Don't know what you've got...

Well we've done all we can do to try and save my pictures and info on my desktop computer. We have no choice but to leave it in the hands of the experts now. I'm afraid It's going to cost us an arm and a leg, but all I can think about is not having any baby pictures of my second child save for those in my scrapbook albums.

The very thought that my albums might be all that's left makes me really question the quality of the inks and paper I've been using to print my photos and wonder how long they'll hold up. I've taken it for granted until now that I could just reprint the photos if need be.

Here's a layout and photo that I'm glad to have gotten off the machine. I love this picture of Parker on the beach in Jamaica. He's just so into the contents of his little shovel.

I did this page for this week's challenge at Practical Scrappers. I don't usually have any issues sneaking a few flowers into the boys pages, but I really wanted to challenge myself to use lots this week. I think the neutral colours help keep the page masculine.

Materials:

PP: Bella Blvd, American Crafts

Flowers: Prima Marketing

Stickers:EK Success

Gems: Bo Bunny

Pearls: Dollarama

"just humor me Hun..."

Those were the words I spoke to my husband during our grocery shopping trip on Saturday. You see I saw something really cute on sale, something I'm only 80-90% sure to be able to actually use. But for $4.94 I couldn't resist this:

Yep- It's PINK!! My Doctor wasn't positive, because there was so much umbillical cord in the way, but he said it's what he couldn't find that made him 80-90% sure we'll be holding a little girl in November!
I haven't allowed myself to look at names, or buy anything baby related until now, so even an 18-24 month jacket bought at Loblaws is a huge thing for me; it means I finally have some hope that things are going to work out this time( pink or blue).

Flock and Glitter

My scrapping space has seen some catastrophic messes in it's history, but none as far spread as that caused by a little flocking.  I occasionally dig out my tiny bottles of flock and glitter as an added touch to a project and usually end up cleaning particles of my desk for days. This week's challenge at Practical scrappers was to use loose glitter or flock. As I'm still recovering from the last time I used loose glitter on a project, I thought I'd concentrate on flock. BLACK flock to be precise. I worked on a small area at first, and all was well, then I decided to outline part of my layout.  I drew out the glue lines in portions, and sprinkled ( ok dumped) on the flock as I went. I left it on my scrap desk overnight to dry before tapping off the excess.  I think this was the crucial mistake, as there is an air duct in the ceiling of my basement scrap space.  I worked at getting all that fluffy powder back into it's bottle the next day, only to notice afterwards the fine black dust coating EVERYTHING on my table, as well as everything on the shelf above my table. Let's just say it was bad timing, and I had lots of stuff out that should have been put away= lots of stuff to wipe off.

I'm stubborn though, and I'll probably attempt this again in the future. Next time I might make sure my desk is empty of all clutter before I start, and that the air vent is shut.

Here's the page:

The flock is on the blackest cat, and around the edge of the kraft coloured paper. I also added a splash of glitter to the heart.
Materials:
PP: Basic Grey
Letters: Basic Grey
Paper Floss: Karen Foster
Feather: Unknown
Trim: Webster's Pages
Flock : Doodlebug Design Inc.
Glitter: Stix 2
Stickers: SRM Press
Avery Key Tags
Ranger Distress Crackle paint
Distress Ink
Tiny Staples(Tim Holtz)

When is the last time you used an...

( as seen in Canadian Scrapbooker Winter 2010)

...eyelet on a layout?
Think reeeeeally hard- can't remember? Then maybe you should join this week's challenge at Practical Scrappers.

Although I dreaded digging mine out at the risk of making something that looked dated, I'm quite pleased with the final result- Perhaps because I got some of those pesky little things out of my stash without having to suck them up with my vaccuum cleaner...

...or maybe it had everything to do with my adorable subject matter.

Materials:
Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper
PP: American Crafts. Bella Blvd.
Stickers: K&Company
Eyelets: Making Memories, Dollarama
Letters: American Crafts
Chipboard: Maya Road
Punch : Marvy Uchida

Shading class

I taught my very first class on Monday night at Scrapbook Centrale, and promised the ladies I wold post the cards so they could actually finish them at home. I guess I had no idea there would be 7 students, and that it would take an hour to get through our first stamp.
It was lots of fun, especially seeing Natalie the owner actually take a class ( I won't name names, but someone on staff didn't believe me when I told them Nat was going to take the class with us).
After getting over the shock of how many colours I used to do the tongue on the Farm Girl from Rock the Farm Set ( The Greeting Farm), Nat settled right in.

If anyone has finished cards they want to show me, just leave me a link in the comments, or send me an e-mail! I'd love to see them, and I'd love any ( positive or not) feedback you might have on the class.

Thanks!
Erin

Some random pages

Well my hubby finally broke down and agreed to get the family ( me) a new laptop.  The old one worked half the time, and was being used mainly by our 3 year old to play games. It had a big beautiful screen, but because of it's size, was hardly what I'd call a "laptop". Now this little 13' wonder can go anywhere with me, and hasn't gotten hot enough to burn my lap yet.  To celebrate finally figuring out how to network with my desktop, I'm going to post some pages that have been sitting around on my desk for awhile waiting for some attention.

 Isn't technology great?!

i

Materials: 

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper

pp:American Crafts, Bella Blvd, Jillibean Soup

Journaling spot: Fancy Pants

letters: doodlebug design Inc

Stamp: Imaginisce

markers: Copic

pen: Copic multiliner

Buttons: Various

Glossy Accents

Can you tell I was challenged to use brads on this one?

Materials:

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper

pp: Bella Blvd.

Border sticker: Basic Grey

brads: Making Memories

letters:Bella Blvd

Yep, that's actually wooly fiber tucked in there underall the flowers!

Materials: 

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper

Pp: Sassafras Lass

border Punch EK Success

Fiber: Basic Grey

Letters: Sassafrass, Webster's pages

felt: Creative Imaginations

Stickers: Sassafrass

gems: Dollarama

pens: uniball signo, Copic Multiliner

Now what?! (*warning* Potty talk!)

Potty training our 3 year old has been an interesting journey to say the least.  We introduced him to the potty well before we moved from our old house over a year ago. He'd occasionally decide to pee on it, liked the novelty of sitting on it, and putting stickers on it when he earned them. We never pushed, and weren't in any rush. Fast forward a year or so, and I think he's had plenty of time to adjust to the whole idea! We started sitting him in regular intervals on the "big" potty, with decent success, and within a couple of months he was getting pretty good telling us when he had to go pee.  The problem was the elusive poop.  I needed a plan!
Kinder eggs to the rescue!  I bought a dozen or so, and put them in a big glass container on our kitchen counter. Ethan understood right away that if he "pooped" on the potty he'd get an egg.  He asked once or twice for one, and I repeated the deal. He ignored them for at least a month, maybe more. Then it just happened- once or twice- then nothing for weeks. When Grandma was about to visit,  Ethan announced that he was going to poop on the potty and " Grandma be so proud of me!" He kept his word, and got a real taste for the kinder eggs. It wasn't so much about the chocolate as it was the toys ( those teeny-tiny-I'm afraid your brother's going to swallow one and die- and the-if I step on another one they are going in the garbage- type toys).

Silly me, thinking it would take forever for him to get through them all, told him he could pick a toy at the toy store when they were all gone.  He talked about the " man an the Hecicopter an the panda" for  about a week until Mark had to take him to Chapters to get his reward (an animal rescue helicopter).

Now that he's got the helicopter, and the kinder eggs are all gone, he's off and on about whether he wants to stay clean. I told him he could only play on the computer on the days he went on the potty, and this was his (repeated) reply "MAMA! THE 'PUTER AND POTTY NOT MIX!" Smart kid- dumb mama!


Now if you actually read any of that, the layout I'm about to post actually makes a bit of sense lol!
 I used this week's sketch by fellow DT member Sasya over at Practical Scrappers.  There's a great prize this month for one lucky gal, so go check it out!

Materials:

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper

PP: Jillibean Soup, American Crafts, Sassafras Lass, Making Memories +?

Stickers: K&Co, Creative Imaginations, Artemio

Chipboard: American Crafts

charms: Dollarama

Letters: Bella Blvd.

Good Night!

oh Baby!

I'm not sure if it's the pregnancy that's making me look over the kids baby pictures  lately,  but I've realized 2 things. I have far less pictures of Parker as a baby( even though I vowed this would never happen) and I have less of those photos scrapped. I think I can forgive myself, it's better than having twelve albums filled with layouts about his every move from birth to date. I've got some important things covered, and glimpses of our everyday life, and all I want the kids to understand when they look back on their albums is how much I cherished them and our time together.

Here's a layout I created for this week's challenge at Practical Scrappers. We were asked to use Acrylic, Transparencies or Vellum. As usual, I took the opportunity to unload more than a few items from my stash. I must admit I love the resulting page. It's great for me to "turn off" the colour for a change and just focus on the layout.

I know the elephants may seem a bit odd, but it makes more sense if you know that Parker loves them.

Materials:

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper

PP: Basic Grey

Acrylic Letters: Fancy Pants, altered with White Staz-On Ink

Flourishes: Bo Bunny, altered with text stamp from Sandy Lion, White and Black Staz-On Ink

Canvas Flowers: Jillibean Soup, with added Glimmer Mist

Trim: Webster's Pages

Acrylic accents: Tim Holtz Fragments

Pearls: Basic Grey, Dollarama

Pen: Staedlater Triplus fineliner

Butterfly Stamps: Hampton Art, stamped on transparency sheet with Staz-On 

Glitter: Ranger Stickles

Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist

Elephant Punch: Martha Stewart