrapbooking would be much more fun.

Sharon At One

We have this wonderful new paper in the store that works so well with black and white photos. I pulled some more older pictures out of my stash and had so much fun with all of this pink stuff. There are not many pictures of me as a child (since I am the fourth of four), so when I do a page, I use fun stuff. I used some new flourishes in the store, new paper and die cuts, cri-cut for the title, old flowers and some ribbon.

He Didn't Tell Me How To Live . . . & It Takes Balls to Snowboard

Anthony wore this get-up to Montana's in Sherwood Park and danced on the wooden floor with his steel-toed boots which caused quite a few stares. When we got back to their house, I asked him for a few pictures. He offered the pierced nipple shot and I took it. He is quite the kid. He has a heart of gold, is intelligent, knows how to save his money for important things and drives a hybrid. He could show a lot of people how to live their lives in a decent, smart way. I am proud to call him my nephew.

When I saw this picture, I warned Jade that I was going to do this page. She doesn't get the humor in it. She was grabbing to get her other set of mittens but it looks like she's "adjusting her balls". We had discussed that snowboarding was more difficult than skiing so the title stuck when the picture was developed. Simple page to put together . . . but one that had to be done nonetheless. Patterned paper, rub-ons and letter stickers . . . quick but memorable.

Everything Is Better In The Country

These are a few photographs that I took out at my sister's acreage while we were there over the easter break. It is so quiet and peaceful. I used some new paper, diecuts and stamped with acrylic stamps along the bottom and top corners.

Wild Child

Lovin' the overlays! Fancy Pants all the way! Right down to the rub-ons I had a blast putting together this page. The colors seemed to go so well for the pictures and then the rub-ons rubbed on so well on top of the overlay. I added some different color and sized eyelets, an old tag I had and some bright ribbon. The word "waves" is on the bottom in acrylic. So much fun working on this on a Saturday afternoon. It was nice to get back into the swing of things. I have been feeling like my scrapbooking hasn't been worthy of the paper it was put on. These last few pages have made me feel a bit better about it! I guess you need the right pictures, great paper and a bit of time to get it all together.

Rollercoaster Duo

While we were at West Edmonton Mall in March, Nathan just had to go on the Rollercoaster. Since Jade wouldn't go, Cal agreed to take the plunge. I snapped a few pictures before and after, one blurry one during and then Nathan bought the one they take for you. However, there were two people in front of them that took over the majority of the picture so I covered them with the spotty paper and added an arrow so you can actually notice it. I love the new boy lines that are in the store right now. I used a lot of rub ons from Fancy Pants as well. There is journalling under the picture where Cal looks like he's about to barf.

Sweet Baby Boy

Rhea was right, I am already starting to do some Ty pages. Of course, as we all know, it is fun to do different kinds of pages -- changing off from teens to scenery to heritage . . . etc. This is one of the new lines of Wild Asparagus or 29th Avenue. Since it is two-sided, I was able to switch around the backs and fronts and have it all work well. The scallops are from the die cut machine and I used some of my million and two buttons. I used these colors because of the greeny color in the hospital and the orangish-reddish plaid shirt Mikey was wearing.

Body Parts II

I know . . . it's what you've all been waiting for . . . the BODY PARTS II page. This one has more pictures . . . 16 in all, new chipboard letters and all of my favorite body parts. Just makes you want to take a nice car out for a fast cruise. We have these great page protectors that have fold out flaps on either side. So, it's not really a panoramic page . . . but kinda. It's fun anyhow and allowed me to use all of the pictures I wanted to.

It's Cool to be Your Friend

Just a cute layout with new penguin acrylic stamps, some stickles and glittery letters. Just kinda fun.

Quilt

My mother has been making this quilt for me for four years. She showed it to me the other day and I was so impressed by the amount of work she has put into it. So, I took some pictures and put this layout together. The stitching seemed to take forever so I can see just how much work my mom has put into it. The journalling is under the hinged pictures. The scrapbooked quilt on the bottom corner was done with scraps.

Acrylic Baby Book

So I quickly finished an acrylic baby book for Rhea, Mike and Ty. What I like about it is that I could put pictures etc, under and on top of the plastic. You can't really tell how it looks from these pictures; but I enjoyed making it and I hope they like it. Mike's mom picked it up tonight so they could use it as a brag book of sorts until they get more photos

New Happy Family

I met Ty today. When I arrived at the hospital, all three Wheelers were asleep. Just as I was about to drop off the gifts and leave I spotted Ty in the corner. When I tried to sneak a peek, Rhea woke up. We had a nice visit. They are all a bit tired and ready to venture out on their new life. Ty slept most of the time I was there. He only peeked out at us for a minute and made a few squealy noises. He is quite the cutie with blonde hair. He looks like Rhea's dad. I'm just glad everyone is doing so well. I am sure you will see more of them up on the blog soon.

Ty Has Arrived

After about 25 hours of labor, Ty William Wheeler has safely arrived. Rhea sounded tired but happy and chipper this morning at 7am when she called. He is 7 lbs and 2 ozs (not sure of the length yet). Both Mom and baby are doing well. I will go up this afternoon to visit and take some pictures ( am currently deleting stuff from my camera to make room for baby). Been shopping for gifts already. I will keep you updated.

Rhea's Having Her Baby

Seriously, Mike phoned me from the hospital today around 6:30pm and told me that Rhea's water broke about 4am. She had just started having contractions finally in the afternoon so they were off and running. By the time I talked to her, she was handing the phone to Mike during contractions so she could breathe it off. So, I'm hoping to visit her and her new bundle tomorrow. If I do, I'll try to get some pictures up here asap.

Busier Than Ever

Is anyone else wondering when life will slow down a bit? Even when the flowers finally get brave enough to pop their heads out and check to see if Spring finally remembered to arrive, will we be able to stop to smell them? Have we done this to ourselves? I feel that I am always trying to keep up to the pack -- never-mind knowing what the pack is even doing. Then, when I have two minutes to rub together when I am not cleaning, helping with homework, working, cooking, grocery shopping, driving someone somewhere, working, washing, laundry; I feel guilty for doing something like scrapbooking, reading or updating my blog. I read just before I go to bed (for two reasons: 1. So my son will read and 2. To help me unwind from a frazzling day). I keep hearing of people going to scrapbooking retreats and holidays: when and where do you find the time and money to be able to do this? Let me in on your secrets.

Trophy Deer

This is my brother Ken. This past fall he shot a record mule deer. Of course I didn't hear about it until about a month ago. He sent me a few pictures and tried to explain the scoring of deer which is difficult at best. Apparently the world record score is 217. Ken's scored 193 -- enough to earn him a place in one or two record books. I thought this was worthy of recording in our family scrapbook . Being that it is a page about hunting, I thought it best to not be too busy. We had just gotten the new lines of Basic Grey so I used one that would help camouflage his orange hunting outfit. The journalling pull-out was so that I could keep it to a one-page layout and I thought the antlers would be a great way to pull it out. I used the leafless tree diecut at the store for the antlers and cut them out of grungeboard. The guys that come into the store appreciate it.

Best Friends - Family

This is my brother-in-law Jim. He was explaining cars and car parts to Lucas after hours of play wrestling. Lucas kept asking when we could go back so he could play with Jim and Jim asked if he could keep Lucas for awhile. They got along great. This was one of the only moments that I could get a picture of them because they were always moving so fast, everything was just a blur. So when we got home from Edmonton and all of the new lines of paper were in, I quickly threw together this page. I must tell you, throwing together pages is all we have had a chance to do at JSI. There is so much new product to put out, we spend all of our shifts making room and pricing and putting out product. There is something for everyone. Heidi Grace and FancyPants lines for girls and Cosmo Cricket and FancyPants for boys. Everyone seems to be finding something they have been looking for.

Nachos

Lucas had the largest plate of food and most expensive meal . . . even the waitress laughed. He picked the jalapenos off and wouldn't use the sour cream. But nachos and coke was the meal of the week for him. Can you tell I love the new line of boys paper ... "bicycle something"? Even with getting a pile of new stock in the store on friday, I got some pages done and up on my blog. Must get some sleep, these weeks get so busy that I can't even check my blog most days. Glad to get something new on here. New Basic Grey should be in soon which I'm sure will inspire all of us.

OMG

Lucas agreed to let me publish this page if I journalled in lime green. Janet, this one's for you! New paper and new stickers. To let you in on the why . . . we have had this horse in our family for awhile and it turns up in the weirdest places and scares the heck out of us. The day Lucas rode it in his boxers, was the day mom took out her camera. Lucas's sense of humor took over from there and "OMG" (Oh my God!). This picture is my desktop for my computer. It puts me in a good mood for the day.

Laughter

Faith and Cal have always had the same sense of humor. I love, love, love this picture. This BZOO paper worked out so well with it because it brings out their blue eyes and smiles. It took nothing but the picture and title to do this page.

1st Drive

I had to get these photographs. Remember driving a vehicle for the first time on city streets? Well, it was fun to go out with Jade and this new BZoo paper worked perfect for it. I cut the top of the little pocket out and put in her temporary learners licence. I found some old chipboard letters and the number one and included them. Then I added a metal "learn" embellishment that was in my stash, some journalling and a bit of some of our new funky holey ribbon.

Jade - Grade 10

All of my children's school pictures turned out really great this year. I still haven't gotten Faith's but continue to ask for it. I used up some older paper for Jade's picture, used the new die cut and a glue pad with acrylic stamps and some wonderful superfine glitter. Pretty, isn't she?

TXT QT

We got this "Text Messaging" paper in at JSI and since I had these photos of Jade with her old phone, it was very easy to get it all together. The "lined notebook" paper and the "texted paper" are reverse sides of a two-sided pattern paper. I even got to use the new bigger crop-a-dile to put on the letters. Cute and quick.

Massage Gone Terribly Wrong

Faith, Mike and I were over at Cal's for supper one night. Faith and Mike stayed for awhile chatting. I don't remember if Faith wanted the massage or Faith. I think they both wanted one which was the problem. They wrestled and giggled and Faith screamed (like she does) and then kicked until they were both out of breath. No one got a massage . . . but everyone was happy being together. Ralna gave me some new paper and I found some matching ribbon in the store. Circles seem to be in my scrapbooking style now and the title was again done on the Cricut. The flowers matched so well, I just went with them. Some of my favorite colors for two of my favorite people.

First Time Skiing

New, new paper, new acrylic stamps . . . fun, fun, fun. The acrylic stamp is the same as the wave in the patterned paper, so I used it on the chipboard letters and then glossy accented it. I did the tab on the top of the journalling block . . . but it wasn't dry before I left work. The tab has glitter on the stamp which I applied glue to. Cool fun, cool beans, however you want to say it. I had fun and so did Lucas and I at Table Mountain his first time on skis. These photos are priceless, forever captured and kept for him. I hope he enjoys skiing in the future as much as I enjoy creating the memories.

Snowboarder

Some new pictures taken during the school break. Jade trying out snowboarding for the first time. I used cardstock for the background, some Tim Holtz ink to "carve" the paper, then some Perfect Pearls to make my "snow" glitter. My journalling is in small statements about the day attached with brads. I love that I have these memories of the kids "firsts" eventhough they are getting older. Wait for the "first" pictures of Jade driving.

Prince Charming

I keep finding these adorable pictures of my children. When we got this froggy paper in, I knew I had to do the page. The green and burgundy frog paper are two-sided, the title was done on the Cri-cut and I glossy accented the froggy eyeballs. Just a fun page.