be encouraged....and Thank-you KI !!!

Look at me lost in my beautiful wonderful pile of happiness!!! thank-you to KI memories for giving me enough product and awesome beautiful albums to open a small store!!!! WOW! I am amazed and feel totally blessed to have these things come my way! some products I only dreamed of but just didn't have the $$ to spend on it all ( scrap budget, y'know). I am totally digging into this yummy stuff and using it on some of my projects on-the-go NOW! This is like the set for life lottery for scrapbookers!!!

Everyone out there who scraps whether you think you are "good enough" or not ( I did not think I could possibly have a shot at this contest and almost didn't enter at all ) I would highly recommend entering the SOY contest next year!!! For the personal journey of doing the portfolio and writing the essay; for me a journey within myself to dig up the best of what I have to offer, and for the chance to be treated like a princess by CK, and then THIS! Seriously...Enter!!! There is nothing at all to lose and everything to gain, just by completing the entry. Everyone of you out there is good enough. I am not someone who has been published a lot in CK, in fact I had submitted to calls for almost a year without getting a page call until after being chosen as a finalist. I had done one assignment ( seen in Nov. CK - Ali's lucky girl article) and received an honorable mention in this years hall of fame contest, and that's it. Just me, here, with passion and dreams. and look at this!!!

you will hear me say this a lot over the next year because it is my personal motto but I just want you all to be encouraged to Dream, believe , create...in whatever part of your life it applies. For me it applies to my art; dream a dream, believe you can, and create totally unique art from the heart. That is where it's at.

blessings and smiles

Thank-you Legacy!!!

what do you see in this picture? the dump of snow we have gotten in the last 24 hours? yes. it is suddenly a winter wonderland here. and I am happily awaiting my evening out trick-or-treating in the snow with a little giraffe, cinderella and a bumble bee. what else? a whole entire palette, as tall as me!!!! boxes and boxes filed with pretty pretty organizing goodies from Legacy! WOWZERS!!! thank-you so much Legacy crafters! I can't wait to dig into these boxes and start finding places for all of my fun goodies. I love organizing solutions, with passion. I bought this new BHG organizing magazine the other day and laughed at myself for being so giddy about it! At a glance of my house you'd never know how much I love good organization but girl can dream right?! and by the looks of the stack on my driveway my dreams just came true!!!

still Growing

click image to view larger

This is an older layout of mine that I had done for a challenge to make a page about how you see yourself. supply list can be seen here. I loved the way it made me dig deeper than I normally would in my scrapping about me...well if I even scrap about me lol! I think the journaling is just really real...something I will want to look back on years from now, so I figured I would share this.

journaling says:

My body is grown but I am still growing. God is doing a work in me that continues each day and grows with all the new experiences and moments that come my way. When I look at myself I see that there are so many sides to me; I am all of the things that I dreamed of being in my bestest dreams as a little girl. Being a wife & a Mama & an artist were my greatest ambitions as a child.

What a great honor God has given me to entrust me with this perfect little family. I sometimes feel like he has more faith in me than I do though! I'm not always sure that I have what it takes to properly handle every little big situation that I need to deal with well, in this oh so very important position I have. I've got one shot at these years with my young family, and I want so much to do it well.

I am someone who embraces life and every day with the thought that all I know for sure is that I have this moment here and now. I try so hard to give some of me to those I care for in different ways, to be a blessing to those who cross my path. I tell my immediate family how much I Love them often, but I am not always the best at saying how I feel to all the other important people in my life. So I love to give, and I often share my love for people through my art and my gifts. I pour my heart into the projects I do for the people I care about.

Then beyond happy dreams come true, there is so much more to me: I am silly and fun and I don't care much about what others think. I am so very sensitive and hurt way too easily. And what I like to call laid-back, often results in piles of dirty dishes and laundry to wade through.

As I am blessed with so many wonderful opportunities I am growing and learning to balance the different parts of my life better. And while I am learning to effectively balance, I am growing as a better wife and a better mom for my family.I take the challenges in my Art and work through them letting each challenge push me farther and make me better at what I do. I smile when I take a step back and see the growth in myself. Then I look inside at all the growing I still have to do and I know God is not finished with me, I know I am still growing.

so there you have it! and of course there is a bit more to this post :) I want to extend the same challenge to you. Dig deeper than you may normally, and create a layout that reflects you, how you see yourself, let "you" shine in every detail ( journaling, accent choices, colors etc). Iguaranteee no matter how you see yourself it will feel great to scrap it!Pleasee show me once you have done it, I would love to get to know some of you more :) come and leave me a link in the comments.

Be real , Be free, Enjoy this one!!!

a family weekend

It has been a nice family weekend, and good to take some breaks from the work I have been doing ( I'll explain that later) Tiara started a new gymnastics program on Friday and Emilea did on Saturday. Then Little Kaiella did a dance show for all of the grandparents at her mom-and-me dance class. It was really cute! We took her out with the grandmas to Tim Hortons for donuts afterwards. She wanted more and more! 5 Timbits didn't cut it, I am sure she would have eaten the whole box if we let her!

Totally fun to eat out last night with the two littlest ones, even though it was just McDonalds, and Emy had a total blast going to hang out with some good friends. Today we have kept things quieter, and right now Cam and the girls are off picking out pumpkins for us to carve! I love this tradition!!! I love getting all messy with pumpkin guts and roasting the seeds and deciding what this years pumpkin face will look like. I will never grow out of it!!! It is COLD here today and snowing! brrrrrr! not quite ready for that yet, but thoughts of a few days out in Salt Lake coming up soon keeps me happy, knowing it can not possibly be this cold there! These little people in my house just make me laugh so much, I am always amazed at how different each of the girls is ( just like us big people I guess) and their little quirks make me smile.

The gang is all back as I am writing this and I can hear buzz upstairs of baking sugar cookies with Daddy, rented movies, and the pumpkins that they picked. Off I go to join in the fun! hope you are all getting in some good fun family time this weekend

be happy

Kids are so great they find happiness in the most simple things around them...total simple wonderful JOY! remember today to see the simple everyday things in your life that bring you so much happiness if you stop long enough to notice them! 

Memory Trends- my version

Memory Trends 2006

here is another little web album, if you are interested, click on the image above and it should take you to the photos. from there you can click on the first photo to see them bigger or just chose a slideshow.

OK So, first of all, I apologize for being the slowest person ever to blog about Memory Trends, I haven't said much about the show itself and I wanted to share a wee bit. There just has been so much else to talk about!

The show was a blast, it was busy but the good kind of busy that means you are having fun! It was so cool to meet so many really great people, I can't wait for the next show now so that I can see some familiar faces :) Thank goodness I had Leslie keeping me on time, because I would have happily chatted all day long and lost track of time all together! On the first day she really got me everywhere I was scheduled to be, brought me water and was just a real doll to be around. The sponsors were all very good to me, I started the day at CKs booth and found it super funny to see my big face on the SOY sign! Nice to meet some of the more behind the scenes CK staff too they were all super friendly, I can't wait for my trip out there to the offices to see them all again! We headed over to Legacy crafters next and I have to say I adore this bunch they are fun and just way cool to hang out with, I felt right at home with them, except when Max started waving my big face sign in the air and announcing that I was there, I think my face turned a new shade of pink, but I still got a kick out of it. That is just what I loved about them, their willingness to have a good time. Leslie picked me up for my Diva craft lounge interview and then we were off to KI memories. I really enjoyed myself there too, Ira and the other KI folks were totally welcoming to me and the people who stopped by were totally ready to make something, I had fun meeting folks and seeing the cool ways that everyone's mind works so differently even with pretty much the same product. I love that! Then off to HP where I got to see an idea of just how HUGE the printer is that they are giving me! ENORMOUS! They had made up nice photo mats and people were getting a picture taken with me, printed right there, and being given a cool package to take with them. So that was fun. Next we left the show all together and got to relax a tad while Leslie drove us over to 'Pebbles in my pocket' to meet some nice ladies there. A super cute store, really set up nicely and I even picked up some yummy lolipops there for all of the SOY girls and a cool 7gypsies stamp for ME! Can't beat a store that has scrap supplies AND candy!!! Dinner with everyone was really nice, it was great to have some time to get to know some of the other girls a bit better too. That is one thing I really missed, I felt like there just wasn't enough time together with all of the amazing ladies to really connect the way I would have wanted too. We did stay after supper to get some extra visiting in and I can tell you I slept reeeeally good that night!

Day two Cam took over Leslie's job of getting me where I was supposed to be on time and I have to say he is WAY more strict than her! Honestly though, I have been really thankful for his organized brain guiding me through what I need to do next, not just that day but still now everyday. There is so much for me to think of and he does such a wonderful job of lovingly encouraging me to stay focused, or guiding me to what needs to happen next. Thanks babe!

We started the morning at Ellison where they showed me just how to use ALL of the new stuff I will be receiving from them, WOW, LOTS! I just can't believe the generosity of these 4 companies. I do have a confession to make, I had never used a die cut before this...Not a clue, scared of them even! But after our time there with the kind ( and patient) people from Ellison, I am totally excited to make some really cool stuff when my new machines and toys show up! A few repeat appearances on this day, which was fun because I was feeling even more comfortable with the whole thing. I was happy too for the chance to walk the show a wee bit and meet some of the super online friends I have gotten to know. That is my favorite thing. Meeting people, connecting. It is just wonderful! There was so much to take in and I loved it all, but it really is the people who make events like this so very cool. To all those I met, thank-you for making this experience great!

inquring minds

Haha, Erin says they want to know! so she did a little interview with me and posted it HERE. Some of the questions I answered are things that I would have written here, so if you are curious at all about some of the details of, how I felt when they called my name, or how I'll spend the prize $$, etc... check it out!

Happy Monday!

MRI update

Thank-you so so much for all of the kind thoughts and prayers sent our way. Cam and I were able to feel really peaceful about the whole thing and I am sure that helped her. Kaiella did as well as she could worried but brave, we had talked about and practiced the check-up part with her little fisher-price doctor kit and she even brought her own little plactic needle along with her! We promised her that after she woke up from her "sleep" we would go for ice cream, it was funny because she wanted to bolt after everything they did, like after checking her b.p. she would say tot he nurse "thank-you, OK done, bye, going for ice cream" she called her little gown a dress and felt so pretty, and the board on her arm for the I.V. they said was a "little bed" for her arm so she thought that was alright too. she was hard to put under, and before she was even fully out of the machine she was already awake asking for mama and her ice cream lol! we took her out for lunch ( she hadn't been allowed to eat since the night before and it was after 2pm) and she happily gobbled it up and then over to one of our favorite ice cream stores. She was so so happy. We will get results in 2-3 weeks. thank-you again to everyone for the caring and prayer.

The chalking fun!

here's a little visual of my chalk Joy from the other day. you can see our totally chalked black coffee table ( what better to use as a blackboard right?!) and it may be hard to tell from here but Kaiella's back had already been given a pink Ball gown, You can see Emilea in this picture working hard on a glass slipper and Tiara was at the side doing a nice long glove LOL! I am happy to report the table is only slightly chalkie looking now and the fun they had was well worth it!!! looking at it just makes me smile so BIG! I love this! THIS is what being a kid is all about! adventure , fun , imagination and TOTAL freedom to play and create ANYTHING! I learn so much from these three little people every single day :) 

MRI day for Kaiella

First of all I have to say that I totally Love this picture of little Bella, it just really captures "her" filled with total joy! dimple and all :)

Today is the day that our baby Kaiella goes for an MRI. She has suffered from dizzy spells since she was just under a year old. She will be running and playing or sometimes just sitting nicely and she suddenly gets really worried and upset, falls down or puts her head down and tells us "spinning!!!" It is not her inner ears so the Doctor is being very thorough and doing the BIG tests. I have to say the EEG was NOT fun, they made us leave and she was horrified to be held down while these things got put all over her head, she didn't calm down until they let me come back in and be with her. Good news is that I am pretty sure that test was all normal and good or we would have been contacted by now. I am glad to know that we get to stay with her for this one , and she will be put under so she really won't see the big MRI machine. I have been preparing her as best I can, telling about the I.V. in her hand, and that she will have a little sleep while they take pictures of her head. It may be hard on Cam and I, I am glad that we will have each other, I just really hope she can feel peaceful about it all, and that the doctors and technicians handle it all with sensitivity for her.

I was hoping to ask those of you praying folks out there to say a little prayer for us today. We sure would appreciate that.

Make and Takes and my chalk joy

It was so much fun meeting people and sharing my make and takes with them. Leslie Miller and her little 5 year old Alexander did an amazing job putting together hundreds of make and take kits for me ( thank-you sooo much!) It is a little motivational card that showed off products from all 4 of our sponsors ( HP, Ellison, Legacy crafters, and KI memories) and explores the world of mixing digi and paper scrapping! People seemed to have fun with them and I just had a blast meeting and chatting it up :)

here are a few more sample cards:

I really hope some people will go home and explore new ways of creating, using all of the possibilities of digital, while adding the dimention and texture of traditional scrapbooking. And if nothing else, the quote on the card is one we all need a reminder of sometimes;

" there is great joy to be found here in this moment"

It happens to everyone, we get so busy and caught up in our day that we can just forget to stop and find the joy in the little things. for me right this moment I have these three sisters all playing happily together, Kaiella is sitting in the middle of the coffee table and her, Emilea and Tiara have sidewalk chalked all over it while I was blogging, the big girls are now drawing a ball gown, gloves and shoes on little Bella while she happily enjoys their attention and thanks them every few seconds. lol! I could be totally mad for the chalk all over, but I have got to say THAT is Joy if I have ever seen it!!! I love it! off to get some photos of the body art and my new home decor!

remember today to stop and look around at the great Joy in your life.

Have a Diva Day!!!

On my first day at Memory Trends I had a live radio interview with Diva Danielle and Rayme Royale on the Diva Craft Lounge. They crowned me and everything!!! you can find the links to listen to the show here. My interview is at the end of the first link and the beggining of the second one! Fun stuff!

Day one in Vegas

I don't have more than a few photos of our first amazing day in Vegas including the beautiful reception that CK put on for us ( I am really hoping some of the other SOY girls will share with me! pretty please) but I figure the time has come for me to share some of our Vegas experience on here! It was totally mind blowing to drive up to this huge resort in this BIG flashy city, just the lobby of the Venetian took my breath away!

Check out the ceiling in the entrance hall! Beautiful!

click to view larger

Since it was about 9 1/2 hours of traveling for us, we arrived and pretty much had only enough time to drop our bags off and quickly take in the sight of our amazing room before running off to meet Leslie Miller, Candace, and all of the girls. I have to say everyone was even WAY cuter in person!!! I loved them all right away. We got bags FILLED with amazing goodies from CK ( including Becky's new family heritage book coming soon and the new creative companion, as well as CKU shirts and "stuff", I have been totally living in the super comfy sweatshirt I got!) Once we had a chance to meet eachother we went off to the balcony at the front of the hotel for a photo shoot with Candace Stringham ( she is totally cute and super nice, not to mention WAY talented! I really enjoyed meeting her) We had such a blast it felt like I had known these girls forever, I was pretty bummed that I had left my camera up in our room, but there were plenty of cameras snapping so there is bound to be some good pics out there for me to snag.

I am trying out Picasa web albums for sharing the bunches of photos I have from the trip, so you should be able to click on the image below to take you to my album and then you can see the photos larger by clicking on one of them in there

SOY reception

The reception was beautifully done! I am so thankful for all of the hard work that went in to making it a really special night for all of us! Cute nametags, Wonderful flower arrangements for centre pieces, and we each had our own table featuring our photo, one of the layouts from our entry and a write-up about us. We each had editors, magazine staff and sponsors at our tables, so we all got a little love :) The food was great and the company even greater! And then Lisa .B called my name as the winner! and I was more stunned and speechless than I have ever been in my life, it was like a dream. You can read more about how I felt in my interview with Erin Lincoln on the CK site Friday ( I think) I will post a link to it when it is up.

What a wonderful whirlwind first day! It is one I won't soon forget, for so many reasons :)

scrap yourself

click image to view larger

I challenge you!
This weeks OTB challenge at Scrapartist was mine and I asked before we left if I could post it when we got home. So my challenge for this week is to scrap yourself. I know, I know, it's not innovative, or exciting, or some Fab new idea...but it is important and all too often left out of our scrapbooks. So please be like Nike and "just do it!" you won't regret it :)

make a layout about what makes you you, your thoughts on something, or a relationship ( with a pet, kid, thing....anything goes!) or a single moment, as long as it is you in there!!! when you have done your "you" layout come and join in posting over at scrapartist in the challenge gallery or leave me a link here in the comments so I can check it out!!!

This is a paper-digi mixed layout of mine, Cam and I sharing a milkshake in Chicago this past summer. The photo was taken by our good pal Amy Martin (alb52). you can see my supply list here.

take two: if just scrapping yourself is not enough of a challenge for you try one of these!
- use stamps to cut out your title
-use your own handwriting ( whether you like it or not)
-alter your photo to create the mood ( tinted here for a retro malt shop feel)

Happy scrapping, my friends!!!

ETA: by all means , please do this in whatever fashion feels good to you, paper, digi, mixed-up, or even as a project. Just have fun exploring "you"

Congratulations ( hi from Cam)

I thought this would be a good time for me to step in and take a shot at this blog thing while giving me a chance to congratulate my wonderful wife. For those of you who don't know me, I'm CD's lucky husband Cam. Over the past year or so I have had the chance to see my wife's passion pour out into this cool new world (For me at least) called Scrapbooking. What a world it is!!! I really can't say enough about how cool Las Vegas was and how great Creating Keepsakes treated everyone (Allowing the hubbies to more than just "tag along" was awesome!) Thanks CK for a wonderful experience.

It truly was a pleasure to meet all the finalists, friends on the show floor, and a bunch of the CK staff. All of you were very friendly and I really enjoyed spending time with all of you : ) Vegas was jaw dropping, but I can't wait to chat with everyone again. I wish you all the best in the future!!!

Alright.... CONGRATULATIONS CD!!! I love you!!! I am so proud to be your husband and your friend. Know that your family, and friends, and ME most of all, are here for you now and forever in the future.

Can you believe it??!!!!!

I am not even sure if I do yet!!!! but here in my hotel room is this sign with my big face on it, and this HUGE cheque for $10,000! So it has got to be real!!!

Okay, rewind...I better explain what I am talking about :) Here I am in Vegas for Memory Trends on this AMAZING trip that Creating Keepsakes sent all 10 of us SOY finalists on, seriously, they have treated us like royalty right down to the details!!! ( Which I am so going to write about when I get home!!) Tuesday night we attended a wonderful wonderful reception with the editors and magazine staff, and the sponsors of the contest, where they honored us all. and then.....announced ME as the new CK scrapbooker of the year!!!!!!! WOW!!!!! I just can't believe it!!!

I am so so honored and thankful and excited more than I can begin to explain. This just means so much for me and my family, and I haven't even wrapped my head around everything that is going to be happening yet. I was oh so Blessed in my life already, so this is really just icing on the cake! A couple of months ago, with lots going on for a few of my family members, I had come to a place of realizing what I already knew; that I don't know what this next year will hold for us all, or the next day for that matter, but God does, he knows what is in store for my family and where I need to be. And I was just feeling that I was not carrying on with this contest hoping to win Scrapbooker of the year, but instead, I had prayed so many times that I would just be where God wants me to be and be doing what it is I am supposed to be doing. So here I am! and I carry on from here with that outlook.....it's gonna be great!!! So many really cool people came to play with me and do make and takes on wed, and thurs. I just love meeting new people and getting the chance to chat! it was totally fun!!! And I have a bunch of photos Cam took that I will share when I am back home

Cam and I are trying to fit in as much seeing Vegas as we can in our two "vacation" days, it sure is nice just to be away together. We walked the strip yesterday and saw Cirque du Soliel at night. He wants to find the Apple store today, and see if our tired little legs will carry us all the way over to see the Luxor and a few of the Hotels over in that direction and if we are lucky maybe another show tonight before we pack up. When I get home I can share some of my pictures, and everything else I have forgotten to write right now. I can't seem to get access to my email from here, so I'll get into that when I am home too!

Can you guys do me a favor please? I have been told by some of the people at the show that there are nice congrats threads and stuff out there in scrappy net land and I don't want to miss any of them in my overwhelmedness. If you know of any and have a minute please leave me a link in the comments so I can go and read em and say thanks :)

I'll be back in two days! thanks so much to CK and all of my new friends for making this week a totally amazing one!!!

ETA: here I am asking for links so I don't miss out on the kind congrats threads out there and I totally missed all of the wonderful congrats right here in the comments on my last blog post!!! :O whooops! thank-you all so so much for all of the kind words, I am all teary reading what has been written to me. It really makes this all the more special :)