Reaching new heights!
I had the wonderful opportunity to join 52 other ladies in Whistler, BC on Friday, May 2nd. It was a whirlwind trip for me, driving up the Sea To Sky Highway after work. The ladies I met were fantastic and some were experiencing their first scrapbooking retreat. I love meeting scrapbook virgins! They are so much fun!

I taught a make and take class that focused on sanding and stamping to make a scrapbook border. It was a great hit! Some ladies even knew what they were going to use the border for already!
But I also showed another option for the card makers in the audience. Here I used one border to make two cards just by cutting the border in half.



Here's a pic of me by my brand new display board. I just finished it in time for the retreat, phewph! It shows what you start with in a paper pack (level one or two) and a small sampling of what you finish with once you use the paper in the paper pack.


It was great to meet all of you. I had a blast!

Talk about Precious!
Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Precious Memories retreat. OMG! Totally amazing. It was jam packed with five classes over the whole weekend, tons of games and lots of make & takes.

The entire ballroom was filled with Hawaiian decorations - the theme of the weekend. It was amazing to see everyone get into it. Some of the costumes were tremendous! Making Memories had two fabulous representatives who gave us a sneak peak of a new product coming out this summer called Slice. Imagine the cricut but more portable and smaller! You're bound to love it. There was also a Deal or No Deal Game show hosted by Making Memories where the grand prize was a tote full of Making Memories products. Sadly, I didn't win it :(

One of the more memorable classes for me was by A Muse and the instructor was Julie Ebersole. She is such a cutie patootie! Julie was kind enough to pose for a photo with me.

Some of my friends think Julie and I are kindred spirits because of the stamp she designed that says "Celebrate your inner princess," which we used in the class to make a card. Check it out!

You should also visit Julie's blog to see all of her amazing work. She is just something else, let me tell ya!

Hatzic Retreat Card and Layout

This weekend I went to Hatzic Lake for a scrapbooking retreat. I had a blast meeting new scrapbookers. I was only there for a half day to teach a make and take. What do you think?


Plus, in preparation for the retreat I created a sample layout using the Close To My Heart paper called Silhouette Creative Basics. I thought I'd try out the Simple Contrast layout from the Cherish Book. It took no time at all, I love it when scrapbooking is so easy!

Let the cards do the talking...

I don't have much to say, but here are a few cards I've been doing lately. I hope it provides some inspiration for you!

The first two are done with the Caprice paper from Close To My Heart. Love that paper!!


I love these colours on the left side. I made that paper by stamping different colours on white cardstock then adding the navy blue strip down the centre.


This last card was done at a Stampin' UP Party I went to this week. I like how it's such a simple card with such a classic look. It was designed by Susan Farrant. She also has a blog. Thanks for a great party Susan!

Heart Month
It's February and you know what that means, it's heart month - both for the heart and stroke foundation and for Valentine's Day. It's a good time to tell people you care. In case that person is a guy or you just aren't big on flowery hearts and love all over a card (there is Hallmark for that kind of cheese, right?), here's a card to get your ideas flowing. It's got four hearts I'll admit, but I think the "wow" factor is that it's a little unusual being on acetate. I put it on a blue/turquoise pillow so the acetate shows through. What do you think?

Tidbits
I went to a scrapbooking open house this weekend out in White Rock. There were lots of women and several demonstrations. One of the best parts was seeing a demo on the many many ways you can use a card kit. Thanks for all the great ideas Carrie! She was brilliant with using scraps to make goody bags, add to scrapbook layouts and a mini flip album. Plus, I made a few projects too. Take a look below at some of the fun things. Isn't the lollipop a great idea?

Wedding bells are ringing

It seems I'm surrounded with people getting married or talking about their weddings. Often there is a lot of stress about scrapbooking wedding photos and getting your album perfect and ready for others to see. Some are even so ambitious that they end up promising albums for in-laws or other family members! It can be quite intimidating sorting through all those photos from the big day.

I thought I'd share a few thoughts and try to relieve a little stress if I can. First of all, when it comes to the day itself (if you're a bride-to-be), there are some fun little projects that you and your girlfriends can do before your wedding. Take a look at this picture below (sorry the first one is blurry, I swear it's from bad lighting, not how many drinks I had). It's the letters "L" "O" "V" "E" in white ink on rocks. You can do this with white or black ink, usually stayz-on permanent ink is the best. The photo below that is the same concept but on rocks as place settings for everyone. Look for the rock that says "bride" next to the star fish.

(photo above by Chris Boar)

For those of you who are already married and are ambitious enough to attack your own wedding album I have a few suggestions that might help you know where to start. It can be so overwhelming.
1) Start by selecting the "must have" photos. Remember you have maybe hundreds of photos of the day, but your scrapbook album should have only your favourites.

2) Decide how you want to organize the photos in your album. For example, do you want sections dividing each part of the day?
Bride getting ready
Groom getting ready
The ceremony
The wedding party
The dinner
First dance
Throwing the bouquet and garter
The real party

3) Organize your photos for each section. This step will be more important if you have limited space, like if you only want to do a certain number of pages because it's a gift for the in-laws and well, you don't really like them that much...yet. Doing a 9" by 9" album will change things significantly versus doing a 12" by 12". I usually recommend the 9" by 9" as a gift and saving the bigger one for yourself.

4) Start scrapbooking! I could get into more OCD details here, but this is really the creative part and everyone is different. It depends how you like to look. At this point you might want to find ideas. I often will look through the Close To My Heart Idea Book for inspiration, or even Becky Higgins' sketches, these are great resources to have! Some people like to sketch out what they are going to do before they do it, others can just go with the flow. The important thing is to do what you are most comfortable with. I would recommend trying to do a section at a time. You'll start to see some progress and you'll more than likely feed off of that satisfaction and won't get so discouraged easily. This is a big project so be proud of what you do accomplish!

Email me if you're working on something like this or have other ideas. I'd love to hear from you.

A new year calls for roundups
As I start 2008 refreshed and ready for lots of scrapbooking, I remembered that almost two years ago I found a fantastic suggestion from a fellow scrapbooker's blog. I thought that since this is my first post for the year, it would be a fantastic time to share that with you.

Katie, the scrapbook lady (no really, that's what she calls herself) developed this idea of a monthly roundup. The idea is that it's a summary of all the main events that happened in the last 30 days so that if you don't have the chance to scrapbook that month immediately, you have all the key events and milestones recorded so you can go back to it at a later time. Isn't that fantastic? I love the idea of taking stock of what's happened, especially since I have a horrible memory!

What I'd like to do is share with you my version of the roundup. I've taken the questions from Katie, the scrapbook lady, and adapted them slightly. Thanks for the inspiration Katie! Here are my questions:

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?

What old/new music did I listen to this month?

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

Who did I spend time with and how?

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

What were this month’s disappointments?

What were my accomplishments this month?

Anything else noteworthy to record?

My First Craft Show A Success!


There was a lot of prep work that went into my first craft show and it was such a great experience, but I am exhausted! Can I sleep now? :)

It was strange having my cards on display for everyone to see. I've never done that before! Lots of people stopped by and complimented me on my cards which was so nice to hear! And I couldn't believe how quickly I sold out of pillow boxes! I don't think I even took a picture of the ones I created (shame on me!). They are handy little things to stuff candies or gift cards in there. Note to self: make more pillow boxes next time!

Congratulations to Nicola!! She is my draw prize winner of 6 handmade birthday cards! I'm sending them in the mail for you Nicola! Way to go.

Of course, I must mention that it wasn't the best day to have a craft show because it was snowing!! I think Vancouverites were not willing to go out in the cold. And to be honest, I probably would have stayed curled up in bed with hot chocolate if I had the choice. Some of the other crafters at the Urban Artisan craft show had been there for a few years in a row and they said it was a slow year.

If you know of a craft show in your area, let me know! I'm looking for new ones all the time!

Timberline Retreat
Last weekend I went to a scrapbooking retreat at the Timberline Ranch. It was my second retreat and it was tons of fun. I drove out there with my friend Lana but we got there a little late on Friday night because traffic was horrible getting out to Maple Ridge. As soon as we walked in and got our things organized we had about 30 minutes left before the name tag contest. By the time I changed and got into my creative mindset, I had about 10 minutes left. And I made a tag! That's probably the least amount of time I've spent to complete a scrapbooking project EVER! haha

Throughout the weekend, there were draw prizes and a "my favourite layout" contest. It added some excitement to our time. I didn't work on any layouts but I did get a lot of cards done for my craft show this weekend. I worked on over 160 cards! I'm not sure how many I'll sell this weekend, so I might be sending two to each friend if I don't sell many :) Here are a couple of samples.



I hope to see you at the Roundhouse on Saturday, December 1st between 10am and 5pm. I'll be holding a draw prize too. You have to show up to be entered, more details at the show. See you there!