Disney withdrawals

We're back from our vacation at Disney and as expected we had a blast.  It was not as warm as we had hoped, and my park visiting was cut short by one day due to sickness, but in spite of that we had so much fun that we are already planing our next trip.  I loved staying on Disney property and the Art of Animation resort was simply amazing.  My photos have been sent to be developed, so expect to see some layout posted in this site next week.

In the meantime I have a couple layouts to show you.  The fist one was for my assignment with LCOM using sketch no 11.  The sketch was originally intended as a card sketch, but I made a 12X12 scrapbook layout with it.  I found this picture while cleaning my scrapdesk.  I have no idea what it was doing out since this picture is 9 years old.  It's of my oldest daughter's baptism and she's being held by her great-grandmother who passed away a few years later.  Kaisercraft and Webster's pages paper were used and I embelished with Thickers, and lots of Prima flowers.

The second layout features my youngest daughter having her hair cut.  She donated her ponytail to Beautiful Lengths, an organization that makes wigs for women suffering from cancer and other diseases.  It was her idea and I was so proud that she went through with it.  I find her so cute with her new hairstyle!  I used Bo Bunny's new Country Chic along with some Webster's pages adding some kaiserkraft and CTMh bling as well as Prima, CTMH and Recollection blooms

 So like I said, hopefully I'll have loads of layout to show you next week as I'll be attending Crop and Create in Moncton.  Can't wait, it's going to be so much fun!

Nostalgique

 If you read my blog last week you may remember me mentionning that a friend of mine challenged me to create a layout about how my youngest daughter looks so much like me.  I had a idea of making a layout with both of our kindergarden class pictures.  So as i was looking through past pictures of myself and of my girls I could not help but have a smile on my face.  Happy memories all around.  Here is what I created

 Using the same Basic Grey collection I created this layout of me at my grandparent's house at my second birthday.  I have such fond memories of that house and the view we had from that window. 

And again from the same collection I made the following layout.  I was excited to see that the background paper was vintage map of the Maritimes in french!  I could not cover it up so I used a collage from Basic Grey's Clippings and added a picture of my handsome husband taken during our trip to NY last year.  A very easy layout but I love it!

Now let's see what I can create with the rest of the collection pack.  :)

Reliving Christmas

First of all Happy New Year!!!  I took some time off from everything suring the holidays and it was quite refreshing.  I'm only now getting in the routine of things again now that school, daycare, gymnastics and swim classes all started again.  I had even taken a break from scrapbooking!  Lukily
I had the chance to scrap with a group of very special scrappy friends to help me get into the swing ot things again.  It felt so good to sit around a table and just talk and scrap. We even took a break to drool over some of the reveals that were posted during the CHA.  It motivated me to start using my stash and create to make room for all the goodies I'm going to need.
I then relived Christmas sifting through the picture that were taken during the holidays. Here are some of the layout I was able to complete :

My first layout if inspired by Isabelle Doucette's LCOM sketch #1.  I used some older Basic Grey.  It seemed like the perfect paper to showcase a couple of BFFs with their matching dresses.

The next 2 layouts feature pictures taken at my parent's house. The second one only has CTMH products.  I love the glitter alphas and the matching chipboard die cut stickers.  The fist one uses paper from the same collection but I embelished it by using a Bo Bunny blossom,  Prima chipboard and accent flowers, Thickers as well as some trim from Webster's pages

The girls taking a TV break waiting for everyone to be ready to open the presents.  they were so patient and I just had to take a picture of this moment of calm before the storm of wrapping paper that was about to hit.  I used the Gorgeous Serenade collection by Basic Grey as the base for this layout along with Kaisercraft bling and Prima flowers

Thanks for looking! 

Christmas preparations

Well today is the last day of work before Christmas break starts.  As I'm writing, I'm watching the kids watch Mickey's twice upon a Christmas with a bowl of popcorn.  A great way to start another Christmas party!  I love this time of year.  The kids are so happy, anticipating Christmas morning and all the treats they are going to enjoy.  I feel so blessed and happy.
Let me now share a few layouts I made since I last posted. 

Today was reveal day over at Let's Capture our memories.  Here is what I created with sketch no 163:



Last week's reveal featured sketch no 162.  I loved this sketch and I had the perfect picture and paper to use it with!  I love this kid!


And here is another layout I made inspired by LCOM's 12 days of Christmas preparations challenges.  We had to use a house element on our layout.  I used window :)  I used some Simple stories paper and wanted small pieces to make the banners on the side but did not want to cut into my 12X12 paper, so I used the title sheet, the packaging.  Love the fact that they are glossy as well.  Matches with my daughter's shining personality :)



On that note, hope you all have a very merry Christmas and  Happy holidays.  wishing you all the best for the coming year!! 

12 days of Christmas Preparations...

Hello there!


It's been a few weeks since I last blogged.  Time just seems to run on fast forward sometimes.  I've been really busy with my Close to my Heart and Epicure Selections business in the last month.  It  was great!  Love it!

Now I need to catch up a little on my scrapbooking and I have to remind myself to keep taking pictures,  I seem to forget lately.    Now to add to my scrapbooking resume, I have started creating sketches!  Some were featured on the Let's Capture these sketches website and it was exciting seeing what the different talented scrapbookers did with my sketches.

My first one was  LCTS sketch # 157.  Here it is 

 

and here is what I made using it that sketch and some Bo bunny, My little bit of whimsy pin, and soem Prima wooden embellies :

My sketch was also sketch #158 :

 and here is what I made using that sketsh, and one again some Bo bunny:

I also made a few layout using Creative Scrappers sketches

this one was made using sketch # 234 some Studio Calico paper and my beautiful daughter's  class pictures

And here is a layout using sketch # 233 and some gorgeous Authentique paper.
 I just love the feel of that paper!

Now, if you are looking for a bit of inspiration and a little boost to get your mojo running, I've got an idea for you!  Head on over to Let's Capture our Memories forum and look for the 12 days of Chrismat Preparation posts!  I will be posting a new scrappy challenge each day starting today and running for the next 12 days.  Don't forget to post your creations for a chance to win a prize! 

Here is the day 1 challenge : First thing to do to get ready for the Holiday season and to get in the spirit of the holidays is to put a little Christmas music on.  So your first challenge is to create a card, a layout or an altered item using a song as your inspiration.  For example, you could use song lyrics as a greeting in your card or a song title as you Layout title.  It's up to you.

Good luck and have fun!

NYC

 Well, vacation is over and now it's time to get back in the routine of things.  Still a couple more weeks of summer before the kids head off to school and I plan to make the most of it.  We just arrived from the most amazing trip.  We enjoyed a 5 day road trip to New York.  I was amazed at how much we crammed in to our 3 days of sightseeing.  We did a whole lot of driving, a whole lot of walking and a whole lot of eating.  What's up with those american serving sizes!  My husband an I shared meals most of the week and we always had leftovers!  It was so good.  The best was the Brownie cheesecake the enjoyed at Tops diner.  We shared on piece for desert one night and had leftovers for breakfast the next day.  Yes they were that big and so delicious

Now that the pictures are all uploaded, all that's left is to process them and scrapbook them.  Can't wait to have time to scrapbook again after a 2 week break.  Here are some of the layouts I did before vacation.  Check out some of the new CTMH paper packs!  They are so pretty!

This first layout made with Bo Bunny's little miss with some Prima flowers and a CTMh ribbon bow

This layout was made for LCOM sketch blog using sketch # 144  The paper and accessories are all from the new CTMH fall catalogue.  Love the burlap ribbon!

I love that my daughter has amzing friends.  Love theses pictures and could not wait to scrap them
Here is the burlap ribbon again!  I used it to make a banner.  The paper 3d fabric flowers and canvas stickers are from the new CTMH Clementine collection

Have an amazing reste of summer!

Homesick

We just spent the weekend in Caraquet.  The kids spent the week there at their grand-parent's house.  they crammed more activities in a week than we did the whole summer so far.  We arrived home a day early as the girls were really missing their home.  We only got a glimpse of the Acadian festival.  I'm kind of sad that we will not be seeing more of it this year, but it will still be there next year.  Since we were home early, I go to do a little scrapbooking.  I received new goodies and printed new pictures so the creative juices were flowing.  Here are some of the layouts I did.

This first one is made using the new CTMH Flirty collection and Creative Scrapper's sketch  # 218

Another Creative scrapper's loayout this time it's sketch # 215 and some pretty Crate paper. 

 This one was challenge no 7 over at LCOM's 12 days of summer.  I used Fancy Pants and Simple Stories paper with CTMH and Prima embelishments. 

 This last one was done for the 12 days of summer challenge over at Let's Capture our Memories  I used some Doodlebug design paper with some MLBOW

Me time

 Well what a great couple of weeks I've just spent.  I've been busy now that school is out.  Having all the kids all day long has been exhausting, but I'm starting to get the hang of it.  It helps alot when the weather is nice, they love playing outside.
Last weekend I had the most amazing girl's weekend. My girlfriend picked me up in the morning and we went shopping.  I badly needed summer clothes and went on a shopping spree.  What an amazing feeling to be able to go in almost any store in the mall and be able to find something that fit!  At this time last year, I was only able to shop in the plus size section.  It felt awesome!  We went to lunch and then went to see Magic Mike.  We then ordered pizza and just sat around drinking sangria and wine and chatted.  In the morning, the kids and the hubbies joined us for a brunch.  We'll have to make this a yearly event.  It was the perfect solution to charge up my battery and get some precious me-time. 

I did not make time to scrapbook much in the last couple weeks.  I think I need new supplies to get the juices flowing again, and maybe some fresh pictures.  We'll see what we can dream up over the weekend.  Until then here are a few layout I did mange to make since my last blog entry.  Have an awesome day everyone!!

This first layout is made Fancy pants It's the little things collection using a sketch from the Creating with sketches book by Kristine Davidson.  I have the digital version it on my Kobo and it comes with me to every crop - I highly recommend it!
Poor Zoé waiting for the other kids to finish eating so she can have her dessert.  lol

This next one uses the same paper pack, with Thickers, Prima flowers and trim. 

And this last layout using a picture taken at a crap with my awesome scrappy friends.  I used 4heur37 paper, thickers and prima flower and bling. 

final countdown

This week, I've added countdown widgets on my  smartphone.  My kids are always asking me 'in how many sleep' certain events will take place, so now I have the app on my phone to calculate it.  A while back I had given myself a goal of reaching my goal weight by my birthday.  Looking at my phone, this deadline is now only 2 weeks away!  I still have a few pounds to lose by my goal is within reach, what an awesome birthday gift I am giving myself!  I'll keep you updated on my progress,stay tuned....

In the meantime, here are some layouts I completed recently:

Using Simple Stories's Awesome collection, I made the next 2 layouts : one for me and one for the artist to take home :)

 The next 2 are from a Kristine Davidson kit I purchased - Love her sketches- I've added Prima flowers and various embelishments I had on hand

Looking forward

Good morning!

Well, last week is behind us, thankfully!  I had a not so great week and it was amplified by the fact that my husband was away on a business trip. I just felt like I was always running out of time.  But I decided what this week is going to be an awesome one.   I got to scrapbook last night while watching a tearjerker (Dear John- OMG! did I ever cry!)   I get to hang out with my girlfriends tonight, I'm going to see Hedley tomorrow night with another girlfriend and I get to attend a Crop on Friday and Saturday.  How great is that? 

Here is the layout I created last night: the title comes from Zoé's favorite book series. I used some more Bo Bunny paper on this one

Wishing everyone of you an awesome week as well!  xoxox

long weekend

Well what an awesome weekend we just had.  We had hot weather that made it so much easier to accomplish our backyard overhaul.  We were so very thankfull for all the help we received as we would still be shoveling pea gravel right now if it wasn't for the friends that donated their muscles and time. a great big THANK YOU!!!  here is our new backyard- safer and with raised beds garden.  I love it! :

We spent so much time outside, that my scraproom was a little neglected over the last week, but I still managed to get a few layouts done.    Here they are :

This first one is my last entry in the scrappin' with the stars challenge- I had to do a black and white and one more color layout - I had to alter the title letters somehow - I inked CTMH eclectic chipboard letters with black ink- Unfortunatly I did not advance to the final round but got over it pretty quick when Zoé said to me : " Maman, It does not matter, we know you had the prettiest layout"

This layout uses a variety of papers - Lillibee, Bo bunny, Simple stories, Kaisercraft and some pretty Websters page trim

And this last one of my lovely daughter using Cosmo Cricket,  Bo bunny and Prima

Finding the balance

When I decided almost 3 years ago to quit my job and become a stay at home mom, my husband and I sat down and discussed how we were going to make it work.  I was scared that I was going to get bored and miss the social aspect of working outside of the home.  I hated my job, but was I really going to disregard my 10 years of university to become a stay at home mom??   Could we make it work financially?  We told ourselves that I would do it at least until Zoé went to school and then we'd reassess the situation.  We are now at that place - Zoé is now 5 years old and starting kindergarten in September.  Where has the time gone!!!
We have come to the conclusion that my decision to stay at home was one of the best decision I could make for myself and for our family.  I'm the happiest I've ever been and that reflects on the rest of the family as well. I love my job! I'm fortunate to spend the day with an awesome group of kids that I simply adore.  They make great scrapbooking subjects as well :).  I'm fortunate that I'm home when Marianne comes home from school and we get to discuss what has happened during her day.  I'm the first person she sees coming out of the bus.  I want that for Zoé as well- That said, our decision is I'm going to continue my present career until Zoé is in 4th grade and then we'll reassess again. 

Now, here are some of the layouts I completed over the last week - Most are of Zoé - the birthday girl - I'll have to make some of Marianne now- to make it even :)

Have a great week and a great long weekend coming up for my fellow NBers.  :)

Princesse : 4h37 paper with Prima, Recollections, Kaiser Crafts and CTMH using a Kristine Davidson Sketch

 MMe Invisible : Bo Bunny, Prima and CTMH

  Ancré : Pink Paislee, Prima, Bo Bunny, KaiserCrafts and CTMH using Kristine Davidson sketch
 

The next 2 layouts were done with a Kristine Davidson kit that I purchased through LCOM

 

this one features me!  :)

National Scrapbooking Day

It was a rainy day on Saturday, a perfect weather to sit in a room full of friends and paper to get the juices flowing and create.  I had an awesome day thanks to an awesome group of ladies and got a few layouts done.  The first one is from LCOM's scrappin' with the stars challenge where we had to do a one photo layout using glitter and die cuts.  Zoé helped me out meaning that there was glitter all over my table at the end but we had fun creating together. It featured paper, stickers and die cuts from Doodlebug Designs.

The next one has a picture that I was looking forward to scrapbook the moment I took it.  I Take a lot of picture of these 3 kids, usually not together, and usually not still enough for me to take a picture without a "blur effect"  It is now one of my favorite layouts in my album.    I used Bo Bunny's Country garden collection.

 

The last one was a sketch challenge that I completed during the NSD crop over the weekend.  While waiting for my photos to be developped at Costco, I scrapbooked pictures I had on hand.  I love the Maya Road wood doilies and the Echo park paper!  

 

I'll have more layouts to reveal later this week.. Stay tuned and have a great week!