More CHA Peekies

I love this time of the year! Summer CHA, Winter CHA...They're about as great as Christmas. I get so excited over the peeks; whether I want them or not. There's just so much eye candy to look at. And I find I think of my own stash a little more. I want to use it up so I can get more, more, more! Given my bank account lets me. With maternity leave only about 9 weeks away (or less), I'm thinking I might have to be more choosey with my purchases. Besides, I might have much time to scrap with a newborn. I know there are plenty of amazing people out there who can, but I might not be one of them. I remember how hard it was getting into the swing of parenthood the first time. I'm not sure how I'm going to be functioning having to stay up all night with Nugget and be there all day for Monkey. I'll find out in 9 weeks and one day...Roughly.

So on with the cuteness...

Ms Teresa Collins always has something I'm oh-ing and ah-ing over. I have her baby line from Winter CHA put away for Nugget.

This time around, she's done it again. At least for me. This line is too girlie for me. I wouldn't buy it unless I had a certain picture or project in mind. But I adore the orange and pink colour combo! It's one of my personal faves!

Spotted on Jillibean Soup this morning...A super cute monster line! I {heart} anything monsters! They always make me think of Monkey. I like having lots of cute monsters around. I think it helps avoid him being scared of monsters.

Sorry the picture is so small. I can't figure out how to make it bigger. Click on it or check out Jillibean's Blog here.

From Bella Blvd...Sunny Happy Skies...With the most adorable panda and trees ever! I know I'll be stocking up on the cuteness here.

And another one from Prima. I love the retro design to this one! I'm not sure if I would purchase this one, but it's adorable!

That's all I have for right now. I have some scrappy layouts done, but not photographed yet. I'll get them up soon-ish.

Until next time...

CHA Peek Love

I haven't seen any more must have stuff, but plenty of if-I-have-the-money loves.
Check these pretties out...
From My Little Shoebox:
Love the wood grain I'm seeing here. And the blue is to die for! So nice and bright. Awesome for my Monkey!

I just think this line is stinkin' cute! Makes me want to take Monkey to a farm just to get pictures.

From Reminisce:

I'm not sure if I would buy this one...Maybe the stickers...But it's adorable! I love the little robots!

From SEI:

I haven't worked much with SEI in the past, but I am loving this colour palette! It screams fall. And fall is, not only my favourite season, but my favourite photo season. I love taking pictures of Monkey in the fall. Warm sweaters, cute hats, funky shoes and colours that look awesome against him. My all time favourite picture of Monkey was taken in the fall, outside my parents' house. I look forward to my mini fall photo shoots every year. This year, I'm already super excited to get pictures of both Monkey and Nugget.

And lastly from My Mind's Eye:

Look at that sweet owl! I want a million of him in all the colours of rainbow and then some!

Graph paper...It's a weakness of mine. Along with notebook paper. And this one is in a pretty shade of blue. Perfect for my boys (including my step son) or it can be girlie-ed up for myself, sister or my pretty step daughter.

Ah...Wood grain...Another weakness since last year. Once again, in a pretty blue. I can see myself mixing this with some older Cosmo Cricket (boyfriend, material girl, joy ride, just to name a few).

What are you loving so far?

Blogging Roll

Another new post! I'm on a roll. Or I have too much time on my hands. I'm not sure which at this point.

I just wanted to share some pictures from today.

Today's prompt from WeScrap's Fabulous Photo Contest was a beautiful foal. What is it about horses that is so beautiful? Upon seeing the foal, I thought of Charlie. Perfect excuse to take more pictures of him without looking like I'm totally crazy. We have so many pictures of the cat now. He's new. It shows. Hope we take as many pictures of Baby Nugget as we do the cat.

When Charlie jumped into the tub to check it out, I grabbed my camera.

The above is the one I entered.

After I was done with Charlie. I started thinking about other ways of inturpreting the prompt. Foal = child = innocence...To me anyway. Monkey and I were on our way out the door to play in the backyard with his little friends. I thought I would try to capture the innocence of children while we were out there. I think I took two not so great pictures before I got caught up in playing with the kids. I thought I lost my chance.

Then, as I was posting Charlie's picture, I looked over to see my little monkey boy fast asleep, sitting up, on the couch. Innocence.

What is it about pictures of sleeping children? They always melt my heart.

And just two more just because pictures.

Monkey and Charlie seem to always be in my scrap corner.

And yes...My area is that messy right now! I so need to clean and organize that mess.

Until next time...

More Reasons to Hold my Camera

Over at WeScrap there's a Fabulous Photo Contest going on. Every day for the month, a new prompt will be posted. Everyone has 48 hours to produce a new picture that was inspired by the prompt. So far the prompts have been pictures, but they might be other things to get the old brain whirling.

I'm playing along. I'm hoping this contest will make me think out of the box and force me to work on my photography skills. I'll never be an amazing photographer, nor do I aspire to be; I just want to be able to take a decent picture.

Ever since I took up scrapbooking, about two and a half years ago, I've changed the way I take pictures. I notice the background more. I pay attention to lighting. I pose my subjects on occasion with a certain shot in mind (although I prefer candid pictures caught at just the right time. I enjoy capturing the moment more than the subject sometimes). I'm hoping this contest will fine tune those little details we sometimes forget about. And I love my camera (although it's just a point and shoot). The more reasons I have to have it attached to my hands the better.

Yesterday's prompt was a picture of red, white and blue flowers. Since I'm not American, I decided to look past the colours. I have some pretty daisys I got the day before. I decided to grab them and do a stop-and-smell-the-flowers picture.

This is the picture I submitted...

My little Monkey loves flowers! He helps me water the ones out on the deck. He likes to pick them out in the store. And every afternoon spent outside, he picks me a buttercup or two. I didn't have to ask twice to get him to smell these pretty ones. The afternoon sun through our huge window doors is amazing. Perfect lighting for my picture. Now I wish I gave some thought to Monkey's clothing. Oh well.

Here are two more shots I liked from the bunch I took...

Monkey fussing with the flowers. Getting them just so. Told you he likes flowers.

Had to include the newest member of the family in this little photo shoot too. Curious kitty couldn't stop sniffing the flowers. I think he liked them. I wonder if he'd like the yellow ones I have in a pot outside. They have pretty purple centers.

Until next time...

Double Post Day!

Wow! Two posts in one day. That never happens.

I just wanted to share a couple more projects I've finished up. One was done a couple of weeks ago and the other even before that. I just didn't get around to taking pictures. Now I'm ready to share.

First up is a mini album, Bumble Bee Flowers. Monkey, for some unknown reason, decided that dandelions are called bumble bee flowers. I think it's absolutely adorable, so I've never bothered to correct him. We have two empty lots behind our house that we call the field. It was covered in bumble bee flowers this Spring. Monkey was in Heaven! He picked me flowers every day. I loved our little ritual so much, I just had to get it down. Basic Grey's Orgins was perfect for this project. By far my favourite line from them to date.

I also showed some love to my Ali Ewards stamps here too.

Next is a project I take no credit for. I found it on Martha Stewart's website. These little wall hangings are suppose to be on wood (or foam board) and be 8x8. I happened to have 4x4 canvases on hand. I used those instead. All the papers are from Studio Calico. A mix of their Home Front and Anthology lines.

I made these for Nugget. I have four more 4x4 canvases put away. I think I might copy the same collage art form and make something for Monkey. Maybe cute, little monsters to match the other mix media art I have up in his room.

Until next time...

Upcoming Prima

CHA sneak peeks are here! Have you been looking?

Having put myself on a new scrappy budget (basically use up what I have before I'm allowed to buy more because I'm running out of space and money), I've been eyeing up the new releases with a critical eye.

Unfortunatly for me, I came across this one from Prima today....

It is appropriately named So Cute. I'm sure it would have been one of those lines I would have aww-ed over and wouldn't have really thought of again. But with Nugget coming along, I'm seeing cute baby pages and brother pages in my mind already. It's too cute! I think this one is a must for me!

Until next time...

Layouts - Reveal

I finally have some layouts I can share. My reveal for The Scrapping Bug's July kit. It's full of yummy, yummy Echo Park! And a few Cosmo Cricket layouts I've been playing with over the last couple of weeks.

Hello My Sunsine - Simple and sweet. I wanted the picture to shine on this one.

My Boys - Monkey and Steve, hand in hand, in 2008 (Monkey's 17 months old) and this year (he's now 3). Nothing's changed much other than Monkey's height.

Lazy Days of Summer - My sister and Monkey playing outside on a hot day. The water table has been a hit for the past couple of summers.

Summertime - Journaling around the picture reads: "Nothing like a ride in a cool car on a hot summer day." Monkey in his Viper. He loves driving it around.

What I Love About You - Steve and Monkey. My favourite guys. Guess they'll have to split that spot three ways in (roughly) 11 weeks.

I told myself I was going to stop spending so much money on scrap supplies. I haven't scrapped much since Novemeber/December. I had major mojo issues at the beginning of this pregnancy. That didn't stop me from buying. So now my tiny scrap area is overflowing with supplies.

It didn't stop me from buying Cosmo Cricket's new Delovely line though. I finally busted into my Delovely stash.

Growing a Family - First picture is me at 39 weeks, the day I was induced (Monkey was born at 1:16am the next day via emerg. c-section). The second is me at 24 weeks this time around.

Auntie Missy - Older pictures. Monkey's around 16 months or so here. Auntie Missy is not really his aunt. She's my oldest and most loved friend; my best friend. We've been friends for 24 years. She's just like family, therefore an auntie to my children.

Mommy is... - I love how this one turned out. But that might be because I love these pictures so much. I've scrapped them over and over and I'll scrap them again someday I'm sure.

I do still have a mini album and some wall hangings to share, but I haven't taken pictures of them yet. They're to come!

And lastly, to any Canadians out there...Happy Canada Day! Hope you have fun today!

Until next time...