Through The Vine

Undeniably....(word?)

 

Ya ya I know another blogging hiatus....! But I have good reasons....one of them being CHA! Whew I have been working up a sweat trying to take in all the new products that are going to be coming your way soon! I can tell you now that you are not going to be disappointed...not one bit! In saying that, you need to know that the Studio Scrap Shop will be revealing new product each day of CHA with special preorder offers! I can tell you that I feel we are going to have the best selection of "get it first" CHA goodies in Canada! I hope you will join in on the fun!  I know I need to get me some goodies too!

Believe it if you will, I have next to nothing to scrapbook with in my own personal stash! Yikes!!! Before  I owned the Studio Scrap Shop, I was an avid spender and bought all the coordinating lines to create with...now I spend my time looking for all the new lines for the store that I forgot how to spend my own money! HA!

Luckily enough I have Studio Calico to fall back on for a monthly kit....and let me tell you...SC never disappoints! Last month's kit was called Paper Moon...check out the goodies :

 

Love it all don't you?!? Here is a layout I made with this kit:

 

These two pics of Jace make me smile....seriously how cute is he? I know I'm biased cause I'm his mama but you know how it is! One of my favourite elements of this page is the smile tag hand stitched by Amy Tangerine! I happen to adore Amy Tangerine and I can honestly say I think I am her biggest fan and was thrilled to learn that she has teamed up with American Crafts to launch her own designer line!

 

Last week I got to 'tweet' with Amy a bit and told her just how excited I was and couldn't wait to see a sneek peak of the line....luckily enough for me (and you!) American craft released a sneak peak a couple of days ago...take a look at some of this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok seriously I am so excited I could squeal!! This line will be available at the store when CHA begins! In the meantime, be sure to visit Amy's blog!

What products do you look forward to seeing from this summer's CHA show? Leave a comment below for your chance to win a $10.00 gift certificate for my store! (open until 07/19/2011! )

Happy Thursday Friends!

April

Archives...

Good Morning  and Happy Sunday :)

Not a long post today as Jace and I are on our way to church and then off to get groceries and then we are coming home and locking the door! LOL! It seems like we have been going non stop and {I} need a bit of quiet home time.

Yesterday Jace and I went to the Toronto Zoo :) It was my first time there and we had a really good day but needless to say we are both still exhausted. But last night when I came home and was looking through my layout pics I realized I never did publish this layout of Jace from last fall. Given it's outdoors-ey feeling I thought I would share it:

 

Who says you can't put butterflies on a boy's page?

One other thing to mention that I shared on FB Scrapbook and Cards Today have released their new summer issue. I have to say it is great as always! Make sure you check it out...remember it's FREE!

 

Have a great one friends :)

 

Right now....

Right now...

He is growing faster than I ever imagined.

Speaks new words everyday.

Listens to my everyword...even if it is selective.

Has the most adorable, encompassing laugh.

Loves everyone's attention and will get it at any cost.

Is the man of the house while daddy is still away.

Loves to love and be loved.

Is independant.

Never ceases to amaze me.

At 29 months our future with him is both exciting and terrifying.

We are lucky to have him and am thankful to God for the gift that was given to us.

 
 

Happy Monday Friends...

xo

It's Monday....again

I can't believe the weekend is over and it's back to the grind! Jace and I had a blast on a fun trip to the beach on Saturday and Sunday was filled with church activities that ended with a night of soccer :)

Today's post is going to be short and sweet, but I promise I'll be back later in the week and make it up to ya!

As I mentioned in a couple of posts recently, I've been diving back into my Copic markers and have been having lots of fun coloring some of my favorite images. This time when I finished the coloring and was ready to make the card I felt it was missing something and knew I had to spend just a wee bit more time putting the finished product together.

I have been following Amy over at Prarie Paper And Ink for about 5 years now and in one of her video tutorials she shared how to create a sidewalk to place behind your images to add depth and dimension to your card. When I seen Ian on the skateboard I thought he would look funny skating in thin air so I decided to use a sidewalk. Also, I purchased a new stamp set from Close To My Heart because I just had to have it....The set came with trees and everything from a tire swing to a ladder and squirrels and flowers, I knew it would be so versatile to work with so I decided to spruce up the card further and created my own little landscape seen... HA!

Here's how it turned out:

 
Now I'm the first to admit making cards does not come as naturally as scrapbooking but in the end  I was happy with my creative adventure in piecing this card together! I hope you like it :)

I was able to search Amy's blog and find the link for the video on to make the sidewalk! Enjoy!

 

 

{Savour. Simply. Stunning. Pins}

It's Friday! Yay!

A little while I back I shared with you my new love with Pinterest. This website has literally taken over my life for a minimun of 30 mintues most everyday! This website is filled with amazing pictures of just about anything you can imagine. What's even better is you get to create 'boards' to categorize and sort all your favorites! It's almost like having a clunker of a cork board overflowing with all your favs but in a much neater way :) Because it is still in the Beta stage you need to request to become a member but that won't stop you from popping over and taking a peek! I can guarantee that you too will be hooked! In the meantime here are a couple of my favorite pins over the past week :)

 

Can you say heaven?

Source: parishotelboutique.blogspot.com via April on Pinterest

From my "Words To Live By" Board

Source: rosetintedlips.tumblr.com via April on Pinterest

Source: wipkits.blogspot.com via April on Pinterest

My heart melts everytime I look at these =)

Source: twopeasinabucket.com via April on Pinterest

Source: leahnaomi.com via April on Pinterest

Source: paperheartcamera.blogspot.com via April on Pinterest

Crafty Goodness

Source: funkyvintagekitchenblog.com via April on Pinterest

Source: joanbeesly.tumblr.com via April on Pinterest

I saved the best for last for you all....you are going to drool HA!

Source: flickr.com via April on Pinterest

There you have it...

I hope you enjoy these beauties as much as I do! You can follow my pins and my boards if you wish!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! April

Boy...Oh BOY!

Last week at church part of the message delivered encouraged us to 'keep on dancing' when life gets interesting....I'm happy I never missed that message...

On Sunday night Jace came into my room at 2am and was burning hot...the first thing that crossed my mind was "here we go again" my poor little guy was not well :s Out came the thermometer and the tylenol and the mommy nurturing kicked in. He showed no other symptoms other than a fever that kept on creeping back up. I decided to take him to see a doctor. At the doctor's office he was playing in the waiting room with other children and a piece of the carpet buckled....well wouldn't you know it that my son was the one to trip on it and go flying into the windowsil and split the side of his eye open.... ugh! Luckily enough we didn't have to go for stitches but he did need some steri-strips to help close it over....after that was said and done the doctor discovered he has strep throat....seriously?!?  Now with some meds and a messed up eye but he is on the mend. Goodness!

I thought today would be a good day to share this layout....back in February when we visited John for his graduation, I really wanted some fun new pictures...so on my shoulder's he went and I grabbed the camera...I love how he has a different expression in each picture! I couldn't help but squeeze as many as I could onto the one layout....simple but fun!

 

I love seeing my boy happy....it won't be long now and he'll be back to normal!

Happy day friends!

April

Summer of Love

 

I was thrilled when my friend asked me to make her a card for a wedding. I have had this greeting farm stamp for a  little while now and I have been dying to get the copics out and get coloring! So when the opportunity knocked  I was all over it! I am a HUGE fan of The Greeting Farm Stamps...I just love their adorable images and the fact that there is alot of room to color each of the features. I found this particularly helpful when I was first learning to use the markers! I was so happy my friend loved the card...now even she wants to learn how to color! In fact in June I will be teaching some beginner Copic classes again. I am just narrowing down the dates but it looks like there will be two separate classes so I can accomdate everyone :) I am so excited!

What's more exciting than teaching again? Ummm getting 12 new Copic Colors! As if 334 colors weren't enough...there are 12 new markers that were released back in March...take a look at these babies!

 

I  am loving the new colors!! Here they are: BG53, BG70, E23, E81, E87, RV55, RV63, RV66, V20, V25, YG61, and YR30. Do you know what this means? It's time to make a new color chart....here is an updated link with the new colors!

Happy Sunday Friends!!!

April :)

Weekend Wrap-Up!

Don't ya just love holiday weekends??

Jace and I had a jammed packed weekend of fun spending time with family and friends and enjoying the beautiful summer weather {in between rain that is!}

Now that the nice weather is here I can't resist the urge to grab my camera and try to get a couple of good shots in so I have some fresh pics to scrapbook with. I recently purchased my first set of Photoshop Actions from FloraBella, I am the first to admit that I am a total Photoshop Novice but these 'actions' or overlays can turn any picture into something incredible.. I purchased the Spring 1 Collection and I had some fun playing around with some of the pictures I took!

    

 

 

We found this Robin's nest with all the little one's waiting for their mama to bring them some food. Jace was amazed at the {tweet tweet's}

 

I can honestly say that this past weekend is the first time I have actually took the daunting task of working with Photoshop. But, after purchasing these actions it was easy to get beautiful results! Below I just want to show a before and after pic of a photo I took last year at a crop held at the Elmhurst Inn.  I used a vintage action with some sunrays in the top right hand corner to give this picture a beautifully rustic look. Simply stunning. If you love to take pictures and enjoy editing your images, I would definetely recommend investing in some actions. I can't wait to start making prints...I see some lovely home decor just around the corner.

 

There you have it my weekend in pictures!

Have a great one!

April

Tell me it's just a phase!

Here it is 10:03pm and I just got Jace down for the night... You see, sleep has become an issue for mommy and Jace. An issue that well has never been an issue before.

It has been almost two months since he has been in his big boy bed. When that day arrived I knew bedtime would change and it has. Oh my!

Gone are the  days of a set bed time when I knew my free time was a guarantee (naps included), gone are the mornings being awaken by his cute little voice babbling but knowing he was ok because he was contained and content playing in his crib until I went in to get him.

Now, everyday is a struggle. My boy is cranky and tired but he just refuses to give in. He is awake between 5:30am and 6:00am! I try to keep him busy during the day until lunch time and follow through with our nap time routine...some days forget it! He will not sleep..!  This means that he is awake for over 12 hours in a single day! Seriously!!!! Now that makes a cranky boy! Needless to say bed time routine resembles some of the same issues.

Ahhhhh I know this has to be a phase....I know there will come a day when I will be standing at his door begging him to wake up so he won't be late for school.....there will be days when I will wish he was my little boy again. 

In saying that, mommy still needs to keep her sanity at this point too.....nothing like a little peace and quiet :)

 

The day I took these pictures of Jace was a prime example of the sleepytime challenges I am having right now with him. On this day he refused to have a nap and had been up super early that morning...come dinner time he just couldn't stay awake any longer and he passed out in his high chair. I moved him onto the couch and couldn't help but adore every inch of him. No matter how tough it is to parent some days, the love I feel for him is astounding. I grabbed my camera and captured my 'sleeping beauty' these are the moments I want to remember forever.

xo

Life....just like that!

Well it is so nice to be back...

It has been a little over a month since my last posting and well let's just say life has taken a big turn which to be honest has taken me a little while to get my second wind back. I won't go into detail at this time, but I will eventually share a little later when I am feeling a little more comfortable. I just want to take this opportunity to thank all my followers who have continuously stopped by looking for any updates. I was checking the 'hit counter' and was pleasantly surprised to see how many people have continued to drop by during my absence. Thank you all so much, your support warms my heart.

What better way to come back then to share a quick layout...I actually did this layout back in March and it was on my list to post so I am happy to share that now =)

 

These pictures of Jace and I were taken last year at a family picnic and I just love them to pieces especially the pictures of Jace with his chubby cheeks and little tongue sticking out... oh so cute!

Being a mom is great isn't it?!? Jace was so sweet yesterday and gave me a card (courtesy of Auntie Erica) that when I opened it played this song :

     

  

Have a wonderful day friends!

I'll be back soon =)

April

xo