18 x 18 Martha Stewart album

okay, this is my new passion!!!! besides using my favourite paper. Check out the size of this layout. anyone guess? it kind of just looks like a 12 x 12 hey? but if you look here, the black sheet is an actual 12 x 12, the layout I did is an 18 x 18. It is Martha Stewart's new line of albums. Her stuff is fantastic, and so different than supplies out there. It has some class to it. She sells 18 x 18 paper in different patterns too but I like just being able to build a page with anything. I am going to get a shadow box frame made to fit this size so I can rotate layouts in and out throughout the year. I do this with 2 other size shadow boxes and it is so much fun!!!! This was almost like working with a canvas,

Challenge #6

Let's use multiple patterned paper! Do you always resort to cardstock and then work from there? This time let's build a layout around a favourite patterned paper. Right now my favourite is Scenic Route. The colours just are working so well with my layouts. I did a few a couple of weeks ago and then last night I had to pull out my Scenic Route again and do a super cool layout. It's drying right now, but I'll post it tonight. So combine different patterns, colours, whatever. Remember that quite a few companies out there make this quite easy for you. They create a entire line that coordinates with itself so the thinking process is done for you. Give it a shot, and remember only use cardstock as an accent. Tomorrow I'll give hints on how to combine patterned papers easily. Can't wait to see what you guys come up with. Remember email me and I'll post them. scrap-mommy@hotmail.com Have a great day!!!! okay, the following I love this paper line, and it goes so well with melina's pics. of us.

this page is har dto see but the right hand side is only a zig zag pattern, but my kitchen floor makes it look like a full 12 x 12 square.

Super long post, so many pics to show!

Okay, I have over 1GB pics from this weekend but I'll show you only my faves. Here are 2 of Jag that I find amusing. This kid is always dirty when he eats. And yes we are in the vehicle and he is eating his special treat...chocolate covered donuts. Now I've already been told I'm nuts, but no one seems to understand how long you actually get of peace and quiet when travelling by yourself with 2 kids. It actually is almost like work for kids to eat a donut. here I was tickling Jager, and I just love his sweet giggles. He is always so pleasant.

Now here is what you've been waiting for. HUNTER!!!!! and yes, it is the best feeling to finally be an auntie. I love him so much. I realized once I put these up that I didn't get a single pic of Jenn. Mind you she was really, really sore so she didn't feel much like getting dolled up. So next time when she is on the mend I'll have to take some of her & Hunter. But here is Darryl and his son. He loves this little boy so much, he was always holding him and playing and singing to him. It was adorable.

This is the best, this little guy can totally wrinkle up his whole forehead. I found it really cute!!! He can lift his head too, he is so strong!!!!

okay, how proud am I?????

now our boys & Hunter. They were in love with "baby Hunter" Even Jager was saying what sounded like his name. Although we pretty much only heard "baby & nice" from Jager every single waking moment. It was almost like the child was a broken record. If the baby was up, Jager had to be right there trying to hold or touch him, and mind you Jager is very aggressive. Riley was so gentle, exact opposites.. It was so funny, Riley told me, "mom, Hunter can't walk, Hunter can't talk Hunter can't crawl, mom, Hunter can't do anything." too funny.

isn't this cute??

I had such a great time. I love babies and it was so beautiful to see how happy Jenn & Darryl are, and how it's like this little guy was always with them. He fits so right. Oh and did I tell you the cool part, he's named after my dad. Hunter William. My dad is Terence William. Cool hey, my dad is such a phenomenal father & role model so it's pretty cool that they used his name too.

Can't wait to see them again.

Found a few cool Parks in Edmonton

Here are a few pics from some awesome parks we found in Edmonton. There playground equipment is really great. The kids were in heaven. Check out this teeter totter, like how safe is this. I was on one end and they sat together. no chance of being bucked off. Even if no on else was on my end they could still bounce to get a ride. somehow it is weighted to work either way. neat!!! Jager's first attempt down a curvy, enclosed slide. Not quite sure his reaction was "loving it".

Here is my daredevil, keep in mind he is only 3. But since the big kids do it, obviously he can too.

Cheese monster.

Jager totally loves the swing. It is really his favourite thing.

another adventurous climb.

okay, has anyone ever seen a child's swing like this??? someone was smart out there.

A quick note!

Okay, I've decided to scratch my giveaway day as I didn't have too many people responding. Crazy hey? I think I'll just randomly give stuff away throughout the year. Maybe even to those who participate in my layout challenges. I'll do something. Anyways won't post for a few days because I am going to spend some quality time with my nephew. When I get back look out... Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. and guess what??? I think Spring is actually here to stay, so get outside and enjoy it. Remember kids grow up so fast! There will actually be a time when they don't want us to go to the park with them anymore.

Here's little Hunter!!!!!

mom came to the Saskatoon today and gave me a CD of pics. Here's one of my favourites. Isn't he cute??? Especially since he is like very fresh! I love him already. I don't know if I will be able to sleep tonight, & waiting till Riley is done school tomorrow to go to Edmonton is going to kill me. But I will definitely take so many pics of this little guy. I can now absolutely understand why Pam has so many layouts of Brooke. I need my own album for my own layouts I'm going to do of this little guy. So I probably won't post till I get back but I had a serious creative streak happen this week. I scrapbooked up a storm, I think like 14 or so layouts. Some I am really, really proud of, so I'll take pics of those when I return and post them.

First of all Happy Birthday to my brother Shane!!!He turns 25 today. So today's recipe is my ultimate favourite thing in the world!!!!! Cheesecake! This recipe is a little complicated but it is so well worth it.(If you like a true baked cheesecake) My mom makes it all the time and I think she got the recipe from my cousin Lis.

• crust: 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp grated lemon peel
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup margarine

In a small bowl mix all of the above at low speed. Put 1/3 of the mix on the bottom of a 10" spring form pan. Bake at 400 F for 8 min. Cool completely.

• filling: 5- 8oz pkgs cream cheese
• 1 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tbsp flour
• 3/4 tbsp grated lemon peel
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

(if you want flavour don't use whipping cream instead use Kahlua, Bailey's etc...)

In a large bowl mix on medium speed cream cheese until creamy. (don't over whip!) Then beat in sugar, flour and the rest of the ingredients. Eggs 1 at a time. Beat. At the very end beat at high speed for 5 min.

Press the rest of the crust mixture around the sides. Pour cheese mixture into pan. Turn oven to 475 F. Bake for 10 min. only at that heat then turn oven down to 300F for 35 minutes. Turn oven off and leave for 1/2 hr in oven.

This is unbelievably rich, so make sure you have lot's of company to share with. I personally like it plain with a hint of fresh fruit on, but jazz it up however you like. One Christmas I drizzled chocolate and made a raspberry drizzle too and put my own homemade choclates on it. It was pretty scrumptious. Enjoy.

okay, okay!!! here are some pics!

so, recently I've been given a hard time (in a joking way). I always talk about my sister and not my brothers. I do love my brothers, it's just that Jenn's pregnancy has kind of been the excitement. So I made a little call to Melina of course and asked her for the pics she took of my brothers last year. (The boys, Melina & I stole Jim's superbee so that she could take awesome pics of the car and I made him an 8x8 album for our anniversary). Meanwhile, she did take a few great shots of my hottie brothers while we were doing this heist.

• so this is my brother Shane. sorry ladies , he is not available. He is dating Andrea who is unbelievably good looking and driven. She has her act together and I really really really like her. get the hint Shane... Just kidding. Anyways, my 3 yr old son tells us so frequently that Andrea is beautiful and she is going to marry him.

Now, on the other hand...

• Steven is ... single. Isn't he hot??? I cannot wait to see the woman that steals his heart.

Tips & Hints- I will now refer to these as "Ask Leica"

Hetty here's my tips & hints for you. Thanks for asking me to do a specific topic. If anyone else wants to know how to do something very specific ask. I will demonstrate to the best of my abilities. So today I am going to introduce the very basics of Doodling!

• First, get a good pencil, the finer the tip the better. Practise drawing lines. Some straight, some curvy. Do this till you have fluent lines with no breaks in them. Surprisingly people don't understand how important it is that you can be consistent with making lines.

• second, try drawing circles. DO NOT make those perfect little round circles. They are so hard to work with. Instead make a close to perfect circle and then go over the line 2 or 3 times. This is called "gesture lines" They give you room to work with. Doodles are not meant to look flawless. Instead we want them to look effortless. Vary the darkness of each line to. Have a prominent line and then a softer one. This gives depth!!! Do this same technique with stars, squares, hearts, etc...

Swirls are the most common part of making doodles. They are definitely the prettiest to look at and the most feminine. This is where your practising circles comes in. Try drawing curvy lines that vary in height and thickness.

I always fill in the "curves" of the swirls. There is the most room to colour, or decorate with other designs.Start narrow, get wider than come back narrow. I tend to create my line within the curve but if you made your curves a little too tight then draw your second line on the outside of the curve. It doesn't matter. It might even work better for you. So try both ways until you are comfortable.

Here is where you can add colour if you like. Colour in the lines. Sometimes I leave these open too. I like to vary colouring, not colouring within the same curve design. It gives a cool look.

absolutely no matter what, DO NOT make your curvy lines equal height & width. It will just look like a row of u's.

This is much easier to work with.

Don't draw the curve lines in all the bumps. Leave some blank, otherwise it will be too much.

Practise drawing "infinity" symbols. Try equal sides, then make some larger and the other side smaller, etc...

Colour in the full parts of the curves. add slashes in the middle. Vary the designs that you do.

Sometimes you can just do plain doodles that make a big effect. Like a line around the photo that has a little loop on each corner. Sometimes I go over these lines because I really like the "messy/gesture" lines better. Quite often I add these little dots on edges of photos, layouts, anywhere that I want to make a small emphasis on.

I really try to make sure that when working with doodles I have strong & weak areas. The reason for this is you want to create focal points within your design. The photo should be the most important spot, so plan your doodles so they enhance your photo. If you want to large doodles, then they should absolutely mirror each other. Below is just an suggestion.

This is a little clearer what I mean.Have strong parts to a doodle and then weak (smaller) parts.

I really use many different tones in my doodles. Thick lines, thin lines, medium lines. dark lines, light lines. Have fun with it. I always, always draw my doodles in pencil first and then go over them. That way I don't wreck the page. Remember practise, practise, practise!!!!!!!

Hope this gives you a start, if you want to know more I teach lot's of classes on doodling. Below are a few dates. Come on down and have some fun!

• May 8th 7-9pm Doodling Basics
• May 15th 7-9pm Doodling Letters & Numbers
• May 29th 7-9pm Extreme Doodling
• June 6th 7-9pm Doodling Basics
• June 12th 7-9pm Multimedia Doodling

Challenge #5

Okay, short post today, I have an unbelievable amount of stuff to get done. Sorry. so much exciting stuff has been happening in my life this week so my blogging has taken a hit. so this weeks' challenge is a specific request from a cool lady I met at Camp Croppin. She asked if I could give some tips on doodling, well of course!!!!! It is my favourite thing. So tomorrow I will give step by step directions on how to do a few of my favourite doodles. Today I am going to challenge you to use your own doodles on the page or if that freaks you out. Create a page using doodle stamps or products. Have fun. Remember, email me and I will post them. scrap-mommy@hotmail.com Did I mention, I'm an Auntie!!!!!! I'm so pumped!!!! I've always wanted to be an auntie! I love kids. My sister is doing well. Got the call from mom today, she said Jenn's just exhausted but doing good. Sweet!!!! And Hunter is really doing good and they can go home tomorrow!!!!! Awesome.

giving credit

Okay, I always believe in giving credit where credit is due, so I recently saw on Julie & Brittany's site this cool little snap shots thing where you can just glide over the links and it will show you automatically if someone has updated there site. So thanks! I thought it was a great idea and had to copy you guys.

guess what...

I'M AN AUNTIE!!!!!!!!!! Last night Jenn gave birth. She had a pretty rough time though so when mom phoned I only heard brief details because they were a little more worried about Jenn. SO I haven't heard anything this morning but the new little guy's name is.... Hunter William Fontaine. so welcome to the world little guy!!

a few more preggo pics & Darryl playing guitar

here is a few more shots Melina took. Darryl was playing guitar while I was prepping Jenn so these are pretty cool. So Jenn & Darryl I hope you love looking at these shots. (and everyone else too!!!)

this is my absolute favourite picture. It is so beautiful.

well, a little wardrobe malfunction.

did you see this one before?? I can't remember what I posted awhile ago. I just love this pic too. They just love each other.

what is so funny??

I talked to Jenn only a few minutes ago and she said that she was having a few uncomfortable pains, so maybe tonight is the night. who knows?? I can't wait!

just a little eye candy!!!

Aren't these shots beautiful??? I had to post a few more. Melina dropped off the entire works tonight and I've only been through one disk. I really want Jenn & Darryl to see these. They won't see all the pics until she has their baby so I'll post a few here today & tomorrow. Sorry for the lack of blogging today, tomorrow will probably be a little slow too. Riley has a birthday party tomorrow and I've been helping gramma at her garage sale, & will tomorrow too. Jenn is ready for the baby to come out right now!!!! So I am awaiting the day when I become an auntie. So pumped!!!! I'm going to spoil little ______ so much!!!!