rocklady

poor neglected blog...

2010-04-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

i have sadly neglected my blog and if anyone reads it, i am truly sorry! since i have not scrapped in 3 months i had very little to show and we didn't have internet for 2 of the 3 months we were in florida, so that is another reason. i am also doing a 365 which also takes up some of my time, but i am enjoying it immensely. we just finished day 100 and i have not missed a day. it was so easy in florida with all the flowers and birds and greenery, but since i got home it has been a little harder. poor ruth who has not missed a day either had to put up with all the dead stuff and hardly any snow.

here are a few layouts i have not shown here.

this is a drawing done by elki of what it was like getting her h1n1 shot, so i just had to do a layout about it.

yahoo, we finally have internet!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

as you all may know, we have been down in florida since the beginning of january, but we have not had internet so my posts here, there and everywhere have been sporadic at best. excuse my lack of comments on any of your blogs, but we had to go to the library to connect to the internet and i am way behind. we have finally hooked up with a friend of ours so i have been trying to catch up, but our daughter and her family were down here last week when we got hooked up so we were kind of busy.

we will be home by the beginning of april, so here are 3 christmas layouts i did before i left, so that at least when i get back home, i will be ready to upload the new stuff that i do, and not be 4 months behind.

i was missing bling 's' s for my title here, so i had some plane white stickers that pretty much matched the script, so i just put stickles on them. as you can see the color is not exactly the same. :(

it's a rainy day in florida...

2010-02-01T07:17:00.000-08:00

this is the first time we have been in florida in january and the weather is not that great, one day nice, the next either, cold, rainy, cloudy or windy! with january behind us, hopefully febrary and march will bring us better weather. i am not complaining, because i know back home you guys are having it tough with the cold, and down here is better than that even with the ups and downs.

here is my fourth painting which i have been able to finish either on bad days or after coming up from the beach and having some time to kill before having to start supper.

all these painting are from photos that i took last year when we visited butterfly world.

a layout...

2010-01-26T09:05:00.000-08:00

here is a layout i did before coming down to florida for our winter getaway. i had quite a productive week before i left since i knew i would not be doing any scrapping for 3 months, omg, that's a long time!

it is about elki actually swimming on her own at the end of last summer, because i had done one earlier and i had predicted that she would do so! i used some pretty old epoxies that i had bought the first year that i started scrapping. i am always happy when i can do that.

new paintings from florida...

2010-01-21T09:04:00.000-08:00

we have been down here for a week and a half and i have already finished 2 paintings and am well on my way on my third. at home all i want to do is scrap, and so down here without my scrapping supplies, all i want to do is paint when the weather is bad. it was very cold the first few days, so here is what i have been doing so far.

finishing up with 2009...

2010-01-05T17:32:00.000-08:00

we had a very quiet new year's day and i have had quite a bit of time to scrap, so i have been trying to get all my christmas layouts done while they are fresh in my mind. so here is a christmas layout which i think i went a little overboard on adding things. i had this overlay which i have had for awhile, and after i finished this layout, i tried it on top and it just seemed to fit perfectly even the little bird right over the 'i', so i attached it by adding some brads in the tree.

a year-end benzilla sketch contest layout...

2010-01-02T17:00:00.000-08:00

what a way to start the new year! a layout based on a becky fleck sketch for the year end benzilla sketch contest, and here is my layout.

two days after christmas...

2009-12-27T20:01:00.001-08:00

and i have been feeling lazy! yesterday i cleaned up the mess and vacuumed the house, but i stayed in my pyjamas all day! we had leftover turkey with all the trimmings for dinner, yeah, i love leftover turkey, it tastes even better to me than the first day, because i did not have to make it!

today i didn't do much of anything either, got up late, read a magazine, scrapped a little and then did my walk on the treadmill, the first time since i was sick last sunday.

i will leave you with a layout i did a few weeks ago with some photos of the girls that i took when we went shopping just before santa arrived at the mall.

elki's unusual art!

2009-12-18T10:37:00.000-08:00

i made this layout last week about an unusual way that elki drew this picture! she did it completely upside down and if i was not there to witness it myself, i would have had trouble believing it. she was laying on the kitchen floor and zoe was helping me take photos of her drawing this cute little picture of her family. now how she could do it, i don't know because she is only 4, but then again i think she is quite talented!!! :)

busy weekend...

2009-12-11T11:33:00.000-08:00

usually we have no plans for the weekend, but end up seeing the family on one of the days. this weekend it will be busy, tomorrow i am treating lisa to a day at the spa which is her belated birthday (which was in june) present. and sunday it is a annual 'cookie bake', so the whole family will be here baking and taste testing! ;)

here is a layout it did from when my sister-in-law and i took a walk by the river in the fall.

a.c. blog challenge!

2009-12-10T10:21:00.000-08:00

this week it was to make a holiday card with 2 a.c. products. i had this pp which i was dying to use, so here is what i came up with!

supplies:
cs: bazzill
pp, rub-ons & chipboard: american crafts

tfl!

the rockettes...

2009-12-09T13:29:00.000-08:00

we were lucky enough to go and see their show at the bell center at the beginning of november. even though it was not my idea to go, i was pleasantly surprised to enjoy the show as much as i did, but then again, our fantastic seats might have had something to do with that! the dancing was fantastic and the costumes were absolutely gorgeous. here is a layout i did about it and the best part of the show as far as i was concerned was the toy soldier dance, well walk actually!

sorry about those 2 black marks, they must be on my scanner and i didn't notice them til just now when i clicked it bigger! :(

yellow is the theme today!

2009-12-06T14:53:00.000-08:00

since i just posted a photo of my lemon tarts on my photobug blog i thought i would post this layout i did of elki and her new favorite color that i did last week! she is too funny because lisa would try and get her to wear yellow, the color of sunshine, all summer and she refused (lisa's getting pay back now, because she used to do the same to me when she was young), but now, she only wants yellow!!!

finally, another a.c. blog challenge!

2009-12-03T12:03:00.000-08:00

even though it's not me that is thankful, i thought that justin being more 'grateful' on his 8th birthday would be even better!

supplies:
cardstock, pp, thickers, rub-ons and button: all american crafts
other rub-ons: hot off the press & karen foster
pen: signo uniball

tfl!

the last halloween layout for 2009!

2009-12-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

ok halloween is being put to bed for this year with this layout.

cupcakes anyone?

2009-11-30T16:51:00.000-08:00

these layouts are about elki and zoé eating cupcakes at 'pop puce' (a craft sale connected to 'pop montreal') back in october! i did this one of elki first and then just scraplifted for zoé's with a little twist. i must tell you that those cupcakes were to die for! the 2 small photos on the layouts were actually photos of the 2 of them sitting side by side enjoying eating while i snapped away and i just cut them up so that they could go on each of their layouts.

the last of our cruise album...

2009-11-24T12:18:00.001-08:00

i actually made this album like a book would be made, the cover page, index and then each port as we visited them. i don't know if they will enlarge when clicked because it seems my blog has a mind of its own. i have not done anything different and all of a sudden some can enlarge and others can't, so good luck!

sunday summary

2009-11-22T16:00:00.000-08:00

another busy weekend here! friday night i met julie and nathalie for a vietnamese dinner, saturday did a little window shopping at dix 30 with hubby, babysat the girls saturday night and today lisa & the girls came over so that dom could work on his music! it's a good job i scratched a couple of things off my to-do list last week, (finished my tinkerbell painting for elki and the christmas stocking for zoé) so i could play on the weekend.

here are a few more layouts from our cruise album.

our cruise album...

2009-11-20T14:32:00.001-08:00

i just realized that i could only post 4 of these layout at one time, so here are the last 4 places we visited on our september cruise. i will upload more in a different post sometime this weekend. since i was also doing an ibook, because i had taken so many photos, i chose 9 or 10 photos from each port and scrapped them to satisfy my addition! the first 3 you can click to see them bigger, but for some strange reason, some of mine don't and venice will not, go figure!

you might notice that i do not have any journalling on them, but rest assured i had lots to say for each port, but too much for the front of my layout, so for each layout i made a pocket in the back with a slide out piece of cardstock with a tab on top.

it's wednesday...

2009-11-18T13:54:00.000-08:00

and i feel like uploading a couple of layoutss! these are both about justin's visit to the great escape in lake george, n.y. this year. i purposely did not make a double page layout because the one about him getting a special delivery of milk and cookies from daffy duck i felt, deserved a page all to itself, but of course him meeting all those other looney toon characters needed one too. so here they are!

even though they are individual los, i think they will actually look like a double pager when they are beside each other in his album.

sunday night...

2009-11-15T16:40:00.000-08:00

and the weekend is over and it was another fun one.

saturday morning we went to see 'the rockettes' at the bell center. we had great seats, first row off the ice and close to the stage and what a fabulous show it was, the dancing was flawless and the costumes were absolutely gorgeous. saturday afternoon we went up to laval to celebrate justin's 8th birthday, so the whole family was together and playing with their wii (bowling) and justin beat the pants off of us!

and today i finished up preparing my ibook of our mediterranean cruise for print, so i am a happy camper!

here is a layout i did a few weeks ago.

unplanned busy weekend...

2009-11-08T15:57:00.000-08:00

for a weekend i didn't have any plans for, i ended up being fairly busy. yesterday lisa called to invite us to join her family to go to a bazaar in a church near their house and they love to go to these bazaars for the home made lunches and of course if you find a little something in the bargain it works out well. reg had some work to do, so i went with them and bought a cute little oriental teapot with 2 little cups and 2 marguerita glasses, my drink of choice, after a bowl of delicious pea soup, because they were all out of the carrot and a i shared an egg sandwich with elki. after that we all (except dom who was going to a class reunion) came back here for supper and reg made a nice lemony custard dessert. my husband is quite the baker!!!

today, first thing after reg left to play golf, i went and put the cover on the tempo frame since it was such a lovely day. then i made a trip out to scrapbook centrale to pick up my a.c. album and a few other goodies, getting caught in traffic both ways (an accident in both directions, go figure!)

after lunch we went to visit an open house apartment block in brossard for retired people, which was to die for. it had everything from a pool (my pleasure) to a movie theatre to a dining room and a beauty salon, very beautiful but very expensive, so needless to say we won't be moving there any time soon, unless we win the million, hahaha!

i will leave you with a layout i did last week about the day dom, elki & i went out to visit the ecomuseum and met up with ruth & julie & mimi and the kids.

last but not least...

2009-11-05T06:49:00.000-08:00

and here is my last layout for the a.c. blog challenge. i did not have any a.c. halloween pps to go with the red for this one (but the requirement is only using 2 products, period) so i found these a.c. papers in my a.c. scraps and did something i found myself unable to do in the past. as a matter of fact ruth and i had agreed on this very thing at our weekend crop a few weeks ago, and that's putting a title on patterned paper. i think it works here though since the patterns are not that busy. and usually i hate red eye, but in this photo it works!!!

supplies:

cardstock: american crafts and bazzill

pattern paper: american crafts

thickers: american crafts

chipboard: little yellow bicycle & reminisce

felt stickers: mm

ribbon: little yellow bicycle

gems: dollarama

pen: sakura & signo uniball

my second a.c. blog challenge layout

2009-11-04T14:16:00.000-08:00

this is justin's layout and my second one for the a.c. blog challenge, he opted for a mask since i cut the eye slits bigger because the mask sat away from his eyes too much and he said he couldn't see that well.

supplies:

cardstock: american crafts, bazzill, colorbox & provo

pattern paper: american crafts

thickers: american crafts

letter stickers: my little shoe box

chipboard: little yellow bicycle & reminisce

one for the a.c. blog challenge!

2009-11-04T08:06:00.000-08:00

i have done one layout for each grandchild. my first one is 'our hungry leopard' about zoé who would not sit still to have all her face made up. her costume was a leopard, but she chose to have her face made up as a tiger, so she is a half finished tiger leopard but she started eating candy before we even went out trick or treating so that's what i focused on since in the photo she has her mouth full of it!

supplies:
cardstock: bazzill & provo craft
pattern paper: american crafts (some of my cut out bats are pop-dotted)
thickers: american crafts
rub-ons: american crafts
brads: american crafts
pen: sakura

a layout from our weekend crop...

2009-10-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

i finished 8 layouts during our shortened yearly fall weekend crop and as always, a lot of fun was had by all, along with a lot of eating, kidding each other, drinking and a little bit of scrapping thrown in for good measure! the only thing we did not get to do as usual, was take a walk to take some fall foliage photos, because it was pouring rain most of saturday, grrr...

here is the first layout i made friday night. these are just a few of the photos i took of the grandkids on thanksgiving day trying to get my christmas card shot.

a layout for the a.c. blog challenge...

2009-10-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

yeah, i'm finally getting back to doing one! it didn't turn out exactly how i had planned, but it's done and i'm happy i have an entry for this week.

other than the cardstock which is bazzill, everything else, patterned paper, thickers, rub-ons and plastic flower and brad are all by american crafts!

saturday sadness...

2009-10-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

today i went to the funeral of an old and dear friend. when i was growing up in dorval, her family lived across the street from us so we have been friends for at least 50 years. she would have been 51 years old in december, but will not see it. one of her brothers and her husband made fantastic eulogies holding back tears the whole time. we laughed and we cried and she had a great send off because it was a full house. she had m.s. and was in a wheel chair for the last couple of years, but that did not stop her, she was a dynamo. she was very involved with the m.s. society and had actually organized their golf tournament this summer, so there were many people at her funeral today.

as sad as the occasion was i was very happy to see her 2 brothers, one of which i have not seen in probably 33 years and the younger one i see every time i go out west to see my sisters since he lives in vancouver. i was very happy also to spend some time with the younger one's wife and i also met back up with their cousin who when she would visit them back in the day, i would chum around with. it brought back a lot of good memories!

sorry for the sadness, so i will leave you with a layout i did awhile ago of my bleeding hearts, but i just never got around to uploading before.

happy thanksgiving!

2009-10-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

there are things we should have been doing this weekend, like closing the swimming pool and getting all the outdoor furniture put away, but we were glued to the tv watching the 'president's cup' instead. golf is the only sport i enjoy watching on tv and it was disappointing that the international team didn't give the u.s. team more of a run for their money, but we watched anyway!

tomorrow is thanksgiving and the whole family will hopefully be here (justin was sick today), so the house will be smelling delicious. happy thanksgiving everyone!

i leave you with a layout that i did quite awhile ago. i know it's a funny subject for a layout but when i saw those colorful cans in the water fountain, i knew i would make one about the best photo i took at the jazz festival.

it's been awhile...

2009-10-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

so here i am not having too much to say but i had a very nice weekend even though the weather was lousy again!

saturday julie and i went to scrapbook centrale for another one of their sales to pick up some much needed cardstock. since we are both making travel albums a lot is being used quickly.

yesterday lisa called and had a day full of activities and asked if i would join her and the girls. first we went for elki's swimming lessons where she is doing very well, then downtown to a craft sale on st. viateur and man of man it was packed where we had a polish lunch and even though i was tempted by a few jewelry pieces i resisted. to top off the afternoon, we went to the children's 'purple pop party' at the metropolis where the kids had a lot of fun with drawing, playing with big purple balls, lots of music and dance and elki got some purple streaks in her banks which made her very happy.

i leave you with this layout i did before our cruise of elki at st. lambert days the night of her daddy's concert with her magic star! tfl :)

the friday file...

2009-09-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

here is a layout i did last tuesday morning at 3:15 a.m. we had just arrived home from our cruise monday night and it would have been 9:15 a.m. if we had still been in venice, thus...the early hour.

since dom's first solo album is very turquoise oriented (check out his nice guitar) i just had to go with that color and of course it happens to be my birthstone and a favorite color of mine. tfl! :)

a.c. blog challenge!

2009-09-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

here is my layout for the a.c. blog challenge for this week to use 2 a.c. elements on a page!

supplies:
cs: bazzill, colorbox & provo
pp, button and brads: american crafts
letter stickers: basic grey, doodlebug and heidi grace
pen: sakura

tfl! :)

friday photos!

2009-09-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

here are a few of my favs from the first places that we visited on our cruise.

this first one is park guell in barcelona and it was our favorite spot in that city, well worth climbing that hill, eh reg!!! ;)

next stop monte carlo, where we visited the 'oceanographic museum and aquarium', wonderful, wonderful!

now onto pisa and yes we did the goofy holding up the building shot but this is my fav!

this palace in florence was where we ate lunch just like royalty!!!

and last but definitely not least here is st. peter's and words cannot describe the feeling of standing in that huge square, tv just does not do it justice!!!

more to come in the next few days. :)

i'm back!!!

2009-09-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

bet you didn't even know i was gone did ya!!! well we went on a 2 week mediterrean cruise and it was fantastic. it was a lot of work preparing all the itinerary for it because we decided to do most of our own touring instead of the easy way of booking an excursion with the cruise line which were ripoffs if you ask me.

my 2 sisters from vancouver were taking this cruise and we decided after much coaxing from them to join them as an early celebration of my 60th birthday!!!

we started out in barcelona, spain and we arrived a day early to see a little bit of the city before getting on the ship, and i'm glad we did. we took a hop on, hop off bus and that is a great way to see the sites when you only have a short time in a city. we did both the green and orange line, but we were so zonked by the end of it that we didn't get off the bus too much. our favorite part was 'park guel' which was designed by gaudi and there is a fantastic view of the city from there, he had such a great imagination.

after boarding the ship, our stops were monte carlo, livorno (pisa/florence), civitiveccia (rome), naples, mykonos, istanbul, kusadasi, athens and last but not least, venice where we stayed an extra night before flying home on tuesday.

i still have my sea legs and i've had an upset stomach ever since and i think it's coming off the gravol that i was taking for the prevention of sea sickness! oh well no pain, no gain as they say! ;)

i took 2,122 photos, so i think i'll be busy for a long time checking all of them before i will be able to scrap any of them. once i have looked at some i'll post them to give you a taste of europe's best in my eyes!

i'll be checking in on what i have missed on my favorite blogs, so be patient!

sunday, sunday!

2009-08-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

another week has come and gone and the summer is dwindling down, who am i kidding, WHAT SUMMER!!! since we had such terrible weather, maybe we will have a nice indian summer to make up for it, eh! :)

here is a layout i did last night about justin and his abs!!! i know there is no lighthouse in gaspé but that cute little button goes with the sea and it went very nicely with my cardstock and trim! ;)

two layouts for today!

2009-08-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

i made these two layouts 3 weeks ago just after we celebrated laura's birthday, about the fact that her and donald have the same sign, but not the same birthstone and lisa and dom have the same birthstone, but not the same sign. and as you can see i was into the flowers that day and black and white!!!

they look like they are not happy, but in actual fact they were listening intently to some story that reg was telling and i like to take shots like that.

good weekend!

2009-08-23T17:24:00.001-07:00

we didn't get the rain they predicted for the weekend, so i'd say it turned out pretty good. laura came to pick up justin friday afternoon and we went into st. lambert for st. lambert days and to mind the girls while dom had an interview on a radio station that was there, which only took about 15 mins. then we came home for some yummy sushi.

saturday i went on a very successful shopping spree and then last night we went back to st. lambert for dom's outdoor concert and today lisa, dom and the girls came over to swim. i predicted that elki would learn to swim without her wings this year on a recent layout (which i have not uploaded here yet) and she did it today!!! she was even jumping into the pool without them, but of course we were there to catch her.

i didn't get to scrap, but here is one i did a few weeks ago which i find fun!

freedom friday!

2009-08-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

as much as i love my grandson, a week is almost too much for me to take!!! because he is an only child, he never wants to be alone and it's me he wants all the time, never his grandfather. of course his grandfather has played golf 3 days this week so he hasn't exactly been here. justin had his moments too of missing his parents and all the exercise he is getting swimming lengths in the pool with me ;) makes him so tired at night that he gets sad because he is not with them! so this afternoon his mom is coming to get him and we will go to the movies as a treat for him and tomorrow we'll be back to our quiet house again! :)

here is a layout i did last week before justin arrived and of course i don't get to do any scrapping when he is here either, so i'll be glad to have some time for that again!

this weeks's a.c. blog challenge

2009-08-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

was to use remarks stickers on a layout, so here is mine using all those new cute little critter & flower stickers. as a matter of fact this is pretty much an all american crafts layout! :)

supplies:
cardstock: american crafts & bazzill
pp, thickers and stickers: american crafts
pen: staedtler fineliner
brads: american traditions & karen foster

tfl!

summer has finally arrived!

2009-08-15T06:52:00.001-07:00

we waited all of july for this to happen and it's finally here, yeah!!! i love the heat! today will certainly be a lazy day spent mostly cooling off in the pool. i must rest up, since justin is coming to spend the week tomorrow. camp has finished for the summer and he only starts school the week after next, so he will be spending his last week here. why do summer camps finish one week too early, does everyone have this same problem that works? what a crazy system!

anyway here is a layout i did of zoe singing happy birthday to elki after everyone had left the party. of course, we didn't actually understand the words except 'aki', she even plays the orchestra leader!

hope everyone has a great weekend!

it's time again...

2009-08-10T16:42:00.000-07:00

it seems that i only have the time lately to upload my lo for the a.c. blog challenge, but i have done many other los which i will find time to upload soon i promise. it was an 'all about me' challenge and i used one of the photos i took of myself in the june photo challenge month that i did with ruth and julie.

supplies:
cardstock: american crafts & bazzill
pattern paper and sticker: american crafts
butterflies: heidi swapp
letter stickers: doodlebug
bling: mm
hug: scrapworks

tfl!

how about another lo for the a.c. blog challenge???

2009-08-06T06:31:00.000-07:00

this is one of my submissions for the american crafts design team, and since it was made using all american crafts products i thought i might as well use it for this challenge!

supplies:

cardstock: bazzill and colorbox

pattern paper, buttons, thickers & chipboard: all american crafts

pen: sakura

number stickers: creative imaginations

tfl!

it's a.c. blog challenge time again!

2009-08-04T10:11:00.001-07:00

supplies:

cardstock: bazzill and colorbox

buttons, rub-ons, glitter thickers and pattern paper: american crafts

pen: sakura

tfl!

weekend fun!

2009-08-02T08:35:00.000-07:00

so far it has been a fun weekend starting out with friday night when i had a nice relaxing dinner with nathalie and julie in st. lambert, after a very hectic day starting out at 6 am when i went for my blood test with the rest of the cattle at the clsc.

saturday we celebrated 3 birthdays, donald's was on monday, laura's yesterday and zoé's is on tuesday, and we finally had a great saturday weatherwise to do it on!!! here are a few shots from the day.

in this next photo, zoé is serenading us with a meow, meow, meow song and to keep the rhythm, her head went back and forth with the meows!

nemo took a surfboard ride which he liked better than going swimming!

elki was not in such a good mood and wanted her mummy until we blew up the alligator and then she was right in there having a ball with justin who was alligator wrestling, turning them upside down and just having some good old kid fun!

and to top it off the blowing out of the candles on the asked for strawberry shortcake, but zoé only watched as don and laura blew, she was more interested in using the candle end to sneak some whipped cream!

thanks for stopping by letting me bore you with our weekend photos!

a layout for the american crafts blog challenge

2009-07-28T07:02:00.000-07:00

ok so i only own one american crafts pen, so i couldn't go crazy, but i did use it for the line under the title and the journalling and for the date on the photo!

supplies:

cardstock: colorbox and bazzill
pp, rub-ons & thickers: american crafts
brad: unknown
pen: precision pen by american crafts

tfl and good luck to everyone who enters!

oh happy day!

2009-07-23T16:52:00.001-07:00

first reason to be happy is that i went to pick up lisa, dom and the girls at the airport today from their 3 week vacation in germany and the girls were so happy to see me they kept calling my name in the car all the way home. and of course i was very excited to see them too, because i missed them so much!

second reason is that i was chosen as the readers submission on scrapbook & cards today, well actually elki was since she took all the photos, i just scrapped them! ;)

i leave you with a layout i did a couple of weeks ago about some of the birds that have been coming to visit our back yard this year.

another week almost over...

2009-07-16T16:55:00.000-07:00

here we are already thursday, where does the time go? the summer so far has been the pitts as far as weather is concerned but it has been quite good scrapping weather i must say. here are a few layouts that i did recently. elki turned 4 in june and this was one of the cutest photos from that day, she had just received this homemade necklace from one of lisa's friends.

and this one of course is justin's school photo from grade one, finished just in time for him finishing school and now they already have their list for supplies to start school again! sorry about the shadowy scan but some of the elements are pop-dotted.

a layout for the american crafts blog challenge

2009-07-08T19:20:00.000-07:00

this week's challenge was for a red, white and blue layout, and here is mine!

supplies:

cardstock: colorbox

pattern paper, thickers and rub-ons: all american crafts

journalling spot: jillibean soup

pen: sakura

seed beads for the butterfly attenae

june's photo-a-day challenge layout

2009-07-08T06:14:00.000-07:00

since the month of photo challenges is over, i got my layout done on the weekend. i used the mosaic maker to print up my photos, but then cut it all up because i wanted to lay my photos out like a calendar like i usually do, and the month started on a monday. not sure i like the way i did my journalling, might have to do that part over maybe with some hidden journalling!

friday already!

2009-07-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

it seems that only yesterday it was monday, oh well, time flies when you're busy, right! i wanted to upload these layouts on monday, but what can i say, it's friday and i'm just getting around to it! this first one is justin's loves at his age, but i put what i know that he loves, but he also made a list and there are different things on it, so i might have to do another one for him!

this next one i scraplifted from a layout by heather bowser that was in scrapbook etc. mag. i just loved it so much that it's pretty darned close to the original! the interesting part about this is the polka dotted pattern paper that i used is the cut out piece from the layout above and i didn't want to cover it up.

a funny story about this last one. is that both times that elki came over to sleep lately we would go downstairs to my scrap room and while i worked on a layout, she would make a b-day card or father's day card. when i finished this one, i held it up to her and asked if she liked it and she put her head to one side and really took her time and thought about it and then said 'try it again!' well reg sometimes says that a layout may not be my best work, but i must say that elki is my harshest critic! :)

an interesting week...

2009-06-26T09:13:00.001-07:00

on wednesday (our national holiday) i had lunch with some gals that i went to high school with and haven't seen in let's see, some 43 years! there was a school re-union, i believe it was about 10 years after we all left high school, but i didn't go, and then there was a class of '66 (our graduating year) re-union when we were all turning 50, but i didn't go to that one either. so this year we are all turning 60 and i finally caved and went and am very happy that i did. we had a great time reminiscing and telling some funny secrets of our years at john xxiii and asking what ever happened to so and so and where is he or she now and what are they doing? i was a little nervous about going because they were not the girls that i was most chummy with, because they were in the other class, but you would have thought so if you saw my welcome. it was as though we have been friends for all these years. and for 60 years old, we are like fine wine, we all aged pretty darned good, even though i do say so myself!!! i plan to do a layout about it, so hopefully they all won't mind if i post it and you can see for yourselves.

when i got home laura, don and justin were here for a swim so that was a nice home coming!

yesterday justin was here and we spent the day in the pool just to stay cool and tonight i get to see elki & zoe because it's lisa's birthday, so dom is taking her to a birthday dinner while i babysit.

what could be better than that, to see all my family this week and some really old friends too!

the weekend is over and...

2009-06-22T14:29:00.001-07:00

i managed to finish 2 layouts friday night before elki came to sleep over at her 'nana's' on saturday! she has been asking for a long time, but when we tried it before, she always ended up going home because she wanted her 'maman'! we had a great time together, swimming, reading stories on the swing and painting her finger and toenails.

this first layout i started sometime during the week, so it was just a matter of sticking it down. elki got ahold of my camera a few weeks ago and went around her backyard taking photos of everything and so i of course, thought it would be a great subject for a layout!

and this one is don's loves at his age right now and came together quite quickly since i am doing them basically the same way!

continuing with 2 more 'age loves' layouts

2009-06-17T12:28:00.000-07:00

i just made it under the wire with lisa's, since her birthday is in a week! as i said before, i found her list in a book i borrowed when we went to florida, so she started me on this 'love' lists at their present ages. i used 5 x 7's on both of them, so that i could use them for the a.c. blog challenge this week too!

here is laura's and now i only have the 2 son-in-laws to do!

2009-06-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

i had lunch with my sister-in-law on a monday a couple of weeks ago and she said 'out on monday, out the rest of the week'! i had never heard that before but man oh man it happened that week and this week is shaping up to be the same, too funny!

here is another christmas layout, doesn't look like it eh? it started out being for a call, but i trashed that idea and just made it for the heck of it, because i could not follow the requirements for the call.

well i think i'm done with my christmas layouts now, moving on!!!

2009-06-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

a series of layouts

i've been working on these for a few weeks and i plan to make everyone in the family one, but i'm missing a few photos to continue!

while i was in florida reading a book that lisa had lent me, i came across a little piece of paper with her loves at her age right now and i thought that this would make a great page, so there will be more along the way, these are just the ones i've finished so far. of course zoe can't talk yet, although she thinks that she can, so i've listed some of the words that she says at the moment!

2009-06-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

weekend layouts

since it was such a crappy saturday and reg went to play golf in the rain, i ended up scrapping my day away and ended up with 2 completely different layouts.

this first one of elki, the artist, being so serious and oblivious to her photo being taken, came together quite quickly, and i even used up some of the old mme borders which i have had so much trouble using in the past because of their cream color!

and then i did this clean and simple one, go figure!!!

2009-05-30T07:25:00.000-07:00

soggy saturday!!!

you would thing that we lived in B.C. rather than QC with all this rain! rain, rain, GO AWAY, come again another day!

here is a layout i did a few weeks ago about justin's week he spent with us down in florida for march break!

i think it's a good day to go down and finish cleaning up my scrap space that i started yesterday. my scrap table gets cleared off after each layout, but my desk seems to collect things that come into my room that don't put themselves away right away. i can only put up with that for so long and then i have to clear it away. but this time, i decided to re-arrange things when i started so it made much more work, but maybe it will be more efficient this way, i hope so anyway!

2009-05-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

flower planting day and a layout!

we finally went to buy our flowers today and it was a good one for planting them, because it rained as soon as i finished. i planted 11 flats and 12 individual pots and oh my aching back! i think i will go and buy another couple of flats since there are still a few bare spots.

when i was finished i did my 2 mile walk on the treadmill while watching g.h. and then finished up this layout that i had started last night using the pretty 'my mind's eye' that i bought last week.

2009-05-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

layout for the a.c. cardstock blog challenge

at the end of last year i bought this great package of 8,5 x 11 a.c. cardstock and was able to use the different shades of pinks for this photo i took of zoe on sunday in her cute little pink/green dress for the a.c. cardstock bog challenge. the only thing that isn't american crafts are the little prima flowers.

2009-05-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

believe it or not !~!~!

this is a christmas layout! when it came for dessert on christmas, i had made a lemon meringue and sugar pie since in our family there are sweet lovers and some like it sour!!! well we certainly found out which category zoe fits into, because as soon as i started cutting into the sugar pie, she was all eyes and couldn't wait til i got some on a plate for her, she just dipped in her finger for a taste test!

2009-05-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

i think this is the cutest thing that one of our grandchildren has ever done (and children too for that matter). if i ask elki what her name is, this is what she says and it's so cute, i had to share it with everyone!

2009-05-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

a.c. blog challenge

this is my first layout for the american crafts blog challenge using 'other than' wedding themed pps this week!

supplies: cs: bazzill and provo; pp: american crafts (play - jigsaw puzzle); thickers, foam arrows and button: all american crafts

2009-05-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

we stopped at the botanical gardens the friday before last on our way home from the heart institute to see the tulips. it was so beautiful, because it had rained that morning so the flowers were still full of rain drops which made for some really nice close-ups. i had this layout done by the next night because i was excited about all the photos!

2009-05-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

another n.s.d. layout

this was the last layout i got done at our n.s.d. weekend and i think it's my favorite.

this week has flown by, as a matter of fact dh thought it was only thursday today! this is the big planting weekend for most people, but i wait until next week to go buy my plants to avoid the rush!

happy victoria day everyone!

2009-05-13T07:24:00.000-07:00

another florida layout

this was a quick one that came together quite quickly last week, except for the fact that i changed my background cardstock after i had finished it. it was originally green (which i seem to be choosing all the time lately to go with spring i presume), but when i brought it upstairs, the green just did not go as well as it looked in my basement scraproom!

2009-05-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

easter layouts

here are my 3 los for easter, each with a different point of view for each of the kids! justin thought it was a competition, elki was very excited to be collecting eggs in her new basket purse that i bought her and zoe was just interested in eating the chocolate and really didn't know what all the fuss was about. wait til next year justin, she is a real little bulldozer!!! :)

btw, do you recognize the tulips strip on elki's lo, it's from a box of kleenex i had just finished and was going to put it in the re-cyle box, but thought it was the perfect color and accent for an easter/spring lo!

2009-05-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

two nsd layouts

i just finished working on my second iphoto book at my daughter's house and if i had a mac, i certainly would get addicted to making them, because they are so user friendly. i won't be making many layouts of the beautiful butterflies and birds i took photos of at 'butterfly world' in florida, since that's what my photo book is all about, but i did do 2 layouts on the weekend with some of my favorite shots. now i can't wait to receive my book!

2009-05-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

photo-a-day challenge layout

ruth and i did a photo-a-day challenge for april and we had a week to get a lo done with said photos. i did mine on the weekend at our nsd and here it is. it was a very easy month to do this since the gardens are coming back to life and there is color all around us again!

we will be doing another one in june with a twist, stay tuned...

2009-04-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

thursday

as you can see my lilacs are progressing quite nicely by my new title photo taken this morning! the yard is springing to life and that makes me very happy! :) the miracle of spring always amazes me, everything turning a fresh green after the dullness of winter and dead leaves everywhere. a few days of warm weather and another few days of rain does wonders for everything living. it's just going to get prettier and prettier with the lilacs and the crab apple trees flowering and making everything smell lovely too, i love this time of year!

2009-04-23T19:36:00.001-07:00

home again!

well this has been quite a week! i had planned to prune the apple trees on monday since the weather was supposed to be good and wait til tuesday and wednesday to start my spring cleaning since it was going to rain, but that was all changed!

monday morning i brought dh to the e.r., because he had not felt well all weekend and by monday morning he was worse and very dizzy. it took 3 hours to see a doctor, but when he did they wanted to keep him overnight for observation, because his heart was beating way too slow. long story, short, after many tests and freezing in the e.r. all night, tuesday night at 8:30 pm he went up to surgery to put in a pacemaker. after a day of recuperation in the cardiac care unit, i brought him home this morning, but i told him that if i get sick, don't bring me to that hospital because there was only one nurse who spoke to me in english.

it's good to have him home safe and sound!

2009-04-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

i can see clearly now...

just finished cleaning all the windows and blinds. it feels so good to get all the winter grime or whatever off of them and now i'm ready for next week for the thorough room clean where everything including the walls get washed, a hated week! i'm usually dead after that one, but i think i better spread it out a little since i'm not as young as i used to be, but in my head i am, it's just my body that is growing old!

my son-in-law is coming over tomorrow to change my brakes and put my all season tires back on 'little riding hood'. out with friends for dinner and sunday i'm hoping to get some scrapping done.

hope everyone has a great weekend!

2009-04-13T13:52:00.001-07:00

outside spring cleaning woes!

i just finished raking up all the fir tree needles, leaves and rocks from the front grass! st. hubert has decided to not use salt on the lesser used roads and instead uses gravel. but the gravel is getting bigger and bigger each year, it used to be just gravel, but today i found rocks that were at least 2 inches, grrrr..... i hope i got them all becasue sure as shootin' the lawn mower will find them and shoot them out like a rifle shot!!!

2009-04-04T14:26:00.001-07:00

saturday, 4 april - it's good to be home sweet home!

we arrived home yesterday at 4 pm after 3 days drive through the pouring rain all the way from just before jacksonville. it followed us all the way up the coast and we hit fog in the mountains, got slowed down by many construction zones where we went down to one lane and waited an hour at the lacolle border, grrr...! but all in all it was a great trip.

hope everyone is having a great rainy weekend!

2009-03-29T09:14:00.000-07:00

sunday, 29 march - where oh where has the time gone, the end of march already and it's almost time to start heading north! i have not only been sitting on the beach down here, i've painted some letters (3 sets of "create", painted to look like s.r. patterns) to hang in my scrap room and my 2 dds, i'm on my 8th book and have done 2 paintings, the last one of which is above. i think this one went so fast because it was more appropo for the climate down here!

2009-03-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

i have so many photos that i love, i just couldn't resist showing you somemore! this guy was showing off for me!

get a load of that hairdo!!! he's a red legged honeycreeper.

here is an amazilia emerald hummingbird and he was the size of my thumb!

and here is a better one of the rufus hummingbird, his throat was florescent orange!!!

and finally, this little guy is a jamaican streamtail hummingbird.

2009-03-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

friday, 20 march - here are just a few of the beautiful birds we saw yesterday at 'butterfly world'!

the bird in the top photo is a 'violet euphonia' and photo 2 is of course a parrot, the third and fourth are not in the guide book and the last one is a 'rufuos' hummingbird and it was tiny, tiny, tiny!!!

my header is a photo i took there too!

2009-03-16T17:09:00.000-07:00

monday, 16 march - here are 2 photos from the blastoff last night of the shuttle discovery. unfortunately i screwed up and had my camera on the wrong setting, but here are 2 photos of what lingered in the night sky for at least an hour after! the top one is right after the launch and the bottom one is a white cloud which only appeared about 15 mins. later!

2009-03-15T17:54:00.000-07:00

sunday, 15 march - omg, i was so excited tonight as we got to the the shuttle 'discovery' blast off into space at 7:43 pm. we were eating dinner and watching cnn which reminded us about it and we went out onto the beach hoping to see it and wow, it was amazing! :)

2009-03-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

friday, 13 march - as you know i have been painting while i've been down here in florida and have just finished this one which i started back in montreal. i have started another one which i hope will be finished by the time we head home in about 3 weeks, because by then, i'll want to be scrapping!

2009-03-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

wednesday, 11 march - well the weather has certainly gotten better this week and now we are starting to look like we've been here a month with some pretty good color! i've hit the beach everyday since sunday, and after my walk in the morning i actually got some painting done. i just finished a painting that i was doing for a friend and now will start one for myself. i love painting down here, it sure is a change from my basement back home where i do my painting!

they just made the annoucement at scrapbook centrale about the nsd this year and the price has gone up to $75, with no hint of anything being different, so me thinks that i will skip it this year! i just can't spend that kind of money for gas, frustration and complaining when i can scrap at home for free!!! ;)

2009-03-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

sunday, 8 march - a sad day for us because laura & justin went home this morning! :( but on the upside, we had a great week together, even though the weather did not co-operate all that much, (it was cool some days and down right cold others), but laura is not a sit on the beach all day long kinda gal anyways. so we went shopping and also went on a sight seeing cruise, that's where we saw the alligators. justin loved that!!! :)

now i will get back to my painting that was almost finished when they came down a week ago last friday and get going on another one that i had started. i'm getting really antsy too to get home and do some scrapping!

here's hoping that everyone is having a good sunday!

2009-02-24T11:51:00.000-08:00

here are a few shots from this morning since ruth gave me heck for not posting any photos with my big long speel, the rest i posted on my photobug blog! from the top, a brown pelican, some brightly colored yellow/black fish under the bridge and a cute little lizard that posed for me!

2009-02-24T08:09:00.000-08:00

tuesday, 24 february - i have had quite the photo op hour and a half on my walk this morning! even though i can't think of another kind of bird i could get a photo of, i take my camera, JUST IN CASE! when i headed back to the condo, just as i got to the top of the hill for the harbour bridge the bell rang and that means, DON'T go any further! so while standing there i got some shots of the parakeets, it seems they were showing off for us all. then i stopped to take this gigantic bird in a tree (not sure what it was because he had his head tucked in asleep) but he flew away, but as he did i spotted another smaller one who was even closer to me. then there were some workmen and one of them was a crazy jamaiican named howard, who wanted his picture taken (i guess to break the boredom) so we chatted and he had these blue, blue eyes. he said he was only joking but i got a few shots anyway. then a little further on, i spotted a break in the water and when i got closer it was a (i'm going to say pod b/c they are huge) manatee (sea cow) but then NO, it was 7 of them, WOW! what a morning, so glad i brought my camera, otherwise i would have been very upset to not capture these memories!

2009-02-21T17:18:00.000-08:00

saturday, 21 february - i love flowers, especially orange ones and here is a photo i took of the flowers dh gave me for valentine's day last week and they still look as lovely today, a week later!

2009-02-18T16:55:00.000-08:00

wednesday, 18 february - this is the view from our condo! i sat beside this window working on my painting this morning and thought how nice it would be to live here all the time!

2009-02-11T13:20:00.000-08:00

wednesday, 11 february - while i was taking my walk this morning and snapping photos when i saw something i liked, i thought to myself that if i had my life to live over again, i would love to be a nature photographer. i just love taking photos of flowers and animals and will go the extra mile to get the shot that i want, even if it means trespassing on someone's lawn and climbing the dunes to get it.

2009-02-10T18:25:00.000-08:00

tuesday, 10 february - well it's finally feeling like florida today, i finally went and sat on the beach this afternoon and read my book even though as soon as i got down there and put my sunscreen on, a big black cloud came over and it started to spit, but it lasted all of about 10 sec. and then it blew away and it was blue sky for the rest of the afternoon! it felt so good, my fingers that have been so stiff lately started to feel good again, i love when that happens, all they needed was some heat! :)

2009-02-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

sunday, 8 february - we saw the most extraordinary thing this afternoon while sitting beside the intercoastal waterway watching all the boats go by! A FLYING STINGRAY!!! there was a party going on, on the other side at one of the huge houses that are around here, and i thought for a moment that someone from there had thrown something into the water and made one heck of a splash, but no, lo and behold, he flew up into the air 2 more times so that we had a good look at what it was! when we sat there yesterday, i had my camera with me, but today, nope, no such luck and this is not just another big fish tale ! :)

2009-02-06T08:06:00.000-08:00

friday, 6 february - brrrrrrrrrr... it's cold out this morning, only 46F! it's alright when you have the clothes and a nice warm heater to keep you warm, but there is no heater in here and i've got a sweat suit on and a hoodie. luckily for us though it's supposed to warm up by sunday and by the end of next week it should be almost up to 80! :) it's a good job i brought some painting supplies to keep me busy since it's NOT beach weather! grrr..........!

2009-02-03T13:26:00.000-08:00

tuesday, 3 february - i told myself that this year i would not collect any sea shells, but i just can't walk on the beach and see those beautiful shells and not stoop down and pick it up just to inspect it of course, but then it goes into my pocket! ;) the difference this year will be that i will not pick up just any shell, it has to be a special one! hahaha! we'll see...

2009-02-02T12:46:00.000-08:00

monday - 2 february - i saw the most beautiful sunrise at 7 a.m. yesterday morning over a swamp in georgia with a bridge in the distance with pink cascading clouds, but i was driving and couldn't stop and my camera was buried somewhere in the back seat, so unfortunately i had to click, click with my voice so that my brain could record this beautiful site. when i had finished driving, i did a small sketch in my journal so that my brain could be nudged into remembering it! :)

2009-01-28T14:49:00.000-08:00

wednesday, 28 january - well it looks like a winter wonderland out there today, it's coming down fast and furious. it look beautiful, but i hate it! we shoveled the driveway and went out to do some errands and when we came back about an hour and a half later, we had to do it all over again and that's why i hate winter! if i could just hibernate like a bear til the end of april, i'd be fine, give me warmth and the beach any day, tell me why am i still living here! i need a vacation!!! ;)

2009-01-21T16:42:00.000-08:00

wednesday, 21 january - well it's been awhile, but i haven't had anything to say til now. this morning i was speaking to my friend who lives in north carolina and she was amazed that i watched more of president obama's inauguration than she did! i turned the tv on at 10 o'clock in the morning on cnn and didn't turn it off til 11 pm when i hit the sack. i watched everything from the vips arriving, the swearing in, the walk down pennsylvania avenue, viewing the parade and finally all the waltzes at i think 4 of the balls. the amazing fact is that i don't watch any of the canadian swearing ins, of course i don't think there is that much pomp and ceremony up here either. they are such a lovely couple and i wish them well in their new home and their new life as president and michelle obama because i think he has a hell of a job to do down there!

2009-01-16T16:37:00.001-08:00

friday, 16 january - brrrrrrrrrrrrr...another freezing day!

since the beginning of the year i've only gotten 2 layouts done and this is one of them. i was so happy to snap these photos, i just had to do something with them.

2009-01-14T16:10:00.000-08:00

wednesday, 14 january - oh my god was it ever cold out there today!!! i had lunch with my friend in longueuil and we usually walk over to the 'chez cora' which is about a 15 min. walk, but today, there was no way i was going to do it with a temperature of -23 degrees, with a wind chill factor of -35!!! they are calling for it to be worse tomorrow and friday and no let up til next monday when it's going to start snowing, ugh, but that's winter in montreal!

2009-01-13T16:32:00.000-08:00

tuesday, 13 january - i have been trying to organize my scrap room for the past little while (so that it would be more efficient) and for the last 2 nights while watching the first 4 hours of "24", i've managed to go through my 4 albums which housed all my rub-ons, borders & word sheets and i've managed to dwindle it down to 2 albums, so i have a whole pile of product to get rid of, yeah that's more manageable!

today i had lunch with my sister-in-law who i haven't seen for practically a year. we never dwell on the length of time between visits, but just enjoy each other's company when it happens. we had a sushi lunch and then we shopped for some earrings for her upcoming cruise for the captain's dinner. of course, guess who found earrings, and a ring!!!

2009-01-12T16:18:00.001-08:00

sunday, 10 january 2009 - my very first post as a blogger!!!

i set up my other blog just to post my photos for a challenge we had on the scrapbook centrale site of a photo-a-day for the month of december. it was just easier that way, but it became fun and now i'm blogging, something i thought i would never do, but "never say never, eh!"

i don't know how good i'll be at this or how often i will write anything, but it might be a good way of sharing with my sisters and friends some of life's little pleasures!until next time, bye, bye!