And the WINNER is...

Wow!  I am so overwhelmed by all the wonderful comments from everyone who visited during the Seasons Givings blog hop last week!  Thank you so much for taking some time to stop by my blog!

The winner of my prize package is...

1. mow180  January 1, 2014 at 8:29 AM

   Happy New Year Kelly. Your card suits you, bright and sparkly LOL I have my cup of coffee and am off to visit on this hop.

Congratulations!  I'll send this big package of Fancy Pants goodies to you next week after I get your mailing address. Please email me your contact info.

 

Once again, thank you also to Latisha Yoast who organized this fantastic blog hop! I hope many more of you were lucky enough to win a prize too!

It Was A ScrapFest!

I've just returned home from a wonderful weekend in Oshawa, Ontario, teaching classes at ScrapFest.

Here are my layouts from my "Double the Fun" sketch class, sponsored by Fancy Pants Designs...

Featuring the "Swagger" collection

Featuring "What A Wonderful Day" collection

Featuring "Memories Captured" collection

The class photo....

And my lovely assistant, Tara...

Thank you to all....Fancy Pants Designs for sponsoring my class and donating door prizes....everyone who attended...and Tara was awesome and worked so hard cleaning and scraping embossing powder off my ridiculously messy non-stick craft mats!

I also taught a class called "From Simple to Sensational" featuring Kaisercraft papers.  First, we created a simpler, masculine double layout...

...and then a more advanced shabby chic layout with lots of techniques...

Here is a pic of the wonderful ladies in this class and my sweet and helpful Assistant, Cory-Lynn...

I'll tell you all about the third class, along with some exciting news later next week!

All of you scrapbookers in Ontario are so lucky to be able to attend ScrapFest, where you can crop, shop and take classes for two glorious days.

Lisa (above right) and Sandra & Crew organize an amazing event, and it is an instructor's dream to teach classes there. 

My flight partner and fun-loving roommate was Cathie Allan, who wore many hats as instructor, booth worker and Technique Taster teacher / caped crusader.

Cathie can put a smile on anyone's face !

Karen Ellis and her daughter Emily were busy bees setting up and working in the Canadian Scrapbooker booth.  Karen also taught Technique Tasters and thrilled everyone with her artistry and lively lessons.

I didn't get to spend much time at all in the booth because I was mostly in the classroom. But I know that Karen and Cathie definitely had "fun" together! 

It's impossible not to have fun at ScrapFest!  I enjoyed meeting everyone and hope to have the opportunity to attend again next year!

Back To School !

It's that time of the year when all parents are kicking up their heels because it's Back to School! This summer I did enjoy not rushing around in the morning, worrying about missing the bus, forgetting books and lunches and telling the girls, "No, you can't wear  THAT to school!" ha ha

But routine is good for us, too, and now I will have more of a routine time to blog and scrapbook.

Here is a layout I designed for the Create & Connect trade show in Vegas, and it's up on The Crafty Power blog. I used 4 of the 3D foam Designer Shapes:  wings, stars, heart, and rectangle/frame:

I have a simple tutorial on how I made those red stars....so click HERE to visit their blog and check it out.  The papers are FancyPants Designs and the stamps are Stampin' Up! and Graphic 45 (alphabet). The silver glitter is EK Success/Martha Stewart.

Confession:  The photo is from last year's first day of school.  Here is this year's pics from last week:

BabyOfTheFamily is in Grade 8

DramaQueen is in Grade 11

BoyGenius heads off to University

Oh well, two out of three isn't bad. Ha!  

Classes, Classes and More Classes!

With the end of August in sight, I will get back to writing more blog posts and bid a sad farewell to our lazy summer days.  But I am excited for September too because I have some wonderful classes coming up.

On September 10, I am teaching a "Summer Layout Workshop" at Treasured Memories...

If you would like to get those summer photos into albums, then join me and learn some fun stencil techniques as well!

Click HERE to register.

If you live in Alberta, you have probably heard of this fantastic event hosted by Canadian Scrapbooker magazine:  The Great Canadian Scrapbook Carnival...

I will be teaching a layout class in both Edmonton and Calgary called "Double the Fun"...

Using some fun new Fancy Pants Designs products, we will use one of my sketches and a few cool techniques to create 3 double or 6 single page layouts.  

Click HERE to learn more about the Carnival and register.  It's a really great time with lots of awesome classes!

In October, I will be teaching at ScrapFest in Oshawa. 

I'm SO excited to be invited to this event and cannot wait to meet up with all the Ontario scrappers there!

Along with "Double the Fun", I will have 2 other classes as well:

In my class "From  Simple To Sensational", we will create 2 double page layouts, learning how to embellish a basic design with lots of extra special elements.

The third class is a travel mini album, featuring the wonderful Simple Stories "Urban Traveler" collection:

Click HERE to register for my classes at ScrapFest.

Although September means an end to summer, I'm really looking forward to getting back into the classroom.  Hope to see you there!

Identity Crisis?

Recently, a scrappy friend of mine asked, "What is your signature style?"

Supplies:  Fancy Pants Designs

We have been discussing this off and on, and at first I was puzzled, but then I panicked...oh no! Who am I? Do I have a design style?

Sometimes I'm vintage and use heritage photos...

Supplies:  Bazzill

sometimes I'm graphic and simple....

Supplies:  Stampin' Up!

and sometimes I'm playful and cute...

Supplies:  Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper

Supplies:  Bo Bunny

I've now come to terms with the idea that I am a 'scrapbooking chameleon' of sorts...I change up my designs according to my moods, the papers and the photos.

And I've also decided that it's not necessarily a bad thing, especially because of the design work I do with Canadian Scrapbooker magazine.  I love experimenting with all trends, products and styles, so I am very very lucky I have that opportunity to just "be myself" and express my creativity with the magazine!  In the new Summer 2013 issue, you can see my changeable chameleon design style in all of these layouts and cards.

I'm also very fortunate to be on the Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L Design Team because that means I can use whatever papers and products I like!

So the 'crisis' is averted...well, at least until next week!

A Father's Day Card

I made a Father's Day card this year for my dad.

You can learn how I made those shiny copper stripes by visiting The Crafty Power Blog, where you will find this card and a video tutorial.  Click HERE to check it out.

I have the most wonderful Dad....

....who is also the best grandfather ever.

He was always playful...

...telling jokes...

...gentle and generous.

Now at the age of 88, he suffers from the late stages of Alzheimers. 

 He has forgotten almost everything, but I refuse to forget the happy memories he has given us.

Happy Father's Day, Dad.  I love you.

A Merry Christmas to All!

This is my last blog post before Christmas.  I waited until today because I wasn't sure if the world was ending or not.  Looks like we're good to go!  I guess the Mayans weren't great at making calendars after all.

I thought I would share some Christmas projects I designed for Canadian Scrapbooker.

First up....here are 3 cards I created for the Winter issue 2012 using Bo Bunny's Mistletoe collection.

Love these bright cute papers!

I added Robin's Nest Dew Drops as ornaments on this tree.

Aside from some lace and pom pom ribbon, I didn't do much else except cut the papers.  Their adorable Christmas images are perfect for simple cards.

On December 11, I had a blog post over at Canadian Scrapbooker about a Christmas card I made with Stampin' Up! products.  

Here is the card....

The tree is made with folded doilies cut with a Stampin Up Sizzix die.

Click HERE to visit the Canadian Scrapbooker blog post with the details and photos of  how I made my card.

Right now there is a HUGE contest over at Canadian Scrapbooker called "12 Days of Giving".  Every day you can enter to win a prize package from a different sponsor!  Click HERE to check it out.

I designed two Christmas projects for this contest, using Fancy Pants "Home for Christmas" and My Little Shoebox "Winter Wonderland".

I made Christmas crackers with the Fancy Pants papers for Day 3 of the contest....

They are super simple to make....

Cut an empty paper towel roll in half.  Measure and cut your patterned paper to fit around it.

Put SookWang double sided adhesive tape (1/4") at top and bottom edges of the paper.  Put a second strip of adhesive tape under the top strip (this will hold the tissue paper in place).

Remove the backing from the second piece of tape along the top.Cut a wider piece of tissue paper that extends about 4 inches past each side of the paper/roll.

 Centre the tissue paper edge on that exposed adhesive strip.

Now remove the remaining top and bottom adhesive strips and wrap paper with tissue around your empty roll.

Almost done....just tie one end with twine, fill with prizes and goodies, tie the other end and decorate the top!

For my second project on Day 4 of 12 Days of Giving, I designed an Advent Garland using My Little Shoebox "Winter Wonderland" collection. 

I bought the pretty iridescent silver garland at Canadian Tire, and I found the clothespins in Hobby Lobby in the States.

Each pocket is basically a rectangular piece of patterned paper, folded in two places for the body and the top envelope part. 

One of the pieces of MLS papers had all of the numbers 1 - 25, which I cut out and adhered to the front of the pocket envelopes.  I added stickers from their sticker sheet to decorate them a bit more.

On the back side of the pocket envelopes, I put small doilies (cut with the same Stampin' Up doily die I used for the tree "Joy" card).  In the centre of each doily I put an alphabet letter sticker, so the entire banner in reverse spells "Have a Merry Christmas!"

In the pockets I put chocolate gold coins....but I think my teenagers would prefer the real thing! 

It's not too late to win a prize package over at Canadian Scrapbooker!  Stop by there and check out all the fabulous projects made by the rest of the Design Team using all of the papers and products from contest sponsors!  Click HERE and enter to win yourself a Christmas present.

I'd like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! May you be blessed with a peaceful and joyous holiday season :)