The one with a mini...

Its been a looooong time since I have made a mini. I love the look and intend to make them all the time... but then I just make another scrapbook page. So this month when I got this line from Simple Stores in my kit I knew right away it would make a cute mini. (btw- simple stories is all on sale this month at Scrappy Chic - 25%off!)

I can't remember what blog I saw this idea on but its the fastest, cheapest mini ever! ( Edit - found the site here - scroll down half way to see the inspiration album here!!) So all I used was three sheets of paper, one sticker sheet and mics letter stickers and chipboard. I think it all totals to be under $10. (Great Christmas gift idea maybe???)

Hers is the front...
Inside cover... my mom and dad :)

Second page.... us :)

Back cover...

On the back side....

and....

So all you need is one sheet of 12x12 paper cut in half. Score both pieces at 4" so it makes 4x6 pages. Then glue the two pages together. It makes a 'Z' shaped album.

On the front cover just sew some ribbon on to each side so that you can fold it flat and tie it up. Great for a little baby brag book or for a desk.

If it still doesn't make sense then you will have to check it out at Scrappy Chic in real life. In total I think it took me about 2 hours to complete the whole project. The Simple Stories line make it super easy with the mix of journal card paper, stickers and patterned paper.

I have plans to make a couple more for some special Christmas gifts now :)

This week I have been super busy with work... and also 3 invitation consultations! The girls are super sweet and I can't wait to work with them. I love how every bride has such a different idea for their wedding....which means I get to be extra creative coming up with something special just for them.

Off to work on some quotes and maybe scrapbook a little too!

Have a great night,

The one with some Brunch

I am not usually a big breakfast person... but I love brunch! Mostly because you can get the same great breakfast food and still sleep in ;)

This page is a mish mash of a bunch of different lines. The background is old crate paper, the yellow and navy are new Glitz papers. The big pleated flower is from the LYB flowers package.

Crate Paper border sticker, hambly transparency and washi tape, a little stitching and some BG letter stickers. I think I completed this in less than an hour - which is a record for me!!

This weekend we have NO PLANS! Which is crazy and I love it. Seems like we have something every weekend. I love being busy and seeing all of our friends and family but its nice to just sleep in and stay in your pjs all day ;)

Also getting ready for the craziness that will be next weekend with Black Friday shopping!!! Are you going????

Have a great weekend,

The one with some Websters Pages...

Those who are regular readers of my blog may recall me discussing my dislike for themed paper - especially Christmas paper! I find it so hard to work with for some reason. Call me crazy :)

This line from Websters Pages was in my kit from Scrappy Chic this month... and I thought it was a Christmas line. But once I started to work with it I noticed it was all fairy tale themed. So here is my Christmas layout :)
I loved the banner along the top so I did a ton of layering behind the photo and kept the rest really simple. The tree on the side went well with the tree in the back of the photo.

The burlap ribbon is from the MME lost and found. Love the texture that it gives the layout. I layered lots of little bits and pieces of things I had left over from other projects.

This week I also blogged over on the Scrappy Chic blog - all about Washi tape! I also was shopping at the store yesterday and picked up another pack of it :) Totally addicted!!

The one with a Sunset

Pictures of sunsets never do justice to the real thing!

This year for labour day weekend we went up to Collingwood, Ontario and rented a couple condos with our friends. We usually all head up to Peterbourough but this was a nice change and we had lots of fun. Our friend Norm organized the whole trip which included a sunset boat cruise on the Saturday night.

This layout features some great new products - Hambly overlay and washi tape, May Arts Ribbon trim, My Minds Eye twine, Jenni Bowlin travel stamps and great paper from Prima's Londonerry collection. I wanted to keep it pretty simple so the photos would be the star here.

The water was so clear, the sunset was beautiful and the company was amazing. Great memories!!!

This week I did a lot of scrapping - 4 layouts and a mini!!! I am very proud of how quickly I have been able to scrap lately. Usually I take forever to get one layout done. Maybe Angela is rubbing off of me ;)

Saturday I am planning on doing some major shopping - 5 family birthdays coming up soon so we are having a big party! Hopefully I will get to stop in at Scrappy Chic to check out all the great stuff that has come in the past month... and pick up my November kit too!

Have a great night!

The one with my Grandma

This month I ended up making two layouts with photos of my Grandmother. She is my grandma Ganley and she babysat me ever since I was 4 months old.... although she is not really related by blood, she was always my Grandma :)

I found these pictures from the 50th anniversary party that her 14 Children (!!!!!) threw for her.
My grandfather wore his traditional irish kilt. He also played the bagpipes and still to this day every time I hear them it makes me want to cry. He played them at the weddings for his daughters...if he would have been here for my wedding I would have wanted him to play for me too.

My granmother was always so fun.... on the go all the time. She was very involved with her church and since I was at her house most weekends - so was I.
(sorry silly blogger won't let me rotate this pic)
Here we are all dressed up for a big mardi gras party that we helped run. I took tickets at the door and we spend the whole day before decorating the hall.

Love this line from MME - its kind of halloween and kind of fall ish at the same time! Added some bling, twine and misted the hexagon shapes along the side.

Just the other day I posted about my trip to Toronto... and now we are going again :) We will be up there this weekend just to hang out. No official plans yet. Just shopping, hanging out and lots of good food - Sean and Mahsa plan to take us for Sushi for lunch and french food for dinner! Should be lots of fun :)

Before we leave we plan on having the bathroom all finished and put back together. Right now we are so close. Everything is functional except the sink- which I hope will go back in tomorrow!! YAY :) I will post pictures soon!!

Have a great week,

The one with some Baseball

I can't believe that its already been over a month! But yes it was mid October when we went up to Toronto to visit my brother Sean and his wife Mahsa. We went to see a Blue Jays - Yankees game.
I used lots of the Crate Paper Random line. In this line nothing matches but it all seems to just 'go' together. Makes it super easy to achieve an eclectic look.

The chipboard clouds are new from Maya Road. I stamped them with a Hero Arts wood grain stamp and some Jenni Bowlin ink. The letters are AC thickers and the navy/denim letters are Crate Paper. Did I mention before how much I love navy letters?? :)

The washi tape is amazing... a bit of a splurge item...but love the look and the colors are great!

The bathroom reno is nearing completion. I am getting sick of it at this point! But I will share some photos soon. I can't wait to get some more time back to scrapbook. My new kit is just sitting there just waiting for me :)

The one with my home

This month when I opened my kit from Scrappy Chic I was so excited that I got this line from BoBunny. I knew exactly what I wanted to use it for. I came across this photo of the house I grew up in and it was perfect!!
I lived here from the ages of 6 to 14.... so most of my childhood. I have so many great memories in this house. I must have a thing for red brick houses because my house now.... Alain and my first house.... is also red brick.

I have had the Jenni Bowlin 'home' bingo card for a long time how and finally got to use it. This line pared well with a lot of the journal pieces from the BG Marjolaine line from last year.

I fussy cut the fence to slip my photo in behind and added a few wooden studio calico houses down at the corner. I love how this turned out!

As for the bathroom renos - there is light at the end of the tunnel. I hope to share some photos soon! Today we are installing the taps that I picked up last night (Thanks Angela!!!) and Alain is finishing the skim coat of the drywall. Cross your fingers that we will be done by next weekend.

Ok- I am off to paint trim :)

Enjoy your weekend,

The one with some early Christmas

I hope that all the Canadians had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! Being so close to the states it doesn't quite feel like Thanksgiving to me....not to mention the 80+ degree weather we had all weekend!

We didn't do much celebrating this weekend since we are full swing into the bathroom reno. Being our only bathroom in the house (yikes!) we wanted to make it really nice but also finish it really quickly. In renos things always seem to take longer than planned. So we are living without a shower for the week - going to my parents or Alain's each night to shower after working hard all day.

Obviously I have been too busy to scrap.... but I thought I would share a Christmas layout I made a couple weeks ago. This is very minimal for me... but I think the photos are kind of busy and I want them to stand out!
My Minds Eye Lost and Found 2 paper, Jenni Bowlin journal paper, Crate Paper Border sticker, BG bow tie and some Studio Calico letter stickers. Its a mish-mash of this and that. The 'Night before Christmas' poem is actually a rub on from LilyBee's Christmas line last year I believe!
The third picture along the bottom with the carolers is my favorite. We have put these out every year since I was little. I remember when we bought the first one for my mom one year and then she started to collect them. Now she has two families and some accessories (they are hard to find now!).

Well I should get back now and help with something for the bathroom!
Have a great week,

The one with some Yummy Treats

This month our kits were bursting with 8 new lines each!!! and this is one of my favorites.
I love to bake so this line was perfect for my Christmas baking photos....
This great line is from 3 bugs in the rug. There releases this time around were really great! (they reminded me a lot of BoBunny - but not as expensive!)

The little letters are all BG white letters that I inked to match the paper. The banner stickers are MME from a line last summer and the pleated paper is a bazzill basics.

Tonight I am heading out to pick out tile for the bathroom! I already got my light fixture and now I am excited to get this reno going :)

Have a great week!

The one with some non Halloween

I hope you all had a great weekend! We had such great weather here...warm and sunny... but I was busy scrapping so I just saw it all from the window :)

Yesterday I met up with Angela and Mary from Scrappy Chic and we had so much fun and got a lot of pages done too!! I still have to photograph the layouts from the weekend but I have a few that I made last week.

I think that I have mentioned it here before, but I am not so good at using themed paper especially holiday paper. I also love some of the lines and still want to use them. So my solution is to mix it up and use some of the more neutral patterns.

A couple weekends ago Alain and I went up to Toronto to visit my brother Sean and his wife Mahsa. They brought us to a great Asian restaurant Spadina Garden.....

This layout uses the new Pink Paislee Halloween line! All of the paper is actually from the line and I just added some of the navy and orange elements from the Crate Paper Random line.

I love navy and for some reason I am always trying to find nice navy letters. These ones I used are from the BG Christmas line and I almost bought two packs so I don't run out :)

This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving and we are planning on renovating our bathroom! So this week I will be running around after work picking out tile and fixtures for the reno. We did a quick cosmetic makeover a couple years ago but now we are pulling out all the walls and tiling the bathtub surround. Its been a long time coming so I can't wait!!!

The one with some Cards

Well I can't believe that its been a whole month since my last post! With so much going on I had to take a little break from blogging.... but I hope to get back on track now :)

Today I have a couple cards I made a few weeks ago to share. As a kid I always loved Halloween but it seems like its not as celebrated anymore. Last year I think we got 3 trick-or-treaters the whole night!!

I love this Halloween line from Authentique. Everything here is from their Halloween line except for the thread which is Sew Easy thread from WeR.

This month my kit from Scrappy Chic was filled with paper from 8 new lines! I have already started playing with some of it and I can't wait to get back to some more scrapping. This weekend I am going to meet up with Angela at Scrappy Chic. I haven't scrapped at the store in so long so I can't wait. If you are in the area you should join us! Its always great to get some new inspiration scrapping with others.

If you haven't been in the store for a while I recommend you check it out- there is a ton of new stuff that has just come in! I did a little shopping a couple weeks ago but I can't wait to shop some more!

Lets see if I can keep this blog more up to date now :)

Have a great week,

The one with a baby Liz

Every month Angela makes up the kits and I get a line that will be my challenge (Halloween line this month!) and one that she knows I will love. This line I love....Echo Park's Victoria Garden!

It actually turned out to be my challenge line....not sure I love how it tuned out but I love parts of it. I tried to use a circle frame around the photo and I love how the left side turned out. My green pleated flower turned out super cute (love those glubers!!).

I wanted to use this line for my baby photo even though this line is not a baby line. Sometimes I think its more fun to use what I like more than a specific theme!

Lots of little elements from Crate Paper in the corner.

Today I am heading out to the golf course to practice and play a little bit. Alain went to work this morning so I am just waiting for him to come home!

Hope you have a great weekend :)

The one with some October Afternoon

I can't believe that its almost the end of summer. So sad. But its been a good one and my absence here on the blog has meant that I have been out enjoying whats left of it! Now that all of our weddings are done for the year, I have been playing lots of golf and scrapping too.

My kit this month was amazing (thanks Angela - she's the best!). I love me a good travel line - and this one from October Afternoon is pretty darn great. What makes it so great you ask? Well it can work for any kind of travel (local trips, big cities, road trips...), the colors are great (love the yellow) and you can match a lot of their other lines with it.

I made 2 layout with just 4 sheets of paper (that's a stretch for me!) and a few embellishments!
First up - pictures from my trip to LA. We stayed in Little Tokyo - a really fun area.

The title is my favorite. I used some very old letter stickers, stuck them to my new favorite yellow paper and cut out around it. I also broke out my stamps for the word border along the side. Jenni Bowlin inks (navy and red) match perfect with this paper!!

Next up some pictures that have been on my desk for a while. Chris and I on our way to LA.

We had a really funny story about being super late to the airport and almost missing out plane - so they put us in first class. Its hard to tell from these pics but I used some glossy accents to add some shine to the paper below in certain areas.

Used the glossy accents on the plane as well to give it some shine. All the embellishments came in a super cute pack with chipboard shapes, tickets, journal pieces, buttons and ribbon. A great deal for lots of stuff!

Last night I stopped by Scrappy Chic to drop off all my layouts... and I can't believe how much new stuff is in there. I was good and didn't buy too much yet. I wanted to make sure I got all the good embellishments first... net time I will be out for more paper!!!