A Blog Award, Thank You :o)

My friend Izzy bestowed this honour upon me. Thanks Izzy!! Visit her over at http://www.passion-scrapper.blogspot.com/ and see some of her amazing creations, photos and story telling :) This award is given to blogs which:- inspire you- make you smile and laugh- provides interesting information- is a great read- has an amazing design- and any other reasons you can think of that makes them uber amazing! I'm supposed to add the award to my sidebar and pay it forward by tagging five other amazing blogs touch choice considering I have so many bloggie friends with amazing blogs to read. So here are my picks. Go check them out!


Pinky - http://blueyecicle.blogspot.com/
Ally - http://yourmemoriescanada.blogspot.com/
Hayley - http://hayleycreates.blogspot.com/
Leica - http://10-4livingoutloud.typepad.com/leica_forrest/
Jodi - http://toetallyawesome.blogspot.com/

Oh Disney

I spent a great weekend with Disney. I spent this weekend at the Crop to Remember Retreat in Langley. I was able to get 5 layouts finished for my Disney World Album. I also completed (minus the photos) a mini album about myself done with a kit from Lisa Bearnson. I love her kits. Now I just have to find photos to add to the pages. Maybe I'll find time this week.

Tomorrow I'll post some photos from the weekend.

Timberline Retreat = 5 more sleeps :o)

The Beauty Around

There is so much beauty around the Lower Mainland, I'm very blessed to live where I do. I had a great day yesterday outside with Mother Nature and my friend Jo. We went for a photo shoot, walk and picnic at Barnet Marine Park in Burnaby. It was a beautiful sunny day with a little chill in the air. Feeling the sun on my face was very welcoming and made me want to be back on the beaches in the Caribbean for some warmth.

I had great fun this weekend with my Scrapholics group http://www.meetup.com/Scrapaholics/. We had our monthly crop on Sunday and I was able to get this page completed. I rarely by pattern paper since I own so much already but this day I bought a few new sheets. This was from the new Little Yellow Bicycle Baby Safari line.

I have been spending lots of time over at www.theshakerbox.com and really enjoying myself. Great ladies and their talent is something to look at, the gallery is brimming with inspiration. There are lots of great challenges and contests. I love a challenge to get me started and finished. In end I'm left with great layouts, cards or altered items that I get keep and cherish. Thanks ladies for all the fun.

Mike is back to school this week and I thought I would get more accomplished than I have been able to. I must still be in Spring Break mode. I'm looking forward to the next two days as I have two creative days scheduled with friends. One is a photo shoot and the other is a scrapping day. Hopefully I'll have some great photos and layouts to share.

I'm working on getting ready for the my upcoming Scrapbooking Retreats over the next two weekends. The goody bags need to be stuffed, the games need coordinating and my projects need to be packed. Slowly but surely we will get there.

Thanks for visiting my little corner of the world :o)

Sweet Daisy

Today Michael and I went into town and had lunch with Izzy and did a little shopping. Then we went to my friend Sue's to have a visit with her and meet her new Puppy Daisy. What a precious puppy.

Hello Daisy, what a sweet face.

Sue, you sure are blessed to have a sweetheart like Daisy.

"Shake a paw, Daisy

" "Sit, Daisy" "Stay"

"Good Girl, Daisy"

Spring Break Tuesday

I'm all excited here because today I finally found my grill I have been in search of for months. It was to replace one that had broke but was so old they do not make the same item and it was really really hard to find a closed griddle that came with interchangable flat plates.


Here I am in the St. Paddy's Day spirit having my green beer.



Spring has sprung, well at least on my table it has. Thank heavens for the greenhouses.

Carrot Cake with Purple Spinkle Icing

Today was our Spring Break Pajama Day. We baked a cake in our pj's, we went shopping with our pj's on and enjoyed spending the day together in our pajamas.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all and cheers with a green beer.

I have been spending lots of time reading and following a few blogs this month. One that I'm enjoying is Ally's at yourmemoriescanada.blogspot.com. She has some blog candy to win a set of stamps this month so if you have time I highly recommend checking it out. Just use the link below.



http://yourmemoriescanada.blogspot.com/2009/03/marchs-blog-candy.html

More completed pages...and a card too.

Here is one of the layouts I did with the photos from BC's Crop for Kids in Abbotsford Sept 2008.

We had so much fun making Lamp Girl with Izzy's PJ's and slippers, Diane's hat and night light and someone's empty bevvy bottle. What a great laugh we had, I still smile when I see the photos.

I love taking photos of flowers, they are soooooooooo beautiful.

This layout was created by a challenge at the Sweet Treats Online Crop over at Lovebug Scrapbooking www.lovebugscrapbooking.com. I was to create a lo using only the colours in Neopolitan Ice Cream (Pink, Brown & Cream). There were bonus pts if your lo had ice cream in it. I just loved this photo from our Mexico trip where I captured Michael looking at the camera. The card was a second challenge but I decided to use the scraps from the lo so that way I didn't need to clean up in between projects. LOL

This layout was from a Technique Treasure on the Crop n Cruise 2009

by Monday Night Class www.mondaynightclass.ca

Thanks ladies for a great layout.

I hate it when the Groundhog is right...

Oh my, more snow for the West Coast, this is unbelievable. My DS says that Mother Nature is confused. LOL I hope she knows Spring is due in just one week.

A Prefect Day for Scrapbooking

No Soccer, No Basketball, No Baseball, No Reason to get out of my PJ's, and lots of Rain... This spells S-C-R-A-P-B-O-O-K-I-N-G to me. Today I'm going to spend over at the Sweet Treats Online Crop at www.lovebugscrapbooking.com. Come join me in getting something accomplished. I will post all my weekend creations Sunday night for you to see.

What a Great Week!

I'm finally feeling better, Yahoo!!!

Monday I found out that I have been selected to be the August Guest Designer for The Shaker Box. I'm soooooo excited. Thank you Linda. :o)

Wednesday am, I made my Black Bean Soup for the Teacher's Appreciation Luncheon at the school today. I also helped with the set up.

Wednesday afternoon, This lovely bouquet of lilies was left at my front door.

How exciting, I love to receive flowers. Thank you girlfriend :o)

Wednesday night was Club Copic, another great night of practicing and playing with our Sketch Markers and Spica Glitter Pens. Here is the cover of my Notebook.

Thursday = Crop Day

With the exception of my photos with Jill (which are on Izzy's camera) and Izzy's Autograph I have finished my Crop & Cruise 2009 Autograph Box.

Thank you to each and everyone of you for making it such a great event. I can't wait for the next one, I'm hoping for an Alaksan Cruise with Royal Carribean.

Allison

Deanna

Izzy

Jackie

Katharina

Leica

Trisha

Crop & Cruise 2009 Autograph Box

by: Diane Pais

Thank you for visiting :o)

I'm still sick :o(

One good thing about still being sick is I found time to scrapbook a couple of pages and a card. I decided to check out an online crop that I stumbled across on Saturday and had a blast. www.theshakerbox.com They had lots of challenges and so I was able to put together a couple page very quickly because I had to use specific items. I'll definately do this again.

My first layout had to be made completely of paper.

I was allowed to use ink but no other embellishment.

My second layout had to be blinging.

My card was made from a sketch we were given in a challenge.

Projects from the Cruise

This Acrylic Layout came from a fabulous class hosted by Jill Hildebrand.

The class was done buffet style where you choose from an assortment of embellishments and papers to create your own original layout. What fun!

My Magen's Bay layout was created at the Crop Nights on the ship. I found it very difficult because I did not bring any supplies with me and therefore I had to use only the selection of items that were in my goody bag. In the end I think it is a "Killer Layout".

I love it when the unexpected happens.

Crop n' Cruise 2009 in a nutshell

CROP N' CRUISE

2009

Here we are Flat Hayley and myself boarded our first plane to Phoenix, Arizona. The trip to Miami is long and we are taking three planes. Phoenix to Charlotte, North Carolina and then onto Miami. We arrived in Miami at our hotel at 12:30am.


In the morning we met all our fellow Cruisers for our Orientation, Breakfast on the Patio and a Congo Line Dance. There was alot of excitement in the air.

"Guess What? We're going on a SHIP!"

Once we arrived on the NCL Dawn we headed straight to the pool deck and ordered a bucket of Coronas. They were delivered in this football helmut which I am so fashionably wearing.

Our first port of call was the Dominican Republic. Trisha and I teamed up and head out for a day of Adventure. We toured the Mangroves and Caves. The scenery was fabulous and surreal. We toured caves that were once inhabited by islanders. The Jet Boat Ride was a thrill I will remember forever. The Screams, the Waves, the Fun.

Magen's Bay, St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands

This beach is a beautiful place to relax and kick back with friends, beers and a flamingo.

In our Crop n Cruise group we have been broken down into smaller groups and Izzy and I are in the flamingo group. When I saw these stuffed Flamingos in the gift shop at our hotel in Miami I knew we had to have them.

Meet "Pinky" my perfectly perky pink flamingo.

Turkey Dinner
The food on board the ship was good depending on which restaurant you went to. Izzy and I found ourselves at the Aqua restaurant the most. It had the best food and service without having to pay a cover charge. The food presentation was very grand and I found myself taking photos of my food before eating. Must be a Scrapbooker.

Our most Gracious Hostess'

Allison, Jill, Trisha, Katarina, Leica, Deanna and Jackie (not shown).

Thank you ladies for all your energy and hard work putting on this fabulous event. I had a great time in all my classes and love how your enthusiasism spilled over.

Here is a glimpse of Pinky and Fred on their Pub Crawl Excursion. At Tortola, British Virgin Islands we boarded a bus with our driver "Coco" and our tour guide "Loco" and headed around the Island stopping at various locals pubs and restaurants sampling their beer, rum and food. The music, the friends, the rum......Oh What FUN!!!

This is the beach we stopped at for lunch on Tortola, BVI

Head Shots -

Allison Orthner taught us a few things about

taking better photos.

Flat Hayley was so excited to see "Bollywood", she stayed for both shows.

I just loved the blue of the water in the Carribean.

A thing of Beauty!

In the Bahamas, on Great Stirrup Cay, NCL's Private Island.

We had a lot of fun taking all sorts of photos.

Yeah!!! I got to shoot a great Sunset.

Meet Agus (pronounced A-Goose).

This man worked hard to ensure Izzy and I were always happy and found with a

bucket of beers in my hand. He once walked half the ship just to deliver our beer.

Agus, you get the Service of the Cruise Award.

Thank you!!!

GO HEAT GO

D-W-A-Y-N-E W-A-D-E

We had a lot of fun at the basketball game. The New York Knicks almost won but the Heat came from behind in the fourth quarter to steal a win. It was awesome, so much excitement in the air.

Izzy, Thank you for one of the greatest Vacations of my Life.

You are an AMAZING Woman!!!

Well I guess that was more like a Coconut Shell instead of a Nutshell.

HeeHee