If Only I Had Eight Arms......

Tonight I am completely multitasking. Trying to finish up some pages for a circle journal, get some paper work done for the house, getting ready for the dentist tomorrow (ouch!), experimenting with some Prima Hybrid stuff and writing this blog entry. Phew! All that and I am ready for bed. Sometimes I wonder why there aren't more hours in the day. I feel like I have so much to accomplish and never enough time.

I guess when life gets like that, you just hunker down.

But I gotta tell you. I am very excited to tell you that I am doing more teaching! Yes, I am very excited about it. I am going to be at a retreat hosted by Pages in Time in Stettler, Alberta on April 16th!

I went and visited and got to know the ladies and I am thrilled to be working with them. My class will be playing with clear Pageframes products and showing you great techniques and tricks to get the best results.

And speaking of clear, I am finally posting my wall hanging I did for Trisha Ladouceur's the Winter issue of Canadian Scrapbooker. I am particularly excited to post this because it is very well one of my all time favorite creations! I was completely stretched creatively to do this piece and I love the results.

Large and medium Star and Circular Acetate bases: Picture It Pageframes
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey - Color Me Silly
Transparencies: Hambly Screen Prints, Hi gauge acetate sheet (craft supply)
Stamps: Gelatins - You Spin Me 'Round
Ink: Staz On in Jet Black (Tsukineiko)
Acrylic Paint - Making Memories
Black Grossgrain Ribbon: Burwick Offray
Chipboard Letters: Heidi Swapp - Center of Attention
Chipboard Arrow and Star Photo Corner: Fancy Pants
Rub-ons: Fancy Pants (stripes on word "cool"), Hambly Screen Prints (swirls), K & Co. - Transfers on the Go ("Wild Thing" on medium star)
Adhesive: Small Glue Dots

And yes continuing on...

Again since we are talking about Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine, I am excited to get my hands on the new spring issue! Yay!

First off, I am excited to tell you that I made one of the two takes of the cover! Didn't quite make the final cut but none the less, i say I done not too shabby!

And make sure that you check out the article on scrapbooking your baby by the fabulous Cari Locken (who I will be teaching with in May at Scrapbook Your Heart in Caroline, Alberta) and the stamping article by the most talented stamper extordinaire, Cathie Allen.

So happy and lucky to be in such good company when I end up in Canadian Scrapbooker. Jackie and Katherina, great job!

So, How Do I Get Started?

So last night I got this email from a friend, can you tell me how to get started doing hybrid scrapbooking? And I sat there, thinking that explaining it was going to be completely an easy thing.
Piece of cake.

Then I started writing the email. As I started typing, all of a sudden it occurred to me that I had no idea how much this person knew about their photo editing program. Then I figured fine. I'll recommend a book and prod to see how much they honestly knew about their program. And it started to occur to me that I explaining these things could take forever without visuals.

So I sat there perplexed. I knew I just couldn't pick up and visit her. Man, that would be so easy. I could give her a tour as she sat down beside me. It just wasn't feasible. I am thinking, there has got to be some place that I can direct her to that provides the basics.

And there is. Joy of joys!

Scrap In Style TV!

It is a nice little scrapbooking website that is friendly and helpful and easy to use. Every week they post a webisode for their members. This week, they go through the basics of creating your first digital page.

Perfect!

So, if you are interested in learning how to create a digital layout, go there, sign up and watch. Don't forget to stop by and say hello to me, JBeans as well!

Oh, and if you try, don't forget to tell me how you did.

My fingers feel so heavy......

....and I still feel this great need to blog. Today started out at 4am. Feeling not completely up to snuff last night. Nothing serious, but enough to get me awake that early. And if you know me, I NEVER wake up that early. And that was completely alright. I relished the complete and utter silence with some internet surfing and a bowl of cereal. Ahhh, it was sweet.

The day has continued on. Nothing completely earth shatteringly exciting, but a busy day none the less enjoying our statutory holiday in Alberta, known as Family Day! Love this holiday because it seems to be that extra little day off in the middle of the hum drum winter months that are savored completely but gives you that little bit of refreshment.

So, yes back to my day. First of all, completely thrilled that my husband is home after a long stint out in the oil patch. He flew home from Saskatchewan last night and just in time to enjoy the beautiful weather and the festivities out on the lake.

Before we left, we chipped the thick ice that has accumulated on the driveway and as a result, my arms and fingers feel like dead weight! But then off we went to spend some time ice fishing of course!

It was so busy on the lake today too. But I had to hightail it a little early as I didn't wear the proper footwear. My feet ended up soaked and cold! So, I left the boys to hang out together, which was good, as it was easy to tell that they missed each other.

I didn't get any shots today, but here are a few from one of our other fishing excursions.



Jake is completely enjoying the snow and running around in the wide open space.

Trevor the ever patient fisherman. We usually forgo our shack and fish outside when the weather is nice. And I love fishing in Sylvan because it is so easy to see down the hole. It can make it so much more exciting when you can see the fish swim around and check out your hook!

Jake is getting a lot braver when it comes to the floppy fishes! At first, I think he was completely shocked how much a freshly caught fish jumps around straight out of the hole. I swear he figured they were trying to attack. Well, now he has absolutely no fear and thinks it is a game to handle them as they wriggle. Which in some ways doesn't excite me because he ends up smelling like a fish. Uck!

And moving on......
Loved the silence this morning so much, I dug into making another page with more fabulous Prima Hybrid products. The one I did features papers and elements with About A Boy by Vera Lim and A Better Me by Weeds & Wildflowers.

Prima Hybrid Products
Papers:
(background and green solid) About A Boy by Vera Lim, (checkers and red pattern) A Better Me by Weeds & Wildflowers
Embellishments:
(doodle frame, large circle and star) About A Boy and (glitter swirls) A Little Magic Vol. 3 by Vera Lim, (title and doodled flower swirl) A Better Me and (inked edges) Vintage Garden by Weeds & Wildflowers, Hot Off the Press Flames by Trish Jones, (Dymos) Rad Refresh by Kim Christensen
Other Products:
Brush: Rising Sun by Blazter Javier Zxh (www.brusheezy.com)
Fonts: Pulse sans virgin (www.dafont.com), Times New Roman
Photo editing: Adobe Photoshop CS

I have been wanting to do something completely doodly and fun for a while now and these really were the perfect kits to do the job!

Ok, now I really got to stop typing, I can barely lift my arms!