MIU

i'm a little late posting this but the challenge is up at Mix it Up! we had to Bling it! my kinda challenge! Here's the LO i created.

pp and decorative pins: Fancy Pants

red glitter letters: dollar store

bling: Doodlebug

bingo card: Jenni Bowlin

black velvet ribbon: ? it came from my grandmother's sewing box

chipboard "love": Riff Raff Designs

ink: colorbox

other: distressed stickles, liquid pearls, Martha Stewart fine glitter, Stix2 foilz

My sister had come down for the week-end to visit my dad in the hospital...yes he's still there and will be for quite some time still. so anyways she arrived on friday night and left this afternoon. i think it did my dad a lot of good to see her, we hadn't told him so it was a nice surprise.

i've done a few cards lately, whenever i find a bit of time to download my pics i'll come post them.

thanks for visiting!

bella 365

ok i've been doing this project 365. basically it's taking a picture a day for the whole year. needless to say i have missed a few days due to sickness and visits to the hospital and simply forgetfullness but you can check it out. my goal was to try to post weekly but i posted the whole month of January at once. http://bella365.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!

new find!

this blog is chock full of creativity. i found it through CathyZ's blog. you must check it out, she's got great V-day crafts. Shabby Chic Crafts

new goodies and Mixer #3

here's the layout i created for Mixer #3 up at Mix it Up, go check it out, this week is a color challenge.

there's a goodie giveaway (more like a draw) up on the Queen & Co blog. they have these cute little mixed embellies buckets, check it out here

before i forget...

i always love reading my friend Claude's blog, because she write the cutest conversations she has with her kids. i keep saying i want to do that to remember, but i don't do it quickly enough and i forget. here are 2 things that happened yesterday that i think are just hilarious (in my mom opinion)

After bathtime we were all in our bed and Brady took out his doctor kit. him and Charlie proceeded to poke his dad in the mouth, nose, ears...the works! After he was done he laid down in bed and said

Brady: "ok papa, la moi je suis mort et toi tu fais le docteur!"
Me (laughing) "bein si t'es mort mon amour, c'est pas un docteur que t'as besoin. Tu veux dire malade?"
B: "non, je suis mort. papa fait le docteur"
LOL! he mixes up "malade" and "mort" i have no clue where he got that from but i think it's funny.

now this next little anecdote is hilarious!

Dave is putting the kids to bed and i'm in the kitchen cleaning up. when i hear...

Brady: "psssst....Master Shifu. Ohhhh.....Master Shifu"
Me (sighing and walking towards the stairs ready to rip into him for not being in bed): "what is it Brady, why aren't you in bed"
Brady: "Master Shifuuuu....." walking down the stairs, holding my padded bra on his head calling for Master Shifu. well i just about died! he's been saying some of the funniest things these past few days; like "aye aye my Captain!" or "..." well of course now i can't remember.

what i do remember is that Mixer #2 is up at Mix it Up, go check it out. The DT did a great job, i'm not there this week because we are split into 2 teams, i'm up next week.

well that's it for today!

Oh! i almost forgot! Charlie is 2 yrs old today! unfortunatly with me having been sick (and is still sick) since last saturday, my dad being in the hospital (btw he's doing good, started walking with a walker and eating, after 1 week) i decided not to throw Charlie a party. if we do something it'll be next month, but i doubt it, he's still young not to notice. i do feel guilty because i've always made sure Brady had a party, a cake + cupcakes for daycare and Charlie with being so close after x-mas last year i almost forgot his first birthday! this year i started planning and thinking before x-mas and now i'm sick. FUDGE!

ok, now i'm done ranting for today!

check it out; mixer # 1 is up on Mix it Up. the other girls did a great job!

here's my LO for this challenge.

on another note, i've had a pretty busy week so far. went back to work monday after being off for 2 weeks, that was hard enough on it's own. Dave was away on business. Monday night Charlie started having a high fever, i was afraid that it might me tonsilitis. on tuesday i stayed home with him. My dad got his surgery on tuesday. he was getting his bladder removed and he was supposed to get a reconstruction done however there have been complications and he was not able to get the reconstruction, the had to install a permanent bag. i read up on this and it won't affect his life much once he gets the hand of the management of the whole thing. he can be as active as he wants to be and do sports if he wishes. i took the day off yesterday to go visit him and at the same time Charlie's ped was able to see him at 11h30 so i took him there and then dropped him off at the daycare and headed to the hospital for a visit. he was still on the ventilator and hook up to a lot of machines and tubes, but the doc said he was doing well regardless. I left work early today to miss the traffic and head into town for another visit. i came back not too long ago and he's doing very well. he even got up, with help of course, and sat in a chair for 10-15 min. he's in good spirits.

thank you to my friends that were aware of the situation, for keeping my dad in your thoughts and prayers.

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had good holidays. Ours was wonderful! i had a lot of fun with my family. it had been a long time since we were all together for Christmas, 5 years i think...maybe more. it's hard since we're all spread out. i'm in Montreal and so is my dad. My mom is still in Fredericton, NB and my sister is out in Saskatoon, Sk.

Dave spoiled me, he got me a f1.4 - 50mm lens ( that was supposed to be my b-day/x-mas present) i kinda knew i was getting it. just before X-mas he was in a spending mood. he went out and got me 2 more presents; a bread maker and a KitchenAid stand mixer (i've been dying to get one for the longest time!) now the only problem is i don't have room for them so i have to do a major clean up in my cupboards to find room.

with the new year comes resolutions, i don't usually make resolutions per say, but there are a few things i would like to do, let's call them goals.

my friend Claude gave herself this goal (#1) and i think it's great so i will do it too.

1. declutter my house and my body
2. get in shape and eat healthier (ie; declutter my body)
3. scrap more for me
4. try to be more patient and not loose my cool so easily
5. spend less and save more money
6. stay in touch more with my friends
7. reconnect with my hubby (our lives are so hectic it's hard to stay connected)
8. try to blog more
9. oh yeah and i'm also trying to take a picture a day for the whole year (so far so good)

i will now leave you with some pics from Christmas. i have to go get ready for bed since it's back to work and daycare (for the kids) tomorrow and Dave is on a business trip so i gotta make sure that i don't forget anything. see ya soon!

changes...lots of changes

Oh my! how time flies! it's already been a month since my last post. I just haven't had time to do anything but catch my breath. i work in customer service for Fruits & Passion and with the holiday season it's been absolutely crazy at work. i deal mostly with US and Canadian independant retailers and everybody's been calling wanting their order yesterday. the phones have been ringing off the hook! thank goodness this week it's calmed down so we have time to catch up on our pending file that has been gaining inches in the last few weeks. I've been feeling very stressed and a bit freaked out about X-mas. don't get me wrong i love X-Mas and this year my mom and her boyfriend AND my sister and her boyfriend are coming in from out of province. so that makes 4 more people staying with us...no problem. the more the merrier right?! but i have been stressing to make sure the house is cleaned up and that i'm not forgetting anything (ie: presents, baking, decorating...) Sunday night, DH tells me his daughter (who we were supposed to have at New Years this year) told him she wanted to come over for X-Mas instead; ok...i think i can find room to sleep everybody....

ok now here for the big changes. It is with great regret that i resigned from the Just Cre8 design team. i just didn't have enough time to dedicate to this great site. I want to thank Sue for everything she did for me and the other crew members for being so great. check out what they did with the January kit that was revealed yesterday...they totally rocked it! i love the dandylion things (must find out what they are...)

My good friend Melanie has started this new challenge blog and has asked me to be a part of her first design team. It's called Mix it Up and every week there'll be different kinds of challenges called mixers. Check it out she launched it yesterday and it looks great (guess who made the banner and blinkies...yup that's me! so cool that she asked me right?!) she has assembled a kick ass DT and i can't wait to work with them. we are split up in two team and each team has an assignment in alternating weeks. so this is perfect for me right now...i can still work with a great team but have a lighter load with longer deadlines. Thanks Mel for asking me to be a part of this!


alrighty now, i have to go wrap some presents and continue making some peanut butter balls...i think they're gonna take me 3 evenings to make but they will be sooooo yummy when i'm done!

i'll be back soon i promise ( at least i'll try, my guests are arriving on saturday, yikes!)

December kit revealed!

This kit is so awesome!!! I didn't have much time to do much (life is crazy busy these days), but i'm planning a few cards.

you can check out the great kit Sue put together on Just Cre8



My dear friend Melanie has a really fun project she's putting together and i can't wait for her to reveal it... (*wink*wink*) stay tuned!

OMG this is funny!

being francophone and having grown up in New-Brunswick with Acadians, this video clip of Toy Story (Histoire de Toy as they call it) really brought back some fun memories from my childhood.
and yes it's true; Acadians really talk this way. Enjoy!

sing with me...

"I'm a big boy now!"
Brady is finally without a pull-up at night. Here's how it happened.
For the last few weeks he would get up in the morning and his pull-up was dry, i could hear him get up during the night to go pee, so i knew that soon he would be good to take off the pull-up. last friday before he put on his pj's i asked him if he wanted to not wear his pull-up that night. This is how the conversation went:

Brady: "hummm no, no i wanna wear a pull-up"
Me: "ok, sweetie that's fine, you tell me when you're ready"

then on monday night when i told him to get his pj's on and his pull up we had this conversation:
Me: "Brady get your pj's on and your pull-up"
Brady: " no. no pull-up, juste mes culottes (just my underwear)"
M: " no pull-up?"
B: " no, juste mes culottes"
M: "you're sure."
B: "yes"
M: "ok sweetie"

and guess what?! we're thursday and there hasn't been an accident yet. cross my fingers, knock on wood! i told him if he did a whole week he would get a surprise.

i am so proud of him!!! it took so long for him be clean during the day, i wasn't worried i knew it would happen when he was ready.

Brady is four!

well actually he'll be four on wednesday but we had his birthday party on saturday. all in all it was a success. here are a few photos.

these last two are pics i took tonight, just having fun with my camera and Brady. he's so photogenic! i really love how these turned out and i barely made any modifications to them.

the reveal of the November kit is coming up in just a couple of days, check back soon!

Hellooooooooooooooo............

i'm still here. i know, i know i've been absent quite a bit lately. Life has just been hectic, nothing special really but just busy and blogging was the last thing on my mind, even checking out my friend's blogs has been put on hold. i did my rounds this morning but it'd been about 2 weeks or so.

Here's my latest LO. i did it last night, it's for the Leave your Legacy weekly challenges at Just Cre8.





I'll be posting weekly cre8ive prompts starting this sunday so check out our forum regularly! Just Melanie is starting a scraplift tag and we've got our 2nd Annual "Revive & Rejuven8" Fall Crop!! coming up on October 17th to the 19th. come join us for some great tutorial, online classes, challenges and games!


here are a few pages that i've done and for some reason (I think it's because i was too lazy to take pictures) the first one i'm only showing you a small part of it because i want to try and get it published so i'm not showing it now, but it's my fav!

you guessed it, the layout is the focus of my latest obssession! LOL!

these next three are my submissions for the Fancy Pants DT application - no luck for me but congrats to my Just Cre8 fellow DT member who got a spot on their DT AND she was picked one of the Making Memories Masters 2009!!! congrats Ronda!







And these last 2 are just because. the first is a house that was in Cap Pele, i swear if we could find a house like that around here, we'd buy it in a heart beat (and i also sent it for the Sassafrass Lass DT call - no luck either)

and this LO has been made for quite some time now. i just thought it was missing something but after almost 3-4 months i still can't figure out what's missing so i'll consider it done.



thanks for stoping by!

Oct Kit revealed!

so sorry i'm late posting this. the wonderful JC8 October kit was revealed on the 15th.

Check out the gallery for other yummy layouts from the team; they really rocked this kit!

here are my first 2 creations with this kit. I have a Leave your Legacy challenge planned for the 26th with this kit, check back later!

thanks for stoping by!!!

i'm still here

my mom called the other day to check if something had happened to me since i hadn't updated my blog in quite some time. Don't worry...i'm still here i've just been very wrapped up in the Twilight saga.

Is it wrong to be so consumed by fictional characters, Edward especially...

i'm about 200 pages away from finishing the last book so i'll be back to posting more regularly. I've got some unseen layouts to show you and just received the October kit from Just Cre8!

BTW, my "moi" layout has been published in this months Canadian Scrapbooker. i'm so happy! my first pub!

i also just came back from visiting my friend Melanie and her new baby Brianna. what an angel! Mel has awesome pictures on her blog. It was nice to finally meet Danika and Dan, both super nice! We scrapped a bit and talked alot! she totally "gets" me on how this series is because she's reading too. you can see the trailer of the first book; Twilight. Here

be back soon, i promise!

September kit is here!!!

The Just Cre8 September kit has been revealed. You can see it in all it's yumminess here.

in the meantime here are 3 of my creations so far. i have another one planned for a LYL (leaving your legacy) challenge that i will be posting on Sept 5th. In the meantime, you can see here for the other challenges that have been posted so far from the other girls.




Yesterday i spent the evening at Claude's house to scrap a little. Thanks my dear i had a blast! Noemi came to spend the evening with us, she didn't scrap, she was busy finishing up the decoration on some hairpins for her wedding on Sunday, well tomorrow. I hope they have really good weather.
I had time to make 1 layout and 1 card. i think i want to put a few finishing touches on my layout, but once i'm happy with it, i'll post it.

thanks for stopping by!

i wanted to wish my friend Melanie and her family a big Congratulations of the arrival of their little girl Brianna.

Congrats my friend! i can't wait to meet the little angel in person!

Here are some pics from the cottage.

this is the view from our deck

the right side of the beach, it looks as though there were lots of rocks but there was a decent amount of sand. there was a lot of seaweed but that didn't seem to bother the kids. the water was very cold so we didn't really go swimming but we did walk along the edge of the water.

this is the cottage we rented.

Brady going towards the left side of the beach

charlie walking on the beach

and this has got to be my favorite picture of the whole week. I took this one on one of our morning walks, as you can tell it was quite windy.

on a scrap note, i decided to apply to the Fancy Pants DT. i know my chances are slim to none, but i figure it's part of the whole process. If i want my name out there, i have to put it out there right?!

I also received my september Just Cre8 DT kit. i've already done 1 layout. i can't wait to show you, i think you will like the kit.

My friend Michelle came over yesterday and we cropped all day long. i did this little project with the august kit, i did 1 layout for the FP DT call and a layout for JC8.

here's the little project (the others you'll see in due time)

latest layouts

Sorry i'm still having problems uploading my pics from the trip (maybe they're too big, i'll have to resize them)

in the meantime, i realized that i had forgotten to post the layouts for the August kit. so here you go! and i still have 1 project to do before the end of the month.



and this one is not part of the kit, but i made it with some stuff out of my stash (that is not used enough) it's with a picture i took of Brady on one of our morning walks on the beach (this is my favorite photo of the whole week)

back from vacation

ok so i was away on vacation and that's why it's been a long time since i posted. i've been back for a week but it was just so hard to get back into the everyday beat of things AND it was super busy at the office.

We spent a week at a cottage in Cap Pele, NB. we were 200 feet from the ocean, it was great! Although we did really get great sunny weather the whole week, most days it would rain at least once during the day or if was really cloudy and cool (that didn't stop us from going down to the beach and play in the sand). We did however get 1 1/2 days of sunny, hot weather.


We left on friday night after work and slept in Riviere-du-Loup. Saturday, we had to meet up with the ex in St-Leonard, NB to pick up Emilie. Then we drove to Fredericton, spent a few hours at my mom's and Gerard's house. Gerard made really yummy roasted chicken on the BBQ and strawberry shortcakes for desert! yummmmm............ We got to meet Gerard's boys and their wife (son)/girlfriend. It was a good coincidence because Ghislain and Fiona live in Halifax and they just happened to come down for a last minute visit. Yves and Chantal live in the same neighbourhood. It's a small world i went to high school with the boys. Ghislain was 1 year below me and Yves was in my sister's grade. So after supper we drove to Cap Pele, about a 2 1/2 hour drive. The cottage was nice and cozy. it had 3 bedrooms so we each had our own (the boys shared theirs).

on a side note, can i just say thank goodness for portable DVD players. i don't know how are parents ever traveled when we were young.

Since the weather wasn't that nice we had daily outings; we went to Moncton and spent a day at Crystal Palace (indoor amusement park) and Chapters. We did a day at Moncton's Magnetic Hill Zoo, we went in to Shediac almost on a daily basis. We also went to Hopewell Rocks which is between Moncton and Saint-John. And of course on the day it was really nice we went to Parlee beach in Shediac. On Friday my mom and Gerard spent the day at the cottage with us and stayed overnight on the pull out couch, we left the next morning to come back to MTL. We dropped Emilie off in QC city and got home at 9h30 or 10, i don't remember.

Can i just say Cap Pele is a really nice little town, we'd love to own a cottage/small house with an ocean view there as a future retirement place.

I really got to enjoy some "good" alone time with Brady. Every morning he would wake up at about 6 - 6h30 and since the cottage he would've woken everybody up so me and him would go down for a walk on the beach. i brought my camera a few times and Brady and I took some pictures. My favorite picture of him is one that i took one of those mornings. Can i just tell you he took some really decent, even nice, pictures for a 3 1/2 year old!
Here are some pics from the trip:

ok, i keep getting an error so i'll post some pics tomorrow.