...CMK stuff!

Sooo...here's my Create My Keepsake scrappiness!! I'm Guest Designing there this month, and the sponsor is Cosmo Cricket, so there was a lot of cool vintage-inspired paper and stickers for me to play with...check it out:
...these pics of Damian, my nephew, looking in the empty boxes and bags last christmas with a "where'd they go?" face cracks me up..he he..had to scrap em!


This one is a rare, serious, and still (those are hard to get, he's always on the move) pic of D-man, my nephew..he he


..and a few cards I made with scraps and stickers:



...annnnd....felt and paper ornaments for the Red Velvet Art Swap!







...the back of these little dudes is paper, which I aged and inked...I stitched either paper or buttons or both onto the felt pieces on top, and then hand-stitched the sides together, stuffing the middles as i went along...super fast and easy...=) I swear, I haven't made so much Christmas stuff ever!! lol..Well, okay..I take that back..but I'm sure in the past it involved a hot-glue gun and pom-poms..=) (my mom is the best crafty lady...=)...) And the "Be Good" Cosmo collection seriously rocks..=)
I'm going to go edit who's who in that family picture below for Z's mom...=) Annnd...gotta get back to work! Finished all my deadlines in an insanely quick amount of time for last night, yay! It's so nice to look forward to having only like 4 things to do this month...ahhh...a nice break...=) I love the pages I made with Fancy Pants Goodies this month, but can't share them just yet...sooo excited for the crafty relaxing weekend I have ahead! ahh...happy Friday, everyone!

...today:

...I have lots to share, but my lunch hour just zipped by..and all I have handy is this picture of the fam from when I went to Calgary last, in September..=)


(Back Row, right to left: cousin Jonathan, Uncle Alan, Little Jonah (cousin's son), Cousins's husband Jodi, Cousin Stephanie, Tzanko, Me, My sister Renee and her little guy Damian, her boyfriend Jeremy. First Row, right to left: Cousin Samantha, Aunty Rose and cousin's little Brooklyn, Grandma, my little brother Brody, my Mom and Wayne.)

...Thanks to my girl Mandy for the shots. =) She took the wedding pics, too...which are hopefully coming soon! he he...We've never had a shot of the whole family - my mom's family, my aunts family, and my grandma, and now my cousins have families of thei own...so it was great tp get a picture together...even if the lil boys have fingers in their nose...he he....it's impossible to avoid..=)

...today I have lots to do..well, at home...and, thankfully, at work..yesterday was the longest most boring day ever: I had work, but it lagged my computer so bad that everytime I hit a button it would take 20 minutes to think about it..so needless to say, I spent time on flickr and am now dying to learn more about editing...love the acid wash photo color thing that's popular right now...=) Also, inspired to get out and do a tattoo photo shoot..maybe this weekend if it's nice! After a few stressful nights, our paperwork is almost done..thank god! And my deadlines for this month are almost all finished...yay! And we're both looking forward to a fun, relaxed weekend: a friend is performing violin at a church on Friday, and we're going to watch...and if it's nice we'll hang out outside and find our christmas tree...and we don't know what to do with the wedding money we got, cuz I have all the house stuff we need...I want tattoos, but my better judegment says my grandma won't like it if we buy tattoos with her gift...lol...so we'll save some moola and finally buy a toaster (ours broke a while ago) and treat ourselves to fancy dinner and a movie...=) yay, unbusyness! Here I come! So excited...happy day everyone!

...a lot like Christmas?

.....it's kind of freakishly sunny and nice here for almost-December...on sunday, we went out to Stanley park to feed the swans, it was so nice...


...and I think it's our new fave thing to do...we feed them bread...they literally swarm you, and the huge swans waddle up out of the water and take the bread right from you hand!! Crazy..so cool...(we did this on our wedding day, also..pics soon! he he) After feeding them, we stopped at the beach on the way home and sat in the sun for a bit...found a crab leg...took a picture of my fave granny purse, cuz I was fidget-ey...

...What else? Oh! Music!
I need to share this guy with you....

...Raine Maida...who may not be known to American readers, but in Canada he is a music icon...Anyone heard of Our Lady Peace? He was their front man...now he's gone solo....I think he's married to Chantal Kreviazuk...buddy raised $20,000 to build a school for kids in third world countries by playing for free on the sidewalk...he seriously rocks it. All the instruments on his new album are Acoustic..(sigh) Go to his myspace to take a listen, his new song is "Yellow Brick Road" rocks..."Earthless" and "China Doll" are my faves from the album, though...totally worth a listen if he's new to you...=)

Also, Jewel's "Good Day" is my new fave...I listen to it on repeat all day at work..lol...You can hear it on her myspace, too...Love her. Love her poetry and love her lyrics.

....Hope everyone is having a great day! I finally waded through piles of e-mails..thanks for all the love, again...=) And caught up on facebook messages...and hopefully might even have a chance to check out the wedding pictures I can share (from my camera and Z's camera) soon..literally, I've looked at them a few times, but have had no time to sit and ooh and ahh...soon! yay!

Elle's Studio Yummies!

....so happy that Elle asked me to help show of her yummy new Christmas tags! =) Here they are! I did a few Christmas layouts...


Some little crads using the tags, too...





....and these are little button wreaths to hang on the tree...=) The scalloped tags were just calling to me to cut out the middles of them and sew some buttons on..=) Buttons are from Autumn Leaves (those bags of them that they sell are awesome and seem to last forever!!)




..I totally wanna make more of those little dudes. They were so fun and the tags were just the perfect size! Go check out Elle's Studio, if it's new to you...her blog is here and her etsy shop is here. If you made it over here from Elle's blog, thanks for stopping by! =) hope some inspiration was had while you were here!

...Not much new with me today...dying to create. Finished my ornaments I had started making. We've been watching "Planet Earth" documentaries all day and I am truly, truly so amazed at nature right now! I'm just uploading to some online galleries...(feels like I haven't forever and it's so weird)...about to order a few pictures for this week's projects....annnnd...that's it! We rented the newest installment of Die Hard and are gonna order some greek in...yum! Happy sunday night! =)

Handmade love...

....the thing I love most about Saturdays is that I get to sleep in..ahh..I mean, really, usually when I get to sleep in, that's the day I wake up at 7:30 in the morning...but today...I slept in, Lovely. Heaven. We're staying inside trying to finsih up some stuff today and become significantly less busy. Ahhh...so excited! So excited to not be busy soon...lol...We took a short break and walked around the neighbourhood just now..there's a small community craft showing going on at the community centre, so we checked it out..there were some cute vintage cards and slide necklaces that made e want to create...=) Sipped on Chai Nog coffees and got some air...it's chilly here but it's a nice clear day. =) We stopped in to Ten Thousand Villages, a really cool handmade-from-around-the-world shop, and there are some gorgeous old compasses and mortar and pessels and handmade beaded ornaments and such..we stopped in there last weekend when Mandy was here and oohed and ahhed for a while at all the goodies! I saw this lil sheep last time I was there and had to buy it for Z/our Christmas tree:

...because he sometimes aspires to be a sheppard in the Bulgarian mountains, I couldn't resist buying it...he he...Today I have abandoned this:

..haphazard pile of goodies and inspo and sewn paper that I started working on last night. It felt good, so good to crack out the sewing machine last night and stitch some felt and some paper...I used to sew everything from tote bags to a quilt to tailored suit jackets, I loved it...i actually wanted to go into Fashion design and illustration before i decided on animation. =) Anyways, finished projects will come soon, I'll be sure to share them...=) They're going to be my Red Velvet Art ornament swap babies...Anyways, that's all for today! Hope everyone has a great weekend! =)

Oh...and I hope the videos below work for you! Sorry, Marie! They seem to be working on my computer, so maybe it's a PC thing? Not sure...=(

....umm

...there was a billion things I wanted to blog about, but I am at a loss for all of those things right now..lol...

..I'm on my lunch break, finally got through replying to happy wedding-wish e-mails at my school mail and facebook...on to my normal e-mails, it is now...yikes! it's crazy how bogged down those can get!! lol..munching on whole wheat ritz and cheese...visting my message boards...uploading to flickr...trying to find a myspace template that isn't horribly tacky but will still spruce the place up a little...dying to finish the ornaments (yay!) I started making last night...obsessing over flickr groups (there are some awesome ones, I tell ya!) Dying to get the kits I ordered in the mail so I can play...=) Also dying to get my hot little hands on some scrap albums, because pages seem to be piling up around the little apartment with no homes...Missing being not busy and being able to check my favorite blogs, too...And I can't believe it's so close to December..where did this year go?? It's been pretty cold and frosty here...no snow, yet...usually it doesn't snow in Vancouver, and when it does, nobody knows how to drive in it or handle it...eek! It was gorgeous by the water on my way to work this morning..sunny and foggy...=) Wish I had my camera!

No pics that I can think of to share just yet, but, for a giggle...



...the stop motion paper-cut-out tests I did a few weeks ago, before the competition. It was my first attempt ever at Stop-Mo, and the camera was propped so that I was animating upside down...which is a feat in itself...so the timing is quite bad/super-fast in many places....lol...but funny, nontheless. i used some fancy pants felt and die cuts that were lying around...=)

Also, hi to everyone new to the blog! I know Z's been passing it around so all the friends/family I haven't met of his yet can get to know me a little better...=) I am a scrapbooking monster, like he says. he he...

Happy day everyone!!

Hmm...

Some Scrapmuse love!
My projects for the month:
This one's turned into more of an art-journal page..wasn't sure if I liked it when it was in the works, but I do now..=)
I was trying to get down on paper this baffling feeling I get when I'm looking forward to something that seems to-good-to-be-true...even when the it's going on around me, it's hard to believe it's real and I'm there...don't know if I explained it right, but here it is:


A page of remnants...=) A Roxy tag from my coat...some random pics from the year (that's a castle in La Rochelle, France in the middle)...some ends of patterned papers..=)



...I made this little wall-display guy out of a package of snaps...=) Splashed some walnut ink on it, put paper inside and pics on the outside...=)



A page about the lil creative spaces I love about home:

Some simple cards....the colors in these pics seem to be really muted and bad...eek! Woops:


....and these are my last Scrapmuse kit pages: I decided a few weeks ago to resign from the team at the end of the month. Life has been too chaotic, what with the up and down, unstable job and just...life. I felt bad not being around on the site and boards as much as I should, and scrapping in general was becoming less fun to do with so many teams....I miss the fun of scrapping just for myself!!...so it does feel like a weight off of my shoulders right now, but I'll miss the girls and the boards and the kits like crazy!..=) Also, I now know how much I strive on variety and mixing it up, so at least if I have some spare time, I can hopefully do some fun Guest Dt's and mix it up a little! It truly was a great DT experience...thanks Amanda for giving a newbie girl a chance!

....in other news...last night was one of those it's-so-messy-in-here-i-can't-work-til-it's-clean nights, so laundry, cleaning and some paperwork, it was. Z and I are working on living in the same country, which means a whole lotta paperwork and forms and explanations. Whether it's here or, if that doesn't work out, Bulgaria (where Z is from)...we just want to live together. =) Truthfully, we want to travel around..Europe, etc. and work in animation there, one day...but it seems much less complicated if we're from the same place first, due to different countries' regulations and visa requirements and whatnot...And I would like to stay here and put a giant dent in my student loan repayment, first! So we are dealing with tons of documents and stress and 'use black pen only' and 'fill in every box' and the fun way the government words even a simple sentence. I find it hard to believe that there are actually 'couples' out there who do do this sponsorhsip deal if they aren't in love..it's crazy! It's a lot of work! We just wanna be together, man. =) But it is funny to read warnings like "you can not marry your brother, father, father in law...etc.", and also sad that they need to put those warnings on the papers at all!! eek!

I'm at work..so that's all for now! =) More pages and yummies later....I'm just dying to make some ornaments right now, still...I have visions of thank-you cards and wedding announcements and christmas decorations in my head...=) Can't believe it's almost December! And I've also been listening to tons of cool songs lately, I'll be sure to share some soon! Happy day!

whew!

...I have a kabillion things to blog about!! lol..I haven't been away on a honeymoon, no..though Z and I are both so happy and airy that it's like our brains are on one...lol...=) All smiley and such. Makes me giggle...

And now, First off, there are some scrap goings-on:
Scrapmojo challenge numba 4 is up; the topic is being thankful, and the technique is to distress...ie) why the pic is cropped so far out, so you can see the torn edges on my page...



I used Elles Studio's yummy tags...love them! They have such great colors and are perfect for journalling...(sigh)...there is also a wicked sale at Create My Keepsake right now (paper is 50% off, free shipping, free gift...go check it out!)...and Scrapmuse has some kits for November left (I'll post my goodies from the kit tommorrow, hopefully..)

Also, I finished playing with my Christmas Elles Studio goodies! So here's a peek for ya:

Annnnnd...drum rolll please.....not only was this weekend cool cuz we got married, buuuuut...remember that Trick 17 film competition I helped with last weekend?? Weeel...our film won Best Picture on Friday night! Sweet, dude! It was totally unexpected for me, but they said hands-down ours was at the top..so funny!! So here it is:



They gave us that horrid rap music and we had to incorporate it, and our theme was "music video"...and our little Stikfas are the dudes moving around..Our team totally rocked...we had a blast making it...I swear, we laughed for like 10 hours in the editing room, it was awesome! So that made it even cooler. They gave us this giant cheque at the screening..and we got to walk around with it all night when we went to celebrate! Yeah!


Some links to the teams blogs if you need some art inspo:
Choom Lam, Tammy Dubinsky, Ian Milne, Moi, and hubby Tzanko (he doesn't like the nickname 'hubby' so this is merely a test of the word...lol)..and jim doesn't have a blog, but he sent me the awesome pics..=) Thanks Jim!

Whew! I feel like I'm stuck in whirlwind of paperwork and projects and not enough time...soon, soon...Elles stuff soon, Scrapmuse stuff up soon, even Create My Keepsake stuff will be up soon...and wedding details...=) And wedding pics, soon...we got a sneak peeky (thanks Mandy, you're the best!) of the pics yesterday and there are some great shots, considering the horrible weather and the being outside part...lol...more later! I had 150-some e-mails to catch up on on Sunday that I am still wading through..eek! (but thank you everyone!) Thanks for peeking and also thanks for all of the love and good wishes! Hope everyone is having a great week!