Christmas Cards... Christmas Cards

Laying on the desk
Oh how many Christmas cards
Have I got to finish yet?
Christmas Cards... Christmas Cards
My head is spinning fast
Oh I will be glad when I am finished at last!

Here are 7 of the cards of 70+ cards for this year.
I made these ones from our LSS ~ All About Scrapbooks & More, Brown Bag Kit.

I was also able to make a great page, sort of inspired from a Two Peas Scrapper named Kristii.

Thanks For Looking ~ Kimberly

Our Christmas Cricket

The Christmas countdown has begun and it is offically only 10 days until Christmas. I have been making cards, cropping with friends and enjoying all the family time and holiday activities of the season. One of our family member regularly gets left out of the outings ~ our fat four pawed feline ~ Cricket. Other than living in her little cardboard castle ~ yes a bit of a princess, trying to climb the dinning room tree, or chasing the kids around with Christmas ribbon she doesn't do to much.  Except when it is time to sit down to have cookies and milk. Then she's right in there (just so you know I don't advocate giving cookies to kitties - but it made great photos)

Isn't she funny? Well we can't deny that she is part of this christmas cookie loving family.

A Very Happy Christmas to everyone and a Blessed New Year - See you in 2010! Kimberly

Products Used: Core'dinations Cardstock, Prism Cardstock, Jillibean Kraft Paper, My Mind's Eye - Colourful Chirstmas papers, Queen & Co felt ribbon, Making Memories Brads, Creative Impressions Brads, American Craft Thickers, October Afternoon Journaling card, Various Ribbons & sewing notions.

So Thankful

Ok so I know I am almost a month late with this Thankful layout, but I figured that this would be good for both the Canadians (to catch up on those Thankful photos) and those in the US who will have their Thanksgiving soon. In keeping with the theme of trying to catch up on last year ~ here is a multiphoto double layout showing all the blessings around my table.

I love seeing all the faces of my family and how we change as the years progress.

I handmade the floral/leaf sprays for this page. Sorry it is so grainy ~ My computer is still doing funny things and has mysteriously removed one of my main scrapbooking programs AND I can't find the CD for it. :(

Thanks for looking! Kimberly

Products used:

Harmonie Paper Arts ~ Fleurs et dentelle printed paper. (This is a new French Canadian company which sells just about everything for scrapbooking) Prism Cardstock, Jillibean Kraft Paper, Raffia. 97%Complete Thanksgiving Journaling Stickers, Hobby Lobby Fall leaves, Wire, Chatterbox paper flowers, Brown ink & journaling pen

A Haunted Hunt

November is here and I am a year older...sigh...
We had great fun this weekend.
Cropping with Mel on Friday night.
Surprise surgery on the van on Saturday morning with Tom.
Speedy Creepy decorating on Saturday evening with the Kids.
Shelling out Saturday evening to not a lot of creatures.
Church Sunday morning and finally rest on Sunday afternoon.

Our new neighbours moved in last weekend and their son promptly came down with the flu - the really nasty kind. He made enough of a recovery to head out for a short time on Saturday night. They came by for some extra special treat bags, made by my husband and the kids ~ tags made by me. Welcome to the neighbourhood Grime Reaper Matt and Tinker Bell Ema!

Here is a close up of the little tags I made for their treat bags. I used the Cricut machine with the Paper Dolls Cartridge and a load of scrap paper pieces.  Hope you like them & let me know what you think. Kim

Stash Search

Every month for a few years now, All About Scrapbooks & More, where I work, does up a monthly $5.00 "BROWN BAG SURPRISE KIT" This month I acutally bought one. The rules are "you must use a piece of everything in the bag" and if you like ~  bring back your project, layout, cards or whatever for a chance to win a prize. (I can't win but I had fun doing the kit)
So here is what was in the bag. 1 cardstock, 1 double-sided patterned paper, 1/3 sheet of patterned paper, 1 mini bingo card and a clear stamp? Keep in mind you can add anything you would like to the kit...
How many things can you make with the following items???

I went on a scrapbook stash search today, looking for items to create some fabulous pages and here is what I added to my kit.

And here are the layouts that I created with the 2 sets of items.

On this one I only added Rhinestones, Thickers and Tiny Alphas.

I was really inpressed when I was done because I only had a few circles left from the patterned paper. Enough maybe to make a card. There were a few things I forgot to add to my supply list ~ Black ink, Black & White Journaling pens, Black Sukra Glaze pen, Black Metal arrow, White letter stickers,  Light blue cardstock scrap, and for the life of me I could not find the hand crocheted posies by Fancy Pants Designs.

Thanks for looking and I hope this inspires you to search your stash for some great treasures you might have forgotten about. Kimberly

Vintage Fall

Thanksgiving is so close, I can almost smell the turkey. And leaves are covering my front lawn.

I was inspired to make some simple cards for the season. They are just using my scraps and some wonderful vintage Thanksgiving postcards. I have included a PDF file of the postcards for you to print out.

Thanks for looking.

Kimberly

Here is the file VINTAGE THANKSGIVING POSTCARDS

This is a Google Doc. and may take a moment to appear correctly.

BE...

Here are two layouts I have to share with you.
I hope you like them.

Both layouts are my versions of my kids school pictures from last year. Thanks for looking and let me know what you think.

Products used: October Afternoon pattern paper and journaling stickers, Core'Dinations Cardstock, Basic Grey Solid Paper, Kaiser rhinestones, American Crafts Thickers, Making Memories Shimmer Alphas, Basic Grey Chipboard Alpha, Fiskars ~ Treading Water border punch, Apple embellishments, & Various flowers, brads, buttons, embellishments.

Computer Update

Well I thought I would update my blog and tell why I haven't posted lately.

The computer has been sick. It received some surgery and had it's RAM upgraded and can home. It brought home a mystery computer hospital thingy that makes it shut down every ten minutes or so......

See I was gone while it rebooted itself. It seems to be a process of elimination now. I unplug everything and start with one thing until I find the problem causing plug in.

Hope this ends soon.

Hey on a brighter note... Did you get your SCRAPBOOK AND CARDS TODAY?

Come and visit me at ALL ABOUT SCRAPBOOKS & MORE for your FREE magazine or click on the link above to download your free copy of this great Canadian Publication.

School IS IN!

No more lazy do nothing days. School has started and that means everything else will begin again too. Everything went off with out a hitch this mornng.

Our grade nine left early and excited - not too sure as to how excited he actually was once he got to school... a little intimidating I am sure. New school, new teachers, new friends - Fresh start.

And our grown up grade7 started her first job this morning ~ walking a little friend back and forth to school. Looking stylish and chatting a mile a minute upon meeting her friends, after a long summer. I didn't understand a word.

I am enjoying watching these 2 grow and turn into great young people. Have fun at school guys!

I have so many pages to scrapbook from the past couple of weeks that I can't wait to share them with you. I will work on them and post when I can ~ my computer is sick and at the techy hospital. Hopefully it will come home soon.

Thanks for looking. Kim

TOOT! TOOT!!

I am so excited that I just have to share with you. Last week I received an email from Allison Cope at Scrapbook and Cards Today Magazine and Blog about a layout I submitted. And guess what?? My layout is the reader's submisson entry for this week.

I have to admit I was a little stumped by the layout at first. I wanted to showcase the beautiful colour of the water and the persistant stone throwing that was going on. The way the sunset cast a shadow on the children's faces but I love the imperfection of the photos. At first I wanted to machine stitch the circles but that didn't work and I rapidly scrapped that idea. I dug out my water colour pencils and went for it. Drawing circles to mimic the water ripples and highlighting them with washed out paint. Thanks for looking and let me know what you think

Sorry the scan is so dark but even the rescan is this dark. I think I will have to play with my settings again (I am about to find another use for my eyelet setting mallot)

Products Used:  patterned paper, Scenic Route, American Crafts, BasicGrey; buttons, Buttons Galore; alphabet stickers, Scenic Route; ink, Ranger; pen, Zig Writer; ric rak, May Arts; water colour pencils, Staeditler, Design.

For my facebook friends - Pop by my blog ALWAYS LOOKING UP and leave me a note.

Sweet

Have you ever had a day when you are so stressed out that you think you might cry. Well yesterday was one of those days. People in the house sick and cranky and me trying to stay away from them. I have always found that crafting has a way of relaxing me more than anything else. Ed says it makes me truely happy.

I have, for quite some time now, been working on a scrapbook for my brother and his wife. It is all about my little niece. This page is the result of hiding away in my office yesterday. I think it turned out great. Isn't she sweet? Thanks for looking and let me know what you think. Kimberly

Products used: October Afternoon Cherry Hill line, Making Memories letters, Basic Grey Letters, Diamond Stickles, Doodlebug Sew East Rubons & a black marker.

Moments

Of course summer is a great time of year but fall is my favourite. As I have been trying (not as hard as I should) to complete all of last year's layouts, I am beginning to see a pattern. I take a huge amount of photos in the fall, a lot at Christmas and it gets less until the fall hits again. Out of all the school, Thanksgiving, birthday and Halloween layouts ~ so far 6 doubles & 8 singles ~ here is my favourite fall layout so far. We are heading out for a short vacation - picking up kids from camp & grandparents and hopefully I will be able to get some great SUMMER photos. Keeping up on this blogging thing is harder than it looks but I am finding it enjoyable. I hope you are enjoying my posts and work. Thanks for looking. Kimberly

Products Used:Please note that I used Walnut ink to make lettering a darker colour. Bazzill Cardstock ~ Bitter Chocolate, Core'Dinations ~ Olive, Kaiser ~ What A Hoot ~ Wise, Tim Holtz ~ Walnut & Antique Photo Distress Ink, Pink Paislee ~ Captivating Chipboard Alpha, We R Memory Keeper ~ Antique Brass Hardware, Zig Writer ~ Chocolate, Prima ~ Forever Flowers Mulberry Ivy Leaves, October Afternoon ~ Weathervine Stickers, Gazebo, Jillibean Soup ~ Twine ~ Kraft & Brown, Creative Cafe ~ Velvet Ric Rac, Studio G letter stamps

Just A Little Sprinkle

Summer has yet to arrive in southwestern Ontario and as much as I personally love the temperature, my dd is complaining about how cold and rainy it is. I hate being hot and sticky. So I made this simple double layout to remind her of warmer days. Days where it was so hot you were just happy to run through a sprinkler ~ because that is what was going to keep you cool.

Maybe it will inspire you to warm yourself up with a summer layout or two. Thanks for looking and let me know what you think.

Products used: Cosmo Cricket ~ Snorkle papers & rubons, American Craft Ribbon, Making Memories Mini Shimmer Letters, Ready to glitter letters, Scenic Route chipboard letters, Beads & wire.

Summer or Fall

I am typically a Fall girl. The colours, the cool breezes and the temperature. I have to admit that this summer the temp has been wonderful for me. But I am still a Fall Girl and lucky for me, my sister loves the Fall colours too. Here are 3 small canvas wall hangings I whipped together for her birthday & how I packaged it too. TFL.

Products Used: Sandylion PP ~ Dried Flowers, World Win Treasures - Butternut Orange & Natural, Basic Grey - Fusion (Burgundy), Bazzill - Mocha Divine, We R Memory Keepers ~ Fancy Eyelet, Twine & Brown Bag

That's So Danielle

This past Sunday was my younger sister's birthday ~I won't tell you how old she is because most girls don't like that. She moved from just 30 mins away to 2 hours away and this was the first weekend we were able to go and see the new house, the new town, her & her husband and the 4 children. It was a beautiful day and we arrived early for the "Surprise Party" so we took a little tour of the cottage town where she now lives. I have to say, she is truly blessed to be so close a beautiful lake with soft sandy beaches. That's so Danielle. Her new house was bright, cheery, decorated with touches of Chocolate, Orange and Lime and filled with laughter. That's so Danielle. I was speaking with my Mom and telling her about the layout I was doing and how I could not think of a title for it and my mom said, "That's So Danielle" and she was right. When we see something orange and cheery we think of her. When you get a little stick man in a card you think of her. When I think of a faithfilled woman I think of her. THAT'S SO DANIELLE.

This Layout was created with a variety of Cricut Cartridges from my LSS where I work. We have a new Cricut Cartridge library and there are some really fun ones out there. I used the Home Accents, Wild Card & good old George. I used the negative of the orange die as a stencil. I had to doodle on this layout because Danielle loves to doodle on things.
Thanks for looking and let me know what you think.

Products used:
Prism - Kraft, Coco, World Win Treasures - Butternut Orange, Basic Grey - Mellow Juicy, Zig Writer - Chocolate, Tim Holtz - Vintage Photo.

We Grow Together

I always kick off my yearly books with a family picture or a layout that has all four(five ~ Cricket the Cat) in it. Here is my starter page for 2008-2009. I love this family picture taken by our friend Brad, owner of Swanson Eyeimagine Photography. He did such a wonderful job for our entire family. If you check out his Portrait Gallery 2 you will see 4 hansome young men (all our boys). On this layout I hand-stitched my flourishes, they are kind of hard to see. I rolled the edges ot the 2 circles to show the red cardstock underneath and I didn't INK ANYTHING! You can get all of this great stuff at All About Scrapbooks & More in Woodstock ON. Thanks for looking and let me know what you think.

Products Used:
Bazzill - Mocha Divine, Core'Dinations ~ Scarlet, Cosmo Cricket ~ Early Bird-Apron Strings, Elements, Cardstock Stickers & Chipboard Stickers, Doodlebug Mini Brads ~ Bumblebee, Thickers~Playroom Chestnut, Making Memories ~Mini Shimmer Alpha, Brown School House

Happy Canada Day!

Wahoo Canada is 142, Eh!

We are taking it a little low key today but this weekend will be fun ~ I'll tell you all about it after it is over. Here are a couple fun layouts today (from last year's celebrations)

Thanks for looking and Happy Canada Day!

Jillibean Flutterbys

"When in doubt choose kraft"

Sometimes you just need some butterflies in your life. They encourage you to change and to grow. That is what my mom and sister do. I love this photo of the 3 of us, together at Thanksgiving. Check off another one done for 2008-2009. I hand painted all the butterflies and just had to add a little glitter. Thanks for looking.

Products Used: Jillibean Soup ~ Cold Rasberry - Cinnamin Stick, Fresh Raspberries, 12x12 Kraft, Harvest Flowers, Bean Brown Alphabeans, dark brown twine, Prism Cardstock ~ Dark Crabapple, Expresso, Making Memories ~ mini copper round & square brads, We R Memory Keepers ~ Antique Brass snaps, Doodlebug ~ Stick with it "Fancy That", Martha Stewart ~ Ultra fine Glitter - Brownstone, Tim Holtz ~ Antique Photo Distress ink, Water Colour Pencils ~ Design

The Key to Success

"If you start behind you'll never get ahead."

Have you ever had a goal you never thought you would complete? We all start out wanting to scrapbook every photo we take. I have discovered that in my world this will never happen. I have a goal for this summer to completely scrapbook from Sept. 2008 ~ Sept. 2009. I have made a great start on both the fall pages and the spring pages, all of which I will share with you.

This week was my DS's grade 8 graduation. I thought I might share a layout of his first day of grade 8, September 2, 2008. Thanks for looking and tell me what you think.

Products used:

October Afternoon - Garden Chair, Ducks in a Row Label Stickers, All My Memories - striped ribbon, Tim Holtz Grunge Board Key, Antique Photo Distress Ink, Kaiser - Star Rhinestone bling, Basic Grey Mellow - Harvested, Seasoned, Creative Impressions - narrow black ribbon, 7 Gypsies alphabet ribbon (?) E.K.Success - Tiny Alphas, Zig Writer - black, Martha Stewart border punch

Scrapbook & Cards Today

Did you get your's?
Everyone did a great job on this issue ~ So bright and cheery. Thanks Catherine & Kerri & your whole team for doing a fabulous job.

I think my favourite creation in this issue is "Summer" by Roxanne Jegodtka.

I love the little brads covering the sun. This is a great layout for any event because you can get so many pictures on your page without it lookig messy.

I love Sarah's cards too.

Check out her blog "Only in Hollywoodstock"
If you haven't recieved your copy of this great FREE magazine you can download all it's summer goodness from Scrapbooks And Cards Today

Grade 8 Grad.

Well he is finished ~ elementary school that is. We have had the wonderful privledge to ride this rollercoaster from grade 2 - 8 and everyone has arrived alive. He heads off for 6 weeks. That's right 6 weeks of Army Cadet camp (all music all the time) and then HIGH SCHOOL ~ HEAVEN HELP ME!

Doesn't he look handsome? Congrats buddy - we are so proud of you.

My Sunshine

How I love to add flowers to my pages. This is a layout of my DD. I love these photos even if they are a couple of years old. I blanket stitched the brown cardstock and did a plain running stitch around the flower. I inked everything - of course. The buttons are all stitched on too.
Thanks for looking & let me know what you think.
~ Kim ~

Product List: Bazzill Cardstock- Mocha Divine, Core'Dinations Cardstock ~ February Gold, Scenic Route Patterned Paper ~ Grafton James St., American Crafts Brown Felt Thickers, Jillibean Soup ~ Minestrone Olive Oil, Kaiser Rhinestones ~ Deep Yellow, Flowers - Petaloo, Heidi Swapp, American Crafts & Prima, Buttons - Variety Unknown, DMC embrodery floss, Vintage Photo Distress ink, Dew Drop Brilliance ~ Coffee Bean.
(My Hubby was so happy ~ I didn't buy anything new for this page)

Chocolate Chip

We have discovered a new friendly little family member...

Living in a hole in the front porch...

Introducing "Chocolate Chip" ~ Chip is going to provide LOTS of great photos for layouts - maybe even a mini-book.

My daughter & I spent a beautiful, first day of summer laying on the front porch, waiting for Chip to appear (which he did repeatedly). Both of us with cameras, so we got lots of beautiful pics of him. Even though Chip would run off , he would always come back with his little cheeks full. My daughter finially decided that he would be more interesting eating our peanuts. He was a little pig. We are going to have fun watching him all summer. By the way ~ Chip is driving the Cat crazy.

Piggytail Princess

So here it is ~ My first real BLOG POST!!!

I have to admit I am still not sure about this blogging thing. I think posting every few days is a good idea and we will go from there.
This is a layout made with scraps and bits from my stash. The paper is left over pieces from a class I taught last year called "A Whole lotta Hoopla" (image below) for All About Scrapbooks & More.

I really did not have a lot left ~ but I hate leftovers. Anyhow isn't my niece cute? Here she is playing with her dolly. I love using flowers as an accent so you will see a lot of them on my "girly" pages.

Thanks for looking and please tell me what you think.

Product list: We R Memory Keepers - Hoopla Paper line, American Crafts - Thickers & Ribbon, October Afternoon - Ducks in a Row Journaling sticker,Bazzill Cardstock, Flowers by Petaloo, Heidi Swapp & Prima, Jewels - Kaiser, & Brads & silver embellies - unknown.