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.

FinePix S700 Digital SLR

I pulled a scrapbookers impulse shop today. Sidewalk Sale. Camera regularly priced at $299.99. I got it for considerably less. NICE!!! May not be the greatest camera in the world but with a 10x Optical Zoom and 3-year warranty. I am happy. I'll consider it an early birthday present to myself. I have a lot of reading to do. It does lots.

A Duck with Wings

This was my favorite page from my weekend at work. I grabbed my scrap bins and looked for blue and black & while papers that matched my pictures. I had some cardstock at the store which I brought from home. I used any stash letters I had and arranged my page. All this page cost me was my sticky tabs. Everything else was from my stash. See, by doing this, I feel justified in a way when I spend money on expensive things. When you average it out, it makes everything seem a bit more cost effective. Now . . . to get some more albums to put the pages into . . . another expense.

Enjoy Visit Relax

Scraps, scraps, scraps, old chipboard letters, old patterned paper cut into flowers and new ribbon. A two-page spread with lotsa pictures. On the right is a pull out tag with complete journalling -- which helps eliminate the clutter from a busy page with busy pictures.

Brother Moment

These are my brothers Dale and Ken. The background paper is new Creative Cafe but the sticker words are old, the metal diamonds are super old, the paper rectangles are scraps and the frame diecut are old. I am satisfied getting pictures done, product used up and simple pages ready for an album. ACCOMPLISHING MY CHALLENGE!

BBQ

Okay, so not much from my stash on this page. New Elsie paper and some Creative Cafe stuff. The BBQ is old chipboard and the circle brads are old. The buttons are from my stash too. As you can tell by some of my pages lately, I have gotten into journalling on tags.

But I'll Drown

As I have said already, I am attempting to use some of my stash in each page I make. I have paid my tab off at the store and want to see how long I can scrapbook without spending hundreds of dollars. I challenged myself to use at least one thing from my stash on each page. I have, however, done better than that on some pages. So, over the next while, you will see some pages done with "previously purchased" paper. I will use some new stuff too; but I want to see if I can do it. I know it will be hard when new product comes in; but one thing per page from the stash should be achievable.

5 Rules

I like the picture of me here. Lucas took it of me at my mom's birthday celebration. I love the paper and embellishments. What I really don't like is that the page is about what I am really all about right now. I am an overprotective mother of three teenaged daughters (my son is almost eleven and isn't into the stuff I worry about). It just seemed like this was what I constantly was finding myself saying this summer: No drinking (alcohol), no smoking (cigarettes or pot), no drugs (illegal), no sex, no stealing. Man, seems like a sensible request right? Just get inside the minds of today's youth . . . you'd be floored! Teenagers don't understand that what doesn't kill them, doesn't make them stronger . . . it gives them a disease or kills braincells. I just have to remind them to keep themselves safe . . . nevermind what everyone else is doing or saying. Not so easy! Okay, so I'm ranting . . . I HAVE TEENAGERS . . . HELP!!!!

Talk To You Later

Got to mix some of the newer Basic Grey line with some old stuff again. Miranda's scarf was herringbone and since I love herringbone, I used it on my page. The ribbon was from my stash, the TTYL were rub-ons from my stash, the green scallop was scraps from a previous page die cut in the back room, the herringbone pocket was scraps made into a pocket. I really had fun making this page. Maybe because the girls were so cute and the colors so bright and . . . you know . . . The TTYL is texting abbreviation for talk to you later which is what the girls all had in common . . . texting, msn etc.

Toyota Prius Hybrid

Anthony brought his new car to Saskatoon and everyone had to go for a ride or take a look at it. Nice Car!! "A Gazillion Miles to the Gallon" or whatever in metric. He could almost drive from Saskatoon to Edmonton and back on a tank of gas with four grown adults in the car. Nice! Simple page -- but fun.

In the Spotlight

We played a lot of pool over the weekend. Since it was relatively uneventful, I thought I could put tons of pictures on one layout ... so I did. The lighting in the basement was low, and since I didn't want to try to figure out how to adjust for it, I just snapped away. The pictures turned out very yellow and so I used a 29th Street paper in orange tones to do the layout. It came with appropriate embellishments which made it go together really easy. On the upside, I found out that Lucas is a great pool player. I did however, beat him in our rubber match. Uncle Ken and Uncle Jim were a great source teaching the younger kids how to figure out shots. It was a great place to relax, visit and goof around.

Make a Wish

I know . . . I never, never, never do pages this bright but the colors matched so . . . I wanted to get all of the information down on one page about what we did over the course of my mother's 70th birthday party weekend so I did a page with a ton of journalling. I really liked the photos and wanted to make sure we had everything in one neat package.

Life on the Edge

Many pictures on a page, old cardstock and a bit of patterned paper. Yes, I will try to get back into the swing of things with more up-to-date pages. Love the pictures though. A branch had cracked during a storm so the two boys jumped on the garage roof to take it down. I think they had more fun just being on the roof.

Cousins

I jumped out of the box . . . yes, I put my photos on a slant. Don't do that much. Nor do I use red, 4th of July paper or old, old embellishments. Did it all on one page and used nine photographs. Must admit though, not a bad looking group of kids, ranging in age from 10 to 23. Even included a journalling tag . . . NICE! My new favorite word from P.S. I Love You!

Original - Sister/Brother Having Fun

One of my favorite pictures of the weekend. My kids being my kids. After Lucas and Faith built a wall of chocolates, they posed for me. I used some BZoo paper and then added a few rub-ons that I had laying around. These are some of the times we tend to forget unless they are caught with pictures. Definately my children's personalities all right and not afraid to show it.

Good Stuff

More pictures from our family weekend. During pictures, Ken and Jim wrestled with Lucas (which is his favorite pastime). I used various papers for this page including some of the new Creative Cafe embellishments and old school ribbon. Trying so hard to use some of the product I have in my stash. But it is so fun getting new stuff off of the shelf.

Spectacles

Brenda had the greatest sunglasses this weekend. Everyone wanted to wear them. Jim and Lucas were the preferred recipients. Since the glasses had bling dots on them, I had to find the right paper and then add some bling to it. The paper was small dots for one side and the large dots were on the reverse side, so it worked really well for me. For this page, the pictures told the entire story.

Now and Then

My mom decided to get a new hairstyle for her birthday. So, she went from the mushroom style to a pixie style. It is a lot shorter everywhere and looks thicker. I got to use the new products from the Creative Cafe for this layout. It is so easy to use and works so well together. You have got to come in to see it before it is all gone. Ralna has to plan to order more and we don't even have it all out yet because some of the containers weren't delivered. Hasn't stopped us from selling it though. Laura has started some beautiful pages. Hopefully she will have them up soon.

Happy Birthday Mom

It's my Mom's 70th Birthday tomorrow and we are celebrating it this weekend with my entire family. I was asked to make the card and this is what I came up with. As you can tell, I began it before the Creative Cafe showed up at the store or it may have looked a lot different. I like it anyhow. She doesn't have a computer so I knew it was okay to post it before her birthday.

Mike & the Boys

We got this new amazing line of paper this week, so I used a couple of the sheets of paper and letter stickers. I am really going to try my hardest to get a lot of pages done for Rhea's wedding. It hasn't been quite a year yet and her son has safely arrived so I guess it is really time for me to get my butt in gear and get it done. The new line works really well.

Beautiful

This is Sky's Grade 8 Grad picture that I took at home. She looked so grown-up and beautiful. I used the new Basic Grey line and embellied it to the nth degree. I used Prima lace and velvet ribbon, lazer-cut flower paper and flower blings, rub-ons and pink roses. I think she felt as pretty as she looked. It was a great night for us.

Alive Pure Energy Discovery Free Bloom Original

A little bit of old with a little bit of new, some Glossy Accents and Bling finished off this page. Heidi helps with her polka dot paper because Jader's bathing suit was polka dots too. Jade had so much fun in the wave pool jumping into the waves.

Biffed It Bad

How do you scrapbook a bruise? Man, I wiped out seriously! You know how you put one foot on a pedal and then swing the other leg around and start riding. Well, I do it all the time. This time; however, I had on my sandals and one got hitched on my seat. I went ass over forehead and ended up looking like scrambled eggs on the sidewalk. Best of all I had just been in the liquor board store getting some rye. Talk about a bad experience. I couldn't wear short pants or shorts for weeks. A student hurt himself on the playground one day and I showed him my bruise. I told him I took the training wheels off my bike and wiped out. His tears stopped and he laughed at me. Gotta laugh at yourself to stop from crying sometimes.

Rider Pride

While we were reorganizing the store last week, I found this 29th Street paper that was orange and green . . . and it was football themed. Made no sense to me so . . . I had Cal take some pictures at the Rider home opener and changed the colors to help work with the paper a bit better. The Riders won the game, the Safeway people were kicked out for not being in their seats (which had been double-assigned by the ticket company) and all is normal in Saskatchewan.