Buzzing with the Beaver

Energy drinks are an important ingredient of a lively scrapbooking evening or crop. However, you should be aware that certain Canadian energy drinks, consumed under questionable adult supervision may induce bizarre behavior, illusions of sophistication, and episodes of extreme creativity.

Evidence of such strange and unexpected conduct of scrapbooking professionals is demonstrated (for purely scientific reasons, of course) by this experiment observed at the Saskatchewan Scraps weekend earlier this year. Two very docile, quiet individuals were given several doses of Beaver Buzz (It's Dam Good!) Energy Drink while attending this event, and the following results were observed:

Yes, we would be glad to assist in this experiment...we are two very docile and shy scrapbookers, willing to help contribute to the study...

Cheers...to the science of scrapbooking...

Bottoms up...

Wait...I am beginning to feel a bit silly...

Is that a camera???? I hope they don't see me!

Look at me! I'm a beaver...

Look at us! We're both beavers!

Beaver Buzz...the only energy drink for creativity....

The opinions in this blog post are solely those of the scrapbookers that appear in these photographs. No beavers were harmed in the filming of this experiment.

And by the way, it is Dam Good! ;)

Saskatchewan Scraps!

OK, so I've put off this post for a while but I wanted to blog a little about the fantastic, holy-smokes scrapbooking fun we had a couple of weeks ago!


Canada Crop And Cruise sponsored a land-based scrapbooking weekend in Saskatoon a couple of weeks ago. One of my friends and fellow Just Cre8ive Crew designers, Leica Forrest, organized the whole shebang because she instructs on the cruise.


It was a weekend so full of fun! My best scrapbooking friends -- The Bad Girls -- were there, plus a handful of others I know from Saskatoon and around. Sue Sykes and Lori Mancini FLEW all the way here to spend the weekend with us. A handful of Just Cre8 girls drove or flew to make it to the event. Jackie and Heather were here from Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine. And I met Allison Orthner, Jill Hildebrandt, and a bunch of other ladies that were no neat to meet!


Here's our table -- we had a HUGE table in the center with all the Just Cre8 girls (and then some!) sitting at it. Needless to say, I spent very little time sitting and scrapping at this table. I did mostly talking and visiting...oy!

These are the fabulous shirts that Melissa Buhler designed for us -- I just adore my shirt. It makes me feel uber-cre8ive!

Here's my friend Kate Kading and I. She's one of the most bubbly, friendly people I know.


Here's Sue at the Just Cre8 table. She brought a whole suitcase of kits and Skribblz and stamps for the Saskatoon ladies to enjoy...and I really think they enjoyed them!


Mmmmmm....Skribblz! Gotta love them! And Just Cre8 stamps are just fabulous...if you want some, you can find them here!


Here's a pic of the whole Just Cre8 gang that was there, plus our guests from Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine.



And here's some of the Just Cre8 design team with Jackie, Heather, and Allison.


This lady is one of my loveliest friends...Corinne Braun. We've been scrapbooking together for a long time, and she has a kind, creative, generous heart. This is the girl who is responsible for over 1100 cards sent overseas to the Canadian Troops last year, and is working on more this year. This is the girl who spent her entire SaskScraps weekend making 8x8 layouts for children in the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit and the Pediatric Care Unit in Saskatoon hospitals. This is the girl who always is honest, true, and kind -- and she is one of my favorite scrapbookers. Ever!



One of the highlights of my weekend was the layout contest! I won last year, so I chose not to enter this year. But I was SOOOOOOOOO excited when two of my best scrapbooking friends won! For both of them, this is their first publication and I am so happy for them.

Here's Sheryl with Jackie Ludlage!


And Andrea with Jackie too!


One of the most fun things that happened that weekend was a visit from Rambling Dave from C95, our local rock radio station. It started the week before when Dave made a comment about scrapbookers being "glorified sticker collectors." Well, it turned into a big tease-fest all week, and Dave was dared to come learn to scrap with us at the convention. Dawn, trying to change his opinion of us frivolous hobbyists, presented him with a book of his puppy who had to be put down a few weeks before. It worked...he cried! He also formally apologized on the air -- Dawn has the radio clips on her blog here.

And, of course, I had tons of laughs introducing Sue and Lori, my southern-Ontario friends to the joys of small town Saskatchewan. Because we live in the middle of nowhere. Yes, Sue -- this IS a store! ;)

Anyhoo -- lots and lots of fun. Next time, though, we'd like to go on the actual cruise. Fall 2010! Mark your calendars!

Ready, Set, Live!

You know, I didn't go skiing until I was 30, because I was afraid I'd fall down and break something. I don't care for activities like windsurfing, waterskiing, scuba diving -- they just freak me out too much. And, to tell you the truth, I haven't put myself out in the scrap industry too much because I always am worried that the "No"s I'll encounter will damper what I so love to do.

This kind of explains the LO I want to share -- I was super pleased with the way it turned out. I've never actually posted a One Little Word challenge before, and maybe this time I will take a risk and throw my hat in the ring.

It was inspired by the current OLW challenge, the free Daisy Bucket rub on that I found in a goodie bag, and by my Slice! It's a layout about how, even though I tend to be afraid of a lot, I have decided to take risks and enjoy the things in life I may be afraid of.

The layered flowers were all cut with the Slice Noteworthy cartridge and embellished with a decorative brad and Sticklez:

I applied the poem rubon onto white cardstock and cut out each line...I didn't want to use it in a block shape:The key is from a MR chipboard keychain, painted with metallic silver paint:The title is Thickers, accented with Sticklez:

TFL!

April Fools Photos :)

My camera makes me happy. :) Last spring I splurged and bought a Nikon D40 with a couple of lenses. I'd been wanting a DSLR for a very very long time and finally had the cashola to pick one up. I know it's not top of the line, but I'm just a budding photographer so I figured that my camera technology could grow with me, KWIM?

One of things I've been trying to do since then is to improve my photography skills. And NOT because I want to be a professional (My Goodness! If I ever decide to put myself out there as a pro, someone shoot me!) but because I want to capture the way I see the world without having to spend hours in Photoshop before I print the pics.

A couple of weeks ago, I took a photography class with Allison Orthner...this lady is awesome! She's funny and engaging and knows how to explain good camera tips in plain ol' english -- which is exactly what I needed to hear.

This past weekend, I brought my camera to my parents place and shot some pics, trying to concentrate on "Quality" and not "Quantity". I am pretty happy with the results...here are some of my faves.

OK, so these ones aren't on my "top quality" list, but I love taking pics of my little man in action. He wanted to pull out the Quad and toodle around the yard, and because it was above zero we could! So this is the first ride of the year, and if you look closely you can see a teeny bit f action in the pics.

This one is one of my faves...my hubby and my daughter. Now if I could just get that girl to stop making silly faces when the camera comes out, I'd be a really happy camper!

This is my mom's sweetie -- her Cookie. Mom's been asking me to take good pics of the Cooksters so she can scrap them. Hope she likes them!

I rarely take pics of my little sister. Here she is with her hubby, who is a great guy. He wouldn't do the "turkey neck" for the photo, tho! LOL

I think this is my fave photo of my sister to date...

And I love this one of my mom...because she is honestly, truly laughing. And she's not making funny faces. Gee...I wonder where my daughter gets it from. Watch out, mom! Someday there is going to be a "Silly Faces" photo post and YOU are going to star in it. (Insert evil laugh here...Muahahaha!)

Anyhoo -- thanks for looking. Any photo tips for me? What's your best one? Please comment and let me know -- I love hearing what other people do!

Happy Scrapping!

Happy Day RAK Winner

It's a happy day for somebody!




Me too -- "Mo" and "Jo" have been haunting me lately. My scrapping MoJo is back full force and even when I am not scrapping, when I don't have time for it, I am thinking about layouts, dreaming about layouts, planning layouts, and generally wishing I was making layouts. Figures!



Yesterday I created a layout that I just adore! It was inspired by a freebie rub-on I received at the Saskatchewan Scraps crop last weekend and the blog One Little Word....it is sitting on my scrap table right now waiting to be photographed. I'm just going to keep it only for me, just for a little while, before I share it. Tomorrow I'll post it for you, k?



So....somebody is getting a Basic Grey chocolate mini album from my comment giveaway that ended last night.



Just FYI, I made a list of commenters in order...



1. Melanie S.
2. Cheryl
3. Jennifer
4. ahiltz
5. pink
6. Pamela
7. Leigh
8. Shelley
9. Lynn
10. Janet
11. Melissa
12. Kate
13. Corinne
14. Jessi
15. Sarah
16. Paula
17. Julie
18. Savvy
19. Mrs. Wizzle
20. Jill



And the winner is...

Paula! Email me your snail mail addy at amandalepage (at) canada (dot) com and I will get your chipboard album off in the mail right away.

I've had tons of hits in the last few weeks, so I've decided to give away something every 1000 hits. Cool, hey? So keep checking back! TFL!

Happy scrapping!

Ha! I'm a Blogger Idiot...

It took me until just right now to figure out how to follow blogs. Whodathunk?

So...can anyone tell me what is the benefit to following blogs? Anyone have a blog I should follow? Let me know by leaving a comment...

And if you want to, you can follow mine. LOL!

By the way, you still have until Monday to win a happy day chipboard album. It's a brown, funky edged Basic Grey one -- I hope it will find a happy home! Just leave a comment on my March 26 post.

Happy Scrapping!

Today is a Happy Day

I don't know why, but I am in a fabulous mood right now. For no particular reason, I feel like smiling and dancing and singing -- which would look absolutely ridiculous to anyone who would glance in my livingroom window right now. LOL!

Here's my list of some of the things that are making me happy today:

1. The sun shining in my kitchen window
2. My MP3 player and iTunes
3. A quiet day to myself with DH at work and kids at school
4. Fuzzy Socks
5. Clip-It-Up
6. Photo Freedom by Stacy Julian
7. My hubby's comfy sweatshirt
8. A vanilla-scented Airwick freshener
9. Lots of hits on my blog (Thanks, guys!)
10. A finished layout on my scrap table
11. My nest chair
12. Nickelback and Adam Lambert
13. I had a fabulous weekend
14. It's March, which means April is next.
15. Chocolate Shower Gel

I could keep going forever and ever...but that would be boring to you, I am sure!

So let's just give something away, k? The only thing that would make me even more UBER-happy today is seeing lots of comments on my blog...so on Monday I am going to use a random-number to pick someone to RAK. All you have to do is leave me a short list of what is making YOU uber-happy today. I have a lovely brown chipboard album with someone's name on it -- maybe it's yours!

Airports, Cropping, and Radio Broadcasts

Goooooooooooood morning!

OK...really...I am not that energetic this morning. I'm sitting having coffee with my dad, I haven't been home in 2 days, I'm in my pyjamas, and my eyes are super droopy because the weekend has been just plain crazy.

But the weekend has been oh-so-much-fun too!!!!

Sue and Lori from Just Cre8 came down to crop at a big cropping event in Saskatoon....so we've been touring them around and helping Sue get a bunch of stuff ready for the crop. At the crop, we were doing promotional stuff for Just Cre8, meeting people we've only seen online, meeting people we don't see online but should (AHEM....Lori? LOL! ), visiting, eating, looking at layouts, learning new things, shopping, visiting, meeting more people, being silly, shopping, and lots of other things.

That's a big list...but notice what is NOT on this list? Yup -- scrapbooking. I accomplished almost nothing...I sorted my Jamaica pictures, kind of. 21 hours of crop time time and I sorted a stack of pictures. Hellooooo!

I did take a photography class with Allison Orthner...that lady is amazing! Oodles of AHA moments there.

But -- alas -- I have no time to blog about it now -- I have tons of pictures to share -- and I need a shower before the whole household gets out of bed. I'll share some photos and tell you some tidbitz tomorrow, including pics of some of the lovely ladies I met yesterday. :)

PS...Julia...if you are reading this, can you email me the pic of you and me? I'd like to put it on my blog! ((hugs))

The first of many, perhaps?

So....I recieved a phone call this morning from my kids' school.

Phone calls from school usually don't worry me too much. Sometimes it's the teacher or the principal with a question, or letting me know that there's an event for the School Council or something.

But today it was my 6 year old son's teacher, saying my boy needed to talk to me.

Here's our conversation:

C: Hi Mom
Me: Hi sweetie, what's up? Are you OK?
C: (muffled) Makayla's here at school today.
Me: Makayla's at school?
C: Yeah.
Me: Ummm...okay...is that what you called to tell me?
C: Well, I'm missing all the fun things.
Me: (confused) Okay...why are you missing the fun stuff?
C: 'Cuz Makayla's here.
Me: Oh.....OK....are you feeling okay, hon?
C: Yeah...(silence)
Me: Are you sure you're OK?
C: Yeah
Me: And Makayla's at school?
C: Yeah
Me: Well...ok...is your teacher there?
C: Yeah
Me: Can I talk to her?
C: OK, love you mom.
Me: Love you too, sweetie.

After that I was completely confused, wondering why in the world was he calling me to tell me one of his classmates was present at school. Weren't they all at school? What kind of call was this?

THEN, I talked to his teacher. It wasn't about Makayla being "HERE" at school...it was about Makayla's "HAIR" at school.

Apparently, they were doing an Art project and my darling little boy cut off a chunk of his classmate's beautiful, long, straight hair.

WHAT???

What was he thinking? Why did he do that? Was he crazy?

I explained to the teacher that I had totally misunderstood Curtis on the phone and asked to speak to him again. We had a nice long serious chat about good choices and bad choices, the proper use of scissors, Makayla's feelings (her mom's feelings too!) and hairdressing as a profession, not an extra-curricular activity in school. Jeez!

After that conversation I asked the teacher how Curtis had responded right after it happened, and She said that he claimed he cut it because "it was just hanging there." Okay...yeah...good one, Curtis.

Anyhoo -- I'll call Makayla's mom tonight (she's a friend of mine) and ask her if she needs a hair cut to fix it up. If she does, Curtis will be paying for it from his own pocket money. He's already learned that if you get into bad enough trouble at school, you have to call home and tell mom about it -- and I think that lesson sunk in. His teacher said he looked very solemn and sad at school, so I think he regrets it. He's apologized, and that is good.

I think this was a teachable moment for him, and he's learned his lesson -- hopefully more consequenses than these won't be necessary.

It was a teachable moment for me too -- I've learned that it is the time that phone calls from school have begun. Oh joy. All part of parenting, right?

Sweet Sweet Sweet Spring!

I just love Just Cre8 reveal days!

By the time Reveal day comes, I've had my kit for at least a few days and have been creating like mad. And then reveal day comes (it's the 15th of the month, BTW) and I upload and then I can relax and enjoy all the other designs the Crew has done.

It just amazes me that different people can be given the same box of supplies and they have completely different ideas on how to use them. But I guess that is the beauty of art and craft -- nothing is ever the same coming from two creative individuals. That is where inspiration comes from...don't you just love it?

Anyway! The April kit is up at Just Cre8 -- you can see it here -- and it is full of spring inspiration. There are papers from Fancy Pants, Bo Bunny, MME, Pink Paislee and there is chipboard, ribbons, brads, die cuts, rub ons, alphas, flowers, and of course Skribblz and the Just Cre8 stamps (which are lovely by the way!)

Here are some sneak peeks of a couple of designs I have done with this kit:

If you want to see the complete layouts (don'tcha? ;) ) then pop into the Just Cre8 April Design Gallery for some serious spring-flavoured inspiration. While you are there, leave some love for the Crew -- they did a fabulous job and love to hear your feedback!

Oh -- and only 4 more sleeps before Sue and Lori come to Sask! And then the day after they come, it is Saskatchewan Scraps in Saskatoon! How exciting is that??!!

Happy scrapping!

Weekend madness and a challenge

We had a nice, laid back weekend. :) This is, of course, despite the fact that some in our household haven't been feeling well.

I had a scrap night at Just Scrap It on Friday night...and it was so nice to get together with the "Bad Girls". For those of you who don't know, this is what I am talking about:

A Brief, Censored History of

"The Bad Girls"

(at least, as I remember it!)

About 6 years ago, I started scrapping at JSI by myself at their Friday night crops...I didn't know anyone there but it was a nice chance to briefly get away from the hectic life at home. After a couple of trips there, I had the pleasure of sitting with a gal named Corinne, a card-maker extraordinaire who seemed to end up there whenever I did. We became friends and scrapped together sometimes. My mom, who had just started her obsession with scrapbooking, came with me occasionally and I introduced her to Corinne.

I planned to go to a weekend crop there and, as word had it, it sold out in just a few minutes. So Mom and I (and I think Corinne!) ended up camping out one early morning just to get spots at the JSI Weekend. One other person who was waiting there was Dawn...and she was (and is!) a scrapbook "artiste". I had always been intimidated by her, because she had so many great ideas and knew so much about scrapping. As we waited in line, Dawn and I talked...and talked...and talked...and we became friends too.

Since Corinne and Dawn already knew each other, the four of us usually sat together when we scrapped at JSI. Through my kids' gymnastics class (in a very roundabout way, almost by fluke), I met Andrea and she started coming to join us.

When we met at JSI, we scrapped at our favorite table in the corner -- loudly laughing and joking and (dare I say it?) making somewhat bawdy jokes. The JSI staff joked around and said that we were so bad, they had to put us in the corner. And so it stuck, and we started calling ourselves "The Bad Girls"

We have a handful of people who join us to scrap -- some often, some not. Some are badder than others, and we enjoy each others' company so much that I can see we will always be friends.

SO cheers to my friends, the Bad Girls -- you know who you are! ((hugs!))

On another note, you should check out the monthly sketch challenge at Just Cre8...did you know you can win a prize, just by posting up a layout based on one of these sketches? There are twelve sketches to choose from this month, and the contest is always a random draw!

Here is a sketch by Cindy:

And one by Lori:

And one of mine:

There are more sketches here, and all you have to do is upload to the Just Cre8 gallery and post you LO in this thread!

Happy Scrapping!

Thankful -- but almost wasn't

I woke up in a bad mood today. OK, maybe not bad -- but the morning hasn't particularly been a pleasant one so far!


But I am determined NOT to let it ruin my day! Instead, I'm going to think about all the wonderful things in my life that I am thankful for...


I am thankful for this:

These guys:

These two:
And there's a bunch of people (including my peeps above) that deserve BIG hugs today, in thanks from me. So even if you don't know why...I do...and I'm sending you a big THANK YOU ((hug)) ...

The Bad Girls, Sue, Lori, Sheryl, Kate, Melissa, Gisele, Deanna, Laura.

You guys are true blessings.

New Layouts to share

Not much going on today around here except beautiful weather and a little boy with the flu. Yuck!

So I thought I'd pop on in and share some of my latest layouts with you!

Here's one, with a pic I love (taken by Dawn Hueser at my sister's wedding last fall) of Russ and Curtis, sharing a quiet moment with a puzzle book. I just love my boys! This LO was created using the Just Cre8 March 2009 kit...


This one was created with the Just Cre8 March 2009 kit too...and how can you tell I am a proud Saskie??

This is an old pic, of Renee in her first year of soccer:

I'm very pleased with the way this LO turned out...it's Curtis' Kindrgarten photo...his first year of school:

And today's last LO is a simple, soft LO...it's hard to believe that this sleeping angel was once a screaming, colicky infant who almost drove me insane....gotta love him!

Today's been pretty quiet...and still is. I think I'll retire into my crop room to do some creative thingys...TTFN!

Happy scrapping!

Jamaica Mon! Where we went...

Hey! Thanks for checking my blog -- I've got some new pics of Jamaica to share. :)

We visited a bunch of cool places when we were in Jamaica. We were only there for a week -- and we could have been there for a few more days if I could have said anything about it!

One really neat thing about staying at the Sandals resort was that they have this "Stay at One, Play at Three" policy. That means, if you stay at one of the Montego Bay resorts, you have free access to ALL three Montego Bay Sandals resorts -- which includes dining, activities, and all that they offer. We stayed at Sandals Royal Caribbean. But the first full day we were there, we took the shuttle to Sandals Montego Bay and Sandals Inn -- both of which were very nice. But the beach at Montego Bay was beautiful!

When we went on our tour with John's Hall Adveture, we toured aroud the city of Montego Bay. Boy -- that was an eye opener. We saw some very very rich neighbourhoods:

And we saw some very poor ones, where they had no running water or yards and they had to steal electricity from the main lines because they can't afford to buy it...

On our way to the ziplining excursion, we had to drive through an orange grove. Acres and acres of trees, all the oranges were picked by hand!

One day, Russ and I ventured to the Old Fort Market, just off the Montego Bay Hip Strip, to pick up some souveniers. There were probably at least 50 or 60 shops the size of closets all packed into a tiny area. That was quite an experience!

Here is what the shops look like close up -- there was barely enough room to turn around in there!

We went touring a fruit plantation too. It was up in the mountainous area, and we got to see all kind of fruit-bearing trees and plants...pineapples, star apples, grapefruit, banana and even coffee trees! Did you know that coconuts are soft inside? You can eat them when they are not all brown and hairy and the inside tastes kind of like coconut jello...interesting...

Here is a bunch of baby bananas...they look like matchsticks, and when they grow, they swell and turn upwards...

Here is DH and I at the fruit plantation...

We also visited the Church of the Parish of St. James, in Montego Bay. This was such a beautiful place, rish with history and art. The pipe organ was two stories high...

When you walk into the church, the first thing you see is a stained glass window two stories high -- one of the most breathtaking sights I've seen.

The detail is just incredible...

TFL! More to come -- and I have to start my Jamaica photo album soon. I have some neat plans for it and I'll share them when I am finished!

I'm busy getting ready for visitors in the next couple of weeks. Sue and Lori are coming to visit and crop! We'll all be going to the Crop n Cruise (on land!) in Saskatoon in about two weeks. Just think -- my Bad Girl friends and my Just Cre8 friends in one spot. It is going to be a blast! I have so much to do before then...I hope I can get it done!

Happy scrapping!