Green Apple Girl

December tomorrow!

Goodbye November you dreary, grey and long, long month.  I'm ready for December and some holiday magic.  This year I want to decorate a gingerbread house, write letters to santa and (hopefully if the weather cooperates) play in the snow!

I have zero desire to get sucked into the craziness that is Christmas shopping.  I want to keep things as simple as possible and focus on what is really important, family.  For the first time in my life, I will be making a Christmas dinner!  I'm so excited that we will spend Christmas in our own house and have my parents join us for a turkey dinner.

After last December's attempt at a December Daily album, I vowed never to do it again.  I only made it to day 19 and then got too distracted by the holidays to finish it.

I'm going to attempt it again this year!  A Prima canvas 8x8 album

, lots of Comso Cricket

 

and some Collage Press

 

Oh...and I should maybe think about making Christmas cards too!
 

It's been awhile

Hello blog.  Hello friends.  It's been awhile.

What have I been up to?  Work full time, being a mummy and throwing a little bit of creative stuff in the mix whenever I can.

I am NOT a fan of November.  It is so gloomy and grey and I hate that it is dark by the time we eat dinner.  I miss being able to play in the backyard in the magical early evening light.

Tomorrow is my 35th birthday.  I can't believe it.  I remember when I thought 25 was really old.  Ruby is clearly noticing that I'm getting older, she asked me what the "crack" was on my head...yup, a big wrinkle!

I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend of child-free time!  Ken and I haven't been away for a night since I was pregnant with Norah 3 years ago.  We are long overdue for some quality time together.  We're heading up to my sisters cottage.

Here's a recent layout of Norah at Appleland.  This is for this month's challenge at A La Carte.  I'm so happy they asked me to be their Guest Designer.  I love the challenge for this month...check it out!

I hope you have a great weekend....5 weeks until Christmas!  My penguins and snowglobes and trees are slowly making their way upstairs from storage in the basement!

 

 
  

Woodgrain

These days, I find joy in the simplest of things...like woodgrain paper!  I love that the entire line of Cosmo Crickets "Nutmeg" line has woodgrain on one side.

If you're looking for a fun night out...I'd love for you to join me at a fundraiser crop for Parkwood Children's Daycare!  The crop is going to be at Scrappin Great Deals and we're going to have a blast!  You can register for the crop by phoning 519-685-4292 and one of the extensions on the poster below. 

 
 

 

'Tis The Season

'Tis the season for colds and flu and I've been knocked out with it for the last three days.  I can't remember being this sick in years.  My fever is finally gone and I'm starting to feel a wee bit more human.

Here are a couple of recent pages I've done using some of the new Golly By Jolly line from Cosmo Cricket.  I'm loving the new lines that are out for Christmas this year. 

Halloween trick or treating lasted a whole 20 minutes with these two.  They were freezing and ready to come home and hand out candy.  Shocking how much loot they accumulated in just 20 minutes!  My dentist must love this time of year!

 
  

Scrappin Great Deals November Kit

This month, I had the pleasure of working with the November kit for Scrappin Great Deals.  Sheila has a great talent for mixing different lines of paper with beautiful embellishments that work extremely well together.  Here is a photo of the kit contents.

I loved the mix of the Basic Grey, Bo Bunny and Kaiser papers for this layout.  This is the first 2 page layout I've done in a very, very long time! It was the perfect way to capture the changes in Ruby and Norah over the past year.

The Pink Paislee and Webster's Pages papers were a pretty combination with this black and white photo.  I added some Pink Paislee alphabet stickers as well.

My final layout is with photos of many of my favourite sights and smells of the season.

Be sure to see how the other designers used the kit this month.  You can check out Sarah and Kim's blogs.  Once the reaveal is up on the Scrappin Great Deals site, you'll be able to link up to Diane's creations as well.

Thanks so much to Sheila for asking me to do this!

   
 
 
 
  

November

With November right around the corner, I've been working on my Scrapbook Star kit.

Here's a peek...

I'm also fortunate to be a Guest Designer for Scrappin Great Deals this month!  Here's a peek of one of my layouts...

I need to do a big re-cap of my amazing weekend at Memories Manor...watch for that in the next few days.  I got NINE pages done while I was there....that is huge for me!

Here's one I did using a Prima sketch and lots and lots of Prima goodness!

 
 
   
 

Candy Monster

Halloween candy is so, so good and so, so bad.  Small enough to eat more than one (or six!) and small enough to quickly swallow before little people ask you what you are eating.

Someone in my house has a serious case of the terrible twos and actually smacked my face tonight when I wouldn't give her Halloween candy for dinner!

Here she is last year in all her gooey, chocolate, Halloween glory.

Four, Four, Four, Four

 

  

 

Four places that I go to over and over: to work, to the grocery store, to the scrapbook store and Shopper’s Drug Mart

 

Four people who e-mail me: my husband Ken, my friends Leah and Cindi and my sister Ali

Four favorite smells : my girls after a bath, scrapbook adhesive, pumpkin spice tea from Tim Hortons and fresh basil

 

Four places l'd rather be right now: taking a nap, scrapbooking with friends, hanging out on the couch with my dog and getting a pedicure

 

Four people I am tagging to complete this…Leah, Sarah, Jenn and Amanda    

 

Four TV shows I watch: GLEE!!!, The Biggest Loser, Top Chef and Amazing Race

 

Four things I'm looking forward to: Memories Manor this weekend!, Glee tonight, Ruby's 5th birthday next week and Halloween

 

 

Twilight

I know NOTHING about the Twilight books...should I read them?  This weekend is an online crop with a Twilight theme at Scrapbook Star.

My crop challenge is to create a layout inspired by Bella's braclet and include a heart shape and some bling.

Check out all the other Design Team challenges...lots of fun and lots of inspiration!
  

Thankful

Today I am thankful for

1. Celebrating 6 years of marriage.  We spent our anniversary driving home from the cottage and having thanksgiving dinner with our family.  He makes me laugh everyday.

2. Ruby.  Almost 5...going on 15.  Loves to be creative like her mummy and loves to be outside like her Daddy.

3. Norah.  So serious and quiet.  Love to look at books like her Mummy and loves to eat pickles like her Daddy.  I love that she finally has the words to tell us what she is thinking.

4. For friends old and new.  Especially those that make me a priority and not just an option.

5. For places like the cottage where we can get away from the everyday, even if it does mean showering in lake water and smelling like a wood stove for days and days after wards.

6. For my crazy addiction to all things scrapbook related.  For finding a hobby that lets me remember the important moments, like turning two and the little things in the everyday, like a silly, Japanese dollar store stuffy that hangs from the rear view mirror.

   7. For my favourite season full of my favourite colours, smells and flavours.

8. For having a job that I like.  And a paycheque that is just enough to pay some bills, and student loans etc...etc......and to put dinner on the table. 

9. For the chance to give a little bit back by doing things like the Run For The Cure with good friends.

10.  For you...thanks for reading my blog.