And Yet Another Mini to Share

What did I tell ya? I'm lovin the minis! This one below I made for my dad's 80th birthday. We had a little surprise party for him up at Bowen Island back in May. It was a lot of fun! I made an acrylic album for my mom's 80th birthday and I feel so lucky to be able to have made one for my dad's 80th birthday too. He'll keep it on his boat and share it with his sailing buddies I'm sure. Thanks for stopping by to visit! I'm off to visit all the amazing creative spaces that participated in Karen Valentine's 3rd annual blog party Where Bloggers Create. Check it out! You'll most definitely be inspired!

A Little Mini To Share...

So lately I have been totally hooked on making little mini albums. At first I thought, I would need an event or something to make them, and I suppose in a way at least a theme. And, then I thought, could I ever have enough photos to fill one up with? lol Of course! What was I ever thinking! It's funny, when I first started scrapbooking my pages had at least 4-8 photos on them but lately I've been scrapping just 1 photo layouts. Maybe that's why I thought it would be hard to make a mini. Well not so! I'm all over the place these days, playing with a little mixed media art, journalling, scrapbooking, altered items and minis. There's no rules. Just have fun! I've tossed my "chronological scrapbooking" habits to the wind. It's more fun to be free!

Thanks for stopping by and visiting! Here's my latest mini. I'll have another to share with you over the weekend :)

Where Bloggers Create Blog Party

Welcome to my Studio! Today I'm joining Karen Valentine of My Dessert Cottage for the 3rd Annual Blog Party to Share Your Creative Spaces. I created this little slideshow a while ago and decided to use it to invite you into my space where I create. It's just a tiny little space but it's my space and I have everything I need here. Well almost everything! lol  Be sure to check out all the other wonderful studios here. You can also click on the Where Bloggers Create 2011 badge on my side bar to your left. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed my little tour and are inspired by all the amazing creative spaces out there!

Where Bloggers Create 2011

Click on the side bar "Where Bloggers Create 2011" for all the details.

Karen Valentine is hosting a wonderful event so tidy up your pretty space where you create and share it with us! The big day is July 15th. Last year over 300 women participated in this inspirational event!

Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden Collection

This collection is absolutely one of my favourites! I just love the soft muted colours and all the beautiful details. I wanted to create something using one of the large birdcages from my Kaisercraft wood flourishes and I wanted it to be something other than a layout. Here's what I came up with.

I am crazy about Stampin Up's new seam binding! It is so easy to work with and comes in a variety of beautiful colours. I also really love my Retro flower punches. The small one makes pretty little flowers which I used on the vine wrapping around the birdcage. I just inked their edges and added a little stickles for the centres. The diecuts that come with the Butterfly Garden collection are to die for! I simply added a bit of glitter to my butterfly and some stickles and distressed the edges of the beautiful birds. Thanks for stopping by to visit!

Some Pink Paislee & Prima Layouts to Share Along With a Sneak Peek

Here are a couple layouts I showcased on Tiny Seed over the past few weeks. I designed these on my Timberline retreat with my Scrapaholic buddies. It was such a fun weekend! I love having unlimited hours to scrap. I can't wait till November when we get to go again! In my first layout I used the delish Pink Paislee Sweetness collection and fussy cut the roses and added some dimentionals to give my layout some dimension. I also used the new Cosmo Cricket Glubers to create my rolled fabric flower. The lamp post is by Kaisercraft.

For my second layout I used the beautiful Prima Pistache collection. Again, I fussy cut some of the patterned paper flowers and added some more from my stash including the gorgeous large Prima ivory flower with the pearl. Thanks for stopping by to visit! 

And finally, here's a little sneak peak of what I'll be sharing on my Kathy Thursday post over at Tiny Seed this week. Be sure to stop by and visit Yolanda's lovely little Shoppe.

A Special Layout for Me and Mom on Mother's Day

This was my first Mother's Day without my Mom. I myself was spoiled by my family but my tears for my own mother were not far from the surface. I have some wonderful memories of Mom, in particular last Mother's Day when hubby took this photo of the two of us. Today I wanted to scrap it again. I've scrapped it before, but it was healing for me to spend some time in my studio today doing this layout of us together. 

On Friday, Dad called me to tell me there was an article in the Vancouver Sun by Valerie Rolfe, a mother and writer who lives in Victoria, that I should I read. It took me almost the whole weekend to get through it as I had to keep setting it aside but I did manage to read it to the end and I realized how fortunate Mom was not to suffer through her cancer like so many others have. What was familiar to me was the fact that Valerie speaks of a tall handsome oncologist who treated her mother, a Dr. Swenerton. He was the same oncologist who treated my Mom. An acquaintance of Dad's from his sailing adventures that Dad ran into one day when Mom was sick and he comforted Dad, telling him he would look after her. As soon as Mom's biopsy was sent down to the Cancer Clinic, Dr. Swenerton was up to see my Mom within the hour and then phoned me to assure me he would look after her. He is a true gentleman and a gentle soul.


At the end of the article her daughter explains how the day after her mother's death her father found an exerpt from a poem by Canon Henry Scott Holland called Last Words, which her Mom had written and left in her dresser drawer. She keeps it in her pocket and it inspired me to create the following layout. 

Death is nothing at all.

I have only slipped away into the next room.

I am I and you are you.

Whatever we were to each other, that we still are.

I am waiting for you, for an interval, 

Somewhere very near, just around the corner, 

All is well.

If you would like to read more of the article, you can find it here.   

This Mother's Day, like Valerie, I feel extremely grateful for my own daughter, happy for those who still have their mothers, and understanding toward those who have lost their mothers. I am also eternally grateful for my girlfriends who have helped me get through this extremely difficult year. I feel blessed to have you in my life. Happy Mother's Day!

Dad's 80th Birthday Celebration

Last weekend we celebrated my dad's 80th birthday. He was planning his annual sail past with his sailing group but little did he know that his good friend Nancy was planning a surprise party for him! Hubby and Emily and I took the ferry over to Bowen Island in the afternoon on Saturday to celebrate with dad and his sailing club and then had a family dinner for him here at home on Sunday. It was a wonderful time and dad was totally surprised to see us show up. He's so lucky to have such wonderful friends and I'm so glad that he belongs to a group of such wonderful people. It reminds me of my scrapbooking group. When people share the same passion, wonderful friendships are made!

I made this canvas for dad. He loves it.

Here's a few pictures from dad's party.