Belle Papier {pretty paper}

Lots of things going on….I have a few links for you to check out today! AND snow has arrived overnight! Oh it is sooo pretty! The boys have been having a blast! My littlest guy is two and doesn’t remember last winter. You should have seen his eyes this morning when we brought him out of bed and to the window. Big wide eyes and a big round O for his mouth. So darling! Don’t you just love little ones? They make you see the wonder of it all with fresh eyes! I have a few pics to share with you at the bottom of the post. But first…

• Cornish Heritage Farms has a new product spotlight today. CHF is spotlighting all four Ranger Liquid Accents products. You’ll want to check out Lisa’s spotlight and tutorial on how to use these products. You’ll also want to note that these products are on promotion for the next two weeks Yesterday, I posted a design using the Ranger Crackle Accents. It was fabulous to work with. Now I can’t wait to try out the other products as well!

• Jacksonbelle is having a huge Thanksgiving Sale at her store featuring Basic Grey, Prima, Around the Block, Queen and Co. and Webster’s Page … all 30% off until the end of the weekend. Wowsers girls…I am NOT missing this one! You can check it out at Jacksonbelle’s Embellishments.

• Lizzie Anne Designs has announced their new stamp release date. You can find it and other cool info in their new SCS Forum . Also…sorry this is rather late…but I wanted to congratulate the winners of the October Card Contest. All entries were donated to Card for Cancer. Check out the fabulous entries at Card Contest Winners. Congratulations ladies! All the designs were beautiful!

• Webster’s Pages…If you’ve never checked out these gorgeous papers, you really must. They are stunning! And Terri Conrad is having a fabulous Twelve Days of Christmas celebration that you don’t want to miss! Check out the details below and be sure to visit Terri’s Blog & Terri Conrad Designs to play along. Honestly…my mouth was just hanging open at some of the gorgeous creations.

And finally…those snow pics! Please bear in mind it was VERY difficult to get two very excited boys to stay still long enough for a photo! LOL That and the fact that fogged up bi-focals on a 5 yo are tricky as well. As you can see…they are having a blast! They wanted to stay out all morning. So much for stamping today…but these moments are precious and work can wait, right?

Baby, It’s Cold Outside!

Building a First Snowman

Have a great weekend!

Wow! Where do the days go?! I created this design in August and STILL haven’t shared it here on my blog. So…if you need a little sunshine today…this is a digital layout I created of my littlest guy. I used the Better Homes and Gardens Ultimate Guide to Digital Scrapbooking as a great resource for trying out new things on this design. As a newbie digital scrapbooker…I found this invaluable! This design is originally created for a book review on it for Craft Critique. I wish I had more time…I’d love to do more of these fun designs. To create this design and to try out some of the new techniques I learned in this book, I learned to add digital brushes to create my own designer paper, apply drop shadows, mask off my own digital chipboard and cover it with digital paper. Sorry I can’ remember all the products I used with this design, but most of the digital elements are by Shabby Princess By the way…if you are interested in trying out free digital elements…Shabby Princess has an incredibly gorgeous new Harvest Spice collection…free for downloading for personal use on their web-site! Stay tuned as I know it is going to be popping up here in a design as soon as I get some time to play!

Journaling … like boys across the ages, summer brings the joy of warm sunny days, the feel of sand between your toes, the fascination of waves on the shore and the wonder that the world is yours to explore….

I just had to share this photo of my new stamp room in the making. LOL I KNOW it is going to take a little time to get there! I’ve had people ask me for photos of my stamp room but…the sad truth is, I just don’t have one yet! I design in a very messy corner of our family room on one little desk. Where do I store the supplies?! On the desk, under the desk, on the floor, in cupboards…wherever I can find an inch! And so…it really WOULD break my camera to try and take a pic… especially after how busy I have been lately!

And so…. this “lovely” photo is of my new stamping space. See that lovely hole in the ground…it extends right under my kitchen and what used to be part of my wrap-around porch. I just can’t wait…another bedroom for one of the boys, a bathroom, a storage closet and a small 8×8 foot room for me. Can you see the area right where the concrete blocks are…that’s it! Be it ever so humble, I still Can’t wait! I’m just not enjoying the process but hey…when you buy a century old house…what can you expect?! Tomorrow those blocks are going to start forming the basement addition walls. I’ve got the bestest hubby in the world for tackling this job! Don’t you think? He’s been putting 30-40 hours a week in on this job on top of his 44 hour week. Stay tuned for more updates! I’m sure that from here…it is only going to get better!

I’ve been spending most of my time these past few days at my mom’s to be with her. Her garden is beautiful right now, as always. So peaceful and quiet. So many things to enjoy. Birds, fish, squirrels, frogs…even a family of 6 raccoons that come out in the evening. No the ideal city pet, but they’ve made their home under the deck and we don’t want to wrangle with mama raccoon. Her babies are darling!

I love the sounds of the waterfall and the birds. During the day I often go out for a little fresh air and it is a wonderful place to pray. I can see the love the Great Designer in the care and beauty of his workmanship. I took a few pics the other day and while I’m not the best photographer, I thought I’d share them with you here.

The Waterfall & Pond

There was a darling little frog I was wanting to get a pic of but he must have been off somewhere when I brought my camera. I hope you all have a wonderful day and hope you can find even a few minutes to get out-side, be quiet and enjoy God’s beautiful creations.

School is almost out…I know for some of you in the US,  it already is! Busy, busy days! Wonderful ones too! Make sure you take lots of time to enjoy them! I have a few links to help you out if you are interested! Although these are not all craft related, I hope you enjoy them….they are all links I’ve used many times in the past and found helpful. A lot of them are great for anyone…not just for people with kids! I always love a good tip or link too. Feel free to share any you might have in my comments section on this entry. I’d love to hear from you!

• Engraving Art: For older kids Engraving Art is a great craft product and will help smooth out long trips or rainy days at the cottage. I’ve written a Craft Critique article on them that is published today. You can check it out at Engraving Art Article …
• Kids Carnival Links: Craft Critique also has a great Kids Carnival with lots of links of fun things to do with your kids… Craft Critique Kids Carnival
• Kraft Foods: Kids love food and cooking. I know my children always love…(well, most of the time) to try out new things in the kitchen. I love this site for great ideas for family cooking. They always turn out great and are very family friendly! Kraft Foods US site or the one I use, Kraft Canada. I think the sites are pretty much the same except the promotions are different. They also have a free magazine that you can sign up for there. I love getting mine in the mail. I believe they come about 6 times a year.
• Family Fun: Need lots of fun kids ideas? I love Family Fun for that. They have a great magazine but their free on-line site is fabulous. It is packed full of great ideas for crafts, recipes, parties, printables…take a peek for yourself!
• Family Time: Family Time is another site you may want to check out. Recipe ideas, kids crafts ideas, home and garden. This site is not just for families with small children, anyone can enjoy this site!
• Parenting: Parenting tips, baby names, questions etc. can all be found at Parenting.com I used this site a lot during my last two pregnancies. It is a great resource of information. I especially liked the e-mail pregnancy updates. You can sign up each week to get an e-mail update on the size of your baby and how it is developing as you go along.
• Movies: Kids always love movies…who doesn’t?! I’m rather picky on what my kids watch though! I love Kids In Mind for movie reviews. They rate the movie on profanity, violence and sex/nudity. They even break it down into exactly what you will be seeing and hearing. It always pays to make a well-informed decision on what you let your kids watch. Another fabulous site is Plugged In Online! It is by Focus on the Family and also reviews music and tv as well as movies. Plugged In is a resource I really trust.

The Birthday Pics…

Joshua had a pretty nice 2nd birthday yesterday. It wasn’t that exciting a day as two of  his siblings were home sick, but he enjoyed himself! We had lots of fun playing toys and watching a new Jay Jay movie. We were a little disappointed that we couldn’t have cake with my parents and aunt as we had planned but Mom was not well-enough and there was no way we could bring sick kids near her.

It was so hard to know what to buy Joshua! As a fifth child and the fourth boy…we have a good supply of toys. Well, that is quite the understatement! LOL Because of everyone being sick and my mom in the hospital last weekend, I haven’t gotten out yet to get him his large present. I think we’ve finally settled on a slide and little ride-on car…the toddler kind. He is such a sweetie and so easy to please! I had managed to buy him some more soothers and a couple new bibs at the drug store when I picked up still more antibiotics. I was so glad that I had also ordered a few things from www.christianbook.com ! Love that site! Great quality products and they ship so easily to my door…always in a week. I’m sure it would be even quicker if you live in the USA. Joshua got the most darling Larry Boy (from Veggietales) dress up toy….just like Mr. Potato Head only Larry Boy. He adores it! I also ordered the Jay Jay movies and the cutest Playdough Veggie Tales Haircut set. Benjamin and Joshua have been having a great time with that. Another really cute toy for the toddler that has everything…Little Tikes has a new Bubble Animal machine. You squeeze the handle, the mouth opens and the bubbles blow out. No mess! I love it as much as he does, LOL. I also bought one of those for his cousin Jack. Jack’s birthday is tomorrow…they were born only 40 hours apart! Happy, happy birthday, Jack!

Joshua with Diego Cake, Joshua & Benjamin

Time for Presents

Make sure you take the time to check back in tomorrow. I just may have a little goodie here for you!

I just can’t believe how fast the past two years have flown by. Joshua will be TWO on Thursday the 31st. He is such a little darling, but such a little rascal too! His dad gave him a haircut last week and he looks so much older…sniff, sniff. Super cute but I know my baby is growing up.

 This is a card I made for his birthday. He and Benjamin love reading Curious George together, climbing and getting into mischief too! When I saw this darling monkey paper and sticker line…I just had to make a card for him with it. I know he’ll love it. He loves cards for some reason. I have to be quite careful not to leave any design work where  he can get his hands on it as he likes to inspect my work!

Celebrate Little Monkey

Inside: Happy Birthday to my Little [Wild One]

For this card, I was focusing on the patterned paper….lots of inking and I sanded the stickers, but very little stamping. I found the darling little sentiment from Love Ya Bunches and thought it would work perfectly with this card. I added it to the inside sentiment which I printed off on my computer.

Quick Tip: Sand or ink stickers to add interest and texture to them. I am not a huge sticker fan but they can be fun and easy, and with a little altering, work really well.

There were so many circular and rounded shapes on the patterned paper that I played off that feature for my layout. For some fun texture, I layered the elements over some frayed twill and attached it with eyelets set with my Crop-a-dile.

Supply List:

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Bashful Blue - Stampin Up

Patterned Paper: Monkey Business line - Reminisce

Stamps: Love Ya Bunches - Stampin Up

Ink: Chocolate Chip - Stampin Up

Other: Monkey Business stickers - Reminesce, eyelets - Making Memories, circle punches - EK Success, twill tape - Stampin Up, Crop-a-dile - We R Memory Keepers

This moring I had the opportunity to go on a field trip with my four year old, Benjamin. We had the most wonderful time with his class on a trip to the Sugar Bush. For those of you who dont’ know what a sugar bush is….it’s what we call a farm with a forest of Sugar Maple trees that they make Maple Syrup from. We are so lucky to be in one of the only parts of the world where Maple Syrup is made. In fact (LOL I looked it up) 85% of the World’s maple syrup is made in Canada…mostly Ontario and Quebec. The remaining 15% is made in the NE United States.

Maple syrup is made by boring a hole in a Sugar Maple tree, inserting a spigot and harvesting the sap that drips out. Each morning in the spring when the temperture is above freezing, the sap makes it way up to the branches to nourish the buds on the tree. When the temperature falls below freezing at night, the sap falls to the roots and makes it way up the tree again in the morning…this keeps the sap running. The Maple Syrup producers love cold nights and mild spring days to keep their season open as long as possible. Each farmer looks after the trees well for a future generation….it takes the hard slow-growing maples, 40 years before they are able to be tapped. After the sap is collected, it must be boiled down to create maple syrup. For every 40 drops of sap, you end up with one drop of syrup. It is a lot of work….yummmmmm….what could be better on your pancakes!

At the farm, we had a fabulous time….there is a large barn with animals for the kids to enjoy, a hayride back to the bush, lessons on how the maple syrup is made, a look at the huge evaporators and to finish it off….a pancake and sausage brunch. I’m busy trying to twist Dh’s arm to take us back tomorrow morning with the rest of the family!

This was the view from my house this morning when I got up at 6:30 with my two littlest boys. They are early risers and never can wait to get their breakfast. The pic does not do it justice. The sky was black adn the sunrise was glowing pure pink passion. Immediately the verse came into my mind… The heavens declare the glory of God. I’m so glad that I got up early.  What a wonderful way to start a Sunday morning.