Thursday, July 29, 2010

No Challenge!

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I was nervous at first when I read that this week's challenge for Practical Scrappers was to use at least 7 different things on a layout. OK- I guess I haven't sat back and counted before now, because it seems I actually do this on a regular basis...who new?!

The resulting page this week is different for me, because it focused more on memorabilia than on photos.  The ultrasound picture featured looks like nothing to most, but it's the shot the doctor took after finding "it"- you know the anatomy bit that seemed to be hiding six weeks previously...

This will hopefully balance out the very pink and girly " Just Maybe" page in the baby's album.









I  used a 6x6 inch envelope to hold the extra ultrasound photos, the DVD as well as the journaling. I punched the edge of the envelope flap just to remove the adhesive, and give it more "frill" I then punched and coloured a heart and glued just the bottom portion of it to the envelope so that the flap can tuck under it once closed. The digital stamp is from one of our sponsors Digi Doodle. I had no idea how I was going to use it when I chose it last month, but I think it landed on the perfect page- even got me to use up that MME transparency that I've had forever!

other Materials used:
PP: October Afternoon, Basic Grey
Cardstock: Coredinations
Letters: American Crafts
Flowers: Prima Maarketing
Gems: Doodlebug Designs Inc.
Pearls: Zva
Rubber stamps: Hero Arts
Markers: Copic
Border
Ink: Memento
Punch: Martha Stewart

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Thursday already!?

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I've been so busy thinking about how I can still have "real" tea parties, Princess birthday's, and Barbie stuff in my house that I  almost forgot to post my page for this week's challenge over at Practical Scrappers. ( I really am okay with the idea of a 3rd boy, but I will admit I was looking forward to certain novelties a little girl would bring).

The challenge this week was to use something from your stash over a year old. Now this is not a huge challenge for many of us hoarders who still own lots of product from past years. I view it as an opportunity to find something unique in my stash that I'm really sad I didn't use when I first bought it.


In this case, I rescued some Cosmo Cricket paper and die cuts, as well as a "Page Talkers" digital recorder from DCWV. I'm really happy I captured Ethan singing his ABC's while he still pronounces some of the letters in his 3 year old way.  The photo is from a recent trip to Parc Safari, where my sweet little boy passed up the Batman and Spiderman facepainting options, and asked for Hearts ( with glitter). Maybe I'll get to throw a princess party one day after all.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Baby news!

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I know a few of you are waiting for this post.

I had my 22 week ultrasound done today, the doctor examined the heart, saw the 4 chambers and listened to the heartbeat.The kidneys and all other major organs look good too. Measurements were taken of the head, the abdomen, the femur, all measuring in accordance with my previously expected due date of November 25th. My placenta looks good, so does the fluid.  The words "very active baby" and "lots of umbilical cord" were uttered several times by the doctor before he stopped, looked at me very solemnly and said: "I have some bad news..."

My heart stopped beating, I stopped breathing, then waited what seemed like minutes more than seconds before he continued. " you're having a boy" he said- "That is the best news you could  possibly give me!" I replied, as the blood and oxygen started to circulate again in my system.  I watched him again for a split second just in case that too was part of the joke, and he was going to tell me it was really a girl.
I think he apologized  to us over 10 times during the rest of the exam because he felt bad for having made us think for 6 weeks that we might be having a little girl.

That darn umbilical cord! This time it's 100% certain, we all saw it on the screen, no mistaking the parts this time. His 100%'s haven't been wrong once in the last 30+ years, and I couldn't be happier- now to pick a name!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

My little artist.

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Ethan loves to do crafts and colour. He's been pretty good with his crayons since we gave them to him at 18 months of age, respecting that crayons stay at the table when you want to get up and roam around. Maybe it's because Parker is a second child, and doesn't have my undivided attention, but he is a completely different beast when it comes to art supplies.

It seems Playdoh, and crayons are a 5th food group  for my toddler. I tried giving him pencil crayons, but he'd chew on the tips. I tried markers, only to discover that a red Crayola felt tip, one chewed, horrifically resembles blood when oozing from the mouth of a child. He's got a thing for seed beads too; after dumping a tube of them all over my craftroom floor, he started chomping on them. As I scrambled to get them contained and cleaned up, he was climbing over me like a madman trying to get more to shove in his mouth. Needless to say diaper changes were interesting in the days following.


Next came the experimentation with drawing on things other than paper. His hands, face, beloved stuffed lamb Gordon, wall, toy shelves, kiddie table and chairs have all served as canvases at some point or another. Then came the couch- our BRAND NEW, dark grey plush corduroy sectional.

I saw him with the yellow finger paint.
I removed it from him.
I placed it back on the table in the craftroom then closed and locked the door.
How the following events occured I have no clue!

I told both boys  to play for a minute while I ran upstairs to get their things together so we could go meet friends for lunch. I returned not 3 minutes later to find Parker with yellow paint on his shirt and jeans. Thinking it had occured earlier,  I started to take measures to get him changed- then I noticed paint on the floor. Panic started to set in as I scanned the room for the paint jar. All I could see from where I was standing was the back of the couch dividing the playroom. I took slow deliberate steps towards it and then got to the other side petrified at what I might find... Yellow hand prints and blobs of finger paint were splattered over the ENTIRE seating area. Yellow hand prints on the seat of the lazyboy chair, (and days later I discovered) yellow paint all over the canister of my vacuum cleaner.

I'm really glad the damage to everything was minimal ( because I caught him quickly), and cleaned up relatively easily ( did I mention we were still waiting for the stain treatment for the couch?) I am thankful that I've invested in non-toxic, washable, kid friendly crafting products, and even secretly hopeful that this behavior might indicate a bit of creative genius or something.

With that being said, here's this week's layout for Practical Scrappers showcasing another creative endeavor by Parker.
The challenge this week was embossing. I let Parker have my Versamark pen, and the background sheet of Basic Grey paper. once he had scribbled his thing, I quickly dusted it with American Crafts embossing powder in Denim, and heat set.  I journalled in sections with a Zig embossing pen, and embossed it with a detail black powder by Stampendous. I added a  little spritz of Glimmer Mist, clear dew drops and pebbles, then the AC Thickers for my title.

I plan to take some direction from my 21 month old and experiment a little bit more with my supplies; hopefully the outcome will be just as spontaneous but more controlled.

Happy Crafting!
Erin

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Halfway There!

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No photos today I'm afraid. just wanted to share that today marks week 20 of this pregnancy, and that I'm so grateful to be at this point. I'm happy to feel the baby moving, to see my belly growing, and yes even to watch my belly button deform and "pop" ( it's halfway there too). If you really want to see a photo, you could always stalk my friend Claude's 365 photo blog. I think yesterday, this bulging belly of mine may have made photo of the day, but she hasn't posted it yet. Just 11 days until the next doctor's appointment, and hopefully a definitive  answer to the pink/blue question. Can you tell I'm just itching to buy baby clothes?

Summer fun

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Trying to keep both kids contained in our yard is not an easy task. Because we live on a corner lot, and have a sunken stone patio in the backyard,  the most kid friendly space we have is the big expanse of grass and driveway in the front and side of our house. Kids being kids, they usually end up going in two different directions, and get too close to the road for my liking. Thank goodness for sidewalk chalk!

Even though Parker is still just making lines and scribbles, and Ethan is only starting to make circles, and adding some details like eyes and smiles, they have a blast with the chalk. Mama and Daddy get lots of requests for various animals, flowers and such, then the boys "colour" them in.

Due to my recent computer crash ( which I may start referring to as the Great Crash of 2010) I find myself with a huge lack of pictures to scrap, and more incentive to make sure I take the camera along with me. I'm getting photos of things I don't think I would normally have taken. trips to the park, pool, and everyday play at our house.

This is the layout I did for this week's challenge at Practical Scrappers. The challenge is to use any type of cartoon/animation on a page or card. Anyone who knows me, knows that this is not a huge challenge - I love cute characters! I dug through my stuff intent on showing some love to some much neglected items. It makes me happy to use old stuff collecting dust, and to use new stuff right away. This layout is a mix of both.


I used some Colorbox inks ( chalk and pigment) to stamp all the little Imaginisce animals on the black cardstock. I took a cloth and buffed them a bit before they dried completely just to add to the chalkboard effect.  There are red crabs in there too, but they don't show as well in the photo. I also added a few spritzes of the new chalk Glimmer mist before adding the Fancy Pants sun, Basic Grey letters ( I love these!!) , Bella blvd journaling spot, Making Memories flower, and MME die cut lizard.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

On the edge

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Border punches and deco scissors oh my!
Yep, you guessed right, that's this week's challenge over at Practical Scrappers. I have about 40 pairs of deco scissors (I refuse to do an exact count in case I have more than that), and very very rarely use them anymore. Why then do you ask did I go out and purchase border punch after border punch? ( no I won't even take a guess at a number here!)
I think both should have take a place ( ok maybe a smaller one) in every scrapbooker's arsenal.
Deco scissors can go where border punches can't ie. rounded shapes. each pair comes with two decorative options- don't believe me? Just flip your scissors over!
Anyone who's ever tried to cut a straight line with a pair will also see the value in a border punch.
The new designs for border punches are also often irresistible; from the simplest scallop, to stars, cupcakes, bunnies, flowers, lace- you name it!

So I've dusted all mine off, and come up with a page that's far from my usual boyish comfort zone.
I might just find a use for all those frilly edges after all!


Happy Canada Day! I hope to come back today or tomorrow with some pictures from the day.

Erin