Somewhat ...

on her own.

I created this lo for MIU - Mixer 24. We have to use an older picture. Come and play along with us, we have a fabulous sponsor for July! :)

So what's the story behind my title? My parents are together, they are not divorced however my dad worked a lot when we were young. He started his own business and spent a great deal of his time there. Yes, he did miss out on a lot and yes we did miss spending time with him however he did what he had to do to provide for our family. I am sure that he would have preferred to be home with us on a Saturday mornings instead of working. He did that so we could have a good life and we do and I am thankful to him for that. Now, this meant that my mom worked full time and raised us. Being a mother I can appreciate how hard this must have been for her. So she was somewhat on her own, she did a fabulous job, we turned out great (at least I did - just kidding Seb (you see, he's the smart one ;) ) So that's the story behind the title.



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Have you seen the new Calendar Sprouts by Jillibean Soup? By now you must know how much I *heart* Jillibean Soup, there is just something about those products that call out my name!!! I am so happy to see their new releases. You can see the new Sprouts here and make sure to leave a comment to have a chance to win some. :)

That's all for now!

Scrap On!

M XO

Scrapbook Circle - July Reveal

Today I'm sharing my projects with the fabulous Scrapbook Circle July kit. This kit is packed full of some of my favorite companies - Cosmo Cricket, Sassafras, Jenni Bowlin, Making Memories. You can see the kit here.

Here are my projects...

For this layout I channeled the simple scrapper in me, it was quiet fun to try something different, I like to do that once in a while.


This one is dedicated to Dan. We've been together for 17 years (yes it's true!), we started dating when we were 15 and have been together ever since.


Danika's favorite activity at the parc is the swings, the high the better. She's fearless, unlike me...


This says it all, i love this picture, i didn't even realized I had taken such a good picture, i found it when sorting my pictures and i was pleasantly surprised.


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I used some Glimmer Mist on some of my layouts. I love that stuff. I just can't get enough of it. :) In case you don't know what Glimmer Mist you can check it out here.

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Last but definitely not least Jillibean Soup has previewed on their blog their new Number Sprouts. Such a clever idea! You can see them here.

Off to scrap. Dan has offered to do the bedtime routine with the girls so I can scrap. Yay for me! You see, he's a keeper. LOL!

Peace out friends. XO
M

11 months ago

I was holding her for the first time...



2 years ago I lost her, I still miss her so much...




Treasure life, each and every moment.

I'll be back tomorrow with some layouts. Thanks for the visit friends. :)

Peace out. M XO

We have a winner!

I hope you all had fun participating in the LIITD blog hop. Thank you to everyone that has left a comment.

The winner is....................

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

22

Timestamp: 2009-07-02 23:53:05 UTC

Congrats Vernette!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vernette said...

What a wonderful family day!
Love the pics, color combinationa dn all the butterflies. Great tease for the rest of the reveal!

10:40 AM

Please email me at melblackburn@gmail.com and I will send you the goodies. :)

LIITD July Reveal with MME

Happy Canada Day!!!!!!!!! I hope you had a fabulous day celebrating our beautiful Country. :)

Today was reveal day on LIITD. We had a wonderful MME kit to work with. I had so much fun creating with this kit! It was full of die cuts, my fave! :) I'm one happy girl to be designing for LIITD. I couldn't ask for a better boss, Lori you are fabulous! :)













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Have you guys seen the Jillibean Soup CHA sneak peek? It's FAB*U*LOUS!!! I can not wait to get my hands on it. If you are curious, you can see it here {Jillibean Soup CHA Peek}.

That's all for tonight. I'm going back to watchin SYTYCD! What a show, I love it!!!

Peace out. M XO

LIITD July Blog Hop Reveal

Hello everyone!

If you are following the blog hop from LIITD you must have already seen the awesome creations by Melissa and Lisa. Today we are each showcasing a layout done with the fabulous July kit from LIITD. This kit is soooo much fun and very versatile. Perfect for those summer pictures you've been meaning to scrap or any other pictures for that matter. This kit is fun!!!

This is the layout that I'm sharing with you today

A Perfect Family Day


Supplies;
From the LIITD July kit:
White Dotted Bazzill Cardstock
MME Pattern Paper
MME Butterfly diecut
MME Phrase diecut
WRMK Chipboard sticker
Smooch white ink (shimmer effect on Riff Raff house)

From my stash:
Rose Moka Stickers
Buttons
Pealrs
Fancy Pants & Riff Raff Chipboard

Make sure to leave a comment so your name can be entered to win a RAK from yours truly. This is what you can win



Now to keep this blog hop going please visit Amber's blog. She has created one amazing layout that she would like to share with you.

Thanks for hopping over to my blog. Hope you like the kit, I can guarantee that this one won't last long so make sure to check LIITD on July 1st to be the first to purchase this kit before it sells out.

Peace out friends. M XO

Here I go...

I'm throwing in my hat for the Cosmo Cricket DT Call!!! Yep, still can't believe that I'm doing this, but I am and I will try not to think about it....too much!

The following criteria were posted on the Cosmo Cricket blog. They are looking for DT members that have the following;

1. People who love Cosmo Cricket products and feel inspired by them. Humm, yeah! See below!
2. People who have a great sense of design. I think I do, at least my oldest daughter thinks so!
3. People who are creative. Yep, yep, yep, touching paper keeps me sane - go figure!!!
4. People who maintain an active blog and are connected to online communities. If you asked my husband, he would say I'm a little bit too much connected to online communities. And to that I would answer "honey, do you really want to open that can of worms?" (you see he has a slight obsession with tools)
5. People who are not afraid to submit for publication. No afraid, but I sometimes wonder if the magazines are tired of seeing my emails in their submission box.
6. People who are low maintenance, dedicated, easy to get along with, generally happy and fun to be around. (It's going to be hard to beat last year's team on this one!) I think I am but you would have to ask my friends.

So Cosmo Cricket people here is what I can do with your products...

Girl Friday Paper Collection


Early Bird Paper Collection




Snorkel Paper Collection




Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read my ramblings.

Good luck everyone that enters!!!

Peace out.
M XO

Bloom and Grow

I created this layout for MIU 23. Check out the details here. I love those pictures of Danika, there were taken at my parents a couple of weeks ago. My mom has beautiful peonies and they were the perfect setting for pictures with Danika.



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This post on the Jillibean Soup blog has totally made my day. You can see it here. I was so happy when Kimber told me that I was spotted. You all know how much I *heart* Jillibean Soup!

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There aer 2 more days left to apply for the MIU DT. You can see all the details here.

Thanks for the visit!

Mélanie XO

Sweet Indulgence

I recently created this layout using some awesome Jillibean Soup products. How I love their products!!! If you haven't seen their collections yet, you can check them out here. These pictures were taken on Mother's Day when Danika tried out Beaver Tails for the very first time. For those of you that don't know what Beaver Tails are, it's a yummy pastry, deep fried and covered with brown sugar and lemon juice. It is so yummy, not healthy but yummy, hence the title of my layout. At first I joked with Danika and told her we were going to eat real beaver tails, she believed me for a little while. LOL!!!



Today is Danika's last day of school. She has done unbelivably well this year in school. She has surpassed our expectations, we are beyond proud of her!!!



Thanks for the visit friends and the sweet comments.

Peace out. M XO

Spring's Glory

We love lilacs. I say we because my parents have this huge row of lilacs that has been blooming every year since they moved to the country, about 20 years ago. Every year we make sure to pay my parents a visit when the lilacs are in full bloom and every year we take pictures. Danika loves these flowers too. I just wish they would stay in bloom for longer. So of course I had to scrap some of the pictures I took. I also used some Webster's paper that had been sitting on my desk for a couple of weeks, calling my name! LOL!



Ok, so how funny is this picture? When we visited my parents this weekend Brianna had fun playing in my dad's truck. Love that I captured this moment.



Back to my layout. Thanks for the visit!

Peace out. M XO

Coming up for air!!!

Seriously! I am beat! Good thing I'm not working. LOL! Things here have been busy!!! Between ballet recitals (yes, more than one!), a big project I'm working on (sorry not scrapbooking related), end of the school year, dr appointment (for Danika - not me), I could go on and on, but I won't bore you....

Danika's recital was fabulous! She is such a beautiful ballerina. She wasn't shy for one second and the room was filled to capacity, I think about 300 people, if not more. It was really dark in there so I didn't get good pictures, but we did manage to get some "decent" one to remember the moment. Nothing that I'll be able to scrap tho. :(



I love ballerina hair! I got pretty good at making that bun.



Needless to say that she's taking ballet again in the Fall. She's already missing her teacher.

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In other news, this one makes this face ALL the time. She's too adorable!



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Finally, something scrappy. I create this lo with the LRS May kit and using the sketch for the May challenge. I have to say that I love this paper!!!!



That's all for tonight peeps. Thanks for the visit.

M XO

A little nutty!!!

I created this layout for this week's Mixer on MIU! (The link is on my sidebar.) If you don't know about MIU I would suggest you check it because we have an awesome June sponsor, a fabulous mixer with lots of inspiration AND a dt call!!! What more can a scrapbooker ask for?! Ok Brad Pitt helping you apply adhesive to your layout would be a nice bonus! LOL!!! Alas, that's just too much to ask! Anyways, I'm getting off the topic here! LOL! I love love love this new paper collection by K&Co, I found it at Micheals and I knew I had to have some of it. The nutty chipboard was just soooo perfect for Danika. She can be quite "nutty" at times.



A couple of weeks ago my mom's lilacs were in full bloom. I love lilacs! So of course we had to take a couple of pictures. This is one of my favorites.



That's all for tonight. Thanks for the sweet comments friends! Peace out.

M XO

My Family *Mini Album*

Happy Monday morning people! Gotta love Mondays....hummmm maybe not. I do like Monday's since I'm on mat leave, however this will be a different tune once I'm back at work. :( But now we won't think unhappy thoughts on this beautiful morning!

If you know me, I don't often do mini-albums. Although I enjoy doing them it takes me forever to finish it, I think that's why I don't do many. I over analyze that album to the point I'm sick of seeing it on my desk. However, I did have a blast doing this mini-key chain for Scrapbook Extra. I tried not to over think-it and used products that I love. I really enjoy the final result.















Speaking of Scrapbook Extra, the Spring issue is now out and looking fabulous!!! It's so wonderful to be part of such a fantastic publication!



Off to get some stuff done while Brianna is napping. :) Back later this week with more projects.

Have a wonderful week friends!

M. XO

Life With You ...

Here's another layout that I created with LIITD June kit which features Cosmo Cricket Early Bird paper collection. I just love love love this kit!!! The pictures were taken by Danika on Mother's Day, she's a pretty good photographer. It's great to finally have someone that's there to take pictures of Dan and I. :)



That's it for tonight, short and sweet. I'm totally beat and need to rest. SYTYCD is about to start and I think my couch is calling my name! LOL!!!!!

Peace out friends. M XO