Two And A Half Years...

Hello Everyone! I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy and creative. 

It's been about two and a half years since I posted on my blog and what a journey it has been! 

My last post on my blog was in September, 2019 from my last vacation that my husband and I went on for our 20th wedding anniversary. We drove to beautiful Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada for a week. Little did we know that six months later there would be a global pandemic. 

Even though it has been a very difficult time for many of us for the past two years, it has also had some positive aspects. For me personally, as a scrapbooker, knitter, and generally overall a crafty person, it was so wonderful to have more time to create and learn new skills and techniques and not feel guilty about it. Ha Ha!  

It also was time to reflect and to evaluate what was important in life and what my priorities were. In the past two years since the pandemic began,  I was in the hospital twice and then my husband had major surgery and also had Covid-19. 

We decided that we needed to make some changes in our lives so we moved four hours away so we could be closer to my husband's job and also my three children and their spouses and families.

We now live in the same neighborhood as my son and daugher in law and two young grandsons.  My youngest grandson was born during the pandemic in May 2021.  

It is wonderful to be closer to my grandchildren and see them grow up, but at the same time it is difficult to move away from my elderly parents and those gorgeous mountains that my husband and I would see from our town and go for drives whenever we could. The mountains are my jam. 

 I really would like to start sharing some of my projects that I have been busy with the past two and half years and connect with my followers again. Thanks for stopping by and hope you will visit again soon.

It's Been A While...An Update

Hello friends! Happy Friday! I hope you are all doing well. It's been a long time since I've posted on my blog. July has been a month of ups and downs so that is why I haven't been blogging.

On July 1, my first grandchild was born! It's a boy!

A healthy, beautiful baby boy that has captured my heart and let me tell you, the first time I held him, it was one of the most special moments of my life. He was born on Canada Day, which is Canada's birthday and it will be so awesome that every year he will share his birthday with my country Canada. My son says he will have to celebrate July 1 of each year with fireworks to make it extra special.

Also on July 1, my youngest child went by ambulance to the hospital. I wasn't at home, I was at a scrapbook retreat and my husband was able to be at the hospital for her and luckily she was going to be ok.

Then on July 5, my mother celebrated her 80th birthday and also my parents were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary on July 19.

My grandbaby arrived three weeks early so the plans that I had to celebrate my mom's special day and my parents 60th wedding anniversary got changed. I travelled to see my grandbaby, who lives about 200 miles away from where I live. To make it all work, I planned a little gathering on July 7, booked a hotel, ordered balloons, a cake and made dinner reservations near where my son, daughter-in-law and grandson live and my parents drove the 200 miles.

To make a long story short, my three children, their spouses, my parents, my grandson, and my husband and I all were together, even if it was for one day to celebrate three important milestones. It was so special! My parents were great grandparents for the first time and it was so beautiful to see the smiles on their faces when they held their great grandson for the first time.

That was a whirlwind weekend, but I was able to take lots and lots of photos to scrapbook later...

Then, my son in law was scheduled for major surgery on July 9 and in less than a week, he had a total of three surgeries because of unforeseen complications and a life threatening infection. He was placed in the Intensive Care Unit.  I had driven home for one day and ended up having to go back to stay at my daughter's house and give some help and support so she could be with her husband. It was scary. There were times that I wasn't sure the outcome was going to be good and a person doesn't know how strong they are until strong is all they have. I am happy to say that he was discharged from the hospital yesterday. Hopefully he will continue to improve and will make a speedy recovery.

With all the crazy happenings, needless to say, all of my paper crafting and design team commitments were put on hold. I simply didn't have the time and I simply couldn't focus on being creative. Things are starting to get back to normal and I am itching to create again.

Before July,  I was on a mini album kick and created a mini album for my parents 60th wedding anniversary, two baby mini albums for my new grandson, and a traveller's notebook for my daughter's upcoming trip to Texas next week. I love making albums completely from scratch and documenting the memories.

It feels good to be back creating again and I'm looking forward to the next few months designing for Paper House Productions, A Flair For Buttons, and also have a layout that will be published in the Fall 2018 issue of Scrapbook And Cards Today Magazine as well as an invitation to be a guest designer for a kit club named Scrapbooking Store.

So that is a little update from me.  Keep checking back to see some projects that I will be working on.

I hope you have a great day and happy creating!

Easter Family Memories

Hello friends! I hope you had a good weekend and were able to spend some time doing what you love and if you are a scrapbooker, I hope you were able to partake in some of the International Scrapbook Day festivities that were happening everywhere.

Today I wanted to share another layout from the May Creative Kit at My Creative Scrapbook.

For this particular layout, I used the negative of the Alphabet Cut File, a download that is included in the May kits. I cut this large title out on my electronic die cutting machine on a 12X12 piece of textured white card stock and using the negative part of the cut file to create an extra layout.

I added some clear gesso around each large alpha, let it dry and then watercolored around the edge of each alpha with coordinating watercolors in pink, yellow, peach, teal, green and pink. 

With my paper trimmer, I cut lots and lots of paper strips and glued them down onto the backside of the large letters making sure that there were no two papers the same beside each other. 

Once all the large alphas were done, I drew around each letter with a ruler and a fine tip black marker to make the letters of the title stand out even more.

To add the white paint splatters, I covered up the photo with a piece of scrap paper and flicked some watered down white acrylic paint with a paint brush onto the layout to give it more texture and interest.

To make some extra embellishments for this page, I fussy cut some flowers, butterflies and eggs from some of the papers included in the kit. 

The adorable bunny, chick and egg buttons that were included in the kit were placed on the center of some of the large alphas. These were glued down with some glue dots.

Puffy stickers and a  pink heart shaped sticker from the pink alpha sticker sheet were added.

The word "family" was added just above the word "memories" and then I machine stitched it down with some pink thread. When different mediums such as gesso, inks and paints are used I find that stickers don't seem to adhere well and stay put so I often stitch them down to make sure that they aren't going anywhere.

There are some really cute phrase stickers included in the kit that come in mint, light pink and dark pink that I added to the layout.

Here are some more closeups

Well there you have it. A layout using the negative piece of a cut file to create a large title that is watercolored and backed with lots and lots of leftover paper strips.

I hope you are inspired to give this technique a try. It's a great way to stretch a cut file and your kit further.

Be sure and check out all the details on how you can purchase your own kit from My Creative Scrapbook. There are four kits each month so there is always one that will suit your style. Happy scrapping!

Family Are Better Together

Hello! Happy National Scrapbook Day? Hopefully you are able to do some scrapbooking. Today I am sharing this layout over at Just Nick Digital Cut Files of my hubby, kids and parents.

For this layout I used two cut files from Just Nick and combined them to create one cut file.  I began with the Basic Hearts cut file and chose one of the hearts, traced it and enlarged it in Silhouette Studio, this is the software that is for the Silhouette Cameo.

I then opened the Borders 1 cut file and merged it with the heart.  I had to duplicate the Borders 1 cut file three times to fit inside the heart by placing them below each other.  I then grouped them, placed them over the heart and clicked "crop".  Once this was done I backed the heart with several polka dot patterned papers and then grabbed my embroidery floss and stitched in several colors alternating colors to give it a rainbow effect. I also added some plus signs in alternating colors around the page to give it more texture and interest.

Next came the embellishing.  I added my title from foam phrases from American Crafts. I like to use a pop of black on my layouts whenever I can. I think layouts need the contrast. I also added some word stickers, chipboard pieces, enamel dots and hearts around the layout.

I really cherish photos like these of my family because it isn't very often that we can be together. It made Easter fantastic.

There are some free cut files for National Scrapbook Day.  For my layout, the Borders 1 Cut File will be free today only in the Just Nick shop.  Simply add the code BORDERFREE at checkout. Actually, there are four cut files that are free today as four of the design team members, including myself, will be sharing projects with the cut files below.  Be sure and check out the Just Nick blog to see more inspiration.

MOM code: MOMFREE 
Borders 1 code: BORDERFREE (My layout)
Floral Ring 2 code: RINGFREE
Dreamcatcher1 code: DREAM2FREE

Thanks for stopping by and happy scrapping!

Cut Files On My Layout

Basic Hearts

Borders 1

My Creative Scrapbook November Main Kit Layouts

Hello friends! I thought I would share the four layouts I created with the November 2016 Main Kit at My Creative Scrapbook.  

These layouts are dear to my heart.  So many good memories of special times with my family.  I love the bright colors to this kit and truly had fun designing these layouts.

Look at how beautiful this kit is. It is full of beautiful papers, stickers, brads and chipboard. 

Be sure and check out all the four kits that My Creative Scrapbook has each and every month and subscribe today.

Have a great day!

Remember What Matters Most

Hello friends! Today I am sharing a layout of my daughter and son and their spouses at Just Nick Digital Cut Files.

I designed this layout with the Botanical Beauty Background cut file and some patterned papers and embellishments from the June kit from Clique Kits that I designed with for the Just Nick/Clique Kits team up earlier this month.  

For my layout, I cut out the Botanical Beauty Background cut file on a sheet of 12 X 12 white card stock with my Cameo and backed it with the aqua corrugated paper and also several coordinating patterned papers.  I wanted to add more depth to my project by adding dimensional foam squares underneath the white card stock before adhering the patterned papers.

Here is the cut file I used for my layout:

Botanical Beauty Background

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out all the fabulous cut files in the Just Nick shop here.