Embellished Memories Scrapbooking & More

official release " Behind the Lens "

2010-07-11T09:26:00.003-06:00

The July kit is finally ready to go!!!!!!!

This kits Is a mini album(6 x 12) done with the "mama-razzi" paper line from Bo-Bunny. This paper is fabulous to work with, fell in love with the colours and the accents.

Get down to the store this week and get yours....everything is included in this kits, to make the album,and the paper embellishments....i had an absolute blast making this kit for you......You wont be disappointed, I promise.

here are just a few photo's , to see the project, stop by the store, its on the front counter.

Have a great week and enjoy the "behind the Lens" July kit!!!!

~tam~

What are you up to this weekend?

2010-07-09T09:59:00.002-06:00

My holiday week is ending....booooo
My parents are in town to visit....yah!
We are going car shopping to test new cars for me
Hanging out with Kbear and family
Trying to stay cool!

Are you going to Street Wheelers this weekend?
Are you scrapbooking?

I just spent the past couple of days at the store with friends scrapbooking. I have a couple of layouts to share in the future :)

Hope you have a safe and funfilled weekend!

~~Melanie

My trip in photos (that I can not wait to scrapbook!)

2010-07-07T13:21:00.004-06:00

I was on an Alaska cruise last week on Celebrity Cruises. It was a last minute thing for work. Not to shabby. I had a great time (even though it was my 2nd cruise to Alaska). I got to see a couple of new ports and totally fell back in love with ones I saw before.

I can not wait to scrapbook my photos! But for now, here is one from each port of call.

Vancouver (Stanley Park with the downtown in the background as we sailed by and then under the Lions Gate Bridge).

Ketchikan (a new port for me and a new fav! This was taken at Creek Street the old Red Light District now a quaint shopping area.)

Icy Straight Point (a new port for me and very outdoorsy)

Juneau (was here before but nice to see it again. This was my view during breakfast that morning)

Skagway (was here before but still a fav!)

Ice Ice and more ice!

Mendenhall Glacier outside of Juneau

Turner Glacier just before seeing Hubbard Glacier

Hubbard Glacier (look closely - the weather sucked that day!)

Watch soon for layouts!

~~Melanie

preiview 5

2010-07-06T07:10:00.002-06:00

here is another preview for the july kit!!!! im sure we will be relaeasing it very soon, like i said before you dont want to miss out on this one..its a great kit!!!!!

hope u all had a great weekend, and have a fabulous week

~tam~

A Year of Challenges

2010-07-05T13:07:00.004-06:00

Here is your weekly Monday challenge. Sorry it is a bit late today - I slept in (a lot!).

Use bright and unusual colours for your holiday photos. Dont be typical (ie - red and green for Christmas, orange and black for Halloween, pink and red for Valentines day). I used lime greens, purples, oranges and love how this layout turned out! (sorry for the wonky scan, not sure what is up with that)

As another fun little challenge, use a play on words for your title...."lion" instead of "lying" - have fun with it!

Thanks for looking!

~~Melanie

stuff I've been doing lately

2010-07-03T10:46:00.002-06:00

Good morning! Are you tired of seeing my painted layouts yet? Well, I have another version for you.
This time a painted a column of paint, then stamped on it with black staz on with a circle stamp. I added a few Hambley rub-ons. I sewed right through the title.

Add a little masking tape and buttons. I suppose it isn't too crazy of a layout, but I like how it turned out. The cardstock is Bazzil, so it's got a bit of a pattern that showed up nicely where I stamped the circles.

Cool huh? Any questions? Have a great weekend!

~RonniH.

day 4 peek

2010-07-02T06:42:00.003-06:00

good day everyone!!! hope u all had a wonderful Canada day!

here is the peek for today..enjoy

~tam~

peek 3

2010-07-01T09:44:00.002-06:00

beautiful pics ronnie what gorgeous gurls u all are!!

so here is peek 3 for the July kit!!!!

happy Canada day everyone....see ya all tomorrow

~tam~

I'm bumpin' Tammy

2010-06-30T07:15:00.004-06:00

so that I can show you photos of Nicki's grad. I have over 200 proofs I have to go through... She was so pretty. And I was so proud.Loved her dress. (From Once Upon a Bride)The back of it was pretty too.This is one of the few photos I have of me from that day. That's a warning to all scrapbookers out there, hand over the camera!!LOL, I love this one of my girls.

And finally, check out her shoes! Yes! Converse! (Footlocker) The purple and green checkers went perfectly with her dress.

Thanx for letting me share! And my test went well, btw! It was about as hard as I thought it would be, but I don't get results for about 8 weeks. I know! 8 Weeks!! I need 61 to pass, so I'm feeling pretty confident. And if I do fail, I can take it again in Feb. so it's not the end of the world.

Have a good week! Don't forget to check out Tammy's peek in the post below this one!

~RonniH

another day, another peek!!!

2010-06-30T06:59:00.002-06:00

here is your second peek!!!!

enjoy!

have a great day everyone

~tam~

good day!!!!

2010-06-29T08:08:00.005-06:00

finally the kids are all done school!!!! yeahhhhhhh im glad to have them home...for now!!!!

Ive been busy creating away the july kit, and have fallen in love with it!!!

we have a small delay in the release this month, but i promise u wont be disappointed with the kit!! we should be ready by the 5th for full release.This is why i held off the sneak peeks till now....i will release one sneak a day till we are ready to go!!! those that know you paper lines may be able to guess what this one is, and any scrapper i know wants this paper line!!!
here is the first sneak peek.....

until tomorrow ladies...have great sun shinnnnney day!!!!!
~tam~

This week's challenge:

2010-06-28T19:10:00.003-06:00

Hi! sorry this is late today! I'm afraid the day got away from me. But I'm here now, ready to challenge you in the week ahead!

Are you ready for it?

Ready, set, 1, 2, 3,

Go!

Your challenge this week is to use a number as a title. Here's a layout of my mom and dad (taken on Mother's day) I traced a chipboard 2 onto a paper bag, and cut it out. I inked it up pretty good, and stuck it on a tag that I'd stamped on with some of the drool-worthy stamps from Tim Holtz.
I had some of the circles that I'd punched out from previous projects, and laid them out, and sprayed with mist over the background. I used a clock stamp in a few circles. And I also stamped little circles, using the end of a pencil.There's some masking tape. Some random sewing. Another stamped up tag that I punched butterflies out. A little lace. Just a fun, junked up layout, dontcha think?

so now it's your turn, use numbers as your title. Use a number to signify the number of kids you have. Or do a countdown to (or from) a holiday. Use a number for age. Or perhaps your address? There are so many possibilities!

Any questions or comments? I love to hear from you and I read all your comments, even when they're not directed to me, lol

Have a good week! See you later!

~RonniH.

Off on another adventure

2010-06-25T08:01:00.003-06:00

I was approved for a last minute thing at work. I am off on another adventure for a week. Dont worry, the challenge will still be posted on Monday as usual. The others will be chatty as usual.

I cant wait to see what they have cooked up for you all next week! I love coming back and checking the blog and seeing the inspiration and layouts and stories from everyone.

Hope you do to!

On a scrapbooking note, I was browsing scrapbooking websites for inspiration the other day. I found this layouts. I *heaert* it. I am going to be lifting it soon. Very very soon. I love the large photo and then all the tiny tiny ones. The only differences I would make would be to use different pictures in the tiny ones, not the same as the large and make it into a 2 pager.....but watch for it when I get back.

Have a great weekend. Take lots of pictures (I know I will be!). Have a safe and happy Canada Day :)

~~Melanie

busy weekend

2010-06-24T07:14:00.003-06:00

So my busy weekend is finally arriving. We start today with Darby's graduation from grade 5 into junior high. Tonight, we have Mass for my oldest daughter's graduation from grade 12. Tomorrow we run around for hair appointments, make-up appointments, pictures, and trying to find someone to tie Nicole's boyfriend's tie as we prepare for grad. Saturday we head up to Edmonton, so that Sunday I can write my optician's exam. I'm tired just thinking of it!
You know there will be tonnes of photos taken from me.
The following is a layout I did of Nicki's hair trial. I chose the song title "The best is yet to come" (by Hedley) as a play on words. The photos were of her hair and make-up trial for grad, and so she has another day of playing princess yet. But also, she has a wonderful lifetime ahead of her yet. I thought it suited the page well.
I think she's beautiful at the best of times, but her hair and make-up made her especially pretty that day. There's a little misting. Some butterflies emerging (like her). Some ink.The layout also has an envelope (from Maya Road) that I plan on slipping some personal journaling in for her to read one day. I'm so proud of her, and I'm sure I'll cry not just at her grad, but at her little sister's too. My girls are growing up so fast!

So have a good weekend. I'm glad to hear Kari's doing ok. You're in my thoughts girlie!! I'll let you all know when I'm back from Edmonton. Take care, happy scrapping!

~RonniH.

Sorry in advance

2010-06-23T12:39:00.002-06:00

this is NOT scrapbooking related.

I just got an update on Kari and she is doing ok :) Sore but ok. Glad our leader is slowly recouperating. Thought I would share as everyone has been worried about her.

2010-06-22T07:19:00.002-06:00

Do you have an article of clothing that you've practically worn to death? I do. I have a pair of boots that the leather (if it's real leather) has been worn right off, the rubber sole is lifting and my feet get wet when it rains (and it's rained a lot lately!)
Yet I can't bear to throw them out. I'm such a pack rat! So I figured I document my love of these boots, and then I think I have to buy new ones. Always nice to have an excuse to go shopping, isn't it?I did my journalling on strips of paper, then cut them apart and inked the edges. I have some fantastic canvas flowers from Kari that were cut with Tim Holtzes' new dies. Drool. I so have to get that die for myself.

I laid down some old chipboard swirls that Fancy Pants put out years ago on my Jillibean paper, and sprayed it with mist. I had a transparency cut a little larger than 4 x 6, and I painted around that before putting down my photo. There's just a slight border, an interesting touch, yes? And I folded up some ribbon. I am thinking that the glue dots arent' holding it down well enough, and I might just end up sewing down the folds.

So that's it! Enjoy the week, looks like it might not rain as much as they say it will today, knock on wood! Any questions or comments, please feel free to ask.

And Carolyn, I answered how I made the perfect circles back on the post you asked about it. :)

Have a good day!

~RonniH.

Weekly Challenge

2010-06-21T19:29:00.005-06:00

My challenge to you this week is to use a play on words in your title.

I think you can see where I went with mine. We went to the Just Fur Fun petting zoo in Coaldale last summer. It was fun to watch her interact (or not so much lol) with the animals.

~~Melanie

Its a cinch ;)

2010-06-19T08:40:00.003-06:00

Oh my gosh! Kari missed posting about this new arrival in her post the other day. I was in the store Thursday night and turned......viola! The CINCH is in ladies!

This machine is similar to the Bind it All, but makes circular holes and you are not limited to using them all! Did you read that? Yes, you can pick and choose which holes to punch.

You are welcome ;)

Yet another version

2010-06-18T09:28:00.006-06:00

Yah, you can say I have issues. It's ok. I've made peace with it. I really really like doing this style of layout. The paint is fun. The spray ink is fun. The stamps are fun. Each one is the same, and yet unique.This is my baby brother, Clay. He's so funny. He had Darby's hat on Mother's day and figured he was all that and a bag of chips. Sorry girls, he's married, lol lol lol. I love my baby brother because he is as much of a goof ball as I am. I love the bit of pen that goes around each circle, the photo, and the entire layout. I like that some circles are darker than other. The random star stamps... all scrappy goodness to me.

I used up some old letter stickers... different fonts and styles for the title, it all works because it's so random.

I have an unexpected day off today. I think today will be a good day to clean out my closet, but I should probably build an ark. I plan on hiding out in my scrapping room too, but I can't promise that I won't make another layout that's different, lol

Have a good day!

~RonniH.

btw, you can double click on the last 2 photos to see them bigger. :)

*** to know how I did the nice circles *** check this out: at Studio Calico's blog I'm hoping that will help you out.

2010-06-16T19:25:00.003-06:00

Just Arrived....
Robins Nest Dew Drops, in 10 different color combinations. (Selling Fast)
Making Memories Slice Hands Free Units, for special order ladies!
7 Gypsies ATC Photo Trays
Plus a few October Afternoon 8x8 paper pads

Anyone scrappin with this crazy silly rain we are having? Can't do much else, so might as well scrap! Don't get too wet... Plus still 2 spots left in for the pizza crop, call the store in the morning to book your spot!

Another version

2010-06-16T07:19:00.003-06:00

This is to show you how versatile (seriously, is that spelled right?? spellchecker says so, but really??) my second last challenge is. This version has a black background, lime green paint, and a white gel pen. By the way Kari, I need another white pen, could you set me one aside? Thanx! :) Huh, I just noticed how crooked this is. I've been taking pictures of my layouts outside on my step cause the lighting is better and I think it gives an interesting background. But still, I could at least take pictures straight on. For Mother's day, Nicole bought me that houndstooth tape. Love it! And for the letter D, I traced a chipboard letter onto cardstock, and just painted in the letter, and cut it out.

The stars were very carefully heat embossed in white. Cute hat my kid has, huh? I seriously loved that last challenge, and I've done a lot of different versions of it. I love getting my fingers dirty with paint!

Have a good day!

~RonniH.

btw, you can click on the last 2 smaller photos to make big, but not the one of the layout. Sorry, we're still trying to figure this all out. :)

Lots of Photos

2010-06-15T07:53:00.003-06:00

You know how I *heart* 2 page layouts. And you know how I *heart* using lots of photos. And you know that I *heart* my niece Kbear :)

Here are all 3 together with the photos I got at the Doodlebop concert back in March. 21 photos. I did a collage on the right with the 3 main photos of the day on the left. I even fit in journalling onto the page :)

I think the smile says it all with her excitement of the day.

~~Melanie

Weekly challenge!

2010-06-14T07:13:00.002-06:00

Good morning!
Remember when I challenged you 2 weeks ago to paint in the negative space? Well this week is similar, but I'm going to change it up. Change is good, remember? I had all those leftover circles punched out, and I thought we should be able to do something with them.
So your challenge is this, use those circles to make a negative space, and to challenge you furtner, don't use any boughten patterned paper.
I took my circles, and placed them all over a plain white piece of cardstock, and sprayed it with two colours of mist, one yellow, one brown. Once dried, I inked the edges. I took a leftover brown bag, crumpled it, and inked it, and adhered it. I had a tag that I stamped on with Tim Holtz's new line of stamps and added that to the mess too. Some masking tape, punched butterflies, some sewing, staples, and a few buttons were added too. I add my niece's photo, added her name, and done!It was fun coming up with ways to make it interesting with colours and textures. The tag was a total mistake, but I loved how it worked out, and I'm going to try to incorporate something like that again.

So go on, challenge yourself today... negative space and homemade patterned paper. Have fun!!

See you later this week!

~RonniH.

2010-06-12T07:33:00.004-06:00

These were my apple trees about a week or so ago. The blosssoms on them don't last very long againest the wind and the snow. They are very pretty and I can often smell the blooms in my kitchen. It's amazing how many bees start buzzing around them, looking for nectar. I noticed last night when I got home from work that my tree is filled with hard, small, little apples. It won't be long, and I'll have my hands filled with crab apples that no one wants to eat. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these photos... I would like to frame one or two I think.

Have you lots of plans for this weekend? It seems like most of my activities are all piled up on the calendar for the end of June. My daughter's have field trips and graduations and sleep overs and all kinds of parties planned, and I'll be writing my licensing exam the same weekend as my daughter's high school grad. I love being busy, though.

I'm trying to think of something exciting and interesting for Monday's challenge. We have a soccer game at 845 this morning that I should be getting ready for, and then another at noon. I'd like to go out on a photo shoot sometime this weekend, too, but I'm not sure if I can get away.

Have a good weekend!

~RonniH.
btw, you can double click my photos to see them bigger. Why??? I don't know what I've done differently, but it is nice to see them bigger.

What are you up to this weekend?

2010-06-10T12:36:00.003-06:00

Last weekend i spent an amazing weekend scrpabooking with friends. I got a few layouts done and I am so happy with them.

This weekend my cousin is in town playing in a ball tourney....I might get the chance to watch a game (if they dont cross with work all the time!). Maybe I will get the chance to get a few pics too? Who knows. It will be nice to spend time with them nonetheless.

Are you going to take advantage of the nice weather that is supposed to be our way? Get out in your garden and yard? Take a walk in the park?

Hope you enjoy your weekend! dont forget to record your memories. it is the everyday little things that count in scrapbooking as well.

~~Melanie

2010-06-08T19:27:00.002-06:00

Have I mentioned to you yet, that Nicole brought me back a Prada bag when she went to Europe this spring? She was there while it was my birthday, and when she saw this Prada, she couldn't resist. Now, it's blackmarket Prada, probably stolen or a knock-off, but, the leather smells wonderful. The street vendor offered it to her for a hundred euro, but she turned it down, and was then told, for her, only 45 euro.
I would never pay 45 dollars for a purse, let alone 45 euros, mostly cause I'm cheap. But my daughter loves me, and it made a wonderful gift. Honestly, I don't know my Prada from a Versace, but it is fun to say I have a Prada from my daughta'. (lol) It's a huge purse, and I can never find a thing in it, but I love it.
So when you're a scrapper, with a lovely purse and a fun story, what do you do? Well, if you're me, you scrap about it. :) It's a quick layout, nothing to crazy or fancy. But I love that I've saved the story of my Prada bag. Maybe one day, if I get brave, I'll scrap about the contents! lol wouldn't that be a little scary?? Hope you're having a good week, happy scrappin' and all that!
~RonniH.

52 weeks of challenges....

2010-06-07T14:34:00.003-06:00

Happy Monday! Sorry for the delay, blogger has been down since last night. Gotta love technology.

This week's challenge is a sketch to use as inspiration and make your own! I bring you a sketch by my new favourite sketch artist, Allison Davis. She is amazing and her sketches are awesome! She is based in the US and has her sketch books for sale through Scrapbook Generations. There are currently 5 books available with a 6th on the way in July. They also have a card sketch book.

Allison's sketches use a lot of 4x6 photos. She wants people to be able to grab a stack of photos they have printed, grab a sketch, grab paper and embellishments and get a layout completed. Even when there are smaller photos, she usually crops a 4x6 photo down to the correct size.

Each month, Allison does a Sketch Week on her blog (which happens to be this week!). She picks one of her sketches and then each day that week posts a layout or two based on that particular sketch and how she used it for inspiration. She lists the changes and similarities to the sketch for each layout. Simply amazing! Allison's sketch week was the stepping stone to my challenge for you this week. I am including the sketch as well as the two layouts I completed using it as inspiration. You can see the similarities as well as the fact that they are different enough.

Here is the sketch I picked for your challenge this week (click on it to make it larger):

Sketch copyright Allison Davis, Scrapbook Generations

Here is my 1st layout based on the sketch (click on the picture to make it larger):

Here is my 2nd layout based on the sketch (click on the picture to make it larger):

I hope you enjoy this challenge! I know I did.....I cant wait to get to my next sketch :) Please bring your layouts in to the store for Kari to take a picture of, or email a copy to the store. We will post it on the blog to show YOUR inspired layout from this sketch.

~~Melanie

June kit purchasers....

2010-06-05T10:55:00.002-06:00

It was brought to my attention that some of the kits were sold over the past few days without your picking out your cardstock sheet to go with it!

If you purchased your kit this past week and did NOT pick out a sheet of cardstock to go with it, please contact Kari at the store to get that taken care of.

With the kit, you get to pick one sheet that will match your colour scheme - be it a wedding colour, grad dress colour, house colour or a colour you really like - to use as your accent with the black and white.

ps....they are going fast - only a couple of kits left already! Get yours right away. Dont miss out. They make an easy and beautiful gift :)

~~Melanie

I am so excited!

2010-06-05T09:49:00.002-06:00

My friends are down to scrapbook this weekend. We are letting our creativity flow this weekend. We are getting down and dirty with the scrapbooking this weekend. One has a recipe book to finish up. I have some layouts of Kbear (shocking, I know!) I want to finish up. Another has a ton of 4x6 photos she wants to get through and Kari, well she is chatting it up hahahaha

Speaking of 4x6 photos, you want to be here Monday to see my challenge! I have found the most amazing thing to get through lots of 4x6 photos in a quick and easy amount of time.

See you then!
Until Monday, enjoy the sunny, warm, not windy (so far) weekend!
Be good, record your memories :)

~~Melanie

happy Friday!

2010-06-04T07:15:00.003-06:00

See anything wrong with this layout? Besides it being a little bit crooked? Do you see where I had a little problem and needed to fix it?Maybe if I show you a different angle? See where it says "photographs"? Yah, that didn't turn out very well when I laid down the glue and tried to add glitter over it. And truth be told, the swirl on the n in Noteworthy didn't turn out so hot either. So to fix it, I was generous with the placement of some buttons and swirls, and if I didn't tell you, you'd not have known that that wasn't on purpose. And there's nothing wrong with this picture, I just wanted to show you another close up of the layout. Don't panic when layouts don't work out the way you had pictured in your head. Flaws make them a little more interesting, and most of the time they can be fixed. Besides, it's the memories that are the most important. There aren't any scrapping police (that I'm aware of) that are going to arrest you for having imperfect layouts. :)
Have a good weekend!
~RonniH

A reminder of a personal nature...

2010-06-03T10:22:00.004-06:00

Ok I admit, this is not about scrapbooking, but it is for everyone's safety. This is a reminder with summer travel coming up. Give Emergency vehicles and operators room to work. Save yourself a HUGE fine! As a retired RCMP's kids, I have known about this for years. I have followed it for years. I have know people who have been killed doing their job. It shocks and amazes me how many people do not know this is law. Please be safe this summer, and keep others around you safe too.

The Give Us Room to Work campaign is supported by law enforcement, fire rescue, EMS, towing and other roadside assistance vehicle operators throughout the province. In 2005, the Alberta Traffic Safety Act was amended to include tow and utility vehicles working at roadside. The Act requires drivers to slow to 60 km/h, or less if the posted speed is lower, and move out of the lane adjacent to roadside workers when they see vehicle lights flashing. Drivers who fail to do this can expect fines ranging from $115 to $703 or more.

The sun is shining today!

2010-06-02T07:18:00.002-06:00

Can I say just how good it is to see the sun shining when I got up this morning?? I don't mind the rain too much, but it gets a little gloomy after awhile. I woke up with sun on my face, and I think today my youngest is going to finally have soccer again!
I bet everyone is starting to get busy with end-of-the-year activities, and we're no exception. We've got grade 5 farewell, grad, soccer, my favourite aunt visiting from New Brunswick, and my own final exams are approaching fast too. But it's important to grab that camera and snap off a picture or two, cause time moves too fast. Even if you don't scrap them right away, make yourself some notes so the journalling is easier for when you do. Enjoy the sunshine, have a good day!
~RonniH.

June kit release

2010-06-01T07:35:00.004-06:00

Well here it is the 1st day of June. I cant believe that this year is 6 months in. Here is my kit......hope you enjoy! Limited quantities available. It makes a great gift - not only for upcoming weddings and grads but also for a birthday, Christmas or just because.

This kit was inspired by upcoming weddings and graduations. Black and White are classic colours. Add a pop of colour and viola! An Instant classic gift. I wanted to make a quick and easy gift for friends and/or family. But, let me say that this kit is versatile and can be used for anyone at anytime – parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. It can be given as a shower gift, for a birthday or even Christmas. Don’t limit yourself!

This kit will allow you to follow the directions as provided, or to make it your own. Don’t feel like you have to use my ideas if you prefer to use a different paper or layout. I loved the “quieter” papers in the kit, but if you are making a gift for people who are bolder personalities, go for it.

With this kit, you will receive:
• Meadowlark Dawn paper kit (9 double sided papers as well as a diecut sheet)
• Pearls
• Tim Holtz swirls
• 1 pc of 12x12 cardstock (colour of your choice – add at time of purchase)
• 11x14 canvas

PLEASE NOTE - You will require a very strong adhesive like ATG gun, Pioneer double sided tape or Tombow adhesive (quick drying wet adhesive). This is not included in the kit.

Decorating a canvas is like working on a larger background. I layout my canvases as I would a layout. It makes it easier for my brain to wrap around the concept of working on a larger canvas. This one will have a 5x7 black and white wedding photo put on to it, but I am just waiting for one of the girls at work to bring it in for me :)

I had left over paper and pearls, so I threw together this little extra bonus in the kit. On this card I coloured the pearls with a sharpie marker. You could also use Tim Holtz/Ranger distress inks. Match it to the gift or the colours and viola, easy card to give.

Thanks for looking. Kits are available and ready at the store for you. Enjoy!

~~Melanie

Monday challenge

2010-05-31T07:15:00.006-06:00

Gee I wish I was a little more computer literate! There was a paint tutorial on Studio Calico's blog that I want to show you so that you can try this challenge, and I'm not quite sure how to link it up! Frustrating!! lol
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I1y7LS31yk0/S_iY8eBs_II/AAAAAAAAA7s/38SXZEmoME4/s1600/20100522_3122.jpg
I'm hoping that this will somehow work. If not, google Studio Calico, and if you check on the left hand bar of the page,under May's posts, it's called Paint Effects Tutorial. My challenge to you is to try something this fun! Play with paint and ink and stamps on a plain background.

I had so much fun with this! I actually tried it several times, and here are two to show you. Try using a black background and a white gel pen. I tried that the other day, and instead of stamping, I used white embossing powder. I love the fun, messy look of these layouts, you could never duplicate these entirely if you tried. There are a million different paints and backgrounds you can use! Different sized circles, or stars, or squares... I seriously love this look. I'm up to my elbows in paint, and love it!
Have a good week! Have fun trying something new!

~RonniH.

Another sneak before Tuesday!

2010-05-30T09:24:00.003-06:00

Can you believe it is almost June??? I cant! Here is my final sneak peak of the June Kit for you. I hope you enjoy the kit!

Ronni's Secret Kit!

2010-05-29T13:46:00.002-06:00

Now Available for pick up... what a great project to hang in your home, or to give away as a gift. All supplies included except the packing tape for the packing tape transfer that is done on the bottom middle square & trust me, the sample is so much more in person. Stop by & check it out. All only for $35.85.

Enjoy & have a great weekend everyone...hope you all got some pictures of our white stuff this morning.

Kari

Hello Friday!

2010-05-28T07:15:00.003-06:00

So I'm heading off to Calgary again this weekend, but this time, just for Saturday. I have a mock practical exam to help me prepare for my licensing exam at the end of June. I'm getting a little nervous, but I keep reminding myself that it's what I do all day, every day. The worst part of being gone this weekend, is that it cuts into my scrapping time. lol

Have you had a good look at the kit that I've designed for this month? It's useful for more than just the project. I took the one page and lifted it, to show you how versitile they can be.This is just the left hand side, and I followed a similiar scheme as before, just used different colours, and changed placement of the title and and photo.It was niec not having to come up with a new scheme, cause lately, I haven't had as much time to scrap as I would like. And I also loved the design the first time around.

So think about picking up a kit, and using it for more than just what it was intended for. And then have a look at some work you've done already, and see if you can scraplift yourself too.

Have a good weekend! ~RonniH.

What I've been working on...

2010-05-27T07:13:00.002-06:00

I have a quick moment, and thought I'd show you what I've been working on this week. A simple lo of my girls and I. I used a scrap piece of paper, and traced around it with paint., and added paint to the edges of the photo too.I love the new embossable cardstock. It's black with a blue core. So I traced out a three, and distressed the edges. As well, I stamped lettters onto the blue side with my new Tim Holtz stamps, and punched out some butterflies, and traced and cut out a heart. Inked the edges of them too. To the heart I added some eyelets, and threaded 3 strings of floss and tied 'em up. I totally love that new Basic Grey paper, I had to be careful not to drool on it, lol. What can I say, I'm special with a capital R (as my daughter would say)
Anyways, don't forget to check out Tammy's challenge, and have a good week! :)
~RonniH.

Dont forget

2010-05-27T06:38:00.002-06:00

hey good moring, sure is wet out there!!!!

just a quick reminder ....

Make n' Take It friday's ...we always have a cute little project ready for you put together.
We look forward to seeing you!!!

challenge

2010-05-25T21:07:00.002-06:00

hey everyone, challenge was not forgotten for this week, just didn't want to bump mel's sneak peek down too quickly so u all got a chance to see it....

so the challenge for this week is to use different size pics on you layout...

in this LO i used 2 -8x10's, some 5X7's , 3x5's and some 2x3's , i also used the small ones that come as the proof sheet....

have fun with this, i love mixing up my sizes to get more pics on a page.

enjoy the challenge, have a great week.

~tam~

sneaky peaky :)

2010-05-25T07:49:00.001-06:00

here are a couple of sneaks for the June kit. Hope you like!

A wedding gift for a friend...

2010-05-22T18:04:00.003-06:00

One of the girls I work with is getting married next week. Her house is decorated in lime green and brown (like mine!). She is a scrapbooker, so I knew she would appreciate a homemade gift. She is a little sweetie too, so I wanted to do something special for her.

Viola! Her gift (and yes, she already has it as she is now on holidays for a couple of weeks).

I made a 16x20 canvas for them. I used some of my favourite Basic Grey origins line, flowers, glimmer mist, flourishes, Prima bling, buttons, ink and printed the "love is kind" quote from 1Chorinthians. The big brown mat is sized for her favourit 8x10 photo of their wedding....I told her she had to print it in B&W lol

I love how it turned out. This photo is good (she took it for me as I forgot to take one to share with you all before I gave it - duh!) but it doesnt do it justice. In person, it looks absolutely amazing (if I do say so myself)! All the bling and textures and size and colours....yum!

She already knows where it will be placed on the wall.....I love when a gift is appreciated and put up/used right away :)

Hope you are all enjoying your long weekend. ps keep an eye open for sneeks on the June kit ;)

~~Melanie

Hello Friday!

2010-05-21T07:13:00.003-06:00

I love your card Tammy! You know I'm card-making challenged, so I'll definitly be copying that one. Very pretty!
I'm so happy to see the weather finally starting to warm up, but then that means it's time to start gardening. Now, I don't have much interest in gardening because it usually involves sweating, but in typical female fashion, I love flowers.
Know what I grow the best?Yep, dandilions.My yard doesn't (luckily) have a lot of them right now, but at this rate, it won't be long. :P

Fortunatly, my parents both have green thumbs, a gene they decided to omit to give to me, so I'll be over there soon taking photos of their roses, and other pretty things that I don't know the names of or can't spell.

What about you? Do you garden?

Take care everyone, and thanx again for all the kind words on being published. :) See you soon!

~RonniH.

Happy spring

2010-05-20T06:51:00.003-06:00

good morning!!!!!

Big congrats to ronni for getting published!!! so awesome!!! cant wait to see what is next gurlie!!!!

so what are your plans for the long weekend??? going camping ? staying home and scrapping?? working?? doing yard work??? what ever u are up to dont forget to take your camera, now is time for some great spring pictures....if you are doing yard work how about before and after pics???

not much going on with me, my gurls have 5 days off for the weekend...mite get some scrappin done for the july kit, and a little yard work, maybe some bedding out plants etc...we may do a pic nic at chain lakes with hubby's family.

what ever u are up to have a great, safe weekend....drop by the store and see what kari has new i know she got an order in this week, should be some fun stuff to play with...

card supplies: basic grey paper, magenta peel offs, chatter box felt flower and button, basic grey alpha's, and bassil cardstock.

enjoy!!!

~tam~

Ronni is PUBLISHED!!!

2010-05-19T12:05:00.006-06:00

Again! *woot woot*

The Summer issue of Canadian Scrapbooker is at the store and Ronni's layout is on page 29... CHECK IT OUT!!!!

~~Melanie (for Kari, who had issues signing in to post :p )

Edited, ( to say thanks to Mel, gremlins attacked my computer & i could not get on here)

Pssst....

2010-05-18T16:26:00.002-06:00

Guess what I picked up today at the store.....

The June kit stuff! It is looking so awesome! I cant wait to share :) Watch for sneeks coming up :) It is so fun, it is so versatile. Ohhhhh its good!!!

~~Melanie

Challenge for this week!

2010-05-17T07:09:00.004-06:00

Good morning!!

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, isn't it awesome? I've actually started digging out my warm weather clothes. For the first time this year, this weekend I wore shorts. Well, maybe not short shorts, but my legs did start to see some sun. Can't hardly wait for summer!

So if we've ever met in real life, you know that I think it's really important to document yourself. No one knows you better than you. And even the littlest details are important to remember. I want my future generations to know me.

This week's challenge is to take a self-portrait, and scrap it. Doesn't matter if the details about yourself are big or small. Doesn't matter at all. Just take a photo of yourself, that you took of yourself, and scrap it. Easy peasy right?

I have a large mirror in my living room that is perfect for when no one I know will let me take photos of themselves. I used up some Basic Grey that I've been hoarding, and some wonderful little letter stickers for the title. I'm not sure how well the title reads, but it says "Whatever you are, be a good one." ~Abraham Lincoln.

The butterfly, I stamped on a transparency with Staz-on, and cut it out.

And you know I love my Tim Holtz products.... these dog tags that say imagine, journey, and wander were perfect.

There you are then, go off! Create! Have fun! See you again later this week!

~RonniH.

Canadian Scrapbooker Winter Calls

2010-05-16T12:58:00.002-06:00

Get your stuff submitted! We have so many creative and amazing customers. I believe each and every one of you need to get your stuff in to the magazine!!!!

Canadian Scrapbooker wants to see and publish your work. If you have an unpublished, original layout that you want to share with others across Canada, please send it to us! It’s simple. Below you’ll find a quick guide on how to submit your work. Call For WINTER – Deadline July 15, 2010

We are currently looking for pages in the below themes:

■Layouts that use the colour NAVY BLUE
■Layouts inspired by stained glass
■Projects with an "I Love You" theme
■Diamonds are a girl’s best friend – i.e. layouts that use diamond shapes or that are about diamonds
■Christmas ornaments
■What are you reading?
■Going green for Christmas
■General winter and Christmas
■Scrapbooking your faith

We are also looking for that perfect photo for our Winter 2010/11 cover. If you have a photo that you have taken and you feel it would look fantastic on our magazine cover, please send it to us!

Deadline for the Winter 2010/11 page call: July 15, 2010

working on something

2010-05-14T21:12:00.004-06:00

So I've been working on a super secret surprise project. Can't tell you what it is, other than to say when Kari told me about said super secret surprise project, I was really excited. *grin*

What can I show you instead? How about some pictures that are inspiring me right now?This one was taken on Mother's day. It's me and my sister and sister-in-laws, and my mom. Momma looks pretty proud huh? I can't wait to do something special with it.

And this one is special too. lol. Me, my brothers, and sister. Don't ask what we're doing, I couldn't tell ya. But it was fun to hang out with them, and just visit. By the way, we're on the couch, from oldest to youngest, starting with me. :)

Take care this weekend, and I hope you get some scrapping done! :) I'm getting back to work asap on my super secret surprise project, I can't wait to show you!

~RonniH.

p.s!

BTW! My layout came back from Canadian Scrapbooker today, and they mentioned that the magazine will be out soon. So as soon as I know where I am in it, I'll let you know! :)

inspiration for the week.

2010-05-11T06:40:00.004-06:00

hi everyone!!! i did forget about posting again...bad me!!! this boot camp is gonna kill me yet....me and 5:00 am dont get along to well , at all.

so here is your inspiration for this week.... again u can use the colours our the shapes what ever you get from it and turn it into your own piece of art...enjoy!!!!

~tam~

i havent forgot ...

2010-05-10T07:16:00.002-06:00

i will be back a little later today to post some inspiration for you all.....

here is a question for you....

do you enjoy the art style type inspirations ???
The girls at the crop really put allot of effort into the the last one, with the pink, black and white circles with the dripping paint(remember that one??) We have a few posted in the store , drop by to see the awesome Layouts they created.

My thinking was that one Monday a month we would put up an art challenge her eon the blog ...you can run with the colours, the shapes, or what ever inspiration you get from the picture..

drop us a line here and let us know what ya think about the the art inspirations....

chat later
~tam~

Make it a scrapbook weekend!

2010-05-09T18:53:00.003-06:00

Scrapbooking with friends is one of the most amazing things! You can share stories, memories, laughter, tears, ideas, creativity, everything!

I have the best scrapbooking friends in the whole entire world. It is a warm fuzzy feeling when we get together. I have a group of friends that come down from Calgary to scrapbook at the store. We try to get together once a month or so. We make a weekend out of it - meals out, movies, photo trip around the city (and sometimes out - this weekend they went to Waterton for the day while I was working). We stay up late, eat snacks through the night and drink pop (something I normally dont do).

This weekend, they came down. I had one project - a wedding gift - that I HAD to complete. Not only did I get that done, but I completed (including titles and journalling) 4 double page layouts and some cards. It felt soooooooo good to be productive. The past few get togethers have been very frustrating for me as I havent had any mojo whatsoever :( This weekend, it all came back!

I will share some of my projects over the next few weeks. I didnt leave any at the store this time....but if Kari wants them for display, she will ask lol

Did you know that you can book the classroom for a group of friends (when no classes/crops are running)? Better yet, for a nominal fee, you can book the amazing room downstairs with the comfy chairs and lots of table space to have a more private time. Bring in snacks. Come for Friday and Saturday or just all day Saturday.

Talk to Kari and plan a girls crop with your friends. They are an amazing getaway from the everyday. Book a room at a local hotel nearby and really make it a girls getaway weekend!

Seriously, one of the best things I have recently done.

~~Melanie

Questions about cameras...

2010-05-07T21:21:00.003-06:00

A question was asked on the blog today about what kind of camera someone should buy for in their purse.

My previous job was at a camera store. I worked there for 3 years, 3 years ago. And my personal preference is for Olympus, but really, the major brands, Cannon, Nikon, Fuji, they're all good.

My best pieces of advice is to ask questions, do some research, hold the cameras, and think about what you really want from your camera. Do you want something that won't get wrecked in the rain? Are you looking for something very durable? Are you klutzy? Do you want to be able to take movies? And these are all good questions for either a p&s or a dslr.

I have an Olympus that fits in my purse. It's waterproof (cause I don't want to ruin my good dslr if it starts raining) It can be dropped up to 5 feet... that camera literally lives in my purse, and I want it to be able to put up with a lot of abuse. It does take movies, but not very well. My reasoning is that if I wanted a movie camera, I'd BUY a movie camera. I want a camera for taking photos. And that's another reason why I went with Olympus for my dslr. Some of the newer Canon's and Nikon's take movies, that's not a selling feature for me at all.
Hold the camera. See if you like where the dials are. See if it's too heavy or too light. You often get what you pay for. My Olympus dslr takes BOTH xd cards AND compact flash. Love that!

There are lots of websites to go to compare cameras. dpreview.com is where I used to send customers all the time.

Olympus is just MY personal favorite brand. All of my cameras are Olympus, and I have 5. I don't have anything againest any other brands, mostly. Just ask the retailer lots of questions, it's better to go someplace knowledgeble, like a camera store, rather than a box retailer.

So I hope there's some good advice for you. If you're comparing a couple of cameras, please don't hesitate to ask my opinion. I'd be happy to help. :)
~RonniH.

3 weeks ago...

2010-05-07T07:24:00.002-06:00

this was the scene in my backyard. See that? Grass, and it was green. No snow. No ice. No Ronni wearing a jacket cause the weather was ugly outside. *sigh* Well this weather can't last long, right? I'm looking forward to the weather getting better this weekend. I just keep repeating to myself that there was still snow in June last year, so we shouldn't be surprised that there's snow now....
My mom did a cool layout of the last big snow that we had, so maybe I should suck it up a little bit, and look for the good side. If it's cold out this weekend, I can just stay in my jammies and scrap all day, right?
Have a good weekend!
~RonniH.

thinkin Mother Nature is PMSing!!!!

2010-05-06T06:58:00.002-06:00

well enuff of the snow already , im so done with it..we arent even gonna get to enjoy spring cause we are gonna rol straight into summer. Spring is my favorite season, I enjoy watching all the plants come to llife after hybernating under the snow. well my daffodill's are unhappy rite now.

So what ya working on rite now??? tell us what projects u got going??

rite now i have 5 mini books on the go
the july kit which im so in lovvvvvvve with the paper

i dont remember the last time i did a layout??

well enjoy your week,
we are off to the ranch on saturday for branding

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mom's out there, big huggs

~tam~

Challenge Time!

2010-05-03T13:51:00.002-06:00

Sorry so late! But here's your challenge for this week: Use stars on a layout, but you're not allowed to use them on a night themed layout, just to make it tricky. I'm evil, I know. :P

Here's a layout I did from a self portrait, with 3 chipboard stars. I know you can't see it very well, but I used spray ink on them, so they have a light shimmer to them. There ya go then, easy peasy, go try this challenge for yourself. :)
~RonniH.

Stay tuned...

2010-05-03T10:16:00.002-06:00

Hey guys, I'll be posting a challenge for this week later today. I didn't forget, but I'm afraid I'm running a little behind today. :)
~RonniH.

May Kit Reveal!!

2010-04-30T22:27:00.002-06:00

Here it is, in all it's terribly photographed glory, the May kit! (and yes, my kitchen walls are yellow, but not THAT yellow, LOL)

You get one 2 page layout, as well as 1 one page layout! Fabby flocked "Lush" from My Mind's Eye, in my very favouritist colours... the black, cream, and red. (drool)

Kit includes instructions on not only how to do the layouts, but how to make the little cardstock flowers. Everything you need is included... the lace, the titles, the cool Heidi Swapp clock

Come on down this weekend, it is National Scrapbook day, after all, and say hi and pick up a kit for yourself or as a Mother's Day gift. Kits are limited, so once they're gone, they're gone! I hope you like them as much as I did pulling them together.

Happy scrapping!

~RonniH.

2 sleeps

2010-04-29T07:14:00.002-06:00

welcome to winter......once again!!!!

So, only 2 more sleeps to our NATIONAL SCRAPBOOK DAY CROP!!!! How exciting...all seats are sold for the weekend now , but never fear...those that can join us for the weekend, drop by the store, we are going to be running hourly specials and those that come into shop will be included. Ask who ever is at the till for the special that hour.

Ronni, Kari and myself will be there to assist those that are cropping and I know Jordan, and Mellissa will also be in the store....we may see shelley, and rani too...so there will be lots of staff around to help you all weekend long!!!

Miss mel, is off on her birthday trip enjoying the sun....hmmm just not fair is it???? oh well have fun mel!!!

any questions about the weekend please call the store, we would be happy to help you!!!

~tam~

sneak peaks...

2010-04-27T19:16:00.003-06:00

I'm finally finished my NAIT course, just awaiting the results. I'm hoping that I'll have a little more free time on my hands. For the last two years I've been saying, "once I'm done school, I'm gonna..." and now that time is here! :)
So I've got a little tiny sneak peek for what I have in store for May's kit. Are you a little curious? It turned out better than I hoped! Yeah, me! lol Like it so far? A few more days to wait, that's all.
Hope to see you soon!
~RonniH.

challenge monday!!!!

2010-04-26T07:31:00.004-06:00

Good Monday morning!!!! so here is your challenge for this week.
Use inspiration from this layout and make a few cards, you can use either the colours or the layout itself. If you don't make cards then go ahead and do a layout.

So... did you attend the Garage sale on the weekend??? was there some good deals??

Is everyone ready for NATIONAL SCRAPBOOK DAY!!!! I believe that are only a few spots left, (SORRY SOLD OUT) if interested please call the store today and book, come join us for a great time with food , prizes and scrapping!!!! i know you can resist!!!!!

Have a great day , I' ll be posting again a little later in the week!!!!

~tam~

I couldnt leave without...

2010-04-23T16:20:00.002-06:00

saying a few things....haha

1. DO NOT MISS the garage sale TOMORROW!!!! Awesome stuff will be available for purchase. No muss, no fuss for the sellers. Get your stuff to the store today to be set up and ready for tomorrow. April 24 be there or be square. Call the store or check earlier posts for all deets.

2. Sign up for the last remaining spots for NATIONAL SCRAPBOOK DAY! April 30-May 2 crop at the store until you can not crop anymore. Challenges, goodies, gift bags and of course our smiling happy faces (well not mine as I will be away but all the others lol)

3. Keep your eyes open for Ronni's upcoming kit! She will be dropping her May kit in about a week. Plus, I hear from a little birdie that she has a surprise one......and i know what it is! Be ready for it! It is going to rock your socks off (ETA on this to drop....tba)

4. I will see you all in 11 days. I am off for my annual birthday trip. This year it is a 7 night Southern Caribbean cruise. A new cruise line that I havent been on, a ship I havent been on and islands I havent been to. Hope it rocks! LOL I will be celebrating my birthday in Grenada. I will try to stop by to say hi if I can :) Dont worry. Tons of photos to come and new layouts and challenges!

5. Tammy will be sharing the Year of Challenges challenge this Monday. Enjoy and good luck!

Have an awesome week. Be good. Scrap lots. Enjoy the memories :)

~~melanie

dropping a hint

2010-04-22T07:23:00.003-06:00

Hi everyone, loving the weather? I hear it's supposed to start raining this weekend. I hope not, it's finally starting to feel like spring is here, and I love it.

Have I ever mentioned before that my favourite colours are red, cream, and black? I'm just saying... There's a beautiful new kit coming your way next month, if I do say so myself. :)

Enjoy the rest of the week.
~RonniH

2010-04-21T11:22:00.005-06:00

3 New Page Kits now available!

So our page kits have been real popular in the last little while, so here are 3 more to enjoy!

Have a great rest of your day...definetly enjoy this nice spring weather we are having, but make sure you stop by the store to see some of the new stuff we just got in...

small kafuffle with the april kit!!!!

2010-04-19T21:51:00.002-06:00

for those who bought the kit before april 19th please drop by the store and pick up 2 pieces of paper .

this will make the pocket bigger for October, the piece of paper that i put in makes a smaller pocket and some people are getting confused.
those that purchase the kit after today will already have it included.

instructions:

u will have 2 pieces of 6x12, u will need to glue these 2 pieces together to make the pocket longer. glue down the left side to close, score 1/4" from the top to glue behind...measure the pocket , cut excess off the bottom and glue closed.

sorry for the confusion.

~tam~

A Year of 52 Challenges

2010-04-19T07:45:00.002-06:00

Another Monday

Another challenge.

I had so much fun working on these. Someone from work did something really nice for me a few weeks ago. As a thank you, I am bundling together 10-12 of my homemade cards (because I know she really likes them). I am including envelopes :) Viola! Instant and easy gift.

A couple of them I made for the bundle really stood out and I thought to my self, "self, you must do this as a challenge!"

Your challenge this week is to use scraps from a previous project AND use a transparency as your base to make a card.

Have a great day! ~~Melanie

20C

2010-04-18T10:26:00.002-06:00

Holy heck!
Are you spending your day outside enjoying the nice weather out today? I stepped outside for a bit this morning. Even though the temp only says 11C right now....it is so BEAUTIFUL out there!

If I didnt have so much to do today to get ready for my trip on Friday, i would kidnap Kbear and take her to the park to get more photos of her.

Enjoy your day!
Enjoy the sun!
Enjoy the weather!
Get photos!
Scrapbook them!

Tease!

2010-04-15T19:07:00.001-06:00

Oh my! I love love love the project that I did for my upcoming Year of Challenges challenge ;)

I cant tell ya, but Im just saying ;) hehe LOVE IT!

~~Melanie

Snow day?

2010-04-14T16:44:00.001-06:00

Did you have a snow day today? Did you have power at home or work?

We got sent home from the office around noon. I didnt get photos of the snow and water that is around the city today. Did you? Are you going to scrapbook it?

Hope you are safe and warm!!!!

~~melanie

weekly challenge

2010-04-11T22:29:00.003-06:00

hey everyone,,,missed u all the last month with preparing April kit...let me know what ya think about , would love to hear some feed back!!!

anyway here is my inspiration for this weeks challenge

this is a colour challenge along with a sketch for inspiration....

from this u can create what u like, use the colours the shapes, and make the sketch all you own...

hope u enjoy and have fun with this, today challenge has been brought to by the letter T:):)

MOJO

2010-04-11T09:19:00.002-06:00

How do you keep yours going?

I have been trying for the past few days to get some cards done as I want to send a bunch to a friend as a thank you. Well, I sit and stare and get nothing done! Frustrating!

I have the cardstock backs cut. That is all. Nothing else.

What do you do when you find you MOJO has left for a bit?

~~Melanie

Scrapbook Garage Sale - coming soon!

2010-04-08T20:54:00.001-06:00

Dont forget about our upcoming

SCRAPBOOK GARAGE SALE!
APRIL 24 9am - 5pm
Gather your unused supplies to sell and give a new home. You will be responsible to mark your items with your assigned colour and price. You will also be responsible to man your table area during the day.

**$10 table fee for 4 foot table space
**refreshments and snacks provided for sellers
**personal colour assigned for each seller
**no money exchange required - all sales will be calculated and tabulated at the till by Embellished staff
**All sales will be provided to sellers in the form of an Embellished gift certificate

~~Melanie

NSD

2010-04-08T20:50:00.002-06:00

What are you doing for National Scrapbook Day?

Join us at the store for a weekend crop! Limited space available. This crop is one of our favs! Lots of challenges, amazing goodie bags and tons of crop time in our oh so comfy chairs!

Be sure to save your spot. Dont miss out!!!!!!! i know the girls will take awesome care of you. I wont be there (it is my annual birthday trip) but we have tons planned for you.

Get your photos printed
Get your layouts planned
Get your paper purchased
Get your spot today!

~~Melanie

NEW PAGE KITS!

2010-04-07T10:08:00.004-06:00

So the last few weeks we have been working hard to bring you some new page kits...a few have sold out already, but here are our latest. Enjoy & let us know what ya think.
Thanks for looking.
Kari

A Year of Challenges

2010-04-05T12:16:00.004-06:00

Wow! How can another week be done? This year is flying by!

Your challenge this week is to ACCENT PART OF A PHOTO TO HIGHLIGHT.

On the following layout, I used stickles to accent the fact that Kbear kept throwing the cotton candy out....she wasnt too much of a fan last year!

Other ideas to accent part of a photo -

**use an arrow

**use a frame

**use clear buttons, fragments, etc

**crop in really close to the portion you want to highlight and print it that way

**trim out the portion you want to hgihlight and popdot it up (keeping the background you trimmed it from in tact)

**print all photos in colour or black and white except the one you want to highlight

Feel free to add your ideas on how you highlight parts of photos in the comments. i would love to hear what you do :)

Happy Easter

2010-04-03T09:09:00.003-06:00

From all of us, to all of you....we wish you a very blessed Easter with family and friends.

April kit release

2010-04-01T09:00:00.004-06:00

Well good morning to you and welcome to April!!!!! Bring on spring!!!!
Here is the April kit that you all have been waiting for, hope that you have been taking pic's of yourselves.

My idea is a "all about me 2010" mini book. There is a page for every month, plus some cool add on's. Its full of flowers and butterflies, and one of my favorite paper line from Basic Grey....Indian summer.
We usually are the ones behind the camera taking all the pic's of all the events in our lives.....this one is all about you!!! get out from behind the camera, let someone else take the pics and put YOUR year together in this cool mini album. I'm not gonna tell u all the surprises of the book , but you will want to go to the store to see it . here are a few pic(not all of them)
ENJOY!!!

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter, with many Blessings and LOTS of chocolate.

~tam~

WHAT????

2010-03-30T07:17:00.004-06:00

.....has flowers, butterflies, and some indian summer?????

The April kit!!!!!!

hey everyone ! been a very busy month for me, tearing away at the April kit. I hope you all have been taking pics of your self to get ready for this kit!!!! The reveal will be on Thursday, remember there is only 10 kits, hope you get one!!!!!

~tam~

52 week challenge

2010-03-29T07:27:00.004-06:00

Hello Monday!

I love to use quotes. Often they are my title, or I encorporate them right into my journalling. I love quotes, and spend hours on the internet looking up new ones to use. I like how they can "say" what I want to say. Here's your challenge for this week, use this quote on a layout (or a card if you're so inclined):

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Ferris Bueller

Yes, I stamped the quote on masking tape. I used spray inks to make up the background paper. Manipulated the photo in photoshop (it's from when I was down at the park in Lethbridge, remember it?)And added some of the flowers I showed you how to make last week. Heidi Swapp clock, with Tim Holtz "inspire" "breathe" and "believe" metal tags. A little bit of Maya Road metal flowers... ummm, Maya Road chipboard key.
Anyways, have fun with the quote!! Go off, and scrap! And as always, any questions or comments, you're welcome to leave them. :)

~RonniH.

Scrappy stuff!!

2010-03-28T10:46:00.003-06:00

Hello my friends, we meet again. :)

I hope you've been having a good weekend. It's strange, but mine seems to be going on and on and on. I'm getting work done, but I'm kinda looking forward to going to work tomorrow so that I can rest!

I have been able to get some scrapping done, and I've got an interesting challenge all ready for tomorrow, but I thought I'd throw a little inspiration your way. I've been messing around a lot lately with spray inks... totally love them. They can make a plain background interesting, and 2 will never be the same.I punched a bunch of circles from scrap paper, inkied the edges, stuck 'em down, and then sewed a straight-ish line a couple of times across them. I traced some letters for "waiting" and used us some old MM type letter stickers. Gosh, I love those letters! The top corner photocorner was just punched from an old dictionary page.

So, yep, another layout done. Any questions or comments? You know, I love to hear what you have to say! *grin* I'll see you tomorrow then with one of our 52 challenges.

~RonniH.

nothing scrappy to report at the moment...

2010-03-26T07:27:00.003-06:00

Just a quick post because I have cool stuff to show you, but haven't photographed it yet. My youngest daughter turned 11 on Wednesday, and she's having like, 40 children sleep over tonight. Ok, maybe not 40, only 3, but it'll sound like 40. And then Sunday we'll have family over for a bbq. A good excuse to take photos of family!!

And Nicki leaves next Tuesday for Europe... Italy and Switzerland specifically. She's already promised to take photos of everything, including her food! What a good girl!

Got pics printed from when I was shooting down at the bridge a few weekends ago, so there will be layouts coming soon.

Have a good weekend!!
~RonniH

You LUSH!

2010-03-23T16:55:00.004-06:00

Mmmmm Yummy!!!!!!

MME Lush is at the store!!! Each color scheme has been designed for easy mix and match-ability. Or stick with one colour for a monochromatic look. For each colour we have brought in:

Two “Lush”ious flocked patterned papers
Three double-sided patterned papers
Flocked 8x8 shaped album (thanks Melissa for requesting these!)
Chipboard Alphabet
Decorative Brads
Rhinestone Brads

Black

Brown

Pink
Red

Kari also got in the new Scrapbook Trend idea books as well as some of the new Cosmo Cricket! Stop by to get yours today!

***************
Dont forget about our upcoming

SCRAPBOOK GARAGE SALE!

APRIL 24 9am - 5pm

Gather your unused supplies to sell and give a new home. You will be responsible to mark your items with your assigned colour and price. You will also be responsible to man your table area during the day.

$10 table fee for 4 foot table space
refreshments and snacks provided for sellers
personal colour assigned for each seller
no money exchange required - all sales will be calculated and tabulated at the till by Embellished staff
All sales will be provided to sellers in the form of an Embellished gift certificate

I cant wait to get some of my stuff out and to new people. I have boxes of unused items that I have "collected" over the past couple of years.

~~Melanie

new flower tutorial...

2010-03-22T21:30:00.003-06:00

So I'm always looking for new ways to dress up my pages. I love making my own embellishements and playing with paper in new ways. I won't say that I was bored at work yesterday and googled scrapping ideas, because of course I'm totally dedicated to my work. But if I had, well then, I would have this cool idea to show you!
Start by punching 5 circles. (I used a scalloped circle, but a normal circle works fine too.) I used old dictionary paper cause it was handy and easy to manipulate, you'll see why. Ink the edges. (nothing better than getting inky fingers, well, almost nothing better. Think chocolate)
See:
Stack all 5 together and staple twice in th middle. See:Scrunch up the center circle tight. See:And continue scrunching up each layer until you get this, this pretty rose type flower! See! Use to decorate your pages or cards. You'll notice I don't often make cards, so if you ever get one from me, it's cause I must like you an awful lot. :) Or I was broke. lol
So see, easy peasy. Let me know if I need to explain anything more, or just leave me a comment telling me ya love me. lol I know, I know, you just love that I find good ideas. lol
(And thanx for not teasing about my newfound love of all things bold and italic! )
(guess who just figured out how to do that!)
K, see you soon!
~RonniH.

A Year of Challenges...

2010-03-21T22:39:00.004-06:00

Its that time again!

Your challenge this week is to scrapbook a Celebration.

This weekend I was at a scrapbook retreat and scrapbooked Kbear's 2nd birthday. The new Jenny Bowlin that Kari picked out for me to use is very yummy. Perfect for a little princess ;) I have decided that I am going to use the same (or similar) layout for each birthday I scrapbook, so that we can see how she has grown and changed over the years (incase you were wondering why it looks familiar lol)

Dont forget to share your challenge creations with us!

~~Melanie

Happy Birthday Kari!

2010-03-18T07:16:00.001-06:00

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear Kari!!!
Happy birthday to you! Hope you have a fabulous day sweetheart! You deserve everything wonderful today and always!
Love ya!!

May the luck of the Irish be with you today!

2010-03-17T07:50:00.001-06:00

Happy St Patricks Day!

Do you celebrate with green eggs?
Do you celebrate with green beer?
Do you celebrate?
Do you share your traditions and if you have, Irish heritage with your family?

Scrapbook it!

200+ photos

2010-03-16T22:47:00.002-06:00

that is what I printed today for my scrapbooking weekend out in the Pass with a few friends. Holy cow! I have never printed that many at once. I hope I have some new layouts to show you when I get back on Sunday!

I am working on a super secret project which a lot of the photos are for, but I have lots of Kbear too from the past few months so hopefully I can catch up a bit.....did not realize I was so fare behind until I started going through the photo files on my computer this weekend :)

Challenge for this week

2010-03-15T07:26:00.002-06:00

I hope you're all adjusting better to the time change than I am. My internal clock is messed up, and will be for another week I'm sure. I had a hard time falling asleep, and an even harder time getting up this morning!
So here's your challenge for this week. I was visiting with a friend, and we were discussing favourite brands and patterned paper. 7Gypsies makes me weak in the knees, and I still love some of their older paper. So that's your challenge. Dig out some of your FAVORITE OLDER products, and USE IT! I've been hoarding some of this paper forever, and I still love it. I have more left over, still. lol

Just a quick layout about how I love taking photos...Love those Tim Holtz acrylic pieces. I lifted some of the letters in my title, too for dimension.

And hidden in the paper, is a butterfly I punched from more of the same paper. Inked the edges of it, and used a pop dot to adhere.

Any questions?? If so, just leave a comment, I love reading them.

Use a favourite, OLDER product. Go on, it's fun. Reminds you of good times, doesn't it? lol

~RonniH.

My photos from Saturday

2010-03-14T17:05:00.004-06:00

As dark as they are, as blurry as they are, as enhanced as I had to make them.....we had a great time at Kbears 1st concert. She loved the Doodlebops!!! I have never seen her sit so still (except for the jumping and dancing) and entranced for so long at one time!

Too bad they had to do an intermission (totally understand because of the costumes, makeup and dancing and stuff) but i think they lost a lot of the kids in the audience when they started again. The 2nd half had a lot of talking, crying and unhappy little ones......but Kbear did ok - until the end when we had to leave and she DID NOT want it to be over lol You bet I got a crying picture of her! LOL Yup, I am a mean mean auntie.

So here are a couple that I took of the Bops during the show..

The smile says it all.......

~~Melanie

Some good stuff...

2010-03-13T08:24:00.004-07:00

I found a little time to do some scrapping last night, and I wanted to show it to you today, but you're gonna have to wait. It's gonna be for your challenge next week! I love how it turned out! So in the meantime, I thought I'd show you something I did about this same time last year. I love the combo of turquoise and red together. And b&w photos are always some of my favorites. I love hand cut titles. I love paint. That little hint of red in the "the" title and in the flower centers as well in the buttons makes me happy. :) This is one of my favorite layouts. I hope it inspires you to document some of your favourite things too. Use your favorite colours and techniques. It'll be fun, I promise! Have a good day, happy scrappin'!
~RonniH.

A photo op weekend!

2010-03-11T20:34:00.002-07:00

So guess what I am doing this weekend......total photo op!

We are taking Kbear to see the DOODLEBOPS on Saturday!!! How fun is that going to be (or torturous, depends how you look at it lol)???? And to make it funnier, my sister entered Kbear's art the colouring contest through the Herald and she won tickets! So we are selling the extras.

Should be some good photos (I hope!). I hope she has a good time. I am not sure how she will do with the fact that they are live and not on tv or dvd lol We will see. I will update ya next week :)

~~Melanie

more snow!

2010-03-10T07:21:00.003-07:00

So now, where did spring go now?? There is so much snow outside my window! Yuck! And I hear that it'll be like, plus 3 today. So that'll be yucky.

Just figured I'd show you a few more photos from one of my favourite excursions ever, and I'm really hoping you're not tired of seeing them, lol. I'm pretty sure Carolyn won't mind?The river... with that cool tower thing off in the distance.Loved the shadows the stairs made, but unfortunately, you can't see the moon in the photo as good as you could in real life.The path way...

And (of course) another view of the bridge.

It must be getting close for time for me to go out shooting again, I think I've shown you all the interesting stuff from that weekend.

Anyways, time to get ready work, have a good day!

~RonniH.

52 Challenges

2010-03-08T16:17:00.006-07:00

Another round is upon us. How can it be Monday already???

Your challenge this week is to use parentheses ( )... brackets [ ] ... braces { } ... quotes " " ... or ellipses * * to accent part of a word in your title.

WooHoo! Olympic Winners!

2010-03-06T14:19:00.003-07:00

If you're around, you should stop in at the store today. It's the third anniversary crop, and the weekend has been so much fun! There are incremental savings, and still some gift bags to be won. (except not by yours truly, lol)

We drew our winners from the Olympics, and our winners are:

Red Ring: Carolyn M.
Blue Ring: Denise
Yellow: Bonnie H. (you were here earlier today, we should've drawn then! Tammy says it's another excuse to buy more glitter, ha ha ha!)
Black: Jody O.
Green: Delaine
And the grand prize winner!!! Shelley Rideout!

Congrats ladies! Drop in the store this weekend or early next week to claim your prize. Thanx for all your support.
~RonniH. and Tam.

10 Cant Miss Photos

2010-03-05T20:16:00.002-07:00

And to catch up, here is March's list

March
*Your car
*Kites flying
*Your pet on a walk
*Your exercise routine
*March Madness events
• People filling in brackets
• Friends watching games
• Fans wearing favorite teams’ jerseys
*Favorite Dr. Seuss books
*The first signs of spring
• Flowers sprouting
• Tree blossoms blooming
• Baby animals playing
*Children playing in the yard
*Loved ones playing in puddles after a rainstorm
*St. Patrick’s Day festivities featuring green
*Flowers peeking through dirt or snow
*Your toes with a fresh pedicure and nail polish
*The yard after its first mow of the year
*Family members working in the garden
*Outdoor sports, such as soccer, softball and tennis

10 Cant miss photos

2010-03-05T20:13:00.002-07:00

Well apparently I missed February! LOL

Here is the list:

February
*Kids in pajamas
*Favorite gadgets
*Your loved ones
*A romantic night out
*Valentines you receive
*Super Bowl party, food and decor
*Mardi Gras decorations and parades
*Children creating valentines for school
*Valentine’s Day cookies, candy or cupcakes
*High-school sporting events, like a basketball game or gymnastics
meet

EXXXXXXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-03T21:54:00.002-07:00

wow 3 years have come upon us very fast!!!!! can believe it!!! Thank you for all your love and dedication to the store, its because of customers like YOU that we have made it for 3 years, and will make it for the next 10 (at least!!!)*wink*

Please join us at the store this weekend and join in celebrating with us our 3rd anniversary!!! there is all kinds of great things going on in the store and of course our crop....peek in on the ladies see what they are all doing , grab some mojo from them, chat it up and wish Kari, Shelley and Rani a happy anniversary!!!!!

NOTE!!!! this Friday due to the preparing for the crop and weekend there will NOT be a make n' take....please join us again on Friday march 12th.

have a great rest of your week and see u all on the weekend!!!!!!

~tam~

Here's your next challenge:

2010-03-01T18:40:00.007-07:00

I appologize for the lateness of this post, I almost forgot today was Monday!
Your challenge for this week is to do a handcut title, made from your own handwriting. Now you've seen me do this often before. With a pencil, write out your title, colour it in with a black marker, and cut it out. I won't lie. It is time consuming, but the results are fabulous! Cut out the inside of letters first, and then around the outside. Be sure to change your blade often which is easy, just be careful when breaking off the tip. And I find a glass cutting mat works the best. An old piece of glass from a frame works well. Take your time, and don't let me hear you say you don't like your handwriting. Your future heirs will thank me. :)Here's the layout...And a close up of what I did. lol, you can see my reflection in the clear patterned paper on the left side. Sorry bout that, lol, glad I did my hair that day. Can you see it? It's a game of Where's Ronni instead of Where's Waldo. (sheesh, I need to get out more, lol)And finally, just another shot of some of the details. Easier to read the journalling.
So go on, go make your own title for your next layout.
And again, thanx for all the congrats on my next pubbed layout. If it wasn't for Kari's prompting, and Mel and Tammy's encouragement, I don't know if I would've. But they are some great friends. Love you girls!!
Get to scrappin!
~RonniH.

March Kit

2010-03-01T12:34:00.004-07:00

***ETA - Kari just advised me that the kit will be delayed for a couple of days as she had issues getting the correct cardstock in. Note - SHE WILL HOLD A KIT FOR YOU so you do not miss out!***

Hello everyone!
I can not believe it it March 1 already!!!! Where has the past couple of months gone? I had the privilage of putting together the March kit. I hope you enjoy it! You will get 3 projects with this kit. The first is a card - convenient to keep in your card calendar from the January kit (sorry for the blurry photo below and that it is sideways...I am not sure what happened). The 2nd is a layout and the 3rd is a journal and journal jar - complete with over 250 questions included.

Here is a bit of the background to where i was coming from when designing it for you.... This kit was inspired by a gift I received this past Christmas from my Gramz.

About 6 years ago, I made her a journal and journal jar. I gave it to her asking her to pull a question every day or so and to write down her memories in the journal. I wanted to have her hand writing. I wanted to have her memories. I wanted to have a piece of her with me to look back on. Throughout her journey of writing, she would chat to me about it. She said that some of the questions were easy, some were hard. A lot of them made her think way back about the answers while other answers came easily. A few questions brought tears to her eyes with the memories while some brought smiles and laughter.

Around the same time, I also gave a journal and journal jar to my Uncle and Aunt. Again, I wanted to get their stories and memories from my mom’s side of the family. I wanted to have their hand writing. I wanted to have their memories. I wanted to have a piece of them with me to look back on. Shortly after, my uncle was diagnosed with cancer. We lost him 4.5 years ago. He never answered any of the questions or shared his memories – all because he did not like his hand writing – even after my mom told him that wasn’t the point of the jar. I still wish he had written down some answers. I am going to ask my aunt to do one – hopefully she will. I would love to know more about my family, my history, my origins.

Share your history. Share your memories. Share your family. Don’t let it be lost.

Tomorrow is a busy day!

2010-02-28T15:07:00.001-07:00

We have the March kit release and the 52 Challenge post as well.

Dont miss anything! Remember to scroll through all the recent posts!!!!! And congrats to Ronni who you will see published again in the Summer issue of Canadian Scrapbooker. You go girl!

Do you submit?