After Christmas Activities

I seem to get into the Christmas crafty mood - after Christmas.  I guess with all the pre-Christmas Hub-ub, I never seem to find the time to get my craft on. With 2 weeks of holidays, the first is spend on getting ready for the big day, and the second is spend getting over it and doing what I want, when I want.  I have been trying to keep things tidy around the house so I have the time to spend in my craft room.  I spent some time on the computer this morning and was checking out Tim Holtz's blog.  Man, that guy is talented.  I was inspired by his 12 days of tags and thought I would see what I could come up with.  So, here is what I did this afternoon.

Hope you like them.  Let's see what I can do tomorrow!

Adrienne

News...Update...This just in!!!

Yes.  I know.  I have not been posting nearly as often as I should, but well, I am now!  I am hearing some grumblings about the fact that I have not been giving updates on my weight loss.  Fear not dear friends,  my resolve has not waivered.  I am currently sitting at 60 pounds lost.  It has been very slow going since the summer, but I am totally taking this as a win.  Even though I hit 50 pounds this summer, and have only lost another 10,  I am very happy that I have been able to (at the very least) maintain my loss and then some.  I have recently joined one of the local gyms and am loving it.  I have been trying to go in the mornings while we are off for Christmas break.  I have fallen victim to the gruesome PLATEAU and will fight as hard as I can to banish it from whence it came. (does that make sense??...it sounds good in my head, that's all that matters!!)

So, this should hopefully give those interested an update on my weight-loss journey, and I promise to keep you posted on my future successes!

BTW...Merry Christmas to all and to all a Fabulous New Year!!!
Adrienne

A White Tree!!

My husband once told me that he has always wanted a white Christmas tree.  And I always thought he had flipped his lid.  A few years ago, I told him that if we ever have a house big enough for 2 trees, I would LET him have his white tree.Little did I know, this would be the year.  Big house or not.  I, on the other hand, have finally created the Country Christmas look that I love(he loves it too!...I think).  I decided last year that I would indeed, buy him a white tree and all the trimmin's to go with it.  I figured that by waiting until after Christmas, I could get it all cheaper and then if we (mainly I) hated it, I wouldn't have spent a fortune on it.  We finally dug the tree out today and decorated it. The tree is a lot smaller than our other one, so it went pretty fast.  I actually had a lot of fun doing it.  It was kind of refreshing looking at new and different ornaments.  What a total departure from my usual country/primitive tree decorations and decor.  I have not had glitter or bling on my tree for years, and NOW... well, just take a look!

Maybe I will attempt the outdoor lights this weekend too! 
Hope you enjoy my new tree, I know I am!

A new era...

Even though Adam is going to be only 10 in a month, he has decided that he doesn't want to go Trick-or-Treating this year.  I am quite surprised by this.  If I remember correctly, oh so many years ago, I was about 13 when I decided I was done with it.  He has certainly grown up a lot in the last year or so.  Not exactly sure why he has decided to opt out this year, but I have given him every opportunity to change his mind.  We have decided instead to go out for supper and then we are going to go swimming.  I am actually pretty happy with his decision and I don't have to buy a ton of candy and wait for all the kids to come a knockin'. 

A couple of weekends ago I went to a Friday Night crop at Scrapbooks Made Simple.  I didn't actually do any cropping, but I did make a fun Halloween banner. As mentioned in my last post, I used some spooky images from the Graphics Fairy.  If you haven't checked her out yet, make sure she is on your list of blogs to take a gander at.  I had planned to give it to Adam's teacher to put up in the classroom, but as usual, I never got around to giving it to her.  Now it is sitting here, waiting to be put up next year.  I really need to kick myself if the keester when it comes to my crafts and actually giving them away.  Maybe my Christmas projects will be better for me.  Here's hoping!!
Hope you enjoy it, thanks for looking!
Adrienne

I'm free!

Well, I'm free for another week.  Free from what?  My family.  My boys (son and hubby) have flown the coup for Newfoundland to visit Chris' family. As much as I love them both, I equally love my ALONE time.  I love having the house to myself. The only mess to clean up is my own, the only dishes to wash are my own, the only clothes to clean.........well, you get the picture! 

I can do what I want when I want.  Hell, I could be sitting here on the computer in my 'birthday suit' for all you know!  Lettin' it all hang out, swingin' in the breeze.....

You'll never get that image out of your head will ya?  HeeHee!!

I haven't manage -yet- to get into my craft room.  I have a crop to go to on Friday night and I think I am in the mood for some Halloween magic.  I have never really been into Halloween crafts until the last few years.  I love the colours, and I love the images.  I love bats for Halloween decorating as much as I love snowflakes for Christmas.  If you know me, you know I LOVE snowflakes.  And if you do know me and didn't know how much I love them, where the heck have you been??!! Oh, ya, back to Halloween... So I have been thinking about doing a banner using some graphics from the Graphics Fairy.  I love this gal!  I love the black and white images that she finds and I get really inspired by them.

Here's a peak at one of the images I hope to use.  Once I am done, I will hopefully link up to a few linky parties.  So, I hope you can check back on Monday to see what I came up with!

Have a great rest of the week and maybe I'll manage to put some clothes on the next time I'm on here!!!! 
Adrienne

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

I usually feel time tightening it's grips on me in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I have currently fallen victim to my inability to say NO yet again. With school in full swing, I think I may be stretching myself a 'wee' bit thin already, and Christmas is months away. Thank God for that small miracle. Part of my contract at school involves running the canteen, which means, cooking hot lunches for who know how many kids. We don't know any numbers yet, but I am totally getting stressed out already. We will start this Monday morning prepping as much as we can. I say 'we' only because I am hoping to have a few moms in to volunteer their time and help me. Yes, as far as staff goes, I am the ONE and ONLY. Yikes!! Another thing that has been eating up my time is... I am the new Boys' Volleyball Coach! We have practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So, right after school, I quickly get to the gym and start practice. By the time we are done, I race home, and start supper. Thank goodness I live 4 minutes from the school.

I have been finding time to scrapbook lately which is like therapy for me. I love sitting down and mulling through all my paper and stamps and goodies. Last weekend I went to a crop put on by one of the stores here in town. I had such a blast. Teri and I laughed so hard at times I was literally crying. Not sure how impressed all the other ladies were with us being so loud, but hey...we had FUN!! And we're not afraid to show it. I managed to get 3 layouts done, 3 projects and a couple of cards. As usual, I packed way too much, but you never know what you'll need while you're there. I haven't taken any pics of them yet, so I thought I would share a page I did last month. Hope you enjoy.

Take care,

Adrienne

How long 'til Christmas vacation?

Today was the 1st day of school. We all survived it! Thank God! The first day is usually totally laid back, not much work to do. Loved it. Wish everyday was like that! We'll have to see what tomorrow has to offer. Adam had a great day too. It's hard to believe that he is in Grade 5 already. Seems like just yesterday we were dropping him off at Kindergarten. Man, he is going up so fast. I made this pencil cup for Adam's teacher last week. Thought it would help her welcome a new year with a smile on her face.On my last post I mentioned that I think he is really (secretly) all of a sudden in his teens. One day last week we went to get our back-to-school hair cuts and he was all about the Justin Beiber hair. You know, the sweeping bangs, hair covering your face. I, and my hairdresser Tara managed to talk him out of it , thankfully. We decided to go with a Fauxhawk. I have to say I really like it on him and really likes it as well. I'm not sure which he likes more. The hair cut, or the fact that he gets to put :stuff" in it to keep it spiky.

I haven't posted much about my weight loss lately, so I thought I would update my followers. I had hit my first goal of 50 pounds in the end of July and I was so excited. Since then, I have been on a bit of a yo-yo. I have been gaining a bit and losing a bit. As of this morning I am sitting at 49. Now that we will have a much more structured day, I think I will be able to get back on track and start on my next 50. Plus, volleyball will be starting soon so I will definitely be exercising more.

Thanks for lookin'

Adrienne

Feeling scrappy

I've been feeling a little scrappy lately. I figured I better clean up my craft room first. This is definitely the room the house that gets neglected the most, but also the room that I want to spend the most time in. It acts as the room that you put everything that you don't know what to do with. So, I needed to take charge in there and create a bit of order. If I don't tidy up first, I can't concentrate. I am a very messy crafter. I don't tend to clean up between projects, so I will go to do something and all the remnants and bits and pieces are scattered all over the place. I really mean all over the place. I wanted to use my cuttlebug yesterday, and I had such a mess everywhere that I was forced to use it on the floor. Sad, I know. But true.

Ok. So. Now that I have spent yesterday afternoon and into the evening cleaning, I was able to get in there this morning and work on a layout. I have had pics of Adam, my Mom and I now for 4 years. I have attempted scrapping them, but never quite 'felt' like it. I think it was the original paper I had picked out for it. So, I finally found some paper that I really liked. And here is what I came up with.

We had gone to Vancouver Island to visit my sister and her family. You can tell this is the ferry ride home because, back then, whenever we got together, Michele would cut Adam's hair. I loved him in a buzz cut when he was younger. Now, I would swear, he had turned into a 16 year old over night. That is a whole other story to be told at a later date.

It's challenge time

While checking out some of my favourite blogs, I have been feeling less than adequate. So many people are getting published, or picked to be on a design team, or have TONS of followers. No, I don't think those are really important things to measure myself to, but hey.. I want in too!!

So, Paper Poppy Kit Co. is having a sketch challenge, and I thought to myself, "Self, you should do the sketch and enter the challenge. You have what it takes!" (positive self talk is always important!)

So here it is! I think that was the fastest page I have done in a long time. I think I will try to start using sketches more often. They just seem to take some of the guess work out of it and also help you try different things. This sketch is actually totally my style so it wasn't too hard to follow. I used some of the paper I bought while on holidays in Calgary too, so that is a bonus!

Hope you like it, maybe I will win!

It's finally done!

OK. So those of you who know me, know that one thing I hate about myself is that I don't have any 'follow-through' when it comes to projects. I have a great imagination and ability to dream up ideas and see what I can make with things I find (my friends' words), but (my words) I either never get to said ideas, or never finish them. Well, I can truly - for now- say that is not true. I have had a project on the go or at least in my head for seriously almost 20 years. I am not kidding. When I was still living at home after college, my Mom bought me these beautiful coat hooks.

I HAD to have them, but they never got to see their potential... until now. I find it really funny that as unorganized as I am, I never lost them and never got rid of them. I attempted to use them years ago, but the piece of wood I used got left outside (dis-organized!!) and I never finished it. I found a cupboard door at the local rebuild center and knew what I would do with it. I have had it for probably 3 or more months and just during the break from school got it done. Hey, don't rush me. It takes my a while to get warmed up! I love how it turned out and I am thinking about adding some vinyl lettering to the recessed panel.

But, for now, I am happy that it is done, and actually hanging on the wall.

Hope you like it! Maybe in this last week of summer vacation I will get something else done.

Adrienne

How can it be?? Say it isn't so!

How can summer be over already? It feels like just yesterday I was so amped up with all the possibilities that summer might bring. All the projects I would get done, all the trips we would take, all the exercise I was going to get. Well, the trips did happen, but the rest fell by the wayside. I did manage to (almost) finish one project I have had in the works. I guess I just need to come to grips that summer vacation is not the time for me to have big wonderful plans. Just go with the flow and see what happens. The trips we took were so fun and relaxing. We started out in Calgary for 4 days where we went to the Zoo and the Calaway Park and did a lot of shopping. After Calgary, we headed to Edmonton for a day to hit the Waterpark and more shopping! Man I love that place!

Then home for about a week and then Adam and I headed off for BC to visit family and friends for 2 weeks. We had a great time.. Again, lots of fun and shopping. I will need to post in a day or so to show all the great stuff I got. Between the 2 parcels I received from shopping online, and all the scrapbooking stores I hit in Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna, and Williams Lake; I have gotten a ton of new stuff. Can't wait to get started in my room and play with all my new goodies.

I am totally bummed out that school for me starts in 7 days(BOO!!). One the other hand, I am totally excited that volleyball with be starting up again soon.

I will try to keep the posts up, I have more interesting stuff to show you all. Hopefully (fingers crossed) I will manage to get some of my projects done before the snow flies. Hey, this is Northern Alberta. Once September hits, it's fair game!!

Take care, Happy Fall

Adrienne

School's Out!!!

It's official. I am on Vacation! Yesterday was the last day of school and now I am free. Free to do what ever I want. And what I want is to do all the projects I have been busy collecting stuff for. All the junkin' I have been doing. All the VV trips I have been taking. I need to get this stuff done and painted and put on display. So many ideas rush around my head of what I can and need to do. I need to buy paint and start painting. I need to stay busy this summer. I desperately want to kick-ass on my weight loss this summer. I've been having a rough time since I hit the 40 pound mark. I lose a few and then gain a few. This has been going on for probably a month now. I have 2 weeks to get to 50 and I don't think it will happen. I am so close, but things just aren't going the way I had hoped. I am going to start walking and try a bit of running in the mornings to start my day off. Then, I will be fitting in some tennis and hopefully swimming and more walking and hiking. Gotta get there. Once I have hit this 50, then I have at least another 50 to go. I am hoping to have 20 pounds gone by the time I go back to school. I will do it, I can do it!!!

Last weekend we went to Tumbler Ridge to celebrate Father's Day and see my parents. We had such a great time hiking to various waterfalls and sights. The first waterfall we hit was Kinuseo Falls. AMAZING!! There were 3 different viewpoints we went to. The first was a simple little stroll to where the water actually goes over the edge. The second was DOWN the edge of the mountain. I mean down. Way down. Straight down. No, I am not exaggerating. We climbed down the mountain to the base of the waterfall. SO worth it. I was lost for words while we were at the bottom. I just sat there watching the water fall and feeling the mist on my face. Then, we CLIMBED back up the mountain. The next viewpoint was up the mountain from the first one. Once there you can see the whole thing. The water falling over the edge and then crashing to the river below. Breathtaking! We had such a great time and I had a serious case of Jelly-legs after all that hiking. More to come in my next post.

Hope you are all enjoying your summer as much as I plan on enjoying mine!

Adrienne

Check out my gallery!

Still trying to figure out how to attach my gallery from Scrap In Style to my blog, so this is the best thing I have come up with so far. Hope you enjoy checking out some more of my stuff!

Thanks for looking,
Adrienne

New(ish) layouts & a chance to be on a design team!!

As I was perusing some of my favourite blogs today, I came across a very exciting thing. Crate Paper has a call-out for new members for their Design Team!! Wow! Just think! I have always wanted to get on the DT of a manufacturer that I love!

I have loved Crate Paper for probably 4 0r 5 years now! I am a bit of a paper hoarder and I hoard Crate Paper! In going back through my layouts, I have found a few pages that I have been able to use it. Some papers I love so much, it pains me to actually use them. I don't really like to use the same papers on more than one layout so, I have a hard time parting with them sometimes. Even though I'm not parting with them, they are staying with me in MY albums. {Now would be the time for any of you to tell me of a good therapist you know. I know I have a problem. I'm OK with it!}

So, this post has 2 purposes:

1. To share some of my recent & Not-so-recent layouts.

2. To essentially submit my creative resume to Crate Paper for their approval.

I love the layout of Chris & I at Maligne Canyon. It is one of my all-time favourite pages and I was excited to finally use one of those blingy and pearly flourishes. I love how it turned out! I used some of the Brook collection on that one. The LO of the 'Squirrel' uses Little Sprout papers. The LO of Adam in the creek uses paper from 2 lines...Orbit and Prudence. One really old LO I found that I used Crate Paper on was the page of Adam at the park with shades on. I used a little piece of Roper from the Cowboy line.

So, wish me luck on my Design Team application and I hope you enjoyed my layouts today!!

Have a great day. By the way, only 4 more days of school and I am on VACATION!!!

Adrienne

Where did the time go?

Yes, I know. I have been a very bad blogger. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. No real excuses, not good ones anyways. I have been reading my fav's, but just not finding the time to post anything of my own. I don't know why, but I think most of the reason I haven't is that I don't have any exciting pics to share....until now! I started my 'Jasper' album and finished my first5 pages! I am very excited about this one. I am trying to do something a little different. I am really inspired by Stephanie Wheeler over at The Livingroom Floor. I love her graphic nature and bold, straight lines. I also LOVE that she splatters and mists practically everything! So, here are a few of my Jasper pages, hope you like 'em.

I just finished cleaning out my closet. I haven't been able to close it since I don't know. I continued getting all my TOO big clothes out of there and now I am up to 4 garbage bags full of clothes that are too big. On this whole too big clothes front, I am up to 42 pounds lost now. I am only 8 pounds away from my summer goal of losing 50 pounds by the middle of July and I still have 5 weeks to go! Yay for me!

Speaking of summer, I am kind of in shock (and completely relieved) that we are in our last week of school for the year. Where did it go? It went so fast. Seems like just yesterday it was December. Can't wait to have my days to myself to do whatever I want! Lots of hiking, tennis, and swimming. Gotta look good to go back to school in September!!

I have some more things to post about now so I should be filling you in soon, with pics too!

Have a great week!

Adrienne

Is this May Long Weekend or Christmas..you decide

Just a quick post today. It's been a while. Nothin' much happening in my life these days. Pluggin' along with my weight loss. I'm at 38 now and can't wait to break 40! Feels like just yesterday I was antsy about breaking 20. I can't believe I only have 12 more pounds until I make my summer goal of 50 pounds. I would love to hit it before I see my parents in June in Tumbler Ridge for Father's Day weekend. Cross my fingers.

The last week has been so beautiful- weather wise. I have been for a few big walks around town with one of my co-workers at school. It was so hot the other day that all I wore was capris and a tank top. HOT. Now................. this is what we have.

It feels like Christmas out there. We had a very wet, heavy snow today. Unusual for here. We mostly get light, fluffy, dry snow. Not this heavy, wet, sloppy snow. Thought I would include a few pics for your viewing pleasure.

Hope you are having a better long weekend than me.

Adrienne

anniversary continued.....

Not quite sure what happened there. Maybe too many pictures in one post. Well, here are a couple more for your viewing pleasure!

Enjoy!

Adrienne

12 years ~ what a weekend!

It all started in Jasper. Chris and I got married 12 years ago, May 2, 1998 in BC. We had decided after our wedding we would move to Northern Alberta (yikes). So, a couple of days after the wedding, we headed up NORTH. The closest thing to a honeymoon was spending the night and a day in Jasper. We did a little bit of sight-seeing, but we had things to do and an apartment to find in Grande Prairie. So, our time in Jasper was short, but fun.

Fast forward 12 years to this past weekend. We had our friends watch Adam, and off we were on our own for the first time since he was born. Yup, NINE years!! Ok, so, we had an AMAZING time. I can truthfully say I was blown away and absolutely humbled and have never seen such beauty. My eyes are welling up just thinking about it. I am quite surprised that I didn't shed a few tears while we were there. What could be so remarkable you might ask. Well, for any of you who have been to the Rocky Mountains, you know what I'm talking about. If you have not had the amazing opportunity to see the Rockies, you MUST go. They have this power over you that you can't take your eyes off of them. Every corner you turn, a new vision of wonder is waiting to be seen. This all from the seat of your car. Now, venture off the highway a bit.



We have been to Maligne Canyon both times and this last was even more breath-taking than I remember. We hiked down farther than before, and even though it meant the more we had to go back up, it was worth it. Sheer beauty!

This trip we splurged and went on the Jasper Tramway. Heaven. This is the closest I will get to heaven while I am alive. I felt like I was on the top of the world. What a feeling of the realization that we are a mere speck on the earth. We ascended the mountain to almost 7500 feet above sea level at roughly 4-6 km/hour. There really aren't words to describe it. Breath-taking, spritual, and again, humbling. In the summer you can hike from the Upper Station to the summit of the mountain. There was still a lot of snow up there, and the wind was bone chilling.

One last sight we got to was the Athabasca Falls. Again, no words. Awe-inspiring. I could have stayed there all day just listening to the sound of the waterfall. The force of the water over thousands of years has carved away at the earth and left in it's wake is a raveen or canyon. So, if you have not had the chance to see Jasper and all that it has to offer, put it on your travel plans...SOON!! We can't wait to go back this summer with Adam and share all this beauty with him. (pictures to follow)

Oh ya, 2 more pounds!! I'm at 32 now. I'll just keep pluggin' away and before no time, my first goal of 50 pounds will be upon me.

Have a great week.

Adrienne

I hit 30!.. a card...and our anniversary!!

Well, I know it has been a while since I posted, but, better late than never as they say! I have some rather sad news today. I was supposed to play volleyball tonight (the last time until Fall) but it was cancelled. Don't know why it was cancelled, but now my evenings filled with bliss are through. We did play on Monday, so that was officially my last night until September. Sad, sad, sad. Bring on the tennis. I hope it works out. I hope it is all I have been wanting it to be. I need to be able to replace volleyball with something that I will look forward to doing and something that still gives me a good workout. I think it will be great! A lot of my friends are interested in playing as well, so it should be fun.

In my weightloss journey, I am now at 30 pounds lost. I lost 2 last week, and this week I stayed the same. Hopefully this coming Monday will bring me a good number. I have started the Biggest Loser at school. There are 17 of us (I think) signed up and the grand prize is $400!! I am going to really kick my butt into gear so I at least have a chance at winning some of the prize money. 2nd prize is $300. 3rd is $100 and 4th is your registration fee back which was $50. It will go by percentage lost so I really have my work cut out for me because I weigh more than most of the participants. I am pretty excited about it and really want to win. I will spend all of my winnings on clothes probably.

An exciting thing happening to me this weekend is it is my 12th Anniversary!!! Chris and I are heading to Jasper this weekend to celebrate it. WITHOUT Adam! We have never been away from him like this. Of course, he has gone for sleep overs and stuff, but we have never been AWAY from him. I think all will be fine. He is spending the weekend with our good friends BJ, Darren and little Hayden. I think he will have a great time and I know we will. I really hope the weather is nice so we can get out and see some sights. I love Jasper and can't wait to take some pictures.

One more exciting thing going on is I have been asked to join a Relay for Life team for this June's walk. I really need to start training and fundraising for it. Gotta hit those trails in town to build up my stamina. Can't wait for it actually.

I thought I would include this card I made. I made it for one of the teachers at school, it was her birthday on the 9th. I forgot to take pics of it before I gave it to her, so she had given it back to me so I can take them. She can't wait to get it back as she said it is on dispay somewhere in her house and it is looking rather bare with out it. I figured I should get it done so I can return it to her on Monday.

So, that is all that is going on in my life these days. I have a lot more to blog about, most of which I am waiting on pictures to do so. Well, thanks for looking, and have a great weekend...I know I will..wink wink!!!

Adrienne