I'm here to live outloud!

tune in tomorrow for...

 

should be a day for some GREAT Christmas ideas. see you topmorrow!

well the winner is:

Here is the list in order of the comments so there is no confusion to who won since my blog publishes them backwards:

1. Kari
2. MaryGrace
3. Vicki
4. Trace
5. Gwen
6. Lorraine
7. Donna
8. Leanne
9. Amanda
10. Roz
11. Cheryl
12. Jennifer
13. Dena
14. Tammi
15. Linda
16. Darla
17. JennyG
18. Cary
19. Kyla
20. Kim
21. Kristy
22. Kate
23. Cheri
24. Sarah
25. Dorinda
26. Gloria
27. Katherine
28. Crystal
29. Phillane

True Random Number Generator
Min:  1
Max:  29
 Result:
2

Powered by RANDOM.ORG

So congrats MaryGrace, I have a sneaky suspicion I know who is going to use this lens more!LOL.

This blog prize was sponsored by Lens Baby. A brand new funky company that came out at CHA summer that has unique lens qualities. They have sent a gift certificate for the winner to choose which lens she wants at one of our reputable camera stores. Seriously how cool! I LOVE mine. So THANKS Lens Baby for the support!Check them out!

I Loved making this cute little Christmas card holder. Isn't it fun? I had lot's of fun placing rhinestones and pearls. They add so much creativeness.

off to conquer today! Early dismissal and I have big plans! Seize the day.

photos, Christmas projects

 I love when photographers can capture kids enjoying life. I can't wait to scrap these.

 

 

okay, let's move on to some more scrapbooking projects for Christmas. Of course I have another Kaisercraft beyond the page project. I LOVED opening this one when Mick sent it to me, I knew I wanted to do something different, definitely not balanced.  

So gotta go, kids are home, time to go have fun. Jenn (aspergertopia) put a fabulous recipe for peppermint playdoh on facebook today and I think that idea ROCKS, so we are off to make it.

See you tomorrow with more things to show.

Jim gave me the best gift ...

It wasn't anything material,

It wasn't anything that cost money,

instead Jim gave me the gift of time to spend with my friends with NO KIDS. Lot's of non guilty fun. seriously. it was the best thing that could have happened. I have been gone so much this year, that it has been hard to just hang with no kids and really enjoy the valuable thing about friendships. What I am talking about is this past weekend I had 4 different events:

• Friday: splurge
• Saturday: scrapbook Saturday
• Sunday: charm party
• Monday: Girl's Night Out at Kara's

I was hoping to go to one, so I asked Jim which one would he want me to choose so we could decide what our weekend would look like. Instead he said," You have barely seen your friend's without kids this year, I think you should go to all of them, catch up and have a good time, we have all of December to do things since you are not traveling this month."

I seriously was EXCITED! I haven't been that giddy for so long. Don't get me wrong, I see these women lot's all through the year at playdates, events, etc. but it is rarely just to hang, scrapbook, visit, have socials...so this was just fabulous.

So I have to share. Please don't hate me.

Friday I scrapbooked with Ineke, Tracy, Jenn, Kim, Nicole, Pam for a smidge . We had fun food, laughed lot's and I completed 5 layouts!

Saturday I scrapbooked ALL DAY at Scrapbook Saturday. This is an event that the Close to My Heart sales rep, Karen Welch-Smith puts on once a month. We potlucked yummy foods and visited, it was GREAT! I completed a whack of projects that I will show this week (I just need to take photos.:) She is seriously an amazing rep if you are looking for stuff. I have her link in the side. She also gives us cool stuff everytime. I made a 2 page layout with what she gave so I will do the journaling and take some photos.

Sunday was the most sought after party in the city, the waiting list grows, the hype is unbelievable.yep you know what I am talking about. The Christmas charm party. This time we had more people and it was PERFECT! I think that the group connection this time was fabulous and that we walked away with stunning bracelets,gifts, also indulged in Saucy cupcakes (which for those of you who was at my Sask Scraps event know they are the BEST.) and we ate yummy food.

These are the scrapbook ornaments I made for everyone. I guess they are my signature thing after all the classes I taught on making them. lol. But every year I just do something a little different everytime.

 

I loved these little tags, they are stamps from MyStamp Box. cute hey?
 

 

I had to borrow this one off of Saucy's site for now, since I didn't take a pic of mine today. sorry. I will try to take pics tomorrow.

Sunday night we watched ...the GAME. Enough said. apparently the last second counts in life. I can't discuss it further because this girl is RiderPride all the way and well we are having moments of silence.

Monday night, I LOVED! a house full of women.the BEST appy's, yummy wine and great company. My longtime friend that I met in grade 6 or 7, threw a wonderful event. It was kinda a trade show if you wanted or just one heck of a good time to visit with a room full of our friends and make some new ones. So the vendors were: Pam-RK jewelery, Polka Dot Piggy- only the most attractive, stylishly functional kids stuff(blankets, bibs, snack bags, magnets, jewelery, breastfeeding aprons) Epicure, Jody had Avon & some of her sweet crafty stuff (cards, baby burp cloths, receiving blankets) Kara had made the coolest treat bags for all of us of some delicious body scrubs and chocolate. It was fun. 

The worst part though is that I have had a lingering headache for the last week, so when I got home last night late, on a terrible endorphine high, I couldn't sleep. Now, broken record, I never sleep well, but this time I tried 3 different times. wasn't working so I just didn't sleep. I stayed up all night, had breakie with Jim, got Riley off to school, finished all the laundry, watched Four Christmases (had parts that made me giggle!) and scrapbooked. Then I crashed and had an intense nap with Ireland. so now I feel GREAT! surprisingly, a million times better.

So now this month of December for me is going to be all about family, friends and scrapbooking gifts. I made a fabulous Advent Calendar using the Kaisercraft kit...LOVE IT! Instead of putting candy in it, I wrote little things on paper to enhance our family qualities through discussion, games, songs. Today's paper says:

Let's start this month off by letting each other know what we love about our family, what is your favourite thing we do as a family.

Each day differs depending on the day of the week. I want this to be a family adventure so I planned activities for the weekend, discussions & songs for the week.  So here is what it looks like:

This is using Kaisercraft's new Q2 Christmas release. It is very elegant. You will notice that I have no picture in it yet. I have decided that I will put in the Christmas the year before's picture at Christmas. I don't have one as a family from last year so I think I will put Santa photos in when we get them done this year.

and a few close ups of the different areas.

 

 

The best part about scrapping this month is I had summer photos I haven't played with this year. LOVE it!

 

 

 

I have sooo many photos from Janna @ Swoon Photography, I'll show you some more all this week. 

And I will hopefully get a minute to take photos of the 20+ projects I completed this weekend. tune in. Remember tomorrow is the last day for the Sk Scraps contest. I will draw at midnight! good luck.

Saskatchewan Scraps Rocked!

*****edited**** I will make the draw for the camera lens on Wednesday. I guess I had some technical error happening on my blog this week. sorry. I totally stepped away for it for a bit due to tiredness. So if you left a comment, they are all there, just not published yet, only if you got some technical message quoting numbers was there a problem. So if you came to the crop you are still welcome to enter. sorry for this mistake.

this weekend. I think it was our best yet. Seriously. things just came together in easier ways for this one. Although it definitely had it's glitches...

• like 11 boxes of goody bag stuffers and prizes arriving hours before the event, and me and Miss Vicki stuffing like crazy. 
• not being able to start set up at 9am instead having to wait to 3:30 (event started at 6:00) this was only completed because we had a huge turnout of awesome people to make this work. Hello Miss Teresa came and helped and she couldn't even attend the event. I am so blessed with amazing friends.
• 5 boxes NOT arriving in time... of course they were here promptly Monday morning. nice. well at least I already have a jumpstart on next year's event. lol

So let's do thank you's first:

• Mother Teresa School-always very pleasant and assisting.
• My mom- the food always rocks, seriously I think with all the people that asked to come for Christmas I could host this event at my mom and dad's again. lol
• Karen Pidskalny- rounding up the "crew" for every little detail possible. set up, tear down, cleaning, garbage detail. awesome! your family rocks!
• Kim Deibert- thanks for being on security detail. Knowing how busy I get I would never hear the schools alarm and hence the police would probably join us to scrap.lol
• Miss Saucy & the Fan. -well where to begin, the cupcakes were the Best. EVER. You always bring the "classiness" like Kate says to an event. Your mom was so adorable in all the help she provided too. By the way we LURRVED the Saucy jewelry.
• Miss Karen Welch-Smith- thanks for being Vicki's go getter girl. I knew you'd provide her some laughs and good help. also thanks for the extra icing.
• Trace for the Candle make n take. was this not a super cool idea??? Make sure you tune into the mystampbox.com blog to see more of her work. she has it going on!
• donna & chantelle from Inspired Designs Scrapbooking Boutique. you guys "GET IT". seriously, has anyone ever seen women run to crowd the stage to buy stuff???? but then again when was the last time a store offered 40% off?? No wonder I was begged to bring you in next year.
• Last but not least Miss Vicki Boutin. your classes rocked, you invited people to get to know you, have fun with you and is there any doubt why they were trying to pay me for next year's classes already???  So since it was like 100% unanimous that you guys were in love with Vicki and her classes we will do the chatting, compare schedules and see what weekend works to bring her in next year again. 
• oops, one more, my super super family (Jim, my dad, Joe) thanks for helping haul tables and watch the kids and put up with over 80 boxes stacked everywhere in our house for the last 5 months, and then a garage full of boxes. I LOVE YOU HONEY!!!!!

This year I am proud to say with a huge smile on my face. The goody bags ROCKED!!!!!! They were valued at over $120 each. They contained approx.40 new patterned papers (and some you can't get here, I pride myself on bringing in that kind of thing),  not sure how many cardstock from Prism,Kaisercraft bling, pearls, rhinestones, felt, vinyl lettering from Wall Talk, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, rub ons galore, multiple adhesives, stamps, stuff from locals.  ( I will try to take a pic, I forgot)

The prizes, I had sooo much fun making up these baskets. We had 25 major prizes ranging in value from $80-$600. We had 23 Neatnix buckets filled with stamps, rub ons, bling, adhesive, everyone had a different kind of mini album since this was our theme this year. I had the most fun trying to find as many unique albums to give out. But those last 2 major prizes I think were pretty darn amazing.  Which was your favourite, the large Neatnix bag filled with one of like everything or the leather case that held The ENTIRE collection from CHA Summer from Little Yellow Bicycle. yummos! And of course, the prizes didn't stop there, we had prizes for Costumes, layouts, mini albums, donation entries, silpada jewelery. And was that it? of course not. Miss Donna Houston brought tons from her store and Miss Vicki's classes were filled with prizes. This year I we gave a prize to everyone who entered a layout or album contest whether they won or not. Like I said the theme should've been Christmas. But you know I have been to well over 200 crops and conventions in my scrap life, and what do we want out of the event? great food, fabulous new goody bags (not crap that couldn't sell) and prizes that are exciting, instructors that leave us wanting more classes, and a store that brings in the latest greatest of product. I'm already trying to figure out what charity we should do next year. I will be truthful, I have sat with my eyes full of tears looking through all these albums for the kids in the hospital. they are remarkable, beautiful, and I can see how much joy they are going to bring these families. So I am sending out HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGS to you all for assisting in making their Christmas better.

We did sell out this event at 125 people. It was unfortunate that so many were missing due to sickness. we totally understand so I will make sure we get you guys your goodies over the next little bit. If you signed up for a class, Vicki will be sending me more. so let's hold off delivery for a little bit. (really she might need to recouperate and kit up some new ones) I couldn't believe that we had people come from BC, AB, SK, MB & ONT. is that not crazy??? Exciting, so we definitely want to welcome you guys back next year. glad you had fun and ventured out this way.

I was asked if we would consider doing it big again like that year we had 170 people. I will consider, we are looking at possibly moving to a bigger location with possibly better parking, no promises, but we will look into all possibilities, cause I don't want to turn anyone away, but we do want you guys to have lot's of room, no one wants to be packed like sardines into a room. we like to spread out!

So let's share some photos:

Okay, I was thinking that there would be some brave soles out there to try and knock the Desperate Housewives off their reign for costumes. But of course they came out like you have never seen as instead of Mad Hatters, Mad Scrappers. (I think you girls need to take your gig on the road)

 

S few snaps of the winners. Seriously the submissions this year were AMAZING!!!! I phone Jackie to tell her again how this event brought out works of art that should be published. so please EVERYONE who submitted something please take a picture of it and send it to Jackie at

submissions@canadianscrapbooker.ca

 

Here's a photo of 160 cupcakes in 12 different flavours. seriously. mouthwatering. Thanks {SAUCY} you rock!!!!! My new favourite is your Strawberry Shortbread. I thought nothing could top the Red Velvet, but man you just keep outdoing your talent! Share your fave if you were here.

 

 

The candle Make n take:

I sooo wish I would've had a sec to try this one. It looked so awesome. (bet Jenn & Kim wish the same. sorry girls!teehee)

 

This is a cute ornament Donna created with everyone.

We raised $315.00 for Krissy Martens through our bake sale and that is just wicked! I hope she knows that the scrapbook community is behind her, we support her and wish her the best in what will be a hard journey. We also gathered a lot of scrapbook product and adhesive for her. I know it is my mission to send her the biggest box ever to kickstart her lifebooks with the kids, so if you have anything to add to this box, let me know. The big demand is still adhesive. Then we will send this to her.

So once again, thank you to everyone who attended, we had soo much fun. Can't wait for the next one.And I am on a mission to make this one bigger and better with the best of prizes and more goody bags. and a special guest is in the works that is super super exciting. send me pics of you and your friends having fun. I want to make a little scrapbook. and I will add to this post too.

leica@canadianscrapbooker.ca

here's the deal. I am tired. had the best best best weekend ever. lot's to tell share talk about. but it will happen on

WEDNESDAY!!!

I need a couple days to SLEEP. So if you have photos, please send to leica@canadianscrapbooker.ca so I can share them this week. Otherwise, Sk Scrappers, come back Wednesday and share your fun stories and thoughts then!

a little more to the story...

So last week I briefly told you about the bake sale that will be taking place at the Saskatchewan Scraps event on Fri/Sat this weekend. As I said before I don't personally know the couple, but I have been sent a little more in detail about their loving life/outstanding volunteering and sadly the tragic incident. Please take a second to read about them...

Dallas and Krissy Martens travelled to a small Island off the coast of Honduras for a Christmas holiday in 2008.  They took in the regular tourist attractions and culture, but they also got involved in an AIDS project called "The Morgan Jayne Project" while they were there.  On one of their first days on the Island, they spent the day with 96 children at a Christmas Party where Dallas played Santa and Krissy and her family handed out gifts to all the children.  One of those children, was Baby Will.  Will was only 3 1/2 months old at the time.  Both Dallas and Krissy fell in love with Will the first time they laid eyes on him.

 

After retuning to Canada, both Dallas and Krissy, who lead very busy, typical lives felt like something was missing, and felt like they were being called back to the Island to be with Will and to work on the project they had both fallen in love with.  By April, 2009 they decided to take leaves from their jobs, rent out their house and make the journey to the Island to pursue adopting Baby Will.

 

In July, they arrived on the Island and Will was in their care from that day on.  They were an immediate family and bonded right from the start.  Dallas and Krissy were both teaching school at a private school and working with the Morgan Jayne Project.  They spent a lot of time at the beach, playing in the sand, getting to know their son, getting know the culture, attending every function they could on the Island and just enjoying their new Carribean life.

 

On September 18, 2009, Dallas and Krissy were celebrating their 1st Wedding anniversary.  They had a babysitter for Will and went out for a nice dinner.  On the way back from dinner, they decided to stop and look at a house they were interested in buying somewhere down the line.  They were attacked, robbed, and tragically, Dallas lost his life in the process.

 

After being faced with many challenges, Krissy was able to come back to Canada to be with their friends and family and hold a memorial for Dallas..  She only stayed a short time, as she had Will back in Honduras that could not come as the paperwork for the adoption had not been processed yet.

 

Krissy is now back on the Island, is safe, enjoying being a mommy and starting her own empowering young women project on the Island called "Soul Sisters".   She is working on the paperwork for the adoption and hopes to be back to Canada in the next year at least for a visit with Will.  Through the faith of God and the overwhelming amount of prayers, Krissy has began to heal and although there are good days and bad days, she knows that one day she will see her love, her best friend, her Dallas again.

okay I don't know about you, but I couldn't imagine if I lost Jim right now and was doing my best to try and make life normal and still help others. She is definitely going through a very hard time, I am so glad to know she has a loving and wonderful support system. So Krissy did send a letter about her "Life books project". I had mentioned that the proceeds from the bake sale are something she intends to use to pay for shipping supplies from Canada to Roatan, as well as possibly purchasing much need supplies such as adhesive.

A lot of children on the Island of Roatan have little stability in their lives due to poverty, abuse, neglect, lack of parenting skills and addictions.  Because of this, many kids have a hard time establishing a positive sense of identity. They long for a sense of history, a sense of self. Lifebooks can help these kids recognize their individual worth. A lifebook is a scrapbook-like creation that records a child's life, her experiences with different families, and her feelings along the way. Lifebooks are unique in that they document the journey, both good and bad. These books record the love shared by their birth families, their foster families, and other people who pass through their lives. During troubled times, these kids should be able to look at their life books and see just how far they've come. Their lifebooks should be a testament to their strength and their ability to overcome whatever challenges life may bring.   My project will work with the children and the families.  We will gather information from relatives and from people in the community who have watched these children grow up.  Some things we will include in these books are: The Day I was Born My Birth Family My Foster Family My First Day in Foster Care A History of Where I've Been My Talents Goals and Dreams My Friends School Happy Memories Sad Memories What I Want to Be When I Grow Up   My main goal for this project is to open the lines of communication with these children and their birth families, encourage them to ask questions about WHY their life is the way it is, and to begin to plan for the future and set goals.  This will be a pilot project in the community of Flowers Bay/Coxen Hole and I hope to build from there.   Thank you everyone for your continued support.  I pray that each of you know how much of a difference all of you are making in these kid's lives.   Blessings, Krissy Larsen-Martens

Thank you so much for first off reading my blog. I sometimes wonder if I have anything interesting or neat to share. But you know for my own personal self worth, knowing that I can help another person going through something difficult is 100% what makes me feel good about myself. When I saw people around me hurting over this tragedy I knew that even though I don't know her, it was something that I had to seek out to figure how I can help, as a little bit goes a long way. I want to personally thank Hollie Logue for helping me get connected with being able to help Krissy. Huge THANKS!

till tommorrow...

did that weekend go by fast or what?

I think I blinked and then it was gone. We went out to the farm, had fun, I worked on some fun Kaisercraft projects that I am just needing time to do final touches. So I will hopefully show you this week, if I find a minute. So this week I have 4 more boxes that should be delivered on Tuesday. Can't wait for Tuesday!!!!

So let's run through the schedule for this weekend for classes:

Friday the whole thing starts at 6pm and goes till midnight. We will begin Friday night with Vicki's 360 degree layout class. It will go from 7:30pm-10:30pm.  Right after her class anyone who is taking my glimmer mist class will join me to spray down all our stuff so it can dry thoroughly overnight.

Saturday it runs from 9am-midnight again.

9:30am-12:30 Vicki's Gypsy Mini Album class

12:30-1:30 lunch

1:30-4:30 Vicki's 2 of a kind layout class

4:30-6:00 Leica's Glimmer Mist Trinket Class (anyone taking this class of mine, if you have ephemera at home that you would like to include on the box please bring (ex: pearls, metal skeleton keys, ribbon, lace, coins, favourite flowers etc.  I will be supplying lot's of tulle, lace, ribbon, flowers (paper & silk)rhinestones, buttons)

7:30-10:30 Vicki's Favourite Things Layout Class

Throughout both days there will be make n takes to sit down and enjoy. For one of them on Saturday, please bring a white pillar candle, any height, you can get these at Dollarama. you will not regret bringing a candle to decorate.Trace is coming from far away and it just is impossible for her weight wise and packing to bring over 100 candles. lol. so if you would like to try this cool technique don't forget your candle. thanks guys.

So Vicki shipped her classes and packed extras, so when you are registering on Fri. night let me know if you would like to sign up for a kit/class. They will go fast so if you are thinking you want to be a part of one in particular, let me know. thanks guys.

4 more sleeps...

I'm so excited ...

what are you doing this weekend?

I actually am hoping to "chill". Is that possible? Ok, probably not, but I am determined to relax one day with the family and enjoy the nice weather still. Can you believe how nice it still is? Maybe a great weekend for detailing vehicles.

Well here is a few more layouts that I did...

this farming one is for Ireland's book.

the next 3 are school layouts that I decided I wanted to keep really simple. I tend to get too busy on my pages and this time I thought that I would keep it more elementary school looking. I am glad I did!

 

 

of course, using up scraps made a layout. (6x12)

 

gotta go, get Riley of to school. Happy Friday!

here's some photos...

of new layouts from the weekend. sorry I didn't get them up last night, we zipped to the farm on Tuesday night and for some reason the farm had no phone lines and I could not get on the internet to play with the blog. but let's show today.

 So this past weekend I taught in Peace River, what a fun fun fun event with the coolest people. But it did mean a LOT of down time for me in airports and transferring planes. Which I am quite accustomed to, so now I pack my carry on so I can actually get lot's done. So here's my airline tricks:

first I ditch the purse, it really becomes useless and takes up crucial scrapbook space. Instead I bring my large laptop carrier and my Neatnix carry on (For those of you who aren't familiar with this bag, it ROCKS cause it is HUGE, can carry a lot and fit in airline guidelines. (and for those of you coming to Sk Scraps this weekend, There are going to be a whole bunch of chances to win a fabulous Neatnix bag. 

But anyways, so I actually pack quite strategically. Very similar to how I pack for a crop with the exception that you can't take large glues or scissors on the plane, don't even try they take them from you. Katharina & I have both lost our scissors on the same flight, however we've heard the rumour our friend Miss Trisha Ladouceur has been able to take hers on.hmmm she must have pull. lol.So I pack kits I've premade that have a few of my favourite cardstock colours, a good selection of the photos I want to scrap and then patterned papers that go with it, a few alphabet stickers/rub ons and my fave embellishments. Now all this fits into one of those 14x14 clear containers that you can get cheap from Michael's. Then in the front part of my bag I pack all my fave adhesives, punches,stapler, markers. realistically this one container can pack enough to do approx. 15 layouts. This particular weekend I took a few of my kits from "The Girl's Loft" kit club that the lovely Margie Romney-Aslett has been sending me. I LOVE her kits, they ROCK ROCK ROCK. so I wanted to work on Halloween this weekend, so these are the layouts I did from her October kit...

I wanted to finish scrapping last year's Halloween pics, so I could move on to this years.

Of course, you know with those scraps, I can't leave them behind, I simply MUSt do a 6x12. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this size!

Okay, so last year's pics are done, let's move on to this year's Halloween...

so these layouts were pretty easy, but still cute to look at. And I did a few of them all on the plane, and then fine tuned them once I could use my scissors.

I wanted to show you one of the layouts I taught last weekend that I am retiring now. It is a Tattered Angels Vintage Treasures layout.

So let's talk a little about the crop. I am so excited to welcome Riff Raff Designs back again. And they are bringing NEW designs. totally wicked!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE BEn & Kara, they are so nice & make such unique designs. so that is cool. This year we have had the most sponsors ever donating and becoming a part of this event. So that is cool. I will spend a day next week to pay tribute to all of those fabulous companies. And we have a brand new store coming this year, so I will talk all about that tomorrow. Btu I want to just put a little snippit of info out there for you.

 We are going to be providing a bake sale at the event. you are more than welcome to bring baking to sell, but there will be lot's to purchase as well.  ALL proceeds will be going to a local girl Krissy Martens whose husband was murdered in Roatan Honduras. I personally never had the chance to meet this wonderful man, but it seems like everyone around me has been affected by this tragedy.  She currently is still in Honduras, still in the process of trying to adopt a little cutie. While she is there she has been working on a fabulous project called lifebooks. These are little books that go with the orphan children to each home that they temporarily stay at while they are growing up. These books are created to help the children learn who they are by remembering their little journey. It is a very hard life for these kids to be bouncing back and forth between foster homes, so this little gesture is fantastic! So if you have any gently used products that you would like to donate, of course any and all are appreciated. We are going to have a box available to put into to send to Krissy in Honduras. I know the most needed thing is adhesive. She can't get enough adhesive. So we welcome any sort of donation. Her intention is to take the proceeds from the bake sale to pay for the shipping of the scrapbook product overseas. So HUGE {{HUGS}} to everyone who would love to support this girl in her hard journey ahead. Hopefully in the next little bit I will receive some info from Krissy explainging a little more of her situation and I will let you know. My goal with these crops is to bring in super talent to offer cool classes and a fun experience, but it is absolutely important to me to give back to the community. So this crop we will be helping the children in the hospital that will be there over Christmas & helping Krissy ease her pain as she helps other children in Honduras. Isn't the world such a fabulous place when we help those that need it. Makes my heart smile. So if you are interested in bringing any type of baking to put on the sale table, please just bring it on Friday. Thanks!!!!

okay come back tomorrow for more layouts...

more to show...

I forgot I actually have quite a few things still to show. So let's get going hey?

So I attended another fabulous baking event put on by Saucy again. this girl has it going on. Of course the home ec lab was filled with the most delightful of girls again. Such a great time visiting and giggling, and sharing in a great atmosphere together.

This time we made ghoolish treats in time for Halloween. (as you can see baby girl is on a mission to take something... her favourite were the ear wax on swabs. We actually had to restrict her consumption of them.

 

Then the next day we decided to carve pumpkins. It was totally wicked. Ireland loved getting down and dirty. I love this photo because I know she went into the pile of Jager's clothes that no longer fit and picked out this shirt for her to wear. She always played with it when Jager wore it, now she wants it. too cute!@

I love that riley is still a little hesitant to put his hands in the guts of the pumpkin.

although, once riley got his pumpkin cleaned out, he did ALL the carving and drawing himself. He is actually amazing at this.

Then of course we had to take some dark shots. (which I really don't have a clue how to do, as these are too grainy. but I still think they work well.

I couldn't get Ireland to sit down behind the pumpkin no matter what but she would stand and look.

So then after we carved pumpkins, I went to Jody's Silpada party and of course had fun. I LOVE silpada jewelery, thanks to my outstanding bosses Jackie & Katharina giving me some amazing pieces when I had Irelnad.

But I opened our house door and heard nothing but giggling. So I ventured downstairs to see the black light's on and this was what I saw...

So of course I had to jump in and paint my face too, like hello. Of course.

 

Here's what the paint looks like without the lights.
 

Ok, sorry I am running late, got to get back into Bootcamp, missed 4 days to events that took place here, but got to jump back on that wagon again.

News on the crop front. Jim helped me pack goody bags for 7 hours last night. He rocks! We are going to put in another night of doing it to try and get the majority done before the weekend. It's starting to get really exciting opening up all the adhesive boxes and glimmer mist, patterned papers and rub ons. Is it Christmas? It will be for some next weekend!

till tomorrow.

smiles :))