My "other" baby!

My newest baby arrived on Monday.  I was, quite honestly, jumping up and down with excitement and anticipation waiting for their arrival.  Now all I have to do is give them a proper name!
What's this you're asking?  Cathy didn't you have a baby in October, how could you have another one?  Well yes I did have a baby in October, and he is a squishy, awesome little man who keeps me up all night, but my latest arrival to the family is a metallic, electronic bundle of joy who will keep me up all night!

I finally have a new computer, and with it comes all new possibilities!  To put why I'm so excited into perspective, I purchased my first Apple laptop in 2007/2008.  That was around 8 years ago, and I never updated any of the specs on it.  For the past year or two I have been completely unable to do any digital artwork due to the age of my laptop.  It simply wasn't able to run the programs anymore.
I felt like I had lost a part of myself.

Now though I couldn't be happier, because I get a chance to jump back into the thick of it with my new to me (refurbished) iMac.  With having it I am now able to start considering expanding my scrappyness too. because now with video editing capabilities I can give serious consideration to making process videos!!!

Thanks for sitting through my ramblings,  now I've got to get back to scrapping!

Gettin' it done!

Phew, it's been a busy little bit since I posted last.  I'm still trying to figure out a way to put up a file that people can download so that I can offer some of the cut files I've been making for my Silhouette Cameo.  Once I can figure that out I'll be sure to make a weekly download feature :)

I'm also brimming with excitement because I just ordered a new computer.  It's a refurbished iMac but it's new to me!  I just know I'll cry when it's delivered.  I can't wait to have a functioning computer with photo and video editing capabilities so that I can get off my husbands laptop.  Once I get my computer I'll be giving some serious thought to doing process videos.  I've been asked in the past about them and now I may be one step closer to getting to make some!

Anyway here are a few pages I've worked on in the past little while.  Eeeeeek! I'm so excited to have a new working computer to call my very own!

a year without scrapping

The last post I made on this blog was in March of 2015.  That was almost a year ago to the day.  In that time much has happened.  My dad became ill in early 2015.  He passed away in May.  I found out my husband and I were expecting again in March as well.  My husband suffered a job loss and we struggled to make ends meet for a while.  We had a little boy born in late October 2015, I then suffered appendicitis a week after having my boy and had surgery and a week long stay in the hospital.  I then found out my mom would need open heart surgery again in December 2015.  I know there were other things, but overall 2015 was a crummy year and I pretty much had stopped scrapping.

Well now it's 2016 and I am back.  I now have 3 little lives to document so I had best get to it.  Here are some projects that I have created in either late 2015 or early 2016.

So here's to a new year and hopefully more projects to come!

A Layout With a Bit of Flair!

Hi everyone, it's Cathy here again with another layout for The Crafty Pickle.  One of my favourite embellishments to use on a layout is flair badges, and since I have so many awesome ones from The Crafty Pickle I figured I'd see how many I could fit on a page!  I mean, what's better than one flair badge?  Well in this case six flair badges!   Now right now Taniesas' wonderful shop is on a short break, but when it's up and running again be sure to check out the awesome collections I used to create my layout!  I also used some stamps from Close To My Heart to round out my design! In order to achieve dimension with my badges I used hot glue for some and foam squares for the others so that I could layer them.  Don't be afraid to grab some of your stash of badges and pile 'em up high!  The more the merrier!

TCP winner and new layouts!

First things first I would like to announce the winner of The Crafty Pickle blog hop!  Congratulations to Kimberly Jaster!!!

Next it's the beginning of the month so it's time for a new sketch from Sketch 'N' Scrap!  Lets take a look at the sketch :)

Here is the layout I created based on the sketch!

Don't forget that you have a chance to win a goodie by popping on over to Sketch N Scrap!

Somehow I also managed to contribute a layout to Scrap Your Scraps for a wonderful post about string art in scrapbooking.  Make sure you check out this terrific post here. Now for the layout I created!

Scrap Your Scraps AND The Crafty Pickle Blog Hops!!!

Welcome to another TCP blog hop!
Today our creative team will be sharing with you their take on a sketch created by our very own designer, Treasa!
This is the fantastic sketch she created for us:

And here is my take on this sketch, using 3 Crafty Pickle flairs from 3 different sets!

For this layout I used one flair from the Water Colour Hearts set, the Love This flair button, and one flair from the Vintage Valentine flair set.

How would you like to win a "Year of Flair?" There are two ways to win! Enter both ways to improve your chances! First, Leave a little love on each of the designer's blogs as you hop along. Every comment gets you an entry into the drawing for the flair. Second, Participate by creating your own take on our sketch and link us in the comments to your photo (Can be posted on your blog, Flickr, Photobucket, Ect...) It can be any type of project, however the sketch inspires YOU. International friends are welcome to participate as well! You have until Wednesday Feb. 25th to enter. Winner will be announced on TCP's blog on Friday Feb.27th
Winner will receive 12 monthly sets of TCP flair valued at over $50.00
On with the hop!
First up is Alicia!
If you get lost along the way here is the order of the hop.
Alicia
Carrie
Catherine
Elodie
Joann
Julia
Kristen
Monika
Stephanie
Treasa
Don't forget to comment on the TCP blog too!

And now for the Scrap Your Scraps blog hop!!!

Today we are having a wonderful blog hop over at Scrap Your Scraps.  This time we are focusing on something that has inspired us and something that has been in our lives!  I was so excited to participate in this blog hop and I knew immediately what I wanted to scrap about, so here is my layout!

I chose to scrap about my art, which is something very important to me.  I scrapped about my art because in the past year I have been neglecting it and I really want a reminder to get back into it!

So don't forget to pop on over to the Scrap Your Scraps blog to check out the complete post, as well as checking out all the wonderful participants!

Candace Arnold Perkins
Cathy Martin
Cathy Sanders
Connie Hall
Jeanette Giancaspro
Mandy Reedyk

Love is in the air!

It's February 3rd, which means it's only 11 days until Valentines Day.  Now I'm not a big Valentines person, but I do love doing themed layouts and taking cute pictures of my kids!  For today I made a layout featuring flair from The Crafty Pickle!  I used some flair from the Vintage Valentines set pictured below.

For my layout I went all artistic! I used mist, water colours, and chalkboard paint to add some extra touches to my background.  I had so much fun creating this layout, it was a bit different for me to just let loose and go with the flow but I liked just putting stuff down without worry about it looking perfect!  I was also amazed with how easy and quickly this layout came together.  The flair added just a little bit of a vintage touch to a more modern layout.

Make sure you check out all the wonderful Valentines collections available at The Crafty Pickle as well as some sweet sequins to go along with all your lovey dovey projects!