Music to our ears – CS #233 December 1, 2012

Happy Saturday! I cannot believe it is December 1 already. Where I live, we already have lots of snow. Though my kids are getting older now, I think that we should go out sledding one of these days!

I did this layout of my daughter, Sydney, playing her trumpet, using Creative Scrappers sketch #233 designed by Juliana Michaels (I love her work! Check out her blog). For supplies, I used the monthly kit from Scrapbook Studio, my lss.

The quality of the picture of my layout is poor, but I am very happy with how the layout itself came out!

Happy crafting!

Amber

Yup, another one! May 7, 2012

Yes, this is #3! Seriously, I guess all I needed was a national day to get me moving!

 

Here is a layout I did about a story in our family about the word “awesome” (we pronounce it “auw-shum”). This is for another Scrapbook and Cards Today challenge on doing something different for your title. I split the title up and put it on two pieces of ephemera (love that word and the stuff itself!!!). Not overly creative, but hey, I did it, didn’t I?!!!

 

 

I think I may have one more post yet tonight …

 

Amber

Post #2 for tonight

I may be building some momentum here … two posts in one night, after a four-month-hiatus! I’d better be careful not to use up all of my bloggin’ steam!!!

Here is another LO I did for a challenge posted by Scrapbook and Cards Today on using an embellished pin. For this silly layout I did about texting language, I took two plain old sewing pins with coloured heads and poked them through a chipboard embellishment that said TTYL and tied some baker’s twine around it. Pretty simple, but I thought it turned out kinda cute!!

I’ll be back at least one more time before the night’s through 😉

Seriously, it’s been waaaay too long now!

Hello, scrappy followers!

It has been more than four months since my last post, and I feel terrible for not keeping my blog updated. And I actually had to think really hard about how to do it! Honestly, even though I don’t have too many followers, I realize I can never build my scrappy groupies if I never post anything new! So a lot has happened in my life since December 29 when I last posted (many great things, some not-so-great things, but LOTS of scrappin), but I am not going to go into detail about that right now. Instead, I will be posting a series of layouts I did this weekend in celebration of National Scrapbook Day. I love whoever invented this day!!!

First up is a layout of my now-12-year-old daughter, Sydney, at her confirmation … hard to believe this was more than a year ago already. Anyway, this layout is for a challenge posted by Scrapbook and Cards Today on using memoribilia. I used Sydney’s confirmation certificate here … but you’ll see it’s tiny! I didn’t want to use up most of my scrappin’ real estate for the certificate, so I shrunk it on a colour copier! This little trick was suggested some time ago by my dear sister, Penny. She was awesome. I miss her so much. Pen, this one is for you <3.

 

 

Okay, watch for another post on the next challenge!

Thank you for visiting,

Amber

It’s been a long time … December 29, 2011

Greetings, all of you fellow scrappers. I have been absent from my blog for a long time.

It has been a very sad time in my and my family’s life. On November 23, we lost our sister, Penny, to breast cancer. She was officially diagnosed in March 2010 {although she had been through a battery of tests between then and when she found her first symptoms the December before}. Our family has always been close, but from that point on, it was like a magnet drew us even closer to one another. And Penny said herself, these two years were amazing. She was an absolutely wonderful person, sister, mother, and wife. My next post will be a tribute to her, and I hope it will convey just how special she was and will always be to us.

For now, I am posting a layout I did for Creative Scrappers for the December challenge. I used sketch #186 created by Juliana Michaels {I L.O.V.E. Juliana’s blog, 17 Turtles!}, and here is my interpretation:

I am very fortunate to have a good long break from work for the holidays, so that means lots of scrappin’ time! And believe you me, I have been taking full advantage of this time! I have done some layouts that I really like, many based on ideas from others, so hopefully I will get around to posting those so you can take a look. And I have also been busy educating myself on more scrapbooking techniques and styles by taking classes at Big Picture Classes. If you don’t know this online classroom, be sure to check it out!

For now, I will sign off and wish you all a very happy New Year. Back soon!

Happy scrappin’,

Amber

The Farm October 23, 2011

Happy Sunday!

We have been blessed with another beautiful day here in Saskatchewan, even if the temperature is a bit cooler than we’ve been used to. I love fall, so I try to use it as inspiration! I’ve been busy this weekend scrapbooking some of my 2010 pictures so I can get that album wrapped up. Don’t let me trick you into believing that I’ve done everything UP to that point either! I’ve got to do many years backward, but I thought I would try to catch up on the present and then pick away at the good old days.

 

Last weekend, my whole family was here ~ my four sisters and my brother and all in-laws except Ringo. It was an absolutely fabulous time and very special. I relish those moments. It started out with three of my sisters and me getting together to scrapbook. And then because I was hosting at my place, our brother and other sister decided to join us, since they live only 2.5 hours away. It was nothing short of perfect. Those of us who scrapbooked got quite a bit done and loved every minute we spent doing that. I even designed a little make ‘n’ take for them!!! I will post pictures of the Scrap-Tastic Sisters event soon!

 

Anyway, I got a bit side-tracked there! So I was working studiously on my 2010 pictures and then my sisters pulled out their photos of us from when we were young, and so I scanned a bunch and told myself that as soon as I got my album of last year finished, I would work on my childhood photos. And I was really looking forward to that project. We don’t actually have a lot of photos for that time, so for me that meant that I could make a whole album of just a few pictures … and LOTS of embellies!! Then a Heritage Challenge came up on Scrapping the Moments about creating a layout based on your childhood home. Well, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to START my childhood album! And it just so happened that the sketch (10.20) offered by Sketchy Thursdays this week was perfect for my LO … I needed to do lots of journaling. So check out my creation below.

 

 

It’s fun and sad at the same time to reflect on your childhood. But it’s good for the soul, and of course good for my kids because they can get a sense of what my life was like before them … YES, I did have a life before they came along!!!

 

Wishing you a happy, relaxing, and satisfying day.

My dad August 31, 2011

I couldn’t resist posting this LO that I did of my dad. Most of my family doesn’t remember him this way, but I do. And I love this picture! I did the layout in response to a heritage challenge on Scrapbooking.com. I chose to interpret heritage in a humourous way!!!

 

Sister(s)

It has been a long time since my last post … life has gotten busy now, with the girls going back to school (and all of the tasks that accompany preparing for such an event) and the fall routine also setting in at work (new batch of students to be ready for). But I love fall. Seriously LOVE fall. It’s my favourite season of the whole year. I was born in the fall and got married in the fall. Leaves turn pretty shades of orange and yellow in the fall. What’s not to love?! It’s also been awhile since I’ve been able to get any scrapping done, but I was determined to get down to my creative room last night and do at least one layout. And yup, that’s all I got done! I actually have a really hard time going to sleep after I scrapbook, because a bunch of ideas float through my head and I think about how I want to use all of the pretty things that I’ve been hoarding {big smile}.

This is a layout I did for two contests: Creative Scrappers (sketch #169) and Scrapping Everyday Miracles (challenge #6). I really enjoy following these blogs.

The challenge from Scrapping Everyday Miracles is about ‘friendships that go the distance’. I do have many wonderful, long-time friends. But those friends who have been in my life the longest are my sisters. And naturally, we have been through a lot together. Thank goodness for family – that is all I have to say. They are irreplaceable. I have four of them, but you see only three of them (and me!) in the picture above. This picture was taken at one of our bi-annual Scrappin’ Sisters events. Yes, that’s right! I get together with three of my sisters, as well as one niece (sometimes two) and my two daughters twice each year in varying locations to spend wonderful times together scrapping, eating, visiting, laughing, and crying! We cherish these times; they are very precious to us. And it deserved to be captured in a special way. The sisters above are Holly (top right), Penny (bottom left), and Sherry (bottom right). My niece Mallory and daughters Shelby and Sydney were also there, but someone had to take the picture :}. Our fifth sister, Bonnie (the oldest!) and our dear only sister-in-law Rhonda don’t scrapbook, so they don’t come to these events. Just so he doesn’t feel left out, we also have an awesome brother, Darwin. He doesn’t (really) scrapbook either :).

I know the quality of this photo is not very good, but I hope you enjoy the layout. I really love how it turned out!

Wishing you a FABULOUS day!

Sketchy Thursdays 8.11 Sketch Challenge August 17, 2011

Hey, scrappin’ peeps!

Last night, when I should have been sleeping, I was scrappin. I was tired from just going back to work from holidays (yes, I know you are very sympathetic {smirks}) and hadn’t slept well the night before. But, instead of hitting the hay early (or even at a decent time), I hit my scrapping room. Some things are just more important! Anyway, I did this layout for the latest Sketch Thursdays challenge. I don’t like how the title turned out, but I’ve already changed it once. At some point, you just gotta say, “Done!”

 

 

 

 

My sister, Penny, has been staying with us since we got back from our fab family reunion, so I have been enjoying some very nice time with her. Tonight, my wonderful friend Jenn and I are off to visit another wonderful friend Karen whose dad passed away on the weekend. Then I need to rush home and bake a cheesecake for a friend’s birthday tomorrow. Yup, that is what life is all about – doing things for people who mean a lot to you … and I love every minute of it.

 

 

Enjoy your evening!

My Minds Eye sketch challenge August 15, 2011

I haven`t posted for a while because I`ve been on vacay – enjoyed a FANTASTIC family reunion with nearly all of my immediate family and got spoiled for an early 40th birthday. If I haven`t said this already, I have the best family. EVER. PERIOD. They R.O.C.K. Stay tuned, as I will be posting some photos of our fun!!!

 

I did the layout below of our god-daughter, Miranda, for a sketch challenge by My Minds Eye (L.O.V.E. their products!!!). The theme was ANYTHING GOES, and we had to use at least 80% My Minds Eye products. Let me know what you think!

 

 

Here is one close up:

 

 

I used the following MME products: paper – So Sophie Simple Things and Pretty Girl; title – Dream Big Backyard; Barefoot Birthday Swirl; label stickers – Hazel Lovely and Hattie Happy; epoxy brad (can`t remember which line).

 

Well, it`s back to work tomorrow, so I`d better sign off now. I was happy to sneak in some scrappin today!!!