An Edwardson Christmas in Calgary

I had planned on posting this to y'all a few days back but clearly that didn't happen ;)

The days leading up to the holidays were wildly busy as I know they are for everyone.  The kids were in school right up until December 19th and boy were they ready for a break !!  Em has has A LOT of homework each night and has worked so hard in her first semester at her new school.  She loves it and has made some lovely friends ..... between her academics and her horses, she is one busy 14 year old.  

The Elf on the Shelf made his first appearance in our house this December and both the kids LOVED him.  Alex could not wait to wake up each morning to see what he had gotten into while they were sleeping.  He even brought some gifts throughout the month .... very much looking forward to seeing 'buddy' again next December !!

 

Alex finished up hockey on the 20th - 21st weekend with a fun tourney in the last couple of days before Christmas.  Scoring 2 goals in one game was an awesome way for him to break for the holidays :)) We even made it out to the 'Zoo Lights' at the Calgary Zoo ..... cold but very fun !!

Being in a new city on Christmas Eve had us joining good friends for a holiday church service and it was perfect.  We had chinese food after and played 'A Christmas Story Monopoly' too ...... 

  

Christmas morning was AMAZING .... having Scott home this year again was such a treat and we took full advantage of it !!  Up to my brother's for dinner with the family and then home to enjoy all the kids gifts in the evening .....

The kids wanted to do some Boxing Day shopping (BEST. MOM. EVER.) ..... Alex and Scott went to 2 stores that they wanted to shop in and then headed home for the afternoon while Em and I braved Chinook Centre - CRAZY !!! 

 I'd never seen anything like it ..... and may not go on Boxing Day ever again !!! Em got lots of deals using her gift cards and left happy ..... all in all it was a super fun day with my girl :))

After one more day of riding, we packed up and headed back to our house on Vancouver Island ..... After a little bit of work, we will have time for a week of relaxing and visiting with friends - CAN'T WAIT !!!

Talk soon ....

A new beginning ......

As many of you know, I have been the owner of an amazing little scrapbook store called Scrapbookin' Adventures since I opened it in the Fall of 2006 ...... It has brought me many many joys and I've built friendships that I know will last for many years to come.

I have enjoyed being a business owner immensely, but since we've moved to Calgary, managing a business in another province has proved to be more than I am wanting to continue on with .....

..... I made the tough decision to send out this letter yesterday to all our customers and friends .....

Dear Scrapbookin' Adventures customers and friends,

After much thought and many sleepless nights, I have made the tough decision to close the Nanaimo location of Scrapbookin' Adventures. As many of you know, I built this store from scratch in my little office with my new baby boy over my shoulder almost 9 years ago. It has seen many incredible successes and I have made friendships that I know will last long beyond the closing of these doors.

Each and every one of you has played a part in this journey, but I am ready to move on. We all grow and change and then hopefully we document it. This business was built on relationships and was designed to help you create albums to house the amazing memories you experience with your families. I want you to continue to do that in any way you can, for as long as you can because it is so important.

I believe in memory keeping in whatever form you choose to do it. Traditional scrapbooking, pocket pages, mini albums, embellished frames throughout your home and beautiful cards filled with photos and mailed to family and friends. It all matters and it all means so much. Don't stop because this space is no longer here for you to come into each week. Clear a table or two in your home, call the girls and then open a bottle of wine and continue to make and document your memories ..... (do it now before you have one too many glasses of wine and then forget :)

I have had the most wonderful time with this little store over the years but it is time for a new adventure. Though the doors may close on December 30th for the last time in Nanaimo, I have not closed the door on my creativity and you will see me again .....

HINT: If you still want to play along make sure to follow my blog starting in January 2015 for changes as they unfold...www.3dfoamandasandingblock.blogspot.ca

Thank you all for everything you have done to make my time as the owner of Scrapbookin' Adventures such an incredible experience ......

I wish you all the best always ....

j. xo

The reaction has been mixed, but mostly very positive and encouraging. I know many people are sad, including my staff, but it was the best thing for me. I've been trying to put it off for a very long time but now I needed to do this for me.

I am ready for a new chapter and as I said in my letter, I have been creating all along and I have plans for my future beyond my scrapbook store ....

So make sure to keep checking back here for lots of changes in the new year ...... I can't wait to share my new adventures with you !!!!

Talk soon ....

back to blogging again ......

Well hello there strangers !!!  Yep - it's been quite some time since I've sat down to share anything online except the occasional Facebook or Instagram update ...... To say my life has been busy is the understatement of 2014 for me.  I wanted to take a minute to catch y'all up on where i've been, what i've been up to and where I think i'm going :))

First off ...... around the time of my last post waaaaaay back in June I was getting heavy into show season with Em and her horses.  She started the summer in Vancouver and she saw huge success .....



..... we then headed to Spruce Meadows in Calgary for the first time ever and that is where she fell in love ...... with Spruce Meadows that is !!!  We all had such a great time and enjoyed ALL the AB family and friends coming out to cheer her on ..... she can't wait to go back ......

 

We came home and got to spend several weeks at our new home in Duncan with our new pool and new friends enjoying learning as much as we could about the Cowichan Valley.  We had a blast ...... Alex's birthday was AMAZING and the weather was fantastic !! The pool was full and we had kids over for hours .... a great way to turn 9 !!

This was Alex's first year playing baseball and he LOVED it !!  Back catcher was his fave position (just like his Mom ;)) ..... it was such a great few months watching him fall in love with my favorite sport !! His team played very well and ended the season 2nd overall ..... silver medal for my boy :))

In the middle of July Emma was lucky enough to have been chosen to compete on the BC Summer Games Equestrian Team !!  It was the most incredible experience and she finished the games with both individual silver AND team silver too !!  Something she will never forget ...... so proud of her !!

The kids even went to Kayak camp for the first time .... It was so beautiful out on Maple Bay every morning .....

In the 3rd week of July, we packed up our new living quarters horse trailer and headed back out to Calgary to spend the month of August at Rocky Mountain Show Jumping so Em could spend some time showing in AB again ....

We had the most amazing month ..... Waking up to the big open skies every morning (and a few prairie storms too ;) was an amazing way to spend the end of the summer.

 

Emma saw incredible success and won many ribbons on both of her horses .... 

She made some new friends and loved the barn she was riding with.  She was laughing, smiling and learning so much that she didn't want to leave !!!

....... so we filled out applications for private school in Calgary, rented a furnished house and then headed back to Vancouver Island to pack !!! 

It was a tough decision but the opportunities were so exciting for us that we had to continue to live every day as we always have.  Life is about the journey and we felt that our journey was taking us back to Alberta (Scott is from AB and we'd lived there together years ago) ....

We have so many family friends in and around Calgary that it was exciting to think about living close to them all again !!!  Emma and Alex love an adventure and were really looking forward to their new school ..... Scott loves the prairies and I love seeing the sunshine every day - even if it is - 40 !!!

We took the ferry for the last time (for a while anyway ....) and started driving.  We packed the small horse trailer full of all our clothes, sports equipment and some toys too and were on our way .....

We made the trip over 2 days as we had the dogs (and Alex's fish too) and by the time we fell into our new beds in Calgary we were excited, happy, exhausted and I was a little sad too ...

For me I had finally found the house I loved in a little island town and was busy making it my own.  We had moved my store Scrapbookin' Adventures, to Nanaimo at the start of the year and I was settling into my new home in Duncan very nicely ..... The kids were registered to go to Queen Margaret's School in September and all was well ...... I truly never thought in a million years that we would be moving AGAIN so so soon after our move to Duncan ......

....... but in life there is change and I knew this was going to be great ..... I mean seriously, on our very first day living in Calgary we got to take our daughter literally across the road from where we are living to watch the Spruce Meadows Masters ..... her first time watching this incredible tournament and she took about a thousand photos !!!

In the few months that we've been here, there have been long days, challenges and even a few tears too, but most of all a lot of laughs ....

Emma and Alex have settled in beautifully, school is fabulous, the new barn is fabulous, hockey is fabulous ..... having our kids live near their cousins is fabulous ..... 

...... the winter isn't nearly as bad as you'd think and we've all gotten proper winter coats and boots and I'm happy to report that it hasn't rained a day since we got here (i hate wet feet) !!!!

Sooooooo ..... short story long ..... we moved and its going well and we are happy :)

There are still changes to come with my business but I am happy to report that I am back to blogging and I never stopped creating so I have LOTS to share with you in the coming days, weeks and months ....

Make sure to come on back for more ...... and thanks for catching up with me today ..... I've missed this and you !!!

Talk soon ....

Core'dinations and Stampendous

After 3 long, happy, busy weeks away with Em's horses I am back today with a fun card to share !!

Core'dinations and Stampendous have teamed up to share fun product and each Design Team has created some fantastic projects to inspire you at home ....

Check out Core'dinations HERE and HERE and ENTER TO WIN (1) of (3) paper pads :))

Check out Stampendous HERE and HERE and ENTER TO WIN prizes from them too !!

Now check out what I created using Core and stamps and dies oh my ......

Stamping has always been something that fascinates me and I have an absolute TON of stamp sets but find that I don't use them near as much as I should or would like to !!  I was excited to work with these 2 'new to me' products from Stampendous.

I started by choosing my cardstock and stamped the large floral image onto 2 different colors 3 times each.  Once the ink was dry I got out the new thin metal die set that coordinates with this floral stamp - VERY COOL !!

It comes with 3 different images that are different sections of the flower .... I laid each die out where I wanted it and then used my magnetic shim and ran it through my eBosser.  These dies cut like a dream through the Core'dinations cardstock !!!

I started my card base using a piece of Core'dinations creme cardstock and embossed it using a large 8 x 10" embossing folder.  I added a small piece of patterned paper for some color and a phrase sticker too.  These pieces are how I chose the color of my cardstock flower.

Once I had all the other pieces in place I started to layer the flower using 3D foam.  It came together beautifully and I even have enough flower bits left over to make another card !!

Make sure to head over and check out the other Core girls' projects here .....

Mary Pat: http://siehledwithakiss.blogspot.com/
Ava Gavloski: http://cottagerca.blogspot.com/

Supplies:  

Signature Series Lights Graphic 45: Creme Brulee

Pastels (green & pink)

Sand it Gadget

Dust Buddy

Stampendous: Stamp set and coordinating thin metal die set

Authentique: Patterned paper and sticker

Come on back tomorrow and check out some of my fave pics from my trip ......

TFL ..... Talk soon.

Scrapbook and Cards Today

I’m excited to be back on the SCT blog sharing another fun project today and thought I'd share it here too !!

3 x 4” journal cards have been around for a while now but they seem to be popping up as part of almost every new collection.  Whether in a package on their own or as part of 12 x 12” patterned paper, they’re so fun and can be used on just about anything you create or slipped into pocket pages too !!

A favorite way for me to use them is to cut them up.  It is super rare to find them on my layouts or cards in their original 3 x 4” format.  I love to trim, punch, cut and shape them as much as possible to make them look great with whatever I’m working on.

I fell in love with the ‘Hello Sunshine’ collection from Pink Paislee and the journal cards are so seriously cute …..

For this 12 x 12” layout, I chose (4) cards and trimmed them each at a different  points, splitting them between the words and graphics.  The corners were already rounded so I just gently sanded the edges to show the white inner core of the paper.

All my photos were trimmed to 3 x 3” and adhere flat across my patterned paper base. I cut (2) 12” borders from the grey pattern, border punched along the top and bottom and then gently sanded the edges of these pieces too. To adhere them, I put a piece of narrow double sided tape along the straight edge and then slightly overlapped the edges of my photos.  Remember not to adhere the borders down completely as you will need to be able to tuck your journal cards under the edge to hide your ‘seams’ :)

 

 

When I started tucking the journal card pieces under, I made sure to mismatch them so their tops and bottoms don’t go together.  I liked the look of this separation rather than having them too matchy matchy or straight across.

Once I had all my journal cards in place I went back and added chip shapes, stickers, my title and some typewriter journaling onto a piece of patterned paper the same as my base !!

Journal cards are the PERFECT addition (or start :)) to any card too !! They absolutely can be used as they come with some embellies added to them but again …. I like to cut them up :)

  

This journal card came with the cloud graphic just underneath the phrase ‘be the rainbow in someone elses cloud’ and I decided I wanted it on the top of the card.  I trimmed it off the bottom and adhered it flat at the top edge with the phrase .

 

There was a space in between these 2 pieces, so I cut up another journal card that had multi colored stripes and used the blue/grey bit at the top as my ‘sky’ and then added a puffy rainbow sticker and a button with twine to finish it off !!

This card was super quick and cute.  The original journal card was black and white and came with the phrase ‘don’t worry be happy’ ….. So I cut ‘love and’ from another card and added it to make up my own phrase …. A few coordinating heart die cuts and buttons and ta da !! Perfect for those moments when you need a card and are leaving for the party in 5 minutes 

( …. and yes, this happens to everyone :))

TFL ..... Talk soon.

Happy National Scrapbookin' Day !!!

I love this day that is ALL about us crazy crafters !! I would love to tell you that I was in my studio all day creating amazing projects using nothing but pretty paper and embellishments .... BUT .... I was doing the usual - running my kids here and there in the rain :))

It's all good though because tonight is the night .... I have a date just me and my favorite room !!

Though I didn't create today, I still have a fun layout to share ..... This was up over on the Bella Blvd. blog a few weeks back but I hadn't shared it here yet .... so here you go :))

The Molly collection just screams Emma to me !!  This girl is the best and I am forever calling her my favorite girl.  These photos were taken in the spring a few years back and she looks sooooo young !!  She just turned 13 and has had braces for the past year ….. Her face has changed shape so much so these pics seem like so long ago.

I am finding the ‘Molly’ collection so easy to work with as there truly is a paper and embellishment for all my girly picutres.  Yes – I even find it easy to work with Em’s horsey pics too !!

I am LOVING the Die-Cut packs and can’t get enough of the new ‘Treasures & Text’ Cardstock Stickers just to add that little extra something to every project !!! 

I hope where ever you were today and whatever you were doing, that it was a fabulous day and that you made time to do something creative :))

TFL ..... Talk soon.

... a little Simple Stories Layout

Today I thought i'd share a layout I created recently using a super sweet 8 x 10" photo of my girl from several years ago .... she's growing up quick !!

It can be daunting to create with larger photos sometimes so it's always nice to see how they can be incorporated onto a layout without becoming too overwhelming ....

I used the Daily Grind collection by Simple Stories for this layout.  This is such a super collection for everyday photos and more.  I started with a distressed solid base (the light blue), and then added my large photo to the right edge of the base.

I cut several strips of different patterns to adhere as a frame around the photo .... The embellishments for  this collection were FABULOUS !!

Lots of adhesive backed chip shapes and stickers to add all over here and there ......

I added a few buttons with twine and my journalling in the bottom right corner directly onto the base .... This is perfect for this sweet photo of my girl ... can't believe she is 13 already !!!

TFL ..... Talk soon.

Happy Easter Monday

Happy Easter Monday !!  I've had the best time with Em and Alex this past week. We've bee outside a TON and Easter weekend was so much fun.  The kids go back to school tomorrow so today we are off for more riding and baseball :))  But before I go I wanted to share this fun little home decor piece I made using a whole bunch of Core'dinations cardstock for the Easter holiday .....

In our new/old home I have the fireplace I've been waiting to have for years.  It has this great spot on it where I have a beautiful metal easel for framed art ect .... I like to change it up every season/holiday and I didn't have a new piece for Easter so of course I thought I would make one !!

I started with a white Spotted base .... (I love these pre-embossed pieces of cardstock) and then cut a large bunny shape using my Silhouette Cameo.  I ran the negative image through my eBosser using a spotted embossing folder and gently sanded off the top to show the lighter color inner core.

I wanted to fill in the shape and have it remind me of easter eggs so I used a small circle punch and my fave colors of the Spotted Jillian dot cardstock.  I lightly sanded each piece and adhered them slightly overlapping each other from behind the bunny shape.  I raised the creme 'tail' using 3D foam and added some 'grass' along the bottom of the base.  It is perfect for my fireplace and just in time for Easter !!

TFL ..... Talk soon.

Happy Spring ......

Well, it FINALLY happened !!  Spring has sprung .... where I live anyway :))

I know it's been several days (okay more like 2 weeks ....), but I've truly been enjoying every day with my kiddos !!  We've been having a ball doing all kinds of things inside and outside so to say that I have completely stepped away from my computer is an understatement !!!

Though I haven't been blogging, I've still been creating here and there ..... I've got several paper projects to share this week and then I'm going to give you an update on some house, home decor, DIY projects that have been keeping me busy too :))

Today I thought I'd share a sweet little spring card with you .....

This is an oldie but a goody of a collection by Jillibean Soup and it was perfect for this bright a cheery card .....

..... I added a couple of wood pieces - a Bella Blvd. button and some mini clothes pins - and this one is ready to brighten a special someone's day !!

Come on back for more inspiration this week :))

TFL ..... Talk soon.