Later than I planned...

...but my Friday post is here.
And,I have a page,my first one of 2010!
I was feeling very uninspired so I asked my friend Julie to set me a challenge.
It was to use only photo's,a title and one of those Basic Grey sticker sheets.
The result...


Simple but I like it.
I love this Origins line....I pop dotted the bigger sticker,it was too flat just stuck down!
I'm going to remember this for whenever I'm stuck for an idea,talk about quick and easy.
Then I actually made another page.
Then I started a third,maybe just maybe I am on a roll again :)

Hopefully back Monday,with more pages and a bit of a catch up.
I'm off to keep warm...it's freezing :)

Coming soon...hopefully!

Regular blogging!
I just haven't been in the mood to blog.
Nothing worth sharing...just everyday run of the mill stuff.
No scrapping has taken place.
So I'll post the remaining unseen ones from last year.
One I started on NSD last May....

An older one for Ad's album...need to start working on this again.

One from October...


And this one that I started back in October but didn't finish up until December...

Which looks really washed out for some reason.

Hopefully I'll have something new to share next week.

Well it's a cold fresh morning out there and I think,perhaps,just maybe the sun may shine today........at last!

Can we...

...just an an itsy bitsy show of sunshine.
I dislike snow.
I dislike freezing temperatures.
The only thing that gets me through winter is the sun and blue skies.
Neither of which I have seen for days.
It makes me grumpy :)

I am so far enjoying taking my photo a day...despite the lack of sun.

The boys finally went back to school yesterday and I've played catch up on errands/groceries/cleaning ever since.
Nothing much happening this weekend and nothing wrong with that at all.
Most likely some skiing for the boys.
We also heard a friend is in town,who we haven't seen since we left the UK,so that should be fun,catching up.

I haven't scrapped.
I have been backing up photo's though.
Whilst doing that I found some layouts from last year I never posted.
So I'll post a couple of those since I have nothing new to share...


Super simple one.
I'd been wanting to get this story down for a long time.
Title says it all really !
That was Ol's reaction when he finally got the frog back in his possession.
It's a long story.
With a happy ending......thank goodness.
We have not lost the frog since !!

This one has pictures from '08...


It was in the October issue of BHG and was one of my favourites from last year.

OK thats all I have for today.

Hello 2010 !

The last 2 weeks have just flown by.
It's been nice and relaxing with lots of time for just the 4 of us.
The only busy thing we did was drive to Craig and Nic's Christmas morning to spend a few days.....first time we have spent Christmas with any family members for 4 years.
The weather was kind of weird and not the greatest to get out and about in,which is a shame when there is so much to explore.
Michael and Brad got quads for Christmas,so Ad and Ol had a little go on those.
I even had a go,kind of fun,but Nic has the photo evidence of that.

We did see a couple of porcupines up a tree and plenty of tracks of various other wildlife !
We walked out to the swamp,which was being to freeze over,lots of stuff to take pictures of !!
Since then we've taken it easy.
Boys have seen a few friends,been skating and sledging.
New years eve was just the four of us,sushi dinner and movies.

I'm not one for making resolutions or any of that kind of thing but I am definitely going to make even more use of my time this year.
Spend it wisely.
I feel towards the end of last year I wasted a lot of time.
All in all I am looking forward to 2010.

Anyway it feels good to get all the Christmas stuff down.
That prompted a grand old tidy up and clear out yesterday that has been continuing today.
That has of course left a huge expanse of wall in my dining room that I have to find a cheap solution for !
The boys are still off school until Thursday.....then I can get back to completing my long overdue sofa covers and cushion making in peace.

I haven't scrapped since before Christmas and not sure there will be time this week either but I am dying to get back into it....so many photo's just waiting.
I also need to sort out my albums.
I will post this 8x8 double page,one of 3 I made for Patti's birthday album...

I do intend to try and continue to post a layout every Friday.

I have also decided to do the 365 photo challenge,I'm posting those on flickr.
To keep it interesting for me I'm going to include a few simillar things each week.
I'm sure there will be photo's I love and photo's I hate but it's all about learning and trying to improve.

AC Layout

Don't ask me how but I found time to do this weeks challenge !!

A layout with a favourite photo and 2 or more AC products.
I have favourite photo's all the time but this is a recent favourite...

This years Christmas card photo.
I blogged about it here.

AC Supplies:
Paper........Backyard(Boing) and Merrymint ( Fudge)
Thickers.....Cappuccino
Rub-ons......Minimarks,Kate.
Other supplies...Bazzill cardstock and SEI Sticker.

I think that's me done for scrapping for 2009.....Novembers page total was 7 and with 5 for December brings my yearly total of 81 layouts !

I doubt I will be around to blog until after Christmas...too much family fun to be had :)

So to those of you I know and those I don't that are reading...have a great christmas !

2 more sleeps 'til Christmas !!

That's the countdown I get from Ol every morning.
I don't know why every year I am surprised by how fast Christmas actually comes around.
The boys finished school yesterday and very happy they are about that :)
I have everything bought and wrapped and very happy I am about that :)
Oliver still believes in Santa but I have a feeling this may be the last year...his logical brain is ticking away....to be honest I'm surprised he's believed for this long.
Anyway,this is last years Christmas day page,recently finished !!



Our tree hunt wasn't successful this year....

Seems the next few years the tree farm will be low on trees to cut,so that may be the end of that tradition for us.
It was such a dark day.
It started snowing not long after these pictures.
The boys entertained them selves with snowball fights while I said no to a dozen or more tree's.
The someone got bored !!

So they wasted the time making snow angels until the tractor came to take us back.
We ended up driving back here and getting one from our grocery store !!
It's not as big as usual but I'm happy about that...easier to decorate.

My good friend Patti has a special birthday today.
I have pages we made for an album for her but they will have to wait until another post as I need to merge them !!
We went for dinner last night to celebrate.....for once not hampered by a snow storm as so often happens when we plan a get together of any kind.
I can leave you with the card I made for her though...


Back tomorrow with a layout for this weeks AC challenge.

Lots to say...

...but no time to say it :)

Hopefully here Wednesday,complete with a few new pages....because despite everything else I have found a little time to scrap :)

This weekend.

In a list,because it's been a while....

• Movie night (Ol's pick this week) and home made pizza tonight.
• Time for our annual Christmas tree hunt(hoping it's more successful than last year)
• More baking,pork pies,cookies and more.
• The males of the household are cooking me a late birthday dinner Saturday night.
• Some snow shoveling......deck needs clearing :(
• Some scrapping...need to do my page for last week from my photo a day.
• Catch up on more Six Feet Under episodes,love this show and love HBO for re-running it :)

This is the last page from our crop weekend....


It's become a bit of a tradition to do these age photo's on his birthday,this year he did it without me asking.Shame it took me until October to get around to scrapping it !!
Although I am only now doing last years Christmas day pictures...as long as they get done,eventually !

Enjoy the weekend :)

Today..

...is my birthday.
Happy Birthday to me :)
Just like last year,look what Mother Nature brought me...

A snow storm.
Not the best piccies but really I took three steps out my front door and one out my bedroom door....it's horrible out there!
Since I've had two,next year I think I can do with out,thank you very much.
This years is a lot worse than last,which has meant the cancellation of lunch with friends.
Better to be safe than sorry and we can do it some other time.

So what to do instead ?
Bake a pan of brownies,make some coffee and scrapbook :)
This is one of two pages...


I finished up that I started on Monday when I cropped with my pal Carine.
We haven't done that in a while and it was fun.

OK,I'm sure there's some snow that needs shoveling......maybe later :)

The weekends coming....

It will be another quiet one here....love that!
We have a Christmas party to go to but that's it.
Stuart wants to get some baking done.
I need to make some Christmas cards.
Other than that......nothing.

Since it's Friday,here's a layout....


It's an older one,from way back in January !! but I like it.
I never got to post it here as it was requested for publication by BHG,it was in the August/September issue.

Enjoy your weekend :)

Another layout

I started this one at the weekend but it fell to one side.
I wish I'd finished it up earlier because it is unbelievable dark here today,so excuse the poor image.

It's for the challenge on the American Crafts blog....to make a page about something you are grateful for...


I've wanted to scrap this photo for a while,so it worked out perfectly.Not sure about using my grocery list scrawl on this one but hey !

American Crafts Supplies:
Paper........The Goods(Pumpkin pie),Merrymint(fudge),Amplified(The twist)
Thickers.....Subway
Rub-ons......Minimarks,date(Hildi),words(Kate),heart(Catwalk phrases)
Other supplies...cardstock..bazzill

Well,better finish up my cup of tea before I head out to pick up Ol at the school.
They are having a used book sale and since we are severely lacking in French books I thought I should pop in.

Middle of the week.

After all my blah,blah,blahing yesterday.
Just a layout today.
Another from our girlie crop.....


I have a feeling I was going to add journaling to the outside of this.....

While I'm at it the Fathers day card I made this year,since I don't think I posted it .....



Hopefully another layout tomorrow.....

A photo a day

Where Oh where has this year gone ?
Anyway,it's the first of the December,whether I like it or not.
So two days ago in a brief email exchange,Patti and I decided we'd do another photo a day challenge....no rules this time.......well maybe the odd weekend one.
I believe Nathalie is joining us too :)

Anyway after a little thought I decided I needed some kind of theme(for want of a better word) for it.
I definitely want it to be Christmas related but also include more shots of us and the everyday things that we do.....I kind of got away from that as these challenges became more about me finding out more about my camera and what it can (and can't) do and generally trying to take better pictures.
But,what about all the times I know I'll be drawn into the garden to take something nature related as I did in April.Every time I do one of these the nature shot nearly always beats whatever else I've taken that day.

The answer.............2 photo's a day !!

The everyday pictures I want to scrapbook as a weekly page.
It's my solution to not getting my act together with the December daily album for the second year running.
I hope to scrap them as soon as I can so they don't sit there waiting for me to do them in 4 months time !
I think Patti's got her own version of a December album in mind for hers.

Anyway,enough waffling,the photo's as always will be on my other blog but I'll post today's here,since this post needs an image.

The everyday.....


As soon as he gets off the bus and comes in the door we have to go and get the mail.
From the garden.....

The droplet it's self is a little out of focus,as I was standing on tip toes and rushing a little as I knew any minute it was going to drip !! I just love it for the bokeh background.

Back again.....

What ?
Two posts in one day !
Just wanted to post a few photo's from this morning,I think it's pretty for the first 10 minutes.......


I think I might have made the resolution a little too small or can just blame blogger for the cr*ppy image.
I'm happy to report it seems to be melting.Although I have to admit it did make me feel the need to get rid of the leaves from my header :)

Whoops !

Well I had good intentions of posting last Friday but I'm not sure what happened,the day seemed to whizz by,errands and school meetings...kind of summed up the whole of last week actually.
Anyway,start of a new week and this boy.........


was very exited to finally need his winter coat and see this view this morning..........


Me,not so much.
Yes,yes,it had to come eventually but I'd quite like it to disappear and return in time for Christmas!
I was getting used to the unseasonably mild weather we were having.

I'll leave with this layout I should have posted Friday.
I normally photograph double pages together but I was feeling lazy and didn't,so excuse the dodgy merge !!!(It should click bigger)


I made this one a couple of weeks ago,hadn't made a double page for a while.

OK,I'm going to try and post everyday this week.....try :)

Upcoming weekend.....

......is going to be,nice and easy,just the way it should be !
No plans other than dinner with some friends,that should be fun since it's been way too long.

So it's Friday and I need to post a layout.
This is another from the scrap weekend.
I'm not one for added 'cute' to my pages.
But,Julie had these adorable bug Jolee's stickers that I never would have bought,mainly because I never even think to go and look at them.......


It couldn't have been more perfect for the page and nor could that BG paper that I had only just bought.
Everything Ol names,he just adds a 'e' sound to it as in 'Froggy' 'Batty' and 'Snakey' to name a few !!
So the caterpillar was 'Cattie' and the friend he found later for Cattie was called 'Pillie' so that's what this page is about,that and the fact he's so desperate for a pet he spent the day tending to caterpillars !

Have a good weekend :)

Layout

Thursday afternoon already...........

I finished this one the other day but only just got around to photographing it.
It's for the challenge this week at the American Crafts blog.

I only had paper from that line but I did use 3 pieces of it........


American Crafts Supplies:
Paper....Junior Line.......'We're number 1 !' 'Boom !' 'Radical !'
Thickers...................Rootbeer Float
Rub-ons....................Lauren
Sticker....................Remarks Journaling Book 2

Other supplies: Cardstock....Bazzill

Back tomorrow with another layout.

Easy weekend ahead

Yep,nothing really planned for this weekend.
The only 2 things that must get done are clearing the last of the leaves and getting my car into the garage,which always involves some clever maneuvering of 'stuff' ! !

On our way home last week we took a detour to Merrickville,what a lovely little town it is too.Turns out it was quite a detour,good job my husband loves me !! I'd found a store that sold barn stars,large ones....I've been on the hunt for a while.
So now this is attached to my house.........


and I love it :)

Since it's Friday and I'm trying to get back into posting a layout on Fridays here's a page from the crop the other weekend.......


I could have easily thrown this page away a number of times during it's creation.I was completely stuck on using that quote because it was so fitting for Ad and the star paper.
In fact if I had been home it would have been put on the 'to be finished....never pile' !!
Good job I wasn't as it turned out to be one of my favourites.

Time for a layout !

I created this one for the American Crafts blog challenge this week.
Create a fall layout using 2 or more AC products.
Which meant I got to use my all time favourite Autumn stripe paper .......


American Crafts Supplies:
Paper.......Merrymint 'Fudge' and The Goods 'Pumpkin Pie'
Thickers....Daydream
Rub-ons.....Hildi
Felt Flowers
Red and Yellow Brads in flowers

other Supplies:
cardstock...Bazzill,Photo Corners...Scenic Route,Brads...Heidi Swapp,Making memories and Unknown.

Oh and if it looks familiar it's because it's a lift of this one I made way back in January :)

Monday

I like Mondays like this one.
It's 11.30 and I've already done 2 loads of washing,3rd load is waiting to go in the dryer.
Tidied away all the stuff we took with us this weekend.
Made 3 of the 6 phone calls I need to make this week (after having to deal with severely lacking customer service people,I cut it short at 3,I could take no more !!).
Filled 10 huge leaf bags,which was actually enjoyable because it is beautiful out there today,lovely and warm.

So I think it's time to make a batch of cookies,have lunch while catching up on some some blog reading and maybe a little scrapping.

We went to see Craig and Nic and the boys this weekend,who seem to be settling in nicely out in the woods in Ontario !!
Nic and I ran a ton of errands on Saturday which left the men busy building a school bus shelter and cutting down trees....manly stuff :)
I barely took any photo's,although I took a few when we went for a little walk along the road before breakfast on Sunday.
These 2 are my favourites for different reasons......


I've been wondering if I have a focusing issue with my camera but I think sometimes I just rush a little.
I am aware I'm often trailing behind or trying to capture a child who would rather be doing something else !
I took my time Sunday and most were good.


The sun was in front of us coming back,I'm aware I have the pink sunspot blaring in there but I like it.