Scraps Ahoy Idol

Ok my beloved friends... I mentioned a few weeks ago about asking all of you lovely and talented scrappers out there in bloggerland to vote for me in an upcoming contest... well the time has arrived. It's at Scraps Ahoy, and here is the link http://www.scrapsahoy.com/content/round_2/round_2.html

For this round we had to use holiday colours(red & green) on a non holiday layout. I had some photos from Canada Day. In addition to the layout, we also had to do an essay on our favourite technique. I did transparencies. I believe there is a voting button bar on the right hand side, please vote for Patti M(I feel like I'm running in an election LOL!). But you'll need to register with the site to vote.
Thank you so much, I am having SO much fun with this! I hope I can stick around as long as possible!!

Time to play some Tag

I got this from Kimmie's BLOGThe ABC tag...
[A is for age:] 32
[B is for booze of choice:] don't drink much, but a glass of wine now and then is nice.
[C is for career:] newly appointed WAHM,
[D is for your dog's name:] don't have a dog
[E is for essential items you use everyday] Internet, my Nikon, chapstick
[F is for favorite song at the moment:] Just got the new Mercy Me CD and I love it all!
[G is for favorite game:]I've been known to play a computer game from time to time
[H is for hometown:] Burlington, On.
[I is for instruments you play]sadly I am not very musical
[J is for jam or jelly you like:]Strawberry
[K is for kids?] I have a girl & a boy
[L is for last kiss] dh this morning on his way to work
[M is for moma's job:] WAHM.
[N is for name of your crush:] Heath Ledger!
[O is for overnight hospital stays] ACL reconstruction, & the two c-sections
[P is for phobias:] I do not do well in crowds, I especially need to have "a way out" if I am completely surrounded by strangers, I will freak right out.
[Q is for quotes you like:] "When I look at my daughter I see myself, only better"
[R is your relationship that lasted the longest]:Christopher, my soulmate we have been together for 9 years married for 6
[S is for sexual preference:] um ya see above
[T is for time you wake up:] Ian my alarm clock around 6ish.
[U is for underwear:] not sure of the namebrand, but yep I wear it! LMBO!
[V is for vegetables you love]: Tomatoes, cukes, peppers, broccoli, celery, carrots +++
[W is for worst habit:] compulsive email checker
[X is for x-rays you've had] fractured ankle, umpteen for the many times I've destroyed my knee, many u/s for babes, and checking for blood clots in my leg
[Y is for yummy food you make] Choc. chip shortbread cookies, lasagna, home made pizza!
[Z is for zodiac sign:] I'm a libra, but I don't really follow that stuff. :)
wanna try??

Enabler alert

Sale, free shipping to Canada, good names egads!!! houseofpaper.com off you go, go check it out, I just spent $30 on 60 worth of stuff!! They've got heaps! And prices are mostly cheaper once you hit the check out(even from the price that it's currently marked down to!)

I've never shopped here before, so I hope it's all on the up and up...
just wanted to share, I know us scrappers like to shop! :)

It's almost party time!

Ok this is pretty pathetic that I went and made a birthday party invitation for Ian's birthday... when I'm just hoping for my parents and brother(and his kids) to come! Ok so I just needed an excuse to play with the actions and yes brushes(oh Mel & Sue, I do love them so so very much!). I almost feel silly for making it, but hey... I'm the mom, and I'm going to want to scrapbook this so I don't bawl my eyes out!
Here it is... yes we have a family tradition that we used to do at the cottage, watermelon seed spitting... it must live on! LMBO
oh yes we're classy ;)

new addiction

Well I have just recently downloaded Photoshop CS, oh my gosh I'm in love!!! And with that, I have discovered downloading actions for it!!! didn't think it could be possible, but I'm even more in love!! Guess what I goofed around with all morning during Ian's nap??? SOOO Much fun!! For those not familiar with actions, essentially someone else has gone and saved a list of commands to alter your photo, so all you have to do is have a photo open and hit "play" and it will run the list of commands and alter your photo and you just have to sit back and watch! If you havn't tried them yet, I urge you to go get soem and give it a go! I have been downloading them from the Adobe Studio exchange, so I feel pretty confident that they're not infested with virus'. Here is the link And here are a few before and after examples of what I
was playing with.
Here's a sepia one, that has a softness about it


















This one is supposed to have an "artsy" vintage look














And this one of course a film strip! Too cool!!

ok well while Ian is having a marathon nap(I probably shouldn't have typed that), I'm going to share my little project I made the other night. I had bought this frame from Ikea months and months ago... it's a shadow box frame that had some prints in it of water droplets... up close. I thought it was a regular frame that you just buy and put your own photos in... well I learned Saturday night when I went to pop it open that it was nailed shut! Lol!! Well that didn't stop me, I ripped out all the nails and went to work. I would have never bought it for the photos of water drops... they weren't even that nice, however, I digress!

SO I had thought, since it's a shadow box I could do something fun and really bulky that I normally wouldn't do in my albums, but I'm so trained against doing super bulky stuff, I couldn't figure anything out... soooo it's flat ah well!
The pics were pretty dark, but hopefully you can see ok here it is all together
Here are the individuals a bit closer up


















I think if you click on them they should pop up in a new window.

anyway, I'm happy with how they turned out. I was going to stain or paint the frame, but now I'm not sure if I should... I have already stuck the back, back on and knowing my clumsy self would get paint/stain all over the glass and everything else... It was a fun & quick project, and I can't wait to find a spot to hang it. Our walls have been bare for so long and I was looking for proper "art" to buy to hang... and it came to me...duh why not hang pics of myf amily, the people I love most and one of my favourite things to do(take photos!). So slowly my walls are getting covered! :)

Note to self: do not try to take photos of layouts for contests outside after a rain without properly adhering the blue tack to the layout.

:( it is wet now, and I'm hoping it doesn't warp.
didn't get the photo either :(

Speaking of said layout... I am hoping I can ask my S! girls to possibly vote for my layout in an upcoming online contest. That is unless it warps and is ruined :( *sigh* will post more details next week!

It has been a few days, but busy ones... time to catch up! Thursday was rough, I had a major meltdown. I think a lot of things combined and I just lost it... however, my dear friend Julie called at the right time and God bless her, she totally helped me out of my bad place. Also resigned from my job on Thursday, so I am now officially unemployed woohoo! My EI runs out in 2 weeks... time for my new adventure to begin!
Friday Julie came over with her nanny/housekeeper and gave my top floor a clean sweep. Have you seen the show on TLC??? Seriously that is what happened... I have so let my house go over the past year with Ian, and I'm so embarassed to have people over and see my mess... so she came over and we all cleaned!! Still have the main floor and basement to do but it's a start! Then we went to Port Dover to the beach(Lake Erie) for the afternoon. Just what I needed! Here are Jules, Ian & bree at the beach!

Saturday we hung out and I got Ian to go into Brianna's barbie pool! lol(don't tell him it's pink!) The water had warmed up and he loved it! Couldn't resist spiking his hair! Oh he has the best hair... Chris keeps telling me we have to cut it, it's getting too logn blah blah blah... but he's not going to look like a baby with a haircut... so he's holding onto it at least for another month!


Went to the splash pad with Heather and Micah in the afternoon.
Here are some pics to catch up !!

to brighten your day

Having a rough morning so far... Ian & I have both had some major meltdowns. I am no good with stress(well who is really???)
This just arrived in my email and it put a smile on my face. If anyone else is having a rough one, I hope it may help you to smile too!
Just a thought to brighten your day.

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?" "That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them.""For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.SO, to all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

my baby is growing up....

ok so he's nearly 11 months old, and I don't know why but I'm really getting sad about him turning one... just typing it out is making me well up with tears. That saying of time flying, couldn't be more true for your baby's first year of life! Passed in a blink of an eye. And a lot of it was not fun(mucos colicos!!) Probably because he is our last(although this isn't set in stone, we'll see how we feel in a couple of years)... A bunch of my online friends who also has babes in August last year are planning their first bday party... I'm just in denial. Is this normal? I don't remember it being so hard with Brianna.
I had fun looking/crying over his first year photos, so I made a year at a glance a photo from the day he was born up to 11 months.

Oh and I have to quit my job this week... I think I'm going to puke I'm so nervous. I know it's the right thing to do but it's a HUGE leap of faith and I am so scared. I only have 2 more weeks of mat leave left, then.... nada. I know God will provide, how? that's up to Him... in the mean time I need to get my butt busy learning. My brain feels like it's about to explode from all the info I'm pouring into it. But it's cool stuff though, which makes it fun to learn.

sorry what a rambling post today... guess I'm just feeling rather reflective. Hope you have a great hump day!

happiness is....

a pink barbie swimming pool... of course!!
Ok so it's definitely hot and summery outside, we needed cooling off and fast, and barbie came to the rescue! lol. Nothing like 2.5 inches of ice cold water from the garden hose to cool you off on a stinkin hot day! Ian was snoozing, Chris was doing something... and so Bree & I went to enjoy the pool. I didn't get in(yet), just my feet... and of course my camera is never far from me.
Brianna lately has been none too cooperative when I want to take her photo... ok so I take too many photos... I live in the digital age, it's gonna happen! Soooo I cleared my memory card and snapped 216 shots of Brianna being a ham and a half! There is just something so soothing about that click click click click sound... LOVE IT! And sadly I probably would have taken more, but a waterfight broke out and I had to hide the Nikon!
So hard to pick my favourites... but here they are! And again, they are SO going on a layout!

hmmm I'm thinking life and a celebration of it! ;)