Happy Birthday TO ME!!!

Yes, today I turn old. Ugh.

Since it is my birthday, I thought I would take you down memory lane to experience all of my past birthdays... well up until I turned 17 anyway. I guess I stopped having birthday's after I went off to university. These are some of my VERY early scrapbooking pages...  from close ot ten years ago! Actually I had originally started scrapping these when I was about 10 or 11... and hated the pages so much that a few years later I re-did them into what you see now. You can see my style evolving every year...

As you will see in the next few layouts... my Dad's favourite thing to do is take a picture of you while you are still sleeping on your birthday morning. The entire family then clamours in and sings happy birthday. A rude awakening, but you have to smile anyway. Glad I don't live at home anymore. :)

I was obsessed with SpongeBob for a few years... oh the fun!

And there you have it...me every year until I was 17. We'll just leave it at that...17 was a good year.

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Last year this was our LAST day of holidays at the Meziadin, and this year it is our FIRST day!!! See you in a few weeks!!!



Last year on this day, we were camping at the Meziadin River... far away from anyone. Kurt was out on the water fishing by the time the sun woke up... I got some beautiful pictures; living the dream. This was our last day of holidays, so we decided to head over to Stewart and Hyder, Alaska for the day. We even went out for Kurt's favourite food, pizza. It had been raining for the last few days, but it was an absolutely gorgeous day. We had to pack up and head home (drive all the nest day...)to be back for work (I had to work on my birthday!), but we basked in that last day of freedom for as long as we could. It was truly lovely and worth every moment.

Here is Kurtis out in the water fishing, and then some glorious pictures from our drive that day. Below are some pictures from Stewart (left) and Hyder, Alaska (right). What a crazy little village! Very neat to visit, though we didn't stay very long. I still need to journal these pages...

Happy Birthday my Love!

And we're OFF!!!! (and only one week left for Challenge #2!!!)

We are leaving for a spectacular holiday (early!) tomorrow morning...and will be gone for THREE weeks!! Woohoo!!! We are heading SOUTH...to the Meziadin River for a few days of salmon fishing, then meeting up with my sister and her husband and heading to the Queen Charlotte Islands!!! Here we hope to: shoot a bunch of little deer, fish for salmon, trap crab and shrimp, mushroom and berry pick, and have an all around fantastic time while filling our coolers! I can't wait!!
I have pre-posted for the next few weeks, so hopefully everything goes off without a hitch.

In other news, Kurt's cousin had a baby girl yesterday! We are so glad she decided to make an appearance before we left on holidays She is absolutely adorable with a perfectly round Benterud face, dark hair and blue eyes,...we'll see how she actually turns out in a little while! Congrats Des, Heidi, Simon and Andrew... we are so excited to get to know little Abigail!! can't wait to see her again at Christmas!

Also, there is only ONE WEEK left in the second Lasting Memories Layout Challenge: "Buttons & Bows." Hopefully you have found some inspiration from all of the great layouts that the Design Team came up with. To see everyone's layouts again, click on my "Lasting Memories Design Team & Schedule" page above. Have fun!! And don't forget to link your layout in Mister Linky over at Lasting Memories for you chance to WIN Top 3!!

ENJOY your summer everyone!!!

More BIRTHDAY layouts!!

It is still July, and that means it is still birthday month... we are counting down till we are old! Yikes!!

So, I thought I would share a few more birthday layouts. These ones are a bit more 'mature' themed than the last ones... actually not more mature...just OLDER people!! :) Enjoy!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all my JULY BUDDIES!!!

CHALLENGE #2: Buttons & Bows!

Welcome to the second Lasting Memories Layout Challenge!! To see all of the lovely layouts from my Design Teammates, hop on over to the Lasting Memories Layout Challenge blog.

This weeks theme is "Buttons & Bows." I don't usually use alot of ribbon in my layouts, and I can't remember if I have ever used real buttons, so this was a fun challenge for me! Both the Ribbon and Buttons I used came from a Close To My Heart package called "Miracles".

Last November we had a huge celebration for my husband's Grandmother's 90th birthday! These are some pictures from the event and I thought the buttons added a cute/fun element to the page.

 There were both large and small buttons in the package, so I decided to use them all. I secured the ribbon around the red paper, and then pop-dotted the buttons on top. They ended up sticking up quite high off the page and I love the 3D element that it adds.

 

 Since this week's challenge theme was "Buttons & Bows," my original thought was to make the buttons appear to be like a 'bow' on the ribbon. I am not sure that it turned out looking that way, but I don't like bows, so I just stuck with buttons anyway!

 Since I don't use ribbon very often, I usually struggle with making it stick/stay and still look nice. When I do use ribbon, I wrap it around paper, and secure it to the other side with double sided tape runner. Any tips for how to use ribbon more efficiently, or more frequently with less frustration? I love tips!

Don't forget to head over to Lasting Memories and link up YOUR OWN "Buttons and Bows" layout. You just never know what you might win!

ENJOY!

NEW LOOK!!!!

Oh my gosh! I know I just posted this morning, but I just HAD to share this tidbit!

I found the most AMAZING site called Shabby Blogs. You can get all kinds of beautiful backgrounds, pictures, buttons, blinkies, headers...you name it... FOR FREE!!!

How do you like my new look?!?!?!?!

It's BIRTHDAY MONTH!!

July is Birthday month in my family... Hubby and I, my sister, Hubby's Grandpa, my Grandpa, good friends... the birthdays are never ending! With that in mind, I thought it was the appropriate time to share some past layouts of BIRTHDAYS!!!

Here are a few examples of KIDS birthday party pages I have done...

I love this pink from Creative Memories, and this was my very last piece... so I used every scrap! I really like how the chunks that had circles cut out of them fit into the page... very different anyway, and super cute! I hate to waste!

Happy Birthday to all you JULY babies!! We have another little cousin due here ANY DAY!! YAY!!

 

Also... I got my hair cut last night!! It feels SOOOOO good to have it shorter again!!! 

 What do you think!?!? :)

Can't live with them, would hate to live without them!

My sister posted the sweetest thing yesterday... I just had to share it!

Click HERE to visit her blog...

I have such wonderful siblings... I LOVE YOU ALL!!

2010 GOALS (just a little bit late...)

I just saw this great idea on Kristie's blog. She has a sidebar of her goals for 2010... regarding crafts and what she is going to get done...brilliant!
I already have a goal as far as scrapbook pages to complete in the year, and I am fast approaching this goal. However, I love the idea of setting goals for my other crafts projects!! I will keep a side-bar tally of how things are coming along...and try to keep it up to date!
So, even though the year is half over,...here goes: (Next January I will begin again...on time!)

2010 ScrapArt Goals:
(January 1, 2010- December 31, 2010)

-Complete 250 'scrapbook pages'
-Make 5 cards (I am new to cardmaking!)
-Read 30 books
-Paint a picture
-Complete 3 sewing projects (mending doesn't count!)

I am also part of a "Creative Memories" Challenge through my local supplier, Rita Schonewille. She runs a challenge every year for exclusively "Creative Memories" pages completed. This year's target is 210 pages from January to mid December...this will help me in my personal goal as well!

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE LASTING MEMORIES LAYOUT CHALLENGE! YOU ONLY HAVE TWO DAYS LEFT TO ENTER!!!! There is some GREAT blog-candy up for grabs...!

Hurry!! Link Your Layout!!

Don't forget to link your "Red, White & Blue" layouts in Mister Linky on the Lasting Memories blog! You only have three more days (until Friday night at 11:59 EST)!! So get your butts in gear and start scrappin!! There are some WONDERFUL blog-candy-prizes up for grabs!! Enjoy!

Adding Memorabilia to pages... Ideas and Examples

We all like to save memorabilia from important events... some of us are worse then others (hoarders, you know who you are!!). Why not start using those precious time-capsules in your scrapbooks?

Here are some ideas of things you could use to enhance your layouts:

- event tickets

- programs

- scraps of ribbon and material (from an event or otherwise)

- napkins/favours (from a wedding or reception)

- baby hair & hospital bracelets

- badges

- stamps (mailing/post marked)

- newspaper clippings

- letters and awards

- money (foreign coins or bills from travelling)

- postcards

-Famous Autographs

- gift cards and tags

- paper bags

- wrapping paper

- name tags & business cards

- receipts

The possibilities are endless! I even used the crushed pieces of my husbands wedding band!

A scrapbook is a place to keep your memories fresh and tangible, not just a story book to look pretty on your shelf. So start diggin' through those boxes and bring out those little chunks of history for everyone to see!

Here are some examples of things I have used in the past:

When my sister and I travelled in Cambodia, we went to the 'Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.' I wanted to keep the pamphlet so that other people could read about it.

 The background of the left page is actually a paper bag from our trip to Skagway, Alaska. There is also a business card from the "Olde Tyme" photo shop we got our picture taken at.

At another stop in Alaska, they gave everyone a cedar chip to "throw in the fire and make a wish." Of course I kept mine to scrapbook! 

 For the title page of my "Yukon Years" album, I used a post marked stamp from my home town.

 One of my University roommates and I are both obsessed with curling (and football!). One year we volunteered at the "Canada Cup Qualifiers." Of course I had to put our volunteer badge and autographs in my scrapbook!

Ticket stub to prove I was at the game!

My little brother is obsessed with hockey... I made this page for him from our visit to the "Hockey Hall of Fame." I used the pamphlet, stickers, a cut out from the paper bag and some old monogrammed credit cards (which I signed up for simply to get the cool picture!!) 

 Here I used the invitation and tickets from my highschool graduation. 

My Hubby was a Cadet for many years growing up, and he won many distinguished awards. Here are a few newspaper clippings and a badge from his time in the Army Cadets

This layout is actually mostly a collection of memorabilia. My sister and I spent an entire month in Vietnam, but we did not take very any pictures. In order to document our adventures, I used business cards, Vietnamese money, a "smog mask" and postcards from the places we stayed. In the blank space, I will journal our adventures.

And there you have it... it is just that simple to enhance your pages and have something tangible to remember an event by! Have fun coming up with ideas... and let me know what YOU have used in the past to enhance your layouts!

More 'Alphabet Album!' Kurt's Life F-L...

Here are some more of my 'Alphabet Album' pages! F-L of my Hubby's growing-up years... again, there are lots of 'outdoorsy' and 'farm' layouts... my favourite to make! (Although, sometimes I run out of new ideas after an entire album of camping and animal pictures!!) Let me know what you think, or any suggestions you make have for my next 'Alphabet Album!'

F:

G: 

H:

This was a super fun page to make, as I had just bought a new "Puzzle Maker" punch from Creative Memories and I was dying to use it! Then of course, my newly discovered love (the cricut!) just happened to have puzzle piece letters as well. I also had some really neat 'tool' embellishments that I couldn't seem to find a project for...perfect!!

I: 

My husband and I both LOVE to read...!

J: 

K: 

L: 

Another seven letters in my Hubby's life! This was also the very first "Creative Memories" album I ever made. I was always very skeptical about these albums because of the way the pages fit into place: you use both sides of the page...therefore there is no room to add pages if you forget something or want to rearrange things. Because I scrapbook chronologically, this really scared me because there is no room to play if you forget some pictures or an event...not like a "slide" album where you can just add a page wherever you like. Because I had everything pre-arranged, I really enjoyed this project. I have since gone on to complete another 3 (90 page!) Creative Memories albums. You just have to be careful that you have ALL of your pictures printed and put in order before you start!