Shimmer glimmer love

I love glimmer mist, that's no secret. I've had it ever since it appeared on Scrap in Style TV in 2007. In fact, I could only order purple and orange because that's all they had left. I've been using it a lot lately, it's an easy way to get a painted look. This girl's work has been blowing my mind lately and I feel the urge to paint and muck about. Sadly, work is nuts and I have no time. The above image is some glimmer mist love: it's a sneak peek of my layout for the next Butterfly Craft Challenge...stay tuned!

Here's one from a few weeks back:
It's a Heidi Swapp Invisible page covered in my good old purple and orange glimmer mist(I even misted the prima flower), with some Hambly, thickers and Kaiser Craft rub ons. Oh and some Ranger paint in pearl around the edges. I photographed Sid sleeping, she's so sweet when she sleeps. Thanks for taking a peek!

Summer time

It's summertime and the living is easy! Well, when we are not working that is. These pictures are from our trip to Springridge Farm yesterday. We had lots of fun with Nana and Poppa. Strawberry picking, climbing hay bales, having a picnic were all on the menu.
I've had a lot of fun playing with my pictures at www.picnik.com. It's a free online photo editing programme. It has a tonne of cool effects. My favourite is Cross processing, Lumo-ish and 1960's. I love how it makes everything have a 1930's post card look. Check it out!

New Challenge....

My first challenge at assistant DT coordinator at Butterfly Crafts is up!!
Come play along with us, we've got lots inspiration and a great prize! Here's my layout:

Space Jam

Well this is a totally non-scrappy all about Sid post. (just like the blog was before I went to the dark side). Sid had her recital extravaganza this weekend. It was a total marathon from start to finish but the picky princess herself rose to the occasion. Here's a sampling:

After school

Sid and her buddies walking home from school. I love documenting these everyday rituals. Wish I had some pages about my childhood to look at!!

Happy Birthday my love...

Sean Forrest Moore, the love of my life is 40 today. He's the best husband and father anyone could ever ask for. I've loved him since that fateful day cupid's arrow hit me almost 19 years ago and he's silly enough to love me back. I'm the luckiest girl in the world. Happy Birthday Seany McForrest Pants.

Yep...

After himmimg and hawing I decided to re-apply for another spot on the Butterfly Crafts DT. I'm happy to say that I got it and was also asked to be the Assistant DT coordinator. Yay! Not sure what my official duties are yet but I'm sure it will be fun.
Thanks for etting me share the news!

Hmm...

Got some good new scrappy news today, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say anything yet. So, I'm silent like a butterfly for now.
In other scrappy news, Canadian Scrapbooker is out and I have a layout in it, just not sure which one. If anyone sees it, please let me know. My copy won't be here for awhile!!

A few newbies

I've made a bunch of stuff in recent weeks but haven't photographed most of it. So here's a couple fresh projects.
The card I made with some left over Doodlebug paper from my DT kit from the Scrapping Turtle. (Great paper and we got so much that month.) I used my square punch to make a patterned paper quilt and cut it out with my Spellbinder dies. The craft cardstock is the back of one of Sid's construction paper packs.
The layout is mostly Sassafras Lass. I bought a tonne of it at Scrapfest and was pretty intimated to start cutting it but it's really fun to work with.
Thanks for looking!

Creativity

Creativity. Being creative. Creating. However you say it, it's part of me. I like to make things, it makes me happy. It also makes me mad, sad and a bit crazy. I can't help the impulse, the inspiration to create.
Elizabeth Gilbert (the author of Eat,Pray, Love) recently gave an interesting talk about creativity and how we, as a society, are too hard on our artistic selves. I highly recommend listening to it HERE.
The muse often haunts me when I don't have the time to play and eludes me when I do. How many times have I though up an absolutely brilliant jewellery idea on the way to babysitting (back in the pre-Sid days) and totally forgot about it when I got to the studio? These days it is an idea for a layout or a card on the way to work that I can't remember how to create when the day is done, the child is asleep and the quiet evening is mine. This is the part of creativity that maddens and frustrates me.
There's other times (albeit not as frequently occurring) that an idea or inspiration feels like winning the lottery. The clear insight into a beautiful design for paper or metal occurs in my brain and I manage to execute it flawlessly (or almost) and feel an amazing joy inside.
Most of the time these days it's all about playtime. No pressing deadlines for clients just fooling around with paper, paint, glue and pens. The downside to this fun is lack of direction and usually lack of results. Scrapbooking is a lovely hobby but I've never been in it to churn out a zillion pages. I love creatively telling our story. I experimenting with new techniques.
Recently, I find myself changing the direction of my scrapping. Each new page seems more complex than the last and I'm riddled with challenges along the way to completion. I love taking my time with each page but sometimes I have to wonder, will anyone care in twenty years? Does it matter that I hand painted and stitched the background or would it be just as fine if was a picture slapped together with some stickers and words? I guess I like doing it. That's what matters and it's keeping my muse happy...for now.

The last Butterfly Challenge

I can't believe it's my last challenge...yikes where does time go?? It's been loads of fun playing along and I will miss it. Our final challenge was to create a project based on a favourite Disney character. Well, Sid is the Picky Princess, so that was not hard...lol! Check out the challenge and the fab prize here.
Here's what I wrote:
When I received this challenge I realized that my daughter is no longer dressing up like she used to. Princesses were the subject of all her make believe until very recently. I'm a little sad to see this era end, so it seemed fitting to make a little catalog of the princesses she emulated the past few years. Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Aurora; I will miss you guys!
Click on it to see the enlarged photo. I used that Bind it All (thanks for the loan Kate!!), my new Spellbinders dies, a Theresa Collins album, some Hambly and Basic Grey.
Thanks for looking!

A few new pages

A few new projects to peek at. Lot's of familial love here..and why not??? My family rocks.

It's been a millenia...

since I've blogged at least it's felt that way. Spring is in full force and it's FABULOUS!! We've been spending more time outside lately and lapping up the vitamin D. Here's few photos from a recent outing:

Colour challenge

I haven't done one of these in ages and I love these colours so here's my attempt. I am so not a card maker!! Thanks for looking!

Butterfly Challenge #9

The new challenge is up at Butterfly Crafts. This week's them is to scrap a favourite toy. We have a great prize this month too!
I chose to scrap Sid's bear Mr. Wiggles. Sean bought and named him when I was pregnant. He's lived on Sid's bed ever since. He protects her against thunderstorms, bad dreams and monsters.
He's huge, soft and squishy...in short he's the best bear ever!

Bit of a blogging break

I've not felt like blogging much lately, but I have been scrapping and making a bit of jewellery! The latest Challenge at Butterfly Crafts will be up soon and I've been churning out a few pages. ..but I've yet to photograph them.In the mean time here's one new page and a birth announcement I designed for my best friend. Thanks for looking!

Dreaming...

It's a lovely spring day today. We went to the CN tower since Sid's never been there and it was a warm clear day. Boy that was an expensive half hour. Yikes. At least I got a few good shots. Sid made me walk on the glass floor, which I'm terrified of. I bet I looked a little funny!
Here's a few unedited pics:





Here's a digi layout I did for a magazine call. I can't wait for summer!!!

Life gets in the way...

of blogging! We've been busy 'round these parts. (I say that part in my head with my "cowgirl" voice I do for Sid. It's pretty funny Sid treats me as a different person and calls me Matilda when I talk like that).
Last week we went out to Woodstock for my Uncle's 65th birthday. We had a blast! Sid loved playing with all my cousin's kids and eating cake. I was so proud of her, she was very well behaved. Here's a few shots: (oh and check out that necklace I'm wearing, it's a 22 karat gold and garnet Indian Necklace I borrowed from work...got to love the perks)

The first pic is my Dad and Sid, the second is my Dad and his siblings and the third is my Dad, Mom, Me and my Brother. I'm not happy about how I look in this shot but we rarely get family shots round these parts (there goes the cowgirl accent again!) I had to post it! My lovely sister in law Kym took the pic.
Butterfly Crafts has a new Challenge up, with a great prize. Check it out and play along!! Here's my take!!


Thanks for reading my rather long winded post!!!

Playing around

I've had a few days off the past few weeks so that's meant some quality scrapping time. Here's a few new projects. Well, the shadow box was started about two years ago but I finally finished it!!

The layout reads:
"Mom, what's the best word?" asked Sidney. "Love." I responded. She paused and then said "Well, I love you more than love." February 2009.
Man that kid really knows how to make me tear up!

The card was from a 5X5 challenge I put together at The Scrapping Turtle.
Also I was happily surprised to have two layouts picked up by Canadian Scrapbooker. One for the Summer 2009 issue and one for their special issue "Canadian Scrapbooker Basics". Yay!
Thanks for looking!!

dinner and a show

Sid loves to help me cook, she has to help every time. As you can imagine a five year old's help is sometimes, well, not all that helpful. So, last night we decide to make homemade mac & cheese. I scoured the internet for a new recipe and found a great little video. Sid was fascinated. We start making dinner and she is getting in my way and I'm getting frustrated, so I say: "Sid why don't I be the chef and you be the host of the show".
She gets a chair and talks to the "audience" about what I'm doing (the audience is a wagon full of dollies). It worked like a charm.
As for the mac & cheese, it was yummy. I'd up the amount of cheese next time and cut down the bread crumbs and definitely try to recommended wine too.

Dinner conversation

A few nights back I came home from work and Sean was making steak for dinner. We all sat down to eat and Sid was asking what "rare" meant. I explained that it meant how much the steak was cooked. She looked down in serious contemplation and then promptly announced: "That's not rare. Rare is when Daddy changes the milk bag".
Too true. She is so smart it scares me.

36...

New Challenge is up!

Butterfly Crafts has their new Challenge up. Come play with us and win a great prize. Here's my take on scrapping a guilty pleasure. I've loved photo booths ever since I was 14 and first sat in one in downtown London Ontario. I have many many pictures from over the years. I just put ones of Sid, Sean and I (oh and my nephew Chas) in this layout. Funny fact: the first picture is from the night we got engaged in 1996. It's the only photos we have of that night. They've been on our fridge ever since.