And then there was you...

This layout has been sitting on my counter for a few days now. I have one of those stands that you can display your layouts on and in an attempt to display some of these projects I've spent so much time on, I've started putting up my latest creations for people to see when they come over. I've actually made more recent pages, but I am seriously in love with this one so much that I just cannot bear to take it down and put it into my album just yet.

Love you to the moon and back. I've seen this saying in a million different formats. I think the very first time I saw it, it was a print, and why I didn't buy it, I don't know. Because I could put it everywhere.

On a side note: Paul does say this to me every now and then. Especially when he's out of town at work and I'm being a whiney little brat over the phone because I miss him. He's pretty awesome. And I love him a lot. Probably to the moon, and back, and then times infinity of course :)

But alas. This is a post about a layout. Not my love of quotes.

It was pretty simple to make, and quite fast too. The quote is a Silhouette vinyl cut from the store. I used the negative and cut it where I wanted it to be on the background. I then backed it with patterned paper, laid down the positive into the negative space so I could get the little inner pieces into the right places. That was about the only tedious part of this layout.

I used Mister Huey in Bluegrass for the splatters. The papers and embellishments are all from Studio Calico's Block Party Kit (along with the add-on Wildberry Court). The photo is matted with a piece of patterned paper from the Card Kit for Block Party and has been sewed around the edges (a detail you cannot really see in the photo I don't think). I also curled the edges of the mat, so there is quite a bit of dimension when you are actually looking at the page in person. I really love the patterned papers in the Card Kit - they're scaled down and are just so sweet in that size. I've had to stop myself from using that honeycomb pattern paper on everything. Seriously - it's just too cute and so neutral it goes with pretty much anything I make!

There's no journalling on this one. I'm not big for journalling in the first place - while I do have many stories to tell, I really hate my handwriting, so unfortunately I never incorporate it into my pages. That is something I really should work on...

That's about all I've got to say on this one. I'm really working on trying to create more content for this blog. But I'm torn between just showing layouts, or sharing a bit of my day to day life here. I'm normally a pretty sharing person, but I haven't quite figured out just what it is I am okay with sharing yet!

Oh well, a problem for another day :)

Happy Family Day to all those who are sharing in on this holiday - I personally just love the random Alberta Holiday (though I hear there's other provinces who have this too?) and the fact that I am off! And Paul is home! And we're just spending the long weekend hanging out doing whatever. Love it!

And then there was a lovely little family...

I would like to begin by refusing to apologize for having been absent for almost a month. Cause you all know I'm not! Not sorry, that is.

It's funny how I begin things (oh no, not just blog posts - I neglect MANY things that I start) and then never get around to finishing or continuing or completing or any of those fun words that mean I can actually do something from start to finish!

In any event, I have been creating layouts - not at an alarming rate or anything, but enough to have a few in my back pocket that I'm hoping to churn out into a few posts.

Yes, you heard me right. A couple posts.

As in: MORE THEN ONE!

As in: I'm going to write them all today and put them on future post.

As in: Yeah, I'll set them to post daily for like three or four days in a row and then promptly forget I have a blog for another month! Yay!

Hurrah!

So to begin.

Here's a little something I cranked out this afternoon.

My Aunt Glenda came for my Mom's Surprise 50th Birthday Party back in April (2012), and with her she brought a pile of old photos that had (basically) me in them! I've been slowly working my way through them, using them in layouts here and there, trying to use them up instead of dooming them to a life in an album or a box somewhere never to be seen.

This particular photo has been our family picture for years. It's graced the walls of my parent's living room since it was taken. I am now 26 and I'm the little one holding the flower. So that's a long, long time people. Plus, I have a baby brother now too - he's totally not in this picture (obviously!) - so it's really time for Mama to get a new family photo.

Anyway - back to the actual layout! Like I said, I'm the toddler holding the flower. I refused to look at the camera because I was too interested in the flower I had just savagely picked from my Nan's garden.

Also - another interesting fact - my parents are wearing sweat pants! Who wears sweat pants to a family photo?! Haha. I know this because my Aunt was the photographer and the out-takes are kicking around somewhere!

The title "Families are Forever" is from the Silhouette Store and cut on cardstock. Most of the elements are from the Studio Calico Kit Block Party and Add-on, Wildberry Court. I also received the Block Party Card kit, so there may be bits and pieces of that kit in here too. I never keep my kits separated if they belong to the same month.

The grid background is actually a velum paper that was in the Block Party kit. It is raised off a piece of cardstock by the chipboard hearts that I've attached to the cardstock underneath the vellum. I was going for the look that Melissa Mann had going on in this layout, Self Portrait, but like the way most scraplifts/inspirations go, this one turned out nothing how I had intended! Hah



This layout was missing something though, so I ended up throwing in doilies procured from both Studio Calico and Treasured Memories. There are also about five glassine envelopes backing various elements that were purchased at TM. I've also thrown in a lot of little things that were sitting in bowls on my desk - die cuts, brads, etc.

And there you have it :)

And then there was another apology...

Someone please tell me where the heck January went? And December too, while you're at it! I am having a hard time figuring out just where the hell at this time has gone...

So my last post was about my December Daily, and how I was oh so happy to be staying on top of things, blah blah blah - guess what? That's about as far as it went...

My Project Life is up to date for January though (bahah - yeah, the whole two weeks!)... what? Doesn't count? Didn't think so!

Here is what I have been up to:

This is the first layout in awhile that I made just for the hell of making it. Honestly, I've just been too overwhelmed with Christmas and New Years and Baby Showers. I also started a new position at work and it was a total change from anything I had ever done before, so that's been taking quite a bit of energy as well.

Here is the whole layout:

Kit used is Block Party (Studio Calico) and add on, Wildberry Court. The paint used on the background, as well as on the resist hearts, is Chewing Gum from Jenni Bowlin - I absolutely love this shade of pink. The silver splatters are courtesy of Mister Huey's in Silver - which I absolutely love when it dries, but while it's still wet, makes me double guess myself! Hah. Background lace/grid/whateveryawannacallit is from the Silhouette Store and can be found here. There's also a hint of washi tape (Woodland Park Chevron - October Afternoon) and a few staples from my tiny attacher (love that thing!).

Of course the little one is Miss Kaelyn. Don't worry, I think I might be babied out on layouts for now ;) I've got one more project in mind for Kaelyn's baby photo shoot, but that will be a present for her Mama, so hopefully it's on to new and better things soon!

I'm throwing my sister a baby shower next weekend but I'm hoping to capture some of the "in progress" shots, so maybe, just maybe I might have some blog content this week! I really am hoping to put more effort into my blog this year (I know, I know - promises, promises...).

Here are a few things I'm working on (and hopefully by telling you, I'll feel more compelled to write about them!):
- A pre-made Baby Shower book to fill with pictures as the party progresses
- An album for Kaelyn's baby photos
- December Daily (finish the darn thing...)
- Decorations for Baby Shower
- Photo Booth for Diaper Party and Baby Shower
- Valentines
- Organizing my beast of a scraproom

Thanks for listening to my rambling babble! I hope to make more sense next time :)

And then there was a December Daily...

Despite my total failure last year in creating a December Daily, I've decided to embark on this journey once again.

My failure last year was due to a multitude of reasons, including my crazy finals schedule that ran right through the middle of December. I don't have that problem this year as I've taken the year off from school to embark on a few other "projects" for lack of a better word. Another very good reason for neglecting my December Daily was a lack of interest, partly because I was so busy with school, but mostly because I was just doing it to "do it".

With that said, last year's album still has thirteen pages that need to be completed. And they will get done. Just not right now.

Right now, I am focused on this year. And (as I write this) right now, I have four pages completed.  For me, that is a miracle.

This post will contain the album itself and the pages leading up to and including, the first of December. I am hopeful that I will post a page each day afterward, but don't hold your breath!

 

I went with simple this year. I have to admit, this is a total knock off from the Member Gallery at Studio Calico.  I saw this cover a few weeks ago and fell in love with its simplicity. Ever since, I've been running ideas through my head on what I could do to my own cover, but as the days dwindled, I knew I had to just bite the bullet and just get it done. So I went through the gallery again, and again, still loved raasendorf's cover. And this was born.

I decided against doing anything to the spine. My album from last year has a plain spine, as do all my other scrapbook albums, so it works for me. I've done nothing to the inside cover either, though I may go back and do some stamping when I find the right shade of red.
My first page is inspired by Ali Edwards' cover page. I actually wanted to just do a complete copy of hers complete with the Heidi Swapp disco stars, which I thought I had ordered. Turns out I hadn't so it was on to Plan B.

Again, using inspiration from Ali, I used Zing Glitter Finish in Silver to emboss a Studio Calico wood veneer tree. I wasn't happy with the first emboss and ended up doing it twice. I'm much happier with it now. Underneath I placed a banner from the Sleigh Ride Collection (Crate Paper). This is all adhered to a transparency that was included in the Studio Calico December Daily Album. On the backside of the transparency, I placed another banner to hide the foam adhesive that is on the back of the front banner. I'm still undecided as to whether or not I will also cover the tree on the backside.

The chipboard page behind the transparency has been painted using Martha Stewart Multi-Surface Acrylic Paint in Mother of Pearl.

On the backside of this chipboard page, I've printed and glued the Bananafish printable included with the 25 Days class at Studio Calico. I changed the colour of the printable before I printed as I was not very fond of the darker colour surrounding the dots.

The bakers twin that surrounds the printable was a gift from my Secret Santa and is adhered with my tiny attatcher.

And finally, my first page for December.

This would be the lovely Stella. December 1, 2012 was not an overly exciting day here in my house, but the tree is up, and the house was decently clean, so I spent the day with my camera, playing around with settings, and snapped a few pictures of my pups. This was my favourite, so it got the place of honour as the very first picture. I have a few others that I'm thinking I may print smaller and either use them in my Project Life, or maybe an envelope that I will include in my December Daily album.

The overlay is from Ali Edwards and can be purchased here. I used the black coloured png file for December 1st and recoloured it in PSE10. I wasn't actually planning on doing this to my pictures, but I'm quite pleased with how it looks and will probably use this route for many more of my photos.

There you have it. My album, cover page, and first day of December. I know that many of the elements I have used so far have been used by others and I do not profess that mine are original in any sense. This method is simply what is working for me, right now. I always find that when I'm blocked creatively, something as simple as lifting someone else's idea, helps free the blockage. I'm hopeful this is the case for me and that I will be geared up to move forward with my own ideas soon.

And if not, oh well, because this year I am determined to finish this project in a timely fashion - no matter where the inspiration comes from!

And then there were technical issues...

I'm having some serious blogging woes right now.

I have no idea if it's my computer or blogger, but I cannot write a post to save my life. Inputting pictures is a pain in the ass and I'm getting frustrated.

With that said, I do have *THREE* December Daily posts, that just need pictures - if something ever start cooperating.

I'll get this figured out.

Promise!

And then you remember that you started this thing called a blog...

Oops. I have to admit that I sort of forgot (on purpose?) that I had a blog. This is despite various pokes and prods from Lisa. Yeah, I'm just that great at ignoring the obvious.

So. I'm sitting here tonight after a very long week and I thought to myself, hmm, self, have you  updated your blog lately? No!?

To boot, I also realized that I haven't bothered to post this layout either, so I shall do that as well!

It's just an instagram I took of the tracks as I took the LRT home one night from the hospital following Paul's skin graft surgery. I took the train home every day and absolutely loved it. It was quiet and peaceful and just a really nice way to relax.

There's journalling on that red tag. But, lets be honest, I'm waaaay too lazy to pull it out. Seriously. That's been my week!

The circles are a Silhouette Store cut, the kit is Studio Calico - Sock Hop. I also got the Card kit (yes, I've actually made some cards... perhaps I should photograph them!), and an add-on, Bobby Socks.

I'm off to be lazy and watch TV but I will be back this week with a couple more layouts, PROMISE! Plus I have this thing that Miss Lisa wants me to fill out so that's like a post all on its own! Excited? I hope so!

And then there was a layout about Paul

You Make Me Smile

Despite having photographed quite a few layouts last week, I somehow only managed to actually post one. That's how things get around here when Paul is home. Seriously - when he's home from work I get nothing of my normal routine accomplished. He's going back to work for a week tonight though (sad..) so I'll be able to hopefully get lots and lots of creating done!

The layout above was created using a combination of Studio Calico's September Kit, Central High, and the add on, Style Guide. There's also a few pieces from the Pop Off The Page Class Kit in there too (namely the "this week" card and the bright yellow clip - that I totally looooove!).

The arrows are actually the hexagon chipboard outlines that were in the Style Guide Add On. I just cut them at every second corner and ended up with three arrows per hexagon. I have no idea what to do with the full blown hexagons!

There's lots and lots of journalling on this page - lots for me anyway. I usually like to stick to the titles holding all the meaning for me but here I felt I really needed to get some things out.

Journaling reads: This photo was taken just two weeks after the fire. After days of covering your entire face with polysporin, we have finally seen enough healing to only have to cover the individual spots that are still healing. It is so amazing to me that skin can heal so fast and I'm pretty sure you're happy not having to get "greased up" three times a day. While this has definitely been an experience that never needs to be repeated, I'm so thankful that you will be just fine. I don't know what I would do without you and your amazing smile. Without you, I'm not sure I could have made it through this crazy situation. We will be okay together. I love you more then anything in this world. Love you forever. xoxo - J.

That's all from me for now. Paul is packing things up to head back to work so I'm gonna go snag some more quality time with him before he heads out!

Have a lovely Monday!

And then there was "the waiting game"

Wait..what's this? A layout? And a post? Two in two days? Yeah, I'm on a roll!

This won't be long though - we kind of overslept (like until 1:30 pm - hey! I worked late last night!) so it's been a crazy kind of afternoon what with trying to wake up, function, and do the normal afternoon type things. Apparently the dogs got fed twice (which makes up for yesterday morning when they didn't get fed at all....). So now I'm off to get ready for work!

I've got more layouts up my sleeves, but I'm pretty happy with this one right now. Paul said he's "tired of layouts about [him]. But it's better then the time you kept making all your layouts about the dogs". Hmpft. Boys.

Have a lovely day! The sun finally came out here! Yeah!

And then you get to see that I do actually create things

You would think that as the house gets closer and closer to being finished that I would be able to find more time for, well, myself.

Yeah, you would think.

Hah.

It seems like there's a million little details that need to be finished. Receipts need to be put together and sent off. Counters need to be cleaned. Drawers need to have the dust vacuumed out (because there were no counters for awhile to keep said dust out). Walls need paint touchups. Electrical covers to be put on. Then taken off again because oh, I forgot to paint that part, then put back on. Baseboards. Mouldings. Crown. And that's just on the cupboards! We still need to put those things on the actual walls too. Plus there's the matter of the bed that broke and is just sitting on the floor now.

Anyway. As we move closer to being finished (what does that even mean?), I have found some time to create a few layouts. Actually, I have tons sitting in the closet. They need to be photographed. And when I finally had a chance to do so yesterday, well, wouldn't ya know it - the sun refused to come out!

Ack.

So here I shall leave you with one that I whipped up over the last two days - it's just a sneak until the sun decides to finally shine - after which, I should (in theory) have about fifteen layouts which means more posts about scrapbooking and less about my never ending renovation (which is a total lie - I'm so going to post about the kitchen again, as soon as it's clean enough to be leaked onto the internet ;)).

For those of you who require the details - I've used Studio Calico's October Kit - Roller Rink and the add-on, Crack the Whip. The white die cut is from SC's Digital Shop and is one of the cut shapes for this month. I was running pretty low on inspiration, so this layout is based on one from the designer gallery - by Kinsey Wilson.

Anyway- that's all from me for today! Hopefully I'll be back soon with real pictures!

And then you find the nice things to be happy about

Life has been pretty hectic lately.

No, really? I say that pretty much every post? Well, it's true! I swear.

I honestly feel like ever since the fire happened, I've done nothing but go go go. And even now, when we are SO close to completing this renovation (minus all the little, dumb, detail crap - let's be honest here - that's going to take another year) I feel like everything still just wants to fall apart.

September is normally my favorite month. At least, it had been until my 24th Birthday (two years ago). Now, it's the month where I fall apart. Three of my favorite people have passed away in September as well as my very favorite dog. I'm honestly not looking for sympathy here - I'm just trying to explain why September makes me so sad.

This year followed the same sadness scale.

I'm not quite ready to write all about it here so instead I'm going to talk about nice things that have happened this month.

1. I was published in the September edition of Scrapbook Trends for a page I made about my beautiful psuedo-niece - Avery.

screen shot of the online edition - I haven't actually seen it in paper form yet!

2. Our kitchen cabinets are fully installed (minus trim and handles for the doors.)

3. I made a huge decision not to return back to nursing school this year - not sad at all - in fact I'm quite happy with my decision and while that means working full time for the next year I'm still quite confident that I made the right decision.

4. This hasn't happened yet, but it was supposed to on the 26th and has been postphoned for  few weeks - my sister will find out if she's having a boy or a girl! I'm super excited to be an Aunt in February!

5. My cousin and his wife had their baby a month early, but she's absolutely beautiful and healthy and even named for one of my very favorite people - that fact alone makes my heart sing :)

6. I haven't created anything this entire month, but my office/scrapspace is slowly coming together and I'm trying to get that darn Project Life thing up to date (I'm far behind.... like FAR behind...)

7. I'm participating in a Stash Swap on the Studio Calico boards and my partner is the super sweet and super funny Toni from life, scrapbook, repeat. Honestly, her emails have been totally making my day, which for my discouraging month of September has been a totally nice thing to look forward to :)

8. I have a new camera lens for my Canon. Paul bought it for me for my birthday. Sadly, it hasn't left the box. And I haven't touched my camera in forever. But, I'm still really excited to get it out and start using it!

9. Totally scored this cart from Ikea. It was the last one. It was in the wrong spot. But I scouted it out and it now lives in my no-so-organized office and it's so pretty! Haha.

10. I can't really think of anything for number ten, so instead I'll show you something(s) that makes me smile every single day!

I'm sure I've posted this before - but aren't they SO cute?!

So there. That, honestly, made me feel a lot better about this past month! Thanks for listening and letting me find the positive in my dreary month!

And then you realize that this takes way longer then you thought

(there is a bar going to be installed right where that panel is)

It has now been 14 weeks since the fire.

It was 31 days before we were given back our "things".

It took eight weeks to see a cheque for the initial rebuild.

It was five more weeks until the cupboards arrived.

And after they were installed the doors had to go back for the glass to be installed - another one to three weeks.

It will be another two to three weeks until the counter tops are installed. Not to mention it will be another two days until they come to measure for the counter tops.

And there's still the bar to be installed. Tonight - fingers crossed.

So for now, we live in a disaster - though it is slightly less disaster like now that we have floors and cupboards.

As for me, I'm just tired. Tired of fixing and painting and cleaning and puttying. Paul is even more tired - he's doing all the heavy work - he goes to school at 7 am and then comes home and works on the house until midnight or 1 am.

Last night we watched TV in bed for the first time since the fire. Before midnight. It was insane. Almost as cool as sleeping in - only like before you go to bed ;)

Yesterday was my birthday. Paul gave me a new lens for my camera which means one day you will see real pictures on here. And not iPhone pictures that make me cringe. Soon! However, I'll leave you with one last iPhone picture of this disaster of a kitchen.

And then you get a quick update

Wow - I know I said a week in my last post, but it has now been two and a half weeks since we started moving on this reconstruction! And let me tell you, it's been a crazy ride with no apparent end in sight at this point.

And the ceilings start go go up!

We moved back home a week ago today with no way to heat food, no furniture, one bathroom that is fully functional (one lost it's light fixture temporarily, and the other is a temporary storage site for our clothing and linens), and only our bedroom to "live" in! It's been a journey, that's for sure. Interesting. Amusing. But not fun!

Thursday's task: Vacuuming drywall dust.

Paul ended up having to go to school for a month for his Rig Technician, so the weekdays are all about what I can get done on my own. So far that has included: drywall cleanup, vacuuming, and today's job will be painting! Finally, a reason to get messy :)

I have a few layouts and scrapbooking things to share, but the camera hasn't surfaced yet - which is just as well because all the layouts are in boxes somewhere anyhow! Hopefully soon. For now though, head over to Treasured Memories' Inspiration Blog and check out some layouts I made for them earlier in the month. Click here for the Inspiration Blog!

Treasured Memories is a local scrapbook store that is located about five minutes from my house! Paul physically groaned when he realized we bought a house within walking distance of a scrapbook store :)

So go check out what I've been up to! And hopefully soon I'll be back with an actual scrapbook related post! :)

And then we actually start renovations

Oh my goodness! I'm seriously really excited right now. Tomorrow Paul will be home and we will finally be able to start working on the house again! And not a moment too soon - I love my family and all, but living with my mom and my brother is starting to get just a little too comfortable for me. Not to mention the whole four large dogs in one house thing.


With that said, I will most definitely not be around for the next week. There's ceilings to go up, drywalling to tape and sand and dust to clean up, plumbing and flooring and electrical, and a whole lot of other things.

Plus there's the whole "gotta find out where the rest of our stuff is" thing. Then to unpack. Oi!

If I get a chance to pre-write some posts tomorrow then you might get a few words outta me - but don't hold your breath! I'm pretty slow at this blogging thing :)

See you all next week when this hopefully reverts back into my living room!

And then there was a layout with a puppy dog

I've been creating so much lately but with no camera (it still has not been returned) I'm limited to borrowing one when I can. Which means I'm stretching out all the layouts I've made in the last few weeks so that I can claim to at least pretend to be a good blogger!

I'm pretty sure I mentioned in an earlier post that I was scrapping without photos. Which for the most part is indeed true - however, I did an order through Printstagram about a week after the fire and they showed up shortly after I had made those "photoless" layouts. Hurrah! So now I'm doing a bit of both - layouts without pictures, layouts with printstagram photos, and even a few layouts with old photos my mom has laying around the house (and there are a load of those, let me tell you!).

This layout was just made with a bunch of scraps I had left over after attempting to make a starburst shaped background. Well, let me tell you - that turned out horribly. It's sitting somewhere on my borrowed scrapping desk - perhaps I'll take a picture of it one of these days just to show everyone what a disaster I turned an apparently simple task into! Lol. In any case, I used the scraps to make a square background with a lot of color, popped some doilies on, and used a few of the overwhelming amount of printstagram photos I ordered of Stella!

 

Here it is in its entirety. I've entitled it "Oh the life" because Stella really does seem to have it good! Hah. I've utilized Studio Calico's June kit, So Cal, along with the add-on, Malibu. I've managed to get quite a few layouts from this kit despite not being totally struck on it in the beginning. Though you probably cannot tell, I've used the white woodgrain cardstock as the background, which has quickly become a favorite of mine. The texture is just so subtle and the weight of the paper is just slightly heavier than AC white cardstock - a point that makes me not so nervous when I layer on heavier embellishments. Another new favorite item is the Mister Huey I used on the background - this color is 'clay' and I discovered it in my mom's collection and have been borrowing it for weeks now! Last but not least, I threw in a few flair buttons from A Life Handmade. I'm totally loving all the buttons I ordered from there a few months ago and they seem to be finding their way into almost everything I make!

**Side note: I just realized that I never got around to putting thread in my buttons - oops! Not sure if they're looking too plain or not so if you think they need some thread, let me know! I'm open to opinions! :) **

That's all from me for now! I really should be getting to bed - just under a week until Paul is home from work and I still have many loose ends to tie up before he is home to start work on the house again! I dread the constant phoning - but I guess someone's gotta do it!

Hope you're all having a lovely start to the week! Thanks for reading :)

And then strangers pack up your house

It's been a few days since my last post so I thought I'd write a little something something here while I'm still hyped up from work - I worked until midnight and stupidly drank a red bull at 10 so here I am, w i d e  a w a k e.

I'm still working on that whole house fire post - it's coming along slowly. I'm really finding that it's somewhat therapeutic for me to write it all down. With that said, it's a long process as I'm still in shock (two months later) and find my heart beating a little faster and my mind going a mile a minute when I think about it too much.

The idea for today's post was to show you all some things I've been working on lately scrapbook wise, but I then realized that I still do not have a camera (still at the cleaners) so instead I thought I'd tell you a little about the whole post process of a disaster (the company's words - not mine). I did not know a lot of these things until June and I found it somewhat interesting to find out that there were actual companies who do nothing but clean up and restore people's homes, belongings and really their lives.

First I'd just like to say that I figured we would go in the house ourselves and start cleaning everything. This was pretty daunting to me - the entire kitchen was covered in oil - walls, ceilings, floors, counters, everything. The stove was burnt up and so were a few cabinets. The burnt items were nothing though when you started to tally up the things that had smoke damage. Apparently smoke is a lot more destructive then fire (who knew!) in that it basically gets everywhere. So needless to say, when our insurance adjustor told us that there was a company to take care of all this, I was pretty happy.

The company we went with is called Antrim - they were recommended by our insurance company, who uses them a lot and we were pretty much ready to deal with anyone who could come in and fix this big mess.

So they started. And they packed everything on the main floor of my house (two bedrooms, two bathrooms, an office, living room, and a kitchen). My house is not very big by any means, but they packed it all up into four pods and away it went. From there everything went into cleaning. Paper, books, the recycle bins, clothing, electronics, you name it - it went. Food was thrown out - didn't matter if it had been opened or not. And I mean every bit of food - even bottles of wine that had not even been opened - I guess the cork can absorb smoke or fire extinguisher powder or something. Any items deemed non-salvageable by the company (that was not food) were bagged and tagged but a list has been given to me and anything that I want to keep they have to give back to me (I've opted not to keep anything as I had already removed the items that I wanted to keep regardless of damage). Electronics go into a special type of cleaning system, paper items (books, scrapbook paper, etc) all have their own special system, and hard items (dishes, glass items, etc) have another process that they go through. Anything "delicate", such as eyeglasses and such, get handwashed - and this all gets done at a large facility.

Then they bring all your stuff back. In pods.

It's all boxed up with labels that really mean nothing - one box had "car keys" written on it, but there was a heck of a lot more then just car keys in there! And it feels so weird - I've gone through a few of the boxes to find different things we've needed, and it's so strange to pull out my own belongings and know that they were packed by someone else. There were strangers in my house touching my things and packing them away. I'm sure it's probably the same when you hire movers, but at least when you move you have time to purge out all the things you no longer need. They literally keep everything that can be salvaged - bits of paper, things that were really just garbage but happened to be sitting on a desk or the couch or were in a box. It's a very strange experience.

All of our clothes were packed up and washed - there was even a large box of dry-clean only clothes that were all nice and dry cleaned on hangers in a wardrobe box. The only complaint I have (cause everyone knows how much I hate to do laundry so I really shouldn't complain!) is that every.single.piece is tagged with a number and therefore, every.single.piece of clothing needs to have the tag taken off.

After the packing up is done, while everything is getting all nice and clean, there is yet another division of the company that comes in and takes care of the "burnt bits". For our house it was a matter of ripping out the counter-tops, the cupboards, removing the stove, and sealing the walls. Though only a few cupboards were actually damaged, because they could not match them to the other cupboards, everything went.

After that is all said and done, they bring back your stuff (in the pods, like I said earlier) and they unload it all into whatever rooms you want. They can also do the construction to return your home to it's original state but we opted to do it ourselves as we've been planning to renovate the kitchen eventually anyway.

We had our belongings returned about five weeks after the fire. Our electronics are currently MIA but I've been told they will be delivered sometime next week (week eight). We have not begun unpacking as we still cannot live in the house but it's nice to see all our things so nicely stacked in boxes. I'm anxious to go through and see how things survived but that will have to wait for now. We will be able to move forward with construction soon and I am very anxious for it to start.

That is all I've got for now. I actually did not mean to be so long winded, so if you've stuck with me to the end, I thank you very much! I'll leave you with a picture of what my kitchen currently looks like and perhaps later I will do a post about the changes we will be making. For that though, I need my camera back! I'm missing it very much, but hopefully it will return soon!

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend!

And then the renovation began

In an attempts to do a "Wordless Wednesday" I found myself unable to not write at least a few lines... Oh well, I was never one for following the norm anyway.

This would be the view from my living room into my kitchen. We opened up 11 feet of wall between the two rooms and I am oh so excited to get to work. Well, more excited for it to progress, or be finished, or even have a ceiling.

Have a happy Wednesday!

And then you make do with what you have

Several weeks ago, June 7, Paul and I had a kitchen fire. The details will be in another post that I've been attempting to compose for a few days; and while I'm slowly getting the whole story down, it's going to take a bit more time.

In any event, as a result of this fire, most of our things are now in storage or at a cleaning facility, or just plain old in the garbage. We are living at my parent's house until we can move back home again. It's been stressful but we're making the best of it.

So I'm lying. I cry about it all the time. There's just really no place like your own home. But anyway...

Because I had to leave most of my scrapbook supplies at the house for cleaning, I've had very few things to work with. Including pictures. Which to most scrapbookers may have been a problem, but I've been so deprived of anything to do, that I forged ahead and worked around that problem.

I have had my Studio Calico kits re-routed for delivery to my mom's address until we can move home again, so I have managed to get my hands on some supplies. Plus, my mom had an extensive (and I mean extensive) collection of scrapbooking materials so it hasn't been that terrible!

So I started crafting without photos. And just gluing paper to paper. There's no titles and there's no stories, but I feel like they're complete. And there will eventually be a story and a title and a photo, but for now I'm making do. And that's okay.

Untitled

The above layout was created with SC's So Cal kit (and the Malibu add-on), along with some added doilies from A Life Handmade. I threw in some stamps from Summer Stamp School and a border punch (Martha Stewart).

This next layout is probably my favorite at the moment. I'm so excited to find a picture to go with it, but of course that will have to wait for a bit :)

Untitled

Again, I used the So Cal kit from Studio Calico, with the Malibu add on. Chevrons have been sprouting up everywhere these days and I just love piecing together patterns so this was a really fun layout for me. Here some of the embellishments overlap where the photo will go so I was mindful of that and made sure that there was no glue behind those parts just to make placing my photo and eventual title into place a little bit easier. My only regret is not sewing on this layout - but oh well - I might just have to do that another day. :)

The chevrons were pretty easy to make - I wish I had taken some pictures to show you, but there's lots of tutorials out there that show how it can be done. I just cut squares with my paper cutter, then cut the squares diagonally. Then glue them into place! Pretty easy.

Thanks for reading! I hope everyone has had a lovely weekend. I know I am looking forward to Monday - nothing proceeds with the house over the weekend, so I'm hoping to hear from the various companies involved with the restoration soon!

And then there was the first post.

I will admit - I've tried this whole blog thing already.

Many. Many. Times.

And I'll probably start out well. Or this could be the last post - who knows? But for now, I'd like to believe that I can possibly make it through the summer and actually put up a few posts!

Me

I suppose all first posts should be about the writer. So here goes: My name is Jennifer. I hate being called Jennifer - I prefer Jen, but when I write my own name I think "Jen" just lacks finesse. A strange but very true fact. You can call me Jen though.

I am Canadian. I was born in Newfoundland and lived there until I was ten. I am now 25 (26 in September) and still living in Alberta. We go back to visit every few years, but no, I would never live there again (sorry family!). My boyfriend of six years (Paul) is an Albertan and wouldn't last two seconds in the humidity! Actually, he's a better Newfie than I am... His accent (fake) sounds better than mine (real). It's very unfair. I have two pups - a term I use loosely, they're 3 and 2.5 years old. They are rottweilers and their names are Dexter and Stella. **Public Service Announcement: Rottweilers are not dangerous. Stupid idiot owners are dangerous. Talk smack about my dogs and their breed and you will suffer. That I promise!** I talk about them a lot and I take lots of pictures - mostly of Stella - she's my shadow and follows me absolutely e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.

My Babies

I am a paper crafter. I love to create and if I don't push some paper around at least once a day then I feel unaccomplished. That is not to suggest I make something every day - some projects take me days, others just hours. I am addicted to scrapbooking. This year I've taken on Project Life so hopefully you'll get to see some of that - I say hopefully as I'm pretty far behind!

The intent of this blog is to share my creations, my everyday life, and just record life in general. I'm not professing this to be just a "craft" blog or a "personal" blog - it's just my life in progress.

Thanks so much for reading! I hope to be back soon with some recent layouts and probably more pictures.