Some pics to share...

I have been away from my blog for a couple weeks now, and I just wanted to share a few highlights of what we did for Christmas.

For Christmas this year, we drove 2 days each way to see my sister and her family on the Canadian Prairies. We experienced extreme cold, but also some of the most gorgeous blue skies and sunshine. The kids played outside a couple times, but my westcoast kids couldn't stand the cold the same as their prairie cousins!

Scott and Jackson:

Ethan... I think he was hoping for a suntan! It was almost bright enough on this particular day!

Elise with her "Little Buddy" Liam... but Liam is 14 months older than her, so really, she's the "little" one!! She just happens to be the bossy one, too :)


The drive was fine on the way there, just a couple icy patches, and one short stretch of freezing rain. But on the way home, it was pretty much perfect. We had no ice or snow anywhere on the way home. There was half an hour where it actually snowed, but it didn't stick. That is pretty amazing when you think of what the weather could be like on a 3 province drive at this time of year. We count our blessings!

The drive there...
The drive home... (my parents' truck was in a lot of my pictures from this trip, because for the most part they were right in front of us!)

Christmas Day dinner:
Steve was pretty popular when he volunteered to play Wii games with all the little boys!

My brother gave all his nephews and his niece new jammies that they got to open on Christmas Eve and keep on while we opened stockings the next morning.

While we were there, the girls (my mom took the pic) slipped out for a little quiet time! No kids, no men, just our XL coffees and a little peace in the local coffee shop!

Steve and I also celebrated our 8th anniversary on this trip... not the most romantic anniversary of the last 8 years, but still, a very memorable one!

Wishing you all a blessed and Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

We just returned from a week away at my sisters in Saskatchewan... brrrrrr.... but very fun to spend Christmas with my whole family! We were blessed with great weather for driving and we created many happy memories.

I wish you all a Happy and Blessed New Year and I'll be back with more posts in 2010!

Merry Christmas!

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas... and Blessings for the New Year.

I will likely not be on my blog much between now and Jan. 1st. So, I thought I would take a minute to say Merry Christmas!! Thank you to everyone for your faithful visits to my little corner of the internet. I have loved all your visits and comments this past year.

Looking forward to another great year in 2010! Enjoy this special season, and remember it's not about the hustle and bustle or the busy roads and stores. It's not about a perfectly cooked turkey, or who gave the most creative present. Nobody could ever give a better gift than God did on a night so long ago... Jesus is the reason for the season. May you feel His peace and joy as you celebrate the real meaning of CHRISTmas! Thanks for stopping by :)

Bag Lady...

I made another bag! This one is for one of my son's teachers for part of her Christmas gift. She loves purple, so hopefully she will like this bag. I will know by the end of the week!!

A few pages to share....

I have had a series of scrapbook classes this fall, and I know I haven't shown all the pages from those classes.

Fall Glory... Here are the October pages we did. The title is made with my Simple Letters set of dies for my Big Shot. The film strip technique is created using the Spiral punch.



Here is one that I showed in a workshop in November, and also did it with my Beyond the Basics club. The ornaments are created with the Vintage Ornament stencils from the Decor Elements brochure.


And finally, the pages we made in my December scrapbooking class. Try flipping one page or the other in a layout to create a completely new look for your next layout. This was not the original plan that I had in mind when I came up with this page, but before I added my title I kept flipping the pages until I was happy with the way it looked. I plan to put a few photos from our family Christmas party last Saturday (see previous post) on these pages. Handy to have a few already made up and then I can just add photos!!

Family Christmas #1...

The first of many family gatherings for the seaons has happened. We hosted Steve's family here on Saturday for our Family dinner. Steve made a ham and together we put together a big variety of food choices.

Our before company energy!!!

A Scandinavian heart with a marzipan pig inside... the prize for finding the almond in the pudding (traditionally it is a rice pudding, but since that's not a big hit with people, we chose to go with chocolate pudding)

We went with a rustic theme... brown paper on the tables for tablecloths, along with crayons so everyone could colour while they were waiting.



Steve reading the Christmas story from the Bible...

Our crazy little Santa girl!

Steve's parents gave us money and we put it towards Rock Band! Even his mom got in on the drumming action :)

12 Days of Christmas....

Don't miss out on this great ONLINE sale! Big Shot dies and supplies on sale now... Check out my website now...

SHOP NOW!!!

Birthday Party...

Stamping is fun for all ages!! On Saturday, I did a birthday party for a girl turning 13. The girls all loved doing crafty things, so I knew they would be great at the projects I picked for them. Here are 3 of them, and the 4th project will be posted as soon as I take a pic of it!

This is a 4X4 photo cube that I pre-painted black, and the girls added photo mattes and embellishments on 5 of the sides.


A simple card (this designer paper is retired)

A 3X3 card using Dasher and Warm Words.

If you are interested in having me do a birthday party for your child (must be turning 6 or older), the cost is $12 per child for one hour. Minimum 6 kids. Custom parties are available if you want the stamping time to be longer. Cost is for at my house... additional fee for me to come to your house. But think about it... no mess for you to clean up at your house from crafts! Contact me for more information and availability of dates.

Family Time

Last weekend, we took a quick trip over to see my parents... here are a few pics from that weekend.

It was wet, but that didn't stop the kids from exploring in the back 40! (well, the back 7 :)

Todd was really excited about playing checkers with my dad... I don't think he won anything, but it was still fun to play with Papa!

Fox and Geese
My parents have a wonderful student staying with them right now from Brazil. Elise LOVES her!!!
My Granny is not able to hear anymore, so we write our part of the conversation on a white board for her. Then she answers back. The kids love drawing her pictures on the white board... she seems to get a kick out of that, too!


E found my old harmonica and played it all weekend!! Beautiful!!! (haha!)

Like a true west coaster.... shorts and a rain jacket. Turns out the boys repacked their clothes after I had inspected the piles, and Todd got away without a single pair of pants! Oh well, he really didn't seem to mind!

Christmas Cheer!

This past week was my Beyond the Basics stamping club and we made a couple really fun projects.

The first one was a card using the Petals-a-plenty embossing folder from the mini catalogue. And Champagne shimmer paint from the same mini.

The next project was a little box of Christmas tags. I took the idea directly from the SU! Idea Book and Catalogue. What a great project, and a fun gift idea, too.... thanks for stopping by!