Q & A Time

For as long as I can remember, I've had a cat and an unfinished basement; the perfect scenario for Dusty Cat Syndrome. Think the basement's pretty clean? Think again!
Our current kitty, Spooky demonstrates this perfectly in these pics. Photographing all black pets is tricky. Dusty, all black cats are especially tricky as using a flash not only causes glare from the fur, it will also magically erase all of the details. Not a bad idea if you don't want anyone to know how dusty your basement is, but for me, that was the whole point of the pics! So anyways, the center pic is in focus, the outside pics are both a bit blurry, as cats do not make the most cooperative models when a slower shutter speed is called for. Oh, who am I kidding, cats are just plain uncooperative! Still, I liked the effect and the pictures were printed and used anyways.
Oh, and the q: and a: are Thickers.....puffy sticker Thickers! Another little bit of nostalgia, as I remember collecting stickers as a kid.... and puffy stickers could only be topped by scratch and sniffs!
Thanks for looking; hope you enjoy!

An Oldie, But a Goodie!

I did this layout months ago, shortly after the pictures were taken at Cole's first ball game. It's simple, but a favourite of mine with hand cut waves, some stickers and lots of fun rubons.
Right from that first game, we were all so impressed with Cole's focus and ability to absorb everything he was told about how to play the game. He played hard and with heart; you can't ask for more than that!

Long Time, No Blog!

Hey! It's been months since my last post, but now summer vacation is over, school's back in session and I'm almost caught up on all of it...scrappy-wise anyways!
This year, I've been using a Pebbles, Inc album which can use both 12x12 pages and 4x6 sleeves. I love this, as it allows me to add pics into my album that I don't want to scrap so all the year's pics are still in one place. Generally, it isn't any faster, as I've just got to add some journaling and still sometimes crop and mat the pics before sliding them in.
Another advantage of these 4x6 sleeves; I was able to display both sides of our tickets to the Titanic exhibit. Although I wasn't able to fit a pic of the back of this page, they printed a mini bio of passengers from the ill-fated ship, allowing us to pretend we were that passenger while travelling through the exhibit. At the end of the exhibit was a wall that listed all of the passengers. They were listed by class and whether they survived or perished. All of our passengers survived.

I made journaling cards to go along with these tickets that I decorated with inchies I received in a swap from the MMMB forum. Contributing artists are Sondra, Elaine, GrandmaCosmo and Faeiryrocks.

Their work really helped give a Victorian feel to the journaling cards. Inspired by their inchies, and needing some more to help embellish the remaining empty spaces, I made a couple more. Mine are the ones in purple.

It felt so good to get some more use out of my swap items. Thanks ladies for your lovely artwork and the inspiration to finish these cards in style!

Playing Circle Journal Catch Up

Above is my contribution to Lisa's CJ: What I Miss While I'm Away. I guess I could really wrap it all up into one category, I miss the comforts of home. My family and pets, my bed, my get inky and creative studio and all my favourite spots on the world wide web.

I had a lot of fun inking, stamping, embossing and glimmer misting for this one...turning plain lilac cardstock into fun, textured patterned paper.

Below is my layout for Emma's CJ: My 3 Favourite Actors/Actresses. This was another fun one to create. I started out by running the edges of my paper in silver paint. While using my heat gun to speed up the drying process, I overheated a glob of paint and the bubbling reminded me of old movie film being burned (something I've seen in a movie or two), so I continued the effect. It's a very simple layout, with lots of paint, embossing and black and white photos of my choice of stars to compliment the monochromatic theme.

It took me some time to make my choices, and went with the three ladies that stayed constant in my mind.

Meryl Streep has forever been a favourite of mine, from lazy afternoons watching Out of Africa, Heartburn and Death Becomes Her with my mom.

Sandra Bullock, well, I like physical comedy and she does it soooooo well. Who can forget that sexy strut-turned-clumsy-topple from Miss Congeniality or that nude collision with Ryan Reynolds from the Proposal?

And finally, Charlize Theron. I liked her long before, but after seeing her performance in Monster, I was sold. This girl has substance to back up her beauty...and isn't afraid to forgo the beauty part, either!

So now, all that's left is Jean's 3 favourite verses. I've got them picked out, just need to get back into the studio and create. And then I'm done and ready to ship off to Lisa. What fun this has been!

Jessica's CJ

Alrighty, 3 Reasons I Love Summer.....hmmmm......actually, I think fall would be my favourite season; it's still warm, the kids are back in school, the world turns into a tapestry of colour, I get to celebrate our anniversary, Thanksgiving, my birthday and Halloween. But summer?

Well, it would seem there's some great advantages to summer. The kids are on holidays, which means that while they're here all the time, we get to sleep in. Scott gets the majority of his holidays in the summer and we take full advantage of the time we have off together. We've seen some pretty amazing scenery touring the province we live in, making wonderful memories with family and friends. Then there's the outdoor fun, particularly croquet, a family favourite. We play by our own, slightly altered rules so that everyone can have fun...and a fighting chance! And what summer would be complete without a trip to the beach? We're fortunate to be surrounded by the Great Lakes, especially Lake Huron, with it's sandy beaches, warm water and beautiful sunsets.

Yes, summer is a pretty sweet, laid back season. And I'm lucky enough to enjoy every little bit of it!

Jenn's CJ

Jenn's cj topic is 5 Reason's I Love Being a Woman. To be honest, I've never really thought too much about it. So this one took a little brainstorming and my conclusion.....being a woman really does rock! Yeah, ok, men on average make more money and are physically stronger, plus they can pee standing up. Big deal. I'm entitled to as much attitude as I need in any given situation and that is far more powerful!

Hope you enjoy my list and the layout. The woman stamp was actually a fairy, so the trickiest part was trying to just stamp the woman without the wings. But look at the attitude in her stance; she simply had to be part of my layout!

10 Things That Make Me Happy.

Kathi sent this to me, and it seems the perfect way for me to get back into blogging after being a real slacker. So here's my list:

1. My family....when they aren't driving me nuts....even sometimes when they are driving me nuts since only the most important people to you can truly push you to the extremes. Of course, I'm not always that philosophical at the time....
2. All my fur-babies. I'm a sucker for a sweet poochie...and even the odd cat.
3. Scrapbooking and other creative endeavours. Things just aren't right in my world if there's no creative outlet.
4. Computer games. Where would I be without my wii, my facebook and webkinz games? Likely more productive, but not nearly as happy.
5. Vacations away. It doesn't have to be far....just far enough to get away from the daily grind of routine and expectations.
6. Music. Growing up, there was always music playing. Sometimes I feel my life could be summed up in a soundtrack.
7. Visits with my mom. It's mom.....'nuff said!
8. Cooking....but not baking.
9. Reading. I've always loved getting wrapped up in a good book.
10. Gardening. I'm a bit of a fickle gardener....I'm a wussy in the heat and I have been known to pitch a hissy fit when things don't work out the way I want and give up....but oh, the satisfaction of a quiet day digging in the dirt, making things look pretty!

Okay, so there it is. Now I'm supposed to pass this on to 3 other bloggers so here it goes.....in no particular order......

Elaine

Lisa

Paula

I'll have to check around and make sure these ladies haven't been given this award by someone else previously, but for now, this is my list.