Who wants free stuff!

Hey guys, it's the last day of the month! That means that tomorrow I introduce you to a new Guest Designer and you have till 9:00pm PST TONIGHT to get your scraplifts of Martha's pages uploaded to the comments section of her introduction post (found HERE). I'll post a photo of that prize pack with tomorrow's announcement so if you wanna see your name alongside that pile of goodies, you better hop to it! LOL

Challenge 91 and some news

Oh...so much is changing!!! This week's DT is much smaller than we've been used to. Ronda (as you may or may not know) is now a Memory Makers Master - YAY RONDA!!! - among a slew of other things that are keeping her crazy busy so this is the end of the road with her part of our team. She's just got so much going on. Chrissy is pregnant with #3 and is kinda feeling gross (us moms can relate!) so she's decided that she needs to take care of her body and has stepped down too, so that leaves us with a small group of 3. Tania, Gillian and I have created pages for this week's challenge and I, for one, had a blast with this sketch. I got a big box of vintage stuff so of course some of the goodies ended up on my page!

Join us on our Flickr Group and post your page to win this month's Couture Collection. Make sure you indicate which week your challenge is for so we can include it in our voting process and remember that the 100th member to join our group will win a prize.

AND!!!! You have till next friday to get your scraplifts of Martha's pages found HERE posted in the comments section to win a fantastic prize pack... but I'll show you that later!

So a big fat thank you to Ronda & Chrissy for their incredible & inspiring artwork over the course of the past few months...Good luck with everything guys!!!

Vanessa

Gillian

Tania
This girl is so motivated! Not only did she rock this week's sketch, but she also made TWO! And, as always, she's got extras down below Martha's pages...check it out!

Martha

Tania's extras...

Check this out...

I have decided that I need my own personal blog and that all the challenge-y goodness should really stand alone. My new blog can be found here and even though it's totally brand new and I haven't said much over there yet, you can still visit me and leave comments because they make my day. I love reading what you all have to say :)

Tell me what you think!

Happy Wednesday

Challenge 90

Well, it's a late post...I know. This week has not been good. The ministry of children and youth services in Alberta took my best friend's foster-babies away for no good reason. It kills me that one person can wield the power to make false accusations and that the ministry can just swoop in and say things like, "If it were up to me, I'd take all your kids away forever and you'd never see them again!" Shannon is a professional foster parent and adoptive mother to four children. She's the person that Ray and I have named as the person to raise our children if we die while they are young. There is no reason those babies should be gone. My heart is hurting and it was very hard for me to get it together to post today. I'm not feeling any kind of scrap-ability.

Here's the sketch for this week. Please play along with our monthly contest and upload your work to our Flickr Group so that you can win a free Couture Collection. You can use any products you like in your pages.

Sorry I'm no fun today. Scrap happy on behalf of those who can't.

Vanessa

Ronda

Chrissy

Gillian

Tania

A little detail. Love it!

Martha

Flickr Winner and #50!

So I bet you are just DYING to know who won the Flickr contest for August!! The votes are in and the winning layout belongs to Paperfections! Here's her wonderful page:


Please email me at info@lotuspaperie.com with your info so we can arrange to have your Couture Collection shipped to you! Congratulations!!! Here are some of the other pages that caught our eye!

And we reached 50 members in our Lotus Paperie Flickr Group! Actually, we're at 53 today and the lucky member (Shannon B) who joined in time to win a big fat prize got to take this home...

so if you want to win a prize just as great as this, round up all your scrapping friends and get them to join so the numbers can grow! The 100th person to join the group will win something equally as cool...on your mark...get set... GO!

Learning about lighting

I read Kal's blog and Karen's blog and all the while I'm totally jealous of....er, I mean inspired by their photography. It is such a practical artform and while I haven't got access to either of their creative brains to pester them for suggestions, pointers or just to completely hijack their skills, I DO have access to Chapters which is where I got the photography books mentioned in this post. I figured that since I live in a place that is blanketed in darkness for the better part of the winter months (yup, I'm that far north) that the book I'd glean the most immediately useful stuff from would be the Lighting Book. In the first chapter, they covered a lot of general stuff pertaining to aperture, shutter speed, white balance and ISO. I decided to go and try to make great photos in full sun yesterday afternoon. The best photos happened when Seth found the beat-up old rope swing behind our house.


Too bad about the shadow on his face in this one. I love his gentle expression.


This is, without a doubt my fave from all 141 photos that I took yesterday. He was having the time of his life!

Challenge 89

I love weeks like this where everything just gets DONE! Of course, when I say everything I don't really mean everything...The to-do list is wearing a lot of blue highlighter and truth be told, I didn't make a new list yet. But I got some fun scrapping done the other day, I've been knitting Christmas gifts (thank God for projects that move along quickly!) and have been poking along on a few little home reno projects. I love how this time of year frees me up for all kinds of projects, although I do have a nasty habit of starting more of them than I really care to finish! LOL

This week's sketch is nice and simple which I think works so well for most peoples' scrapping styles as it totally leaves loads of room to interpret the layout in a way that still reflects each artist's individual style. I love everyone's pages for this week. They are super cute and I bet you'll come up with some equally fantastic pages to add to our Flickr Group! Remember to get all your pages for this month's contest uploaded before October 3, which is when we post the first challenge of October. You can use any products you wish, just remember to mention the weekly challenge number your page is created for.

Oh, and a while back I announced a contest (read about it here). I've decided to extend the deadline to enter until my blogoversary in December. You can keep an eye on the countdown on the sidebar (near the bottom) but note that we're two members away from 50 on the Flickr Group so if you like free scrap stuff...

Vanessa

Ronda
Tania
Chrissy
Martha

Rock the To-Do List

Oh boy! Remember that to-do list? Well, I got it (almost) all done. There's only one thing left to do and that's filling out our passport documents which is a total snore...which is why it's not done...which is why it's not crossed off the list...yet. I'm taking care of some seriously important projects like writing a review of a digital scrapbooking program, finding a new dentist - appointment on Thursday- and making class samples...among a laundry list of other boring things that I'd avoid doing if they weren't on my list.

I holed up in the studio last night and Ray (God, I love this man!) cleaned the kitchen, did the dishes, put the kids to bed and baked bread so I could get out there earlier. I know he's great and I'm so glad he's my fella!!! I managed to get three awesome pages done which I am just LOVING! It was the first time I'd sat down and actually used any of the new products I bought while in Edmonton. It was so therapeutic and that wine I mentioned the other day helped move my mojo along nicely too :)

This morning while reading Kal's post she mentioned cinnamon coffee...yum...mine just finished percolating and I think I'm gonna spice up my java this morning too, just for the sheer tastebud pleasure of it. And once I get the farm office all sorted out and lunch made for the crew, I'm going to disappear into town to ship a bunch of stuff and buy fabrics for a new idea I have...I'll show ya when it's done!

Boxers, books and booze

You know how sometimes you just need a little glass of booze to make everything right with the world? If you are a believer in the medicinal (ahem!) qualities of alcohol, then get a load of the above photo. This is my new favorite red wine. I love me a good bottle of Yellowtail but usually buy the Shiraz or Cabernet-Shiraz blend but then I found THIS!!! Shiraz-Grenache. YUM-ola! If you are a lover of red wine, then add this bad boy to your list things to buy the next time. It's sweet without being sugary and is just simply lip-smackin' good.


I grabbed these books at Chapters while I was in Edmonton. I didn't have any room left in my suitcase so I had to mail them to myself! They got here a little less than a week after I got home and they are just sitting in a neat and tidy pile just begging to be read! Now, if you saw the monsterous pile(s) of books on my headboard, you'd probably think I'd gone right cuckoo buying more books but with this series, I just couldn't help myself. I like them because Ray can enjoy them and each chapter has an assignment to reinforce the material as well as an online community where you can upload your photos and get lots of support from other aspiring photographers. I'm dying to get started...not sure which book I'll try first...either Lighting or Exposure. We'll see...

And this is Mister Seth picking wild flowers for Grandma. He insisted that we go for a looooong walk so we did. We went way out down the dirt road behind our house and up into bear country till I realized that I'd walked pretty darn far and that I didn't want to have to pack Seth home so we did an about-face and headed home (under the guise of needing a snack!) One of the last warm, sunny days this summer. B000!
And lastly, my dog Rascal, looking like a fine purebred boxer (but I know his secret...that really he's just a block-headed goofball who sucks as a guard dog - to damned friendly and deaf as a stump!) He's such a lovely companion and fiercely loyal - but so thick in the head! LOL What a nut.

That's it, a little 'just because' photo-ey post just for the fun of it. It's a monday and I've got lots to keep me busy. My to-do list that I composed yesterday is already half-done so if I knuckle down today, I might get it all done. Maybe.

Online Shop Hop

Get a load of this! From October 15-Nov 16 me and 29 other online retailers are participating in an online shop hop. That means that you can visit all the participating retailers listed at The Great Pumpkin Search and try to find the hidden pumpkin. Once you find that pumpkin, you'll click it and it will take you to an entry form to win truckloads of free stuff. Once I know more about the event, it'll be announced right here on my blog so you can prepare yourself to hunt down that pumpkin. There will be a permanent link on the sidebar that will take you to The Great Pumpkin Search's website so you can get updates and info. Please note that you do have to register for the event but registration is COMPLETELY FREE so make sure you sign up for a chance to win!!!

Challenge 88

Oh yes, it's that time again...a wee change has taken place too, we'll be using straight sketches from now on. It's soooo hard finding great artwork to use for our challenges and getting in touch with the original artist for copyright consent stuff! So, original sketches created by yours truly will be our source of inspo each Friday...so much fun!

I had more fun creating this page than I expected...I think that was because I got to use a photo of me instead of my kids and that butterfly punch that I've been hanging on to for that 'someday' when I just knew it would come in handy!

If you are inspired by this sketch and want to create something, please take a minute to upload your work to our Flickr Group by the end of the month and you could be the lucky winner of a Couture Collection! You can use any products you wish for your page, just make sure the weekly challenge number is somewhere in the title (example: being me - challenge 88.jpg). Check out our amazing Design Team's creations this week...

Chrissy

Gillian

Ronda

Tania

Vanessa

Martha
I can't even tell you how much I am feelin' the love for Martha's work. Her layered style and, oh look...fabrics (YUM) makes for a feast for the eyes. Amazing layout!

Oh, and one more thing...there's snow on the hills beside our house. They're WAY closer and Way shorter than they look. Great. Guess summer's really over. Lame.