Scraps of Living in Muskoka

Tim Holtz Kraft-Core

2011-11-23T10:38:00.000-08:00

Got to love all of his stuff. Just saw his new co ordination paper when I was at the Craft Nook in Bracebridge. Yummy stuff and now you can have a chance to win it. Now I will try and do this right so you can go to the site. Just click on this link or you may have to copy and paste.

Contest link

http://pages.exacttarget.com/raf3a/?eKey=Se1FRlEjD6TTdRjE2luFSgXSl

Ta-da!

2011-11-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

Here is my first Christmas card of the season using my new toy, the Cuttlebug. The idea came from Cardmaker magazine November 2011. It is called a criss cross pocket card and will presented to my church's worship leader from the UCW.

My new toy.

2011-11-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

Good bye Original Sizzix, Hello Cuttlebug. Yes, yes, yes, I'm so excited to have this new toy to play with.

On with the Scrappinest of it all.

2011-10-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been over a year since I last posted anything. My mojo just left me. I was not feeling inspired by anything and just plain mad with the world.

Life dealt me a curve that I just did not think would ever happen but it did. It has now been almost a year since my son has been in a treatment home for kids with behavior problems. We were greatly affected by the last foster child I had in my home. It was really traumatic and as a result, I sought help from the same agency that I was with as a foster parent. It all lead up to us being told if we did not sign our son in on a temporary care agreement, they would apprehend him as he was a danger to my daughter, myself and himself. So in order to keep our parental rights in place and protect him from them we agreed to do it. It was the hardest thing I ever did and it took so much out of me. If that was not enough my daughter was diagnosed with severe anxiety depression most likely caused by her being dyslexic. And to make matters worse, my husband was struggling with his own demons.

Today my daughtter is much better, She has had dylexia treatment and is in a pilot program with the board of education for kids with learning disabilities. Her reading is much better and she is in a better place.

My son has made progress but not enough for him to come home. They still have not found the right medication to put him on but I am confident they will and with a little luck he will be returning home. I so miss him.

My husband now is doing western Canada runs with the same company. No more Eastern seaboard for him.

As for me, my creativity has returned and I am again feeling excited about it. I joined a book club and started going to church. I also have a new friend who lives on my street. She has been a gift from god for me as our daughters are the same age and she also scrapbooks. I also rediscovered WeScrap. I am once again excited about what is to come. So enough with the heartache and on with the scrappinest of it all.

Not Again!

2010-06-27T04:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's been a couple of weeks since I have posted. My scrappy stuff is on the move again to another space in my house and I survived the G8 summit. We had the endless roar of jets patrolling the air space plus I had to drive my kids to school and back. The police presence was amazing and as for the fence surrounding Deerhurst, Wow! I have never seen anything like it. I drove through it before they closed it down and it was just like going through a prison or what I think going through a prison would be like. My life will get back to normal for 3 days and then the kids are out of school for the summer. I still have not done my teacher's gifts as my mojo has gone somewhere and I had better find it quick. Since going to the card class, I have not been able to unpack my bag but today I will try. We will see how it goes.

OMG!!

2010-06-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted anything. My time has been taken up with appointments for the kids and trying to cope with my son's ADHD. We don't have an official diagnosis but we are waiting on the results of his recent psychological assessment. Needless to say I have not done much scrapping. But today in honor of my birthday, I decided to take a card class offered by one of the LSS in Muskoka. I had to drive 70 km but it was well worth it. No kids, no hubby and a chance to work on my creative self. I think we did 12 cards and 6 card fronts. I got all the pieces together but just need to put on the finishing touches as we were told to keep that for later so we could attempt them all. So hopefully tomorrow I'll get a chance to finish them. So Happy Birthday to me and all other June babies out there.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to finally go through all my Mom's and Step Dad's photos. They have been sitting in a box since my Step Dad passed away in 2004. I was really excited and pleased when I found this photo of my Mom of which I have never before seen. My one and only photo of her with Santa. It's hard to believe she has been gone for 10 years but not a day goes by that I don't think about. Happy Mother's Day!

Pricilla Styles

2010-05-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

Pricilla Styles Blog is having an anniversary celebration with an awesome give away. Check this post out for details. http://priscillastyles.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

2010-05-01T07:14:00.000-07:00

Today is National Scrapbooking Day and what a perfect day to scrap for me. It's raining and the kids are quietly playing Wii and hubby is keeping busy getting things done around the house before he heads off for work tomorrow. We had a bike ride planned but I'm glad it's raining.

Today I am celebrating by joining WeScrap in their celebration. Happy Scrapping to everyone.

Free Vintage Images

2010-04-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

I found a great blog with free vintage images. It's called The Vintage Moth and can be found here http://www.percyandbloom.com/

Make it "XTRA" Large

2010-04-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

This layout is of my kids with their favourite hockey player, Mike. He's the son of my husband's best friend from childhood and he played hockey for the Huntsville Otters for a couple of years. I did it for the WeScrap challenge Make it "XTRA" large. The XTRA large was using a photo bigger than 4x6. This is 5x7. Now I am off to start another one.

Woo hoo!!!

2010-04-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited it finally came in the mail, the Slice.
I won it at the Spring crop and could not believe what I was reading as it was the last thing I expected. This totally makes up for all the prizes I have won before that haven't arrived in the mail. I am going to love it.

It is now plugged in and charging. I can hardly wait.

Another layout done!

2010-04-22T11:43:00.000-07:00

Yippee for me. I think I am on a roll. I got another layout done and I have more planned. This one is for the April 17 Definition Title Challenge over at WeScrap. It's of me and I used Photoshop and my scanner to get my Mom's handwriting onto the front of the photo. Hence, the title "Precious".

Don't you love that new Martha Stewart border punch.

Clean up

2010-04-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

I am busy trying to get my scrappy area organized again! Yes, again. My dear hubby found a used desk at the transfer station where we take our garbage. It's still in pretty good shape but the drawer needed to be fixed and it's huge. A month ago he got a unit with two big drawers that I can lock so all my important stuff that I don't want the kids to touch go in there. As a result I have had to move things around and do some purging. I'm still in the process and hope I can get things done today. Now I need to get off the computer so I can get done.

Cricut Mats

2010-04-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

What a dreary day we are having today, rain and light snow and to make matters worse, I have my kids cold to make me feel yucky. So I have been doing some surfing on the net and came across this great idea about how to make your cricut mats sticky again. I am going to have to try this and see if it really works. Here's the link: http://www.hidinginmycraftroom.com/2009/10/how-to-make-your-cricut-mat-sticky.html

I did it!

2010-04-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

I finally did it. I finished my first layout in months and it was a 2 pager at that. I also did a card and altered a tea can. Not bad and I feel good about it and can't wait to start working on another. I might even finish another one for the WeScrap on-line crop. Here they are:

My lovely daughter sunning herself in March when we were blessed with warm temperatures and sunny days.

The altered can is a tetley tea can and the card I made for my brother in law's 60th birthday.

WeScrap On-line Crop

2010-04-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

WeScrap is having an on-line crop starting April 9, 2010. I just took the bait from Ally and am going to do my darnest to get at least one layout done. Can I do it? I think I can.

Make your own flowers

2010-03-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

We are nearing the end of March and what a month it has been weather wise. The snow is almost gone and the bugs are waking up with all this beautiful sunshine we are having. The way it is going we will have the pool up soon.

Anyways I found another way to make your own flowers from Mel Stampz. She is so talented and I love her work. Here's the link http://melstampz.blogspot.com/2010/03/book-page-mod-podge-blossoms-3d-cherry.html

Oh Wow!

2010-03-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

I just noticed I have my first follower. Hi Ally! Thanks for following me.

Poofy flowers

2010-03-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

March Break is over and maybe some sense of normalcy can come into my life. Things look like they are progressing with the problems I have been having with my son and I am feeling that my creative block will go away.

While going through my emails today I came upon this tutorial for poofy flowers from Paper Craft Planet. Great idea and easy to do. Here's the link to the tutorial: http://lordhavemercy-mercykerin.blogspot.com/2010/01/paper-flower-tutorial.html

Great Tutorials

2010-03-09T07:16:00.000-08:00

I love Diana Gibbs blog. She has great video tutorials and I just loved this Bee tutorial using just punches. Here's the link http://dianagibbs.typepad.com/stampin_with_di/2010/03/stinkin-cute-punch-bee-tutorial.html

We Scrap blog hop

2010-03-07T06:54:00.000-08:00

Well I just went on a blog hop with We Scrap and it was inspiring with lots of ideas to peak my creativity. The best was saved for last and I just had to share Allison Cope's project. She truly is inspiring. http://yourmemoriescanada.blogspot.com/2010/03/bring-on-spring-wescrap-blog-hop.html#comment-form

Another beautiful day

2010-03-03T06:50:00.000-08:00

Wow! Another beautiful day in Muskoka. I just saw this quick and easy Spring paper wreath on the Scapbook and Cards Today blog by Aly Dosdall. Check it out here http://scrapbookandcardstodaymag.typepad.com/scrapbook_cards_today_blo/2010/03/3ts-tuesday-with-aly-dosdall.html .

Ribbon Flowers

2010-03-02T06:30:00.000-08:00

Wow! I can't believe it's March already. Much of February was spent watching the Olympics and dealing with some family issues. Hopefully things will calm down soon.

I have also decided to not worry about doing layouts and things for message boards and contests and just do them for myself. I hope that will take the pressure off myself and the creativity will start to flow again. With that said I saw these gorgeous ribbon flowers on this blog this morning and wanted to share. They are at http://barbschram.blogspot.com/2010/03/ribbon-flower-goodness.html .

A New Group

2010-02-12T10:54:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful day it is. The sun is shining and the kids are at school soon to come home. I recently discovered a new scrapbooking site on facebook called "Craftella". www.craftella.com It's a scrapbooking group and they have a couple of contests running right now. One is based upon your participation in the forum and the other one is a page contest using the theme of Love or Valentines. Joining is free and I am going to try my luck. I can feel my mojo coming back. When my kids come back from school, I'm going to take some Valentine pictures as the kids celebrated it at school today. Should be fun. My son made a special card for a girl in his class. I wonder if he gave it to her. We shall see.

Corner tip

2010-02-09T08:17:00.000-08:00

I've been busy cleaning and decluttering my scrappy area. It's taking more time as kids take priority over cleaning. Today I am sorting through a few boxes before the kids come home from school but wanted to check my email. I was so glad I did as this tip was in my newsletter from the Craft Nook. It's a really cool idea for using decorative scissors sent to me by Linda of the Craft Nook. Thanks Linda and thanks Paula for a great idea. Paula Ponders: CORNERS - You asked for it.

The first of many.

2010-02-04T07:56:00.000-08:00

This is my first post on my own blog and it's about time. At the age of 50, I think I have waited long enough. I hope to make this about my hobby, scrapbooking. It has been many months since I even scraped a page and it is my hope that this will spawn my creative juices to start scrapping again.

I have been checking out new sites with sketches and have recently purchased a Gypsy to go with my cricut. I love the idea of loading all my cartidges into it so hopefully this will help too plus a good cleaning and some reorganizing in my scrappy area. Wish me luck!