Circut Page Swap

This is for a double page layout swap that was hosted by MNewby on Splitcoast.

We had to use our Cricuts. I used the Pooh Font for the title.

I am really happy with this layout, I think it is simple and classy. I haven't included photo mats... a first for me, but I thought that the pages didn't need the mats. I'm in love with the Petaloo flowers (I added the bling in the centers), they matched perfectly with the paper, which I had bought ages ago, and I'm not sure what company it is from.

Disneyland!!!

Ever since the boys arrived Butch and I had been talking about one day taking them to Disneyland. I've been twice, but Butch and the boys hadn't been. We attempted to plan a trip and surprise them last Christmas, but when the dollar dropped we decided we just couldn't afford it. Well when we received a larger than expected tax return this year, I worked out the cost of the trip and THEN presented it to Butch... if we scrimped and saved until we left, we could afford to go. We managed to save, and left on our whirlwind trip on July 24th.

We flew from Comox... we had to be up at 3:00 in order to be at the airport for 4:30 (we live 45 minutes away). The boys were nervous as they had never flown. When we walked up the ramp to get on the plane, the pilot looked out and waved - and I said - "first time fliers" and pointed at the boys - so the pilot told them to come into the cockpit... so cool!!! The boys talked with the pilot and co-pilot for a good 10-15 minutes. I really think that put them at ease. Brayden was a little nervous during the flight, but all in all did very well. It was a pretty smooth flight.


We landed in Calgary, picked up our luggage and went through US Customs...we had about 30 minutes to wait before we boarded our flight to Los Angeles. The boys weren't nervous this time as they knew what to expect - I was sooo proud!! We had one bad bit of turbulance right before we landed at LAX - which scared us all!!!


Once we landed we quickly got our luggage, found a shuttle into Anaheim, checked in to the hotel, walked down to pick up the rental car, had lunch and then went to Target to pick up some snacks/drinks for the hotel room. We headed back to the hotel and had a swim. We had an early night in preparation for Disney in the morning.

Saturday we spent the day at Disneyland we were very excited to meet Pooh, Eyeore, Mickey, and Goofy on our first morning. We took a break for a few hours in the afternoon - we had lunch and a swim and went back in the evening to catch the Alladin show at California Adventure - an absolute must do if you go - the Genie is soooo hilarious! We then headed back to Disneyland to ride Splash Mountain - not smart at 8:00 when it is cool ... we were soaked while watching Nightastic and the fireworks. Awesome first day!! The boys were sooooo excited.



Sunday - We were able to sleep in a little, and then spent the afternoon watching an Anaheim Angels baseball game. I'm still in a bit of shock that our tickets only cost $7.00 each - but lunch cost us $85 for the four of us. OUCH!!! The Angel's lost - but it was nice to see Canadian Justin Morneau hit two homeruns... too bad we weren't a few rows up - we might have caught one of them!! The rest of the day we spent recovering from the heat - it was 100 degrees!!



Monday - Carsyn's birthday - we hit Disneyland right at 8:00... we got Carsyn's birthday button, our "Celebrating" buttons and our special birthday fast passes. We did a few rides and wandered around Toontown - met Minnie at her house and then headed to California Adventure to use our fast passes.


We went on the Grizzly River Rapid's and got SOAKED but really enjoyed it. Next up was Soarin' Over California.. a definite must! We decided that we needed to go back for a swim and to change clothes so headed back to the hotel for a few hours. When we went back we went to California Adventure and rode The Hollywood Tower of Terror - OMG!!! it was not fun - but I'm a wimp! Next was California Screamin' Brayden wimped out so Carsyn and Butch went first and then Carsyn and I rode it - total blast - by far my most favourite ride!!! We then headed back to Disneyland to try and ride a few more rides from our birthday fast passes. We had dinner reservations at 8.. tried to get the Monorail - but it had broken down - so we had to rush to get over to Goofy's Kitchen.


Now.. I have to admit - this was expensive - but by far the best money we spent. The buffet was AMAZING - the food was fresh and tasty. We were greeted by Minnie Mouse, and then had visits to our table from Chef Goofy - of course... Chef Pluto, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Chip and Dale. They were awesome and totally hammed it up with the boys - Dale took Carsyn's birthday ears and swung them on his nose and then tried to give them to the table next to us.. Goofy 'spit' polished my hubby's bald head.. and then had Sleeping Beauty "pierce" his ear... it was a blast and I totally recommend it to everyone.

Tuesday - This was our "Magic Morning"... we were able to enter the park at 7:00. We figured this was the best time to ride the Matterhorn - as there is no Fast Pass for this ride. So we headed there first - and rode it... not sure why it is so popular - but it didn't do anything for me - Brayden however LOVED it and has said that it was his favourite ride. We then headed back to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain... I had been to Disney twice prior to this and have never been on Space Mountain because my sister was too chicken. I LOVED it, and think it is probably my favourite ride in Disneyland. We then did the Star Tours ride.. well.. after three rather 'thrilling' rides, my stomach was ready for a break.

We headed to meet my Splitcoast scrapbook friend Michelle (SCS: Shelly Suit) and her family. This was so very cool that we were able to meet and had a nice visit and our picture taken. Her family was so nice and my boys are still talking about Brittany... she was so suit to them! After our visit did a few more rides and then took a break for lunch and a swim at the pool. We headed back to California Adventure and rode California Screamin' again... and Brayden went this time.. he loved it ...as we knew he would! We let the boys climb through the Brother Bear Forest (not sure if that is the right name at the moment).. and we had a nice rest. We managed to catch the Pixar parade, quite by accident - but it was fun to see all the characters - the people have an incredible amount of energy and it was well worth standing in the crowds to see it. We had dinner at CA and then found our spot to watch the Electric Light Parade .. it was as amazing as I remember. We headed back to the hotel after watching the fireworks. Our time at Disneyland was done... the boys were teary and very thankful that we had taken them there... it was an emotional time for us all.


We took Wednesday as a day to do a little shopping and to do our laundry so we had fresh clothes for the last leg of our journey.

I'll save the rest for another post.. hopefully tomorrow.

My Personal Challenges....

A few months ago... I was checking out some blogs... and came across this list of 100 things to do..... my sister edited the list.. so I borrowed a few ideas from her... and also changed a few things to suit my needs.

I am really struggling keeping up with this blog and hope that maybe this will encourage me to post on here on a more regular basis.

I am going to use this list for pages that I complete... not pages that I do for a swap (unless I use them for myself) or have received in a swap.

When/if I complete this list, I'm going to reward myself.. I'm not sure what the reward will be yet.. but I'll update this when I decide.

100 things to do!

1. Use photo corners

2. Dry Emboss an embellishment

3. Dangle something from the title

4. Mix letters for the title

5. Journal on a photo mat

6. Weave a fiber or ribbon behind title

7. Use your Cricut to make an embellishment for a layout

8. Make a monochromatic layout

9. Chalk edges of a torn photo mat

10. Decorate one side of photo mat with eyelets

11. Dangle tags from photo mat

12. Cut graphics from a patterned paper to use as embellishment.

13. Use a flower cluster

14. Do a vellum overlay over a photo

15. Do a layout without any embellishments

16. Use your favorite shirt as inspiration

17. Rubber stamp on the page

18. Hand write your journaling

19. Journal using a list

20. Journal two points of view for each picture or a he said/she said layout

21. Use pop dots

22. Use your cuttlebug/sizzix

23. Use fabric

24. Use ribbon in a unique way

25. Use buttons

26. Mix 3 or more patterned papers

27. Stamp your own background paper

28. Put your title down the side of the page

29. Use a one word title to stretch over a double layout page

30. Use journaling strips

31. Put title letters on individual tags

32. Use one word adjectives to describe the person in a picture

33. Write a letter to the person in the layout

34. Pick key words in your journaling to highlight with borders or larger font

35. Embellish your page with a paper doll

36. Dot the "i"s in your title with an embellishment

37. White as a background

38. Use something you got in a swap

39. Use the name of a TV Show for a title

40. Use the name of a song for a title

41. Use the word Love in the title

42. Use the title only to explain your pictures - no journaling

43. Use crumpled paper on a layout

44. Use metallic paper somewhere in the layout

45. Use vellum on a layout

46. Use at least 3 shades of the SAME color on a layout

47. Use embossed paper

48. Use diamond dust paper

49. Use mulberry paper

50. Scrap any celebration

51. Scrap a family tradition

52. Scrap an event that includes some sort of food

53. Scrap a sports event or a game

54. Do a layout that includes toys in some way

55. Do an Animal layout (zoo, pets, could be Halloween, ??)

56. Do a Heritage layout

57. Do a WATER layout (beach, pool, pond, bathtub, rainstorm

58. Use a quote on a layout

59. Do a mosaic layout

60. Do a Totally Me layout

61. Do a vacation layout

62. Use a poem on a layout (extra point if you write the poem!)

63. Do a Holiday layout

64. Do paper tearing on a layout

65. Do a HOUSE AND HOME layout

66. Do a SCHOOL layout

67. Do a BEFORE and AFTER layout (diet, pregnancy, dirty to clean)

68. Make a page with no photos

69. Make a layout without pictures - must have journaling

70. Put memorabilia on a page (like coins, baby bracelet, tassel from

71. Use a journaling genie or a coluzzle (shape), etc to make a journaling shape

72. Sew or cross-stitch on a layout

73. Use glitter or a glitter pen on a layout

74. Use 5+ pics

75. Use Circles on a layout

76. Make and use a paper piecing

77. Use stars on a layout

78. Use 10 or more eyelets

79. Do paper weaving

80. Do paper PIERCING on a page (with a needle or tool)

81. Use 20+brads on a layout

82. faux-stitch on a layout

83. Use a decorative punch

84. Use paint

85. Use black and white pictures on a layout

86. Use a 5x7 or larger picture on a layout

87. Crop a picture into a shape

88. Use a keepsake pocket

89. Use fibers

90. Use charms

91. Scrap on an angle

92. Create a double page layout

93. Mat a photo multiple times

94. Use staples

95. Use chipboard

96. Focus on one photo

97. Create a time line

98. Scrapbook from a sketch

99. Scrapbook about friendship

100. Scraplift something

Crafty Critters Challenge #6

Here is my layout for the Crafty Critters challenge.

I chose a photo from my wedding day. I loved writing this short message to the boys.. the journaling reads...

May 17, 2003.... Your dad and I were married on this day. We had a fabulous day, with our family and friends. This day and the day we met you and your brother tie for being the best day(s) of my life. I love this picture because I can see how happy we were, and still are.

My Poor Neglected Blog

My poor little blog must feel so neglected. I can't figure out a way to make myself post here more often. I really want to, but it just doesn't seem to happen. I think part of the problem is that I can't upload my pictures directly to this computer - for whatever reason neither the card reader nor the usb cord works. So I have to upload to the laptop, put them on a zip drive and then transfer them... ugghh! I promised myself that while the hubby takes the boys to see the Transformers today, I have absconded with his laptop (which is really mine, but he has taken it over) and get the photos downloaded. I haven't been crafting too much - but I do have some things to share. I've done about a 1000 LOTWs and still have several hundred more to complete. I also realized that I had neglected to take photos of a bunch of the LOTWs, so I have to try and remember to take pictures when they come back.

These LOTWs are for Tracey's LOTW Zoo swap.



I also had to make a couple of cards for the husband, his birthday was the day before Father's Day. I had fun spending the evening with the boys making cards. I'm so impressed with the boys cards.. I helped with a few colour choices - they both have colour deficiencies, so they don't always see good colour matches. Here is what we all made.

Birthday and Father's Day Cards made by me:



Birthday and Father's Day Cards made by Brayden:



Birthday and Father's Day Cards made by Carsyn:



On Wednesday night I went to our LSS for the late night 'Crop and Shop'. I was able to get a bunch of Christmas cards done for Kel's "Christmas Headstart" swap. I was behind for June and managed to get July's done as well - hooray - I'm ahead and I can save on shipping and send them both in the same envelope - I'm always looking for ways to give the Post Office less money! I think that's it for now... the kids are out of school for summer and more importantly, we only have 27 more days until we leave for Disneyland!! I am going to do my best to update more often... but we all know how life often gets in the way of our creative time!

Not much scrapbooking lately

Still 4 weeks left until the kids are on summer vacation... which means I'm on vacation as well. While I enjoy the money, I'm definitely ready for a break... work has seriously gotten in the way of my scrapbooking!! I dont' have much to share... I've been working on the 1000 or so LOTWs that I signed up for... what was I thinking!!! But silly enough I haven't taken any pictures.. that will have to be for the next post.

Scarecrows For Hire!!
I have two layouts to share... the first one is a two page layout that I completed at a retreat I went to a couple weekends ago. This layout took me about 8 hours to complete. Hopefully the one I create for Brayden won't take as long as all I have to do is cut and assemble. I like to do similar pages for both boys' books - when I can. This is for Carsyn's book as I have placed the circle around both of his pictures. These photos were taken last fall when my sister Megan and I took the kids to the pumpkin farm. What started out to be a crappy day (I really didn't want to go)... turned out to be one of the best days of my life... I had a complete blast and so did the kids.



By the Sea Layout

The other layout I have to share is actually only half of a two page layout that I did at a class. One of our LSS, The Scrapbook Room, holds a double page layout class once a month. Megan and I try to go to every one as we learn some fabulous things. This page was a TON of work... each know is individually tied and each picture is individually laced. There is another border for the second page. The background has been painted with a brayer that had elastic bands wrapped around it. This page was designed by Gay Ruff of the Scrapbook Room, Campbell River. I can't wait to find the right photos to put on this layout.

Crafty Critters Challenge - Craft Space Pictures

Well...... you asked for it...... (thanks... I think?!?)

I have taken over our family's dining area... we have moved the outdoor patio table into the kitchen so that we can eat our meals together.

It is truly a mess.. I have been slowly working on it to try and get it cleaned up and more user friendly, but it seems as fast as a I clean it up.. I mess it up again.

These are definitely my "before" pictures.... I hope to get it nice and clean one day soon... and I'll post my after pictures then!

Eeek.......... I still can't believe I am posting these!!!