My Day Off

Today is my day off and I am going to spend part of it in preparation for our Thanksgiving Day celebration. We are expecting my dh’s family to join us for a turkey dinner on Sunday so I will be planning the menu, tidying up the house and putting out some Thanksgiving/Fall decorations. I hope to do some grocery shopping as well to avoid the rush on the weekend.

Even though I am truly a summer person, I do love fall. The colors, the early morning frost, sweaters, pumpkin pie, fires in the fireplace, homemade soup… All of these things bring a cozy feeling of joy unlike any other season. I appreciate the sunshine and the warm days more than ever, since I know that winter will be here long before I am ready for it.

I am including some pictures of our front porch in the fall. I always hope it is a welcoming entry to our home for our family and friends. “May our home be warm and our friends be many.”


Have a blessed day!

Sneak Peek!

I think that after owning our retail store for 3 years, we have just experienced another major growth spurt in the last couple of months! Things are busy, busy, busy and even though we are loving the challenge of keeping up, every once in a while you just need to get away, to have a change of scenery and get a new perspective on things. So, this past weekend, my best scrapbook friend and I did just that. We left our work and our families behind and we took an overnight trip. We actually went to visit my sister, Mary, but we managed to sneak in some scrapbook time at a store along the way. We cropped from 4pm to midnight on Friday and did we ever have a great time. We were very inspired and we completed four double-page layouts, two great projects and a set of Christmas cards! Yes, you will probably see all of them at our store in the near future and just to whet your appetite, I am including a couple of detail images for you to view!

Happy Birthday Emily

Today is my niece's birthday! She is such a sweet and sensitive soul who I love with all my heart. May you be abundantly blessed, Emily, on your special day!

Pretty Sweet!

I have been busy setting up my scrapbooking space in a corner of our basement (my dh says I need to clear my supplies out the dining room, office, kitchen and car!) and anyone who knows me knows that scrapbooking would not be complete without my M&M’s!! I found this beautiful china tea cup that I inherited from my maternal grandmother and thought it would make the perfect container for my candy.

Do you know how certain people make a huge impact on you and help shape who you are? Well, my grandmother was one of those people. Coming from a family with 6 children, I loved when my mom would drop me off for a couple of days to visit with my Grandma. It was so great to have some one-on-one time with her. I would follow her around like a shadow as she did her daily routine – washing her clothes in the wringer washer, working in her flower garden, sitting on the screened in porch with a cup of tea. I loved the serenity of her home and all the special attention I received from her. She was a very artistic woman who painted china dolls and tea cups, doodled while she talked on the phone (maybe that’s where I got that from) and scrapbooked! My mother recently gave me my grandmother’s scrapbooks and I consider them a prized possession. The pages are falling apart (that was before acid/lignin free) and they are mostly greeting cards she received or newspaper clippings, but what a beautiful treasure.

So now when I reach for an M&M, fond memories will surround me. Tea cups and chocolate… pretty sweet, don’t you think?

A Finished Layout

A few days ago I actually finished a layout for my own album! We took a trip to Quebec City and Ottawa this summer and I was so impressed by the beautiful doorways on the homes there that I took a number of photos and I knew they would make a great scrapbook page.

The photos on this page are all of homes in Ottawa near Rideau Hall. They were so beautiful! My journaling says: I have always loved doorways and front porches. They can be so inviting and I am always intrigued as to what lies beyond them.

This layout is a scraplift of a page we saw at the Scenic Route booth at CHA this summer. The papers are from their new Sonoma line, which I love. I hand drew the bird and then cut it out of paper. The letter stickers are from Pink Paislee. I used Crystal Laquer in the middle of the flowers. If you love this paper as much as I do, I know a great LSS that sells it...

Tips & Techniques!

We had a great class last night and everyone was quite impressed with a simple technique I taught them. The look of paper ripped out of a notebook can be a fun addition to your scrapbook pages. There is an easy way to achieve this look using regular scrapbook paper.

Choose your paper and punch small holes along one side of the paper. Make them about ¼-inch in from the edge of the paper. I used the large hole punch on my Crop-a-Dile.

Rip across the holes (being careful not to make it too perfect) and you have your 'notebook' paper!

You can take the look to another level by distressing your paper. Wrinkle your paper slightly and flatten with your hand. Take a brown ink pad and add ink lightly across the surface. The ink will only touch the raised areas. You can also add ink to the edges for a completed look. Add a title, a photo or some journaling and you have a great element to add to your page!

Mackinac Island

I finally had some pictures developed from our trip to Mackinac Island, Michigan this summer. It is one of the most beautiful places I have traveled to in a long time and I wanted to frame some of the photos I took. Here is a small sample of some of the beautiful 'cottages' on the island.

Welcome to my blog!

So, I have actually done it! I have joined the blogging world! I am not sure what I will be blogging about, but it will definitely include scrapbooking (my passion), family (my love), friends (my saving grace) and everyday life. I hope it will be a fun way to keep in touch with friends near and far and possibly allow me to make some new ones along the way.

A special thank you to my friend Karan for designing such a great blog for me. She is a very talented lady and a true enabler!

Thanks for stopping by.