Getting Organized for the New Year

So I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, mine was filled with joy and surprises. I asked for nothing this year and so everything that I got was a wonderful surprise. My hubby got me a Wii fit. This thing is so much fun what a great way to work out!! Thinking I might have to get the biggest loser game!! Got a macro lens for my camera, can't wait to play with this when the weather improves and the best thing of all is that it is not quite over yet. I got these photos in my email. Do you know what this is??? This is one of two new Scrapbooking Desks that my husband is making me. I am stoked all of these drawers are on rollers and there is a ton of storage in both. I will keep you posted on there development.
In the mean time I thought I would show you what my Scrap room looks like and a little project.

This is where I currently Scrap, it is a wonderful and sunny spot but I must admit that I think that I will be moving into the living room when my desk is complete. I love to scrap at night close to my hubby and there is not enough room in this space for him the couch and TV.

Lots of people ask me about the bins here on the left. I picked up these bins for 7$ ea at London Drugs a few years back and they are fabulous. Each drawer comes right out and has a label so that I can find everything easily.

Here is my little organizer project. I picked up this inexpensive desk organizer at Staples and I was not a huge fan of the blue paisley. I recovered the insides with this great wood grain paper from Reminisce and used one of their owl stickers for the front {I have a huge love of Owls} and then I filled the whole thing with my most used tools and now it sits on my desk.
My Family and I are heading out of town for a few days to spend the New Year with friends so this will be my final post of 2009. As a final note I just want to say thank you to all of you. I had no idea what to expect when I started blogging 9 months ago and it has been more enjoyable than I could have imagined. Your comments keep my pumped. I have made some great friends and it has shown me a whole new world of scrapbookers.

So A GREAT BIG THANK you from this Scrapper and we will see you in the New Year.

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Getting Organized for the New Year

I've been Spotted

When Kimber contacted me the other day about being spotted on the Jillibean soup blog I was ridiculously excited. I love Jillibean Soup they are one of my favorite companies and I love there blog, they are constantly posting such incredible projects and layouts. Anyways I whipped up this layout just for the post. I have a major love of hats and it is the one thing that I can share with my boys {fashion wise}. All of this is Jillibean Soup and how can you not love this little birdie, I added a little gloss to his eyes and put a hat on his head, now he just makes me happy!

I used the left over stars from the star border punch and put them in the holes is the corner making a kind of photo corner .This punch is by Martha Stewart and it totally rocks my world. LOVE IT.

Warm Wishes to all

Lydia

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I've been Spotted

Christmas Cards

We are fast approaching the most wonderful day of the year and everything here is ready. Only the last minute things left to do. Going to bake cookies for Santa, cook the food and set the table for breakfast. Mmm Yummy! I can't wait!! I look forward to seeing the faces of my loved ones when they open their gifts and I can't wait to share it with all of you. I made almost all of my gifts this year { I can't share them with you yet because my family sometimes checks in here} and I also made all my Christmas Cards. Some of you may recognize this photo from summer time, I posted it and Sarah Hodginson from Core-dinations laughingly joked that it would make a great Christmas card photo. Well, I took that to heart and I love how it turned out, simple and easy. Which is good cause I made 43 of them and the best part the whole batch cost me $9.90. Great for a tight budget.

My hubby is home for the next 2 weeks so I am looking forwar to a little quality time and enjoy a few day with my sister who arrives tonight. Here a picture of my tree, it is my favorite thing at Christmas time and it simply would not feel like Christmas with out it. Merry Christmas everyone and have a happy holiday.

Lydia

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Christmas Cards

Color Lovers and Tinsel

Over at Core-dinations this month we were challenged to pop over to Color Lovers. This website just plain rocks. You can browse color combos make up your own or even type in a key word and see what comes up. Being in the Christmas spirit I typed in "Christmas" and found this wonderful palette. I loved it instantly and it inspired me to create this layout about the old fashion tinsel on my tree.

Products used JBS Core-dinations Cardstock, Core Colors Snowflake,Curry & Beach. Tiny Alphas and note by Jenni Bowlin and Large alphas by October Afternoon, pearls by Queen n co and buttons by foof fa la.

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Color Lovers and Tinsel

berry good

Holey Taledo is it really the 16th of December, AHhhhh. Why does it feel like no matter how much I get done in advance, there is still so much to do...... Goodness me!! Well We had a blast of snow, that was wonderful but it only lasted the day. Glad I took the boys out to make a snow man and take some pictures. The wet evening gave me a little time in my scraproom. and here is what I made.

Couple of things here that make me happy, first I LOVE THIS OCTOBER AFTERNOON, I should have bought two packages, the whole thing just rocks. Second, these strawberries are ones that we make every year and they are so delicious.

Products used Core-dinations Cardstock, October afternoon Stickers and papers, buttons by the button box and letters by american crafts

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berry good

Festive Fruit

Well I am completely immersed in the Holiday season, there is snow on the ground, my tree is up and sparkling the smell of cinnamon on the wood stove and gingerbread men on the counter. I love this! I also love pomegranates. They are a special treat at this time of year and this year is the first year my boys have shared this treat with me. These tiny little red jewels pop in your mouth and are a wonderful reward after all the hard work of peeling them. At this time of year I take a ton of photos to document all these things and when it comes to scrapping it, it is always nice to have a collection of fabulous sketches around. This one I found over at Got Sketch and it was perfect for these pictures.

Valerie Salmon's sketches are for personal use only and not for the
purpose of publication submissions, contest entries, design team

projects, class projects, and design templates.

Products used Core-dinations Cardstock, American Craft Pattern Paper, Inkadoo stamp and buttom box buttons. TFL:)

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Festive Fruit

My Big 3-0

Well it has been a super weekend around here so far, Yesterday I celebrated my 30th birthday with friends and family. I want to say a big Thank you to those who came tubing up the mountain with me it was a total blast. In the morning my mom took me out for breakfast and we stopped at a grppvy antique shop where I found this incredibly groovy rooster.

Next it was off to the hat shop (I love hats) where I treated myself to a new hat and one for my baby boy.

Then I celebrated with a taco salad dinner before heading up to mount washington to go tubing.

The festivities have not stopped yet as it is my babies 2nd birthday today. So right now I am a little slow on the crafts but I will have a ton of photos to play with soon. Wow Christmas is so close now who knows when I will next get into my craft room!

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My Big 3-0

Sticky

I am kinda jumping all over the place with the subjects I am scrapping, but the two little boys in these photo's tug on my heart strings. This is my son and his very best friend. My best friend and I had the same due date for their births, she was a week early and I was a week late, so these two little guys are only two weeks apart. I have watched there friendship grow and as they learned to talk and communicate, the bond only grew stronger. Not a day goes by when they don't ask for the other to come and play. I am ever so thankful for these two boys and I am glad they have each other. Products used Core-dinations Cardstock, Jillibean Pattern Paper, Queen n co felt, 7 gypsies arrow. TFL:)

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Sticky

Good boys gone wild

These are some of my all time favorite papers from Reminisce, they are actually from three different lines. The first layout is one I just did the bottom 2 are ones from last year. I always find it fun to go back through my pages and see what has changed in my style. I have more dimension this year and a lot more texture. Man I love Scrapbooking!! Products used Core-dinations Cardstock, Reminisce Pattern papers and Letter stickers, Brads by MM and buttons by the button box, ribbon by American crafts

Products used Reminisce pattern papers and cardstock letter stickers, Cardstock by DCWV, American crafts brads, doodlebug rub-ons

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Good boys gone wild

So Excited

I am so over the moon excited I made the Sketchabilities DT, what a cool blog can't wait to get started Karen has some great sketches. Yeah Merry Merry is what I am!!

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So Excited

Cold & Frosty December day

Welcome December, oh this is so wonderful, my favorite time of year has arrived. I woke up this morning to frost across the field and the sun rising without a cloud in the sky. It was beautiful, I should have taken a picture, but I had two little boys at the edge of my bed yelling " Mommy, Mommy, can we open number 1 now. They have been staring at the Advent Calender that I made all week waiting to open the first box.The base for this advent calender is made by Kaiser Craft and the assembly is a fair bit of work, but it is so worth it. My home for the holidays is decked in traditional red and green and I love how the bright colors in the Jillibean papers are muted by the cream and kraft and give my project a country look that suits my home. Every box is just a little bit different, some have clusters of buttons some have swirls of paper and he is hard to see but my favorite is number 17 a little Pearls Snowman with a Black magic hat. In the center of my calender are 24 sheets, that I printed out on Core-diantions Carstock each one of these sheets has a holiday prompt, photo idea and two black spaces to fill in what we made and what we did on each day. This is the part of the Calender that is for me, it was part of Jessica Spragues Holidays in Hand class. I hope you all have a wonderful December and happy crafting.

Products Used Core-dinations Cardstock, Pattern Papers, Ribbon, Spots and some button by Jillibean Soup and Bling and pearls by Queen n Co

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Cold & Frosty December day

Little Hunter

This month the guest designer over at A million little things was Jana Eubank, not sure if you are familiar with her stuff, if you aren't, take a minute to pop over to her blog what she does is pure inspiration. The sketch on the right is one of hers and was this months "Sketch this" challenge at A million little things. This is the layout I created based on it.

Products used Core-dinations Cardstock, Pattern Papers by October Afternoon and Reminisce, Buttons by American Crafts, letters by Basic grey

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Little Hunter

Squirrelling Away

I got this simple tin can with a coin hole last year at a retreat and I have been meaning to dress it up. So I had a little fun with this adorable little squirrel from Reminisce. I just wrapped the can in piece of their wood paper. Before I stuck the squirrel on, I backed his tail with stiff black cardstock, so that it would be reinforced and to get rid of the stickiness. I then I placed the woodland leaves around the can and punched a circle out of orange cardstock with the phrase "Squirrelling away for a rainy day" on it. An Acorn button to top it off and Ta Da, a playful piggy bank.

Products used Coredinations Cardstock, Reminisce Pattern Papers and Cardstock Stickers.

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Squirrelling Away

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Well the holidays are in motion at my house, I have started to pull out decorations and lights, I am sewing some wonderful projects and I have got out some festive scrappy goodness. This month at core-dinations we are gearing up for Christmas I am am a classic red and green kinda girl so I did this layout, I have such a soft spot for a chubby baby in a Santa hat.

One of the other Core girls Ellen made this incredible creation which I SOOOOOOO love and will have to make one for myself and darn I may have to go to Starbucks and order a caramel brule latte :) . Really go and check it out.

Happy Holidays every one, and like I saw on a festive mug the other day, Let the stress begin.

Products used Core-dinations Cardstock,Pattern paper by Jillibean soup, buttons bling and bow by Queen n Co and Alphas by My litte Shoebox. Other Cuttlebug Embossing folder (love this stripe)

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It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Do you have a cuttle bug?

The folks over the cuttle bug challenge are having a give away today of $100 worth of Core-dinations Cardstock. They asked us to create something "from the kitchen" and this is what I came up. The top mason Jar is filled with Hot chocolate and marshmallows, the bottom tray is an inexpensive serving tray and four mugs that I got at Canadian tire last year on sale. Pop over to the Cuttle bug Challenge Blog and see what the other Team members came up with, trust me they rock!

Products used, Core-dinations Cardstock, Jillibean Soup Ribbon and button and bling by Queen n Co

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Do you have a cuttle bug?

Halloween Hero

I found this fantastic sketch over at Scrapsketch, they have some incredible holiday inspiration. I changed it up to accommodate some Halloween photos. It a non traditional color scheme but when I saw these papers from 3bugs in a rug, I just had to use them.

Products used Core-dinations Cardstock and 3 bugs in a rug October afternoon letters and label, button by the button box and black bling by Queen n Co TFL:)

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Halloween Hero

Pop over and get inspired

Today you can find me over at Serendipity Scrapbooks, I am over there with fellow Core gal Ellen Sosnoski. They are doing a Holiday bazaar with exclusive sketches from Becky Fleck and online tutorials with Tanish Long from the Shimmerz Paints Education team. I'll be doing a fast and fun Christmas card. If your like me and have over 80 cards to send out, fast is good.

If you drop by be sure to check out their kits, this months is FABULOUS especially if your like me, surrounded by boys. I'll be popping in all day, so if there is anything you've always wanted to ask come on over and maybe stay a while.

One of the challenges over at Daily Inspirations this month was to stitch and emboss on a page and so I created this page. Subtle Machine stitching down the edges and then a little embossing around the title to give it definition. TFL:) Products used, Core-dinations Carstock, JBS Pattern Paper and buttons by the button box.

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Pop over and get inspired

Vibrant

I am so excited today, so much happening. After the usual fluff and non sense morning and after lunch and nap time. I am going to the Scrapstore, I ran out of my favorite adhesive { I hate it when that happens.} If that were not exciting enough in itself, after that I will be picking up my girlfriend and we are headed out of town to go to a book signing by Author Kelley Armstrong. She has written several werewolf novels and her recent series, The dark powers, is about a young necromancer. These are wonderful reads if you are a twilight fan. I have not been to a book signing since kindergarten, when I attended a book reading and signing by Robert Munch. So needless to say I am stoked and a night out with my girlfriend just sounds delish. Here is a layout that I created, I love this photo of my son, a leaf fell on his head during the shoot and he had it there for a while. I could not stop laughing and in turn this made him smile too. Love this shot. Products used, Core-dinations Cardstock Vintage and Colorcore, Pattern Paper by October Afternoon, buttons by foof fa la and button box, brads by Bazzill and American crafts, twine by Jillibean soup and punchs by fiskars and eksuccess

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Vibrant

The obsessed Scrapper

As I was blog cruising the today I found this on The Lonely Scrapbookers Blog I am not sure if technically I passed or failed but there is no doubt I am an obsessed Scrapper.

1. You keep an extra camera in your purse at all times. Yup!
2. You own fourteen different types of adhesive and know for what each is best. Yes again!
3. You speak “vendor” language – Bazzill, Tombow, Cosmo Cricket. It is sad but true!
4. You love acronyms – MAMBI, BG, SU, Hero, SEI, MM. Tampoco. I am not sure if I love them, but yes I do use them.
5.You have been known to dress your children to match scrapbook paper you plan to use when scrapbooking the event you’re about to attend. Sometimes
6.You only have coupons for Hobby Lobby, Michaels and JoAnn in your grocery coupon organizer. This one not so much, but only because I don;t have any of those places where I live.
7.You consider renaming your child because there are never enough E’s in the alphabet packages. No, but there is never enough N's {my eldests name is Tannin) but this is the reason I own a cutter.
8.You own several different die cutting machines…and use them all. I own 2. The first one cuts everything and anything my heart could desire or dream of and I never have to buy Cartridges. It is called a Klic-n-Kut and I love love love it, and a cuttle bug that I really only use to emboss.
9. You have a great relationship with Jenni, Martha, Elsie, Heidi, Donna and Tim. Not really, but I do know to whom they are referring to.
10.You take photos of odd things because you know still-life photos look cool on scrapbook pages. A little bit but only when it is to tell a specific story.

Diagnosis: Obsessed with scrapbooking!

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The obsessed Scrapper

Bedtime story

I read to my boys every night it calms them down and gets them into their beds. My littlest loves this one book by Bernadette Shustak, called I love you through and through. It is short and sweet and has helped him identify with his body. I love it because it is true. So for my journalling, I used the story.

Products used Core-dinations Cardstock, Cosmo Cricket Pattern Paper, American Craft Brads and letters by Adornit.

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Bedtime story

Party Animals

So I went a little crazy with this page, things tend to get a little crazy for a 4 year olds birthday party so I feel like it is a good reflections of the moment. So in love with these Monsters, all of them are so adorable. It is a good thing that around here there are a fair share of monster moments. LOL!

Products used Core-dianations Cardstock, Sassafras Pattern papers, Prima Bling and Queen n Co Bling and Letters, Other: Embossing folders by Cuttlebug

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Party Animals

buzz

I have had this Buzz Light year sticker for almost two years, I got it on sale and could not resist. He is just so detailed and cool. When my youngest dressed up like buzz for Halloween this year I knew that it would be the perfect opportunity to put him into action. Products used Coredinations Cardstock, MME pattern paper, ek success buzz, lettter stickers by american crafts and spots by Jillibean soup

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buzz

Oh so happy it's November

So I changed my clocks back yesterday and sighed with relief. I love October, but it is a whirlwind of activity and when November comes I feel like I can finally take a deep breath and slowdown a little. Halloween was a blast I took the boys out trick or treating and then we headed over to a family friends house where we celebrated with hot dogs, marsh mellows, hot chocolate and fireworks. Tannin was a fireman he loves all the rescue heroes, it was too funny for the pictures he had to have papa's hatchet "cause Mom fire man have axes, you know?"Levi was the cutest little Buzz light year, he was so good, even thought there were a few houses that scared my gentle boy.I love getting dresses up and playing with make up so this year I went as a Monarch butterfly and just because I love sparkles I added some Queen n Co gems, believe or not they stuck to my face all night. and just because am stoked that the next big holiday is Christmas, here is a card that I made. I love this little felt bird.
Products used Core-dinations Cardstock, Pattern paper and Post card by October afternoon, Bird and book label by Making Memories. TFL :)

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Oh so happy it's November

The SUSPENCE

If you pop over to the Imaginisce blog you will notice that there most recent post kindly informs everyone {who is chewing on their fingernails} that they are postponing their decision, based on the number of entries. In case you have not guessed it. I have applied to be a member of there DT and the suspense is killing me!! There is a huge amount of talent applying for this team, but I still keep up hope. Sometimes you just never know unless you try. I love this let's Roll line, so fun, playful and bright. Just makes me happy to look at it. Here is my creation, I adore this little plane, I created it from their acrylic stamp. You can't go wrong for a $1.50. Love it! So I will pretend that I have patience, and wait another week, wish me luck.Product used. Core-dinations cardstock, Imaginisce pattern Papers and stamps, buttons from the button box and punch from ek success.

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The SUSPENCE