Be Mine Colourful Valentine

This layout has probably taken me the longest of any I've every made before. Innitially I was going with this Dear Lizzy background paper, but then I started to second guess myself. A few hours later, and I decided to go back to my original plan. Then I wanted to use teal on the layout; I just so happened to look over at my muffin tin on the rolling cart next to my work table and spotted a broken necklace that I love. Perfect, I'll use that on this Valentine's layout!

On your next layout: use a jewelry item as an embellishment.

You can see that one of the flowers was broken from my necklace, but I think that adds to some of the charm of it. I'm glad I saved this, and could give it another life - re-using!

I went to use my Fiskars patterned scissors, and spotted a heart and a butterfly punch in the kit Justin bought me for our first Christmas together. (I've been using this way more in the last year than I ever did when I first got it five years ago.) It seems I've used a lot of butterflies on my layouts lately - ever since I bought those punches.

When I pulled out a chipboard heart to use on this page, I knew I had to cover it with glitter for it to match my layout; this matches the sparkly alphas perfectly (the glitter on the flourish is a little more of a finer texture, but I think it all worked well together). Unlike last time, this time I laid the glitter onto wet glue. I stuck SO much better, and once I shook and tapped the back of the chipboard, almost no glitter was falling off.

When it came time to think about my journaling (this almost always the last element I think about when creating a page), I thought it would be a neat idea to inset it into the curvature of the background paper. With some tracing the lines onto a peice of old vellum and some trial and error, I love how it seems to become part of the page. The shape makes me think of Christmas ornaments!

Journaling says: Since we'd been eating out all weekend (in Whitefish), I decided we needed to stay in for Valentine's Day. I put Justin in charge of a $20 supper (Japanese chicken with rice) and I made a $20 dessert (chocolate and butterscotch fruit fondues). $10 was spent on gifts for each other. I think this $80 night could become a new tradition!

Dig through your jewelry, and see what you can re-purpose as an embellishment for your next layout. Leave a comment with a link.

Family Day Weekend - Friday and Saturday

Thursday night Corey talked to Justin about getting a turkey to deep-fry. They had a discussion about size, amount of oil and the meal. When Justin asked where they were going to do it, he said if they needed more space they could do it at our house. That worked out well, more space for people and more space outside to do the deep-frying. So the Sipko's were called and the date was set for Friday night.

There was a quick phone call to the deep-fried turkey hotline (aka my dad), to find out if oil and lard could mix (they can) and we were ready to rock. Despite how could it was outside (about minus twenty), it cooked pretty fast. After it was cooked they moved onto the french fries, and dinner was done! (If you've never had deep-fried turkey before, you've GOT to give it a try - I can give you the phone number to the hot-line if you need!)

We retreated to the basement after stuffing ourselves and watched Fubar 2. Well, some of us watched it, some of us curled up by the fireplace and had a nap! But the parts I saw were pretty funny.

Saturday morning I threw in a load of laundry. I always leave the laundry basket downstairs for Lowie, since I know how much he likes sitting in it. Justin then put the blanket over top - creating a jail. After a few minutes when I couldn't take it anymore, I went and flipped the blanket over, allowing Lowie to escape. He hopped out shortly afterwards, then found his way in between the basket and blanket. It was like he was in a little cat-tent!

Brittany and Gloria came down for the long-weekend to stay in Taber, and I was excited to get to see them. Once I determined that my stomach was going to be okay enough to go out for the day, I got ready then made the drive. (My stomach has been acting up since Thursday - and no, I'm not pregnant!)

This weekend was planned as an early surprise birthday party for my aunt. Amber and Brittany had decorated Amber's house, and after lunch at Gerald and Terry's, we headed over for the celebration. Once Gloria got up the stairs from the landing, she noticed the birthday banners and balloons and was surprised that we had surprised her. It was determined that the rest of the afternoon was all about her: a massage in Amber and Mike's fancy chair, presents, a manicure by Amber and drinks.

While Gloria was relaxing in the chair getting massaged, Brittany got on making the weekends Drink Club Drink. It was really yummy, with Crystal Light and ruby red grapefruit juice with a choice of vodka or spiced rum (or virgin). It's funny, now that I have a blog: Brittany grabbed my camera to take a picture of the drink, "this is for your blog." And at lunch, my mum said "I know what you're going to blog about next." I love it!

Amber and Mike have a family of chihuahua's. They have the mother, father, and from separate litters a son and daughter. That's four dogs! Farley is my favorite (except I can never remember his name: Harley, Hurley). He's got a lot of pomeranian in him from his dad Kush (you can see him in the background in this photo). I really wanted to take Farley home, and when he curled up on my coat I think it meant he wanted to come home with me.

After Gloria's massage, it was present opening time. I love that she gets really excited about presents; the grin never left her face!

Once the manicure was done, we headed back over to Gerald and Terry's for supper. Then dessert came out - a triffle that Amber and Brittany had created Friday night. Then talk turned to where to get triffle bowls for cheap (Walmart has sales on sometimes for $9.99). Soon it was determined that along with Drink Club, we need to start a family Trifle Club! So now, after everyone has their own bowl, each time we get together we'll take turns making a triffle! We determined there was endless possibilities: banana with banana pudding, raspberry and chocolate pudding, lemon pudding with a citrus fruit - just to name a few!

My stomach started hurting really badly, and I was going to drive myself home but my mum thought it would be better if I ride with them. I finally decided it was a better idea, so my mum came with me, and my dad left a little bit later in their van. Justin wasn't home when my mum and I arrived at the house. He spent his morning cleaning up Hewie for Lincoln's purchase, then he was out with Dave, Jamie and Tomo (work buddies) to watch Rumble In The Cage (you were right Amber!). After my parents left, I curled up in bed with Lowie, was texting Justin and tried to stay up to wait for him, but I ended up falling asleep. When Justin got home shortly after midnight, something must have woken me up first, because I was awake when he walked into the bedroom which he was surprised about. I told him I had just woke up, then quickly went back to sleep. I really hope my stomach stops hurting like this soon - I can't take much more interuptions with my life!

Maybe A New Valentine's Tradition

Last week before we went to Whitefish, I came up with a game plan for Valentine's Day for Justin and I. I decided since we would be eating out all weekend since we were out of town, we should just stay home and cook our own supper and dessert. I took it even a little bit further, with Justin being in charge of cooking supper and I'd make the dessert. And of course, I threw in the little bit of it not costing more than $20 for each course. (Stole that idea from the $20 Date idea.) And for presents, I thought it would be fun to come up with something creative for each other for ten dollars! (No flowers at all here!)

When Justin was coming up with something to cook for supper when we got home Sunday night, he mentioned Japenese chicken with rice. When he didn't make it that night, I figured there'd be a good chance that's what he was making for his Valentine's Day surprise supper. When I called while I was leaving work saying that I still needed to stop at Walmart to gather my items, he was okay with me taking half an hour since he was going to be about that look cooking; that synched the deal - for sure he was making that for supper, since it takes so long to make.

I went around Walmart not too sure what I should get him. I saw a Blu Ray copy of Last House On The Left, but couldn't rememeber if Justin had really liked that movie. I saw a DVD of Ocean's Eleven and Twelve but wasn't sure about that either. I made a trip through the hunting and camping section. Then started heading towards the scrapbooking area. That's when I decided on a hunting magazine.

I had been thinking all day about sitting down to a nice dinner with my fabulous husband, at the table in candlelight. When I walked into the house and saw that Justin had already set the table, it brought a huge smile to my face (he even had a bottle of wine left over from the wedding sitting out too)!

My mum had dropped off a Valentine's gift for Justin and I to me at work today. She told me I had to wait to open it until I got home, which made me a little skeptical of what was in this tightly sealed bag that she gave me; but it turned out to be a nice little gift of chocolates! My mum had a really good suggestion that she saw someplace, which I'm going to do next year: every year this couple passes the same Valentine's card back and forth between them, each year they right a new love note to the recipient until the card is completely full then they purchase another and start again. You could have at least ten years of sweet notes in one place to reminisce with! Such a neat idea, and since this is the first year as husband and wife, I have a fresh card to continue with next year; how cool for the first however-many-years as husband and wife all the Valentine's love notes to be in one card.

Justin asked if I wanted to exchange gifts before supper, and I thought it was a good idea. I had kind of thought he might have forgotten about the gift aspect of the day, but he surpassed my expectations: two bags of Mini Eggs, the Valentine's issue of Scrapbooks etc. and a really funny card (Happy Valentine's Day to my wife - the woman who gets all my love, all my devotion and all my covers), with a sweet hand-written note.

Justin asked what I thought he was making and when I made my guess, he said no. I must have had a sad look on my face, because then he said that I was right. I told him how I had my "eye-tooth" all sharpened up for eating that tonight because of him mentioning it the previous night. He did surprise me with some yummy pot-stickers!

I kind of forgot to get a picture of my dessert before we started eating it. But it was so yummy, although far from perfect! I bought pre-cut pineapple, honeydew and cantelope, cut up an apple, had a bag of two-bite cinnamon buns and had fondue with chocolate and butterscotch chips. Unfortunately both the dips got a little too hot from the heat of the candle, and burnt a little bit. But Justin still seemed to enjoy it. I finally made use of the fondue pots that I borrowed from my mum close to a year ago! When I asked Justin what he thought I was making, he said ice cream and toppings - that sounds like a good plan for a $20 Date Night to me! We watched It's Kind Of A Funny Story, well - I watched and Justin had a little nap. And we got the DVD of pictures from our wedding too, so we watched that also. Always nice to think about how fantastic our wedding day was! Then cleaned up and headed to bed.

Justin told me in the morning, before I got out of bed that I had to be Lowie's Valentine too, because he didn't have anyone. So here are my two Valentine's and myself!

Use Up The Unexpected

Have you ever noticed how pretty and nice some of the packaging is that comes with your scrapbooking supplies? I have this drawer that I keep random bits of things, and I often put some packaging in there. I also keep some of it right handy, on a muffin tin right beside where my workspace is.

On your next layout: use a scrapbooking product’s packaging.

I've had this paper backing (it was in a button package from Amercian Crafts) for a few months now, and always really liked the pink colour and the little dots on it. When I went to scrapbook Nicole's bridal shower, my first thought was to use pink on it. I was rooting around in the muffin tin to see what kind of bits could be used on this layout (I took a hair flower clip apart to use the teal tulle off the back of it), and found this American Crafts button backing that came in the package. I knew it would work perfectly on this layout; immediately I tucked it in behind the teal paper, hiding the lable, and thought it would be nice for my title to sit on top of.

So, here's the tulle/fishnet that I originally had on a hair clip. I thought it was perfect, and didn't want to create another one, and have to wait for the paint to dry (that's how I made it that teal colour). I'm always okay with using bits of other things to add to another project I'm working on. And you'll probably see the flower on a layout in the future.

With having my title on an angle in the a lower corner and having the same coloured pearls in the upper corner on the opposite side of the page, I really feel that it draws the eye accross the layout.

When I was at Walmart, I debated if I wanted my main photo in black and white. I'm really happy that I did get rid of the colour, I think that the colours of my flowery card against the colours of Nicole's shirt would have been too much, and really overwhelming with the colours I had used on the layout.

I'm really loving my spray inks right now, and originally felt that the teal paper was kind of boring when the layout was first laid out. After spraying it with a teal ink, that paper is part of the overall apperance, not just sitting there with nothing going on; I love the texture that it creates with the little drops. And the shimmer/glitter is perfect on this layout!

Paige was talking on her blog about how much she hates glitter (on this post).They get everywhere and are a nuisance. When I put this layout into the page protector, the static electricity was causing the sparkles to be everywhere on the layout. I took it out, and decided to use an embossing liquid to keep them in place on the butterfly. I was a bit worried that it wasn't going to dry completely clear, but thankfully it did - and this fixed my issue perfectly. (I also really like how it and the black Thickers have a glossy finish to them, and the flourishes aren't, they have just the sparkly matt finish.)

Journaling says: Nicole's evening bridal shower was relaxed, laid-back & fun - just like the kind of bride she'll be in Mexico.

Get out that cute packaging and use it up! Leave a comment with a link, and let's see what direction your product took you.