My Upcoming Class Schedule for September

I will be teaching scrapbooking at two different places this fall - Remember Me Scrapbooking in Coquitlam and Michael's Arts & Crafts in Port Coquitlam.

Here is my class schedule for September:

Sunday, September 16th from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. @ Remember Me - Wedding Albums.

Now that the wedding day is past, the presents unwrapped and the flowers are wilted - the photographer has just delivered the 400+ pictures taken of you in your wedding finery - what do you do with all of them? You want something to remember the day by - all the ups and maybe the downs - this is the scrapbooking class for you. Bring your photos, memorabilia and ideas and I will get you started on creating that one of a kind album for all your wedding photos.

Monday, September 17th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. @ Michael's - Vacations Albums.

If you are like me, you have hundreds (or thousands) of photos from each and every trip you have taken. Take the time to preserve the memories for the years to come. This class will get you started on your vacation album. Bring your vacation photos and your basic supplies (paper cutter, scrapbooking adhesive, scissors and any papers you have) and you can start work on your ablum.

Monday, September 24th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. @ Michael's - Thanksgiving greeting cards, dinner place cards and Halloween party invites.

In this class, you will be making a selection of Thanksgiving cards and dinner place cards for your Thanksgiving feast, along with simple invites to a Halloween Monster Mash. I will be teaching a number of techniques - stamping, embossing, brads, etc. in this class.

Check back for upcoming classes.

For more information on the classes and demos, please contact the stores directly.

Maybe I will see you in one of my classes!!

Mother of a 16-year-old

I can't believe that my eldest has turned 16!! I am sure that he was 3 only yesterday! Driving - there is a scary thought - he wants to get his Learners. I guess all we can do is arrange for driving lessons so that at least if he will be on the road, he will be as safe as he can be...

On Saturday, we took a number of his friends over to our friends house on Bowen Island for a beach birthday party - he says that it is his favourite place to be in the summer. The weather was not the best - but at least it did not rain and they were able to play in the ocean.

After lots of laughs and lots of food, we headed back to the mainland to drop off everyone and hit home. I dropped all the stuff off and headed right to bed - it is tiring being around 7 kids for a whole day of fun and not so much sun!

Of course, I have added to my 'photos to be scrapped' pile by another 100 or so. At this rate, I will never catch up to myself with all the photos I have waiting. I got some lovely pictures of the sunset on the west coast of Bowen - not the most colourful sunset I have ever seen, but quiet colours with a sailboat in the foreground.

I have also been asked to post some of my current layouts - I will add that to my list too.

Another weekend come and gone, the summer is almost over. I am sad that it has gone by so fast, but on the other hand, now that it will start getting darker and cooler in the evenings, there will be more time for scrapping!

Vacations Photos - The Results

Well, we made it back from our vacation - 3,500+ km later!! From here to Williams Lake, with side trips to Big Lake and Springhouse, a day trip to Barkerville. Then on to Summerland and finally to Fruitvale, with a day trip to Nelson, Castlegar and back to Fruitvale. All, in all, a whole lot of kilometers under our belts.

I have just finished loading all the photos on to my computer - actually managed to fill the memory on my 2 GB card for the first time - ended up with 652 photos from our vacation (not counting the ones that got deleted along the way). I am happy with most of them - can't imagine how many layouts I will need to do to do justice to even half that number of photos - but I learned a whole lot about my camera and also realized how much more I have to learn.

In the end, we captured the memories of our trip - the highs and the lows and now we just have to recover from all that travelling.

No matter how much I love getting away, I think that I love coming home more....


Here are some of my favourite pictures:


A close up of my son at the pool.









My hubby and friend, bracketed between the beach towels hanging on the line. They were watching some of the 'tame' deer roam through their property.






One of the close up macro shots that I wanted to get.



Interesting texture of the old wheel and the bright green foliage.

I was quite impressed by what the camera was able to capture in the fading light as dusk fell over Big Lake, BC. Not the best photo for clarity (I forgot my tripod), but the colours are amazing.







This is one of my all time favs - the glow of the fire with the marshmallows roasting - the camera was able to completely stop the motion of the fire and focus sharply at the same time.







I can hardly wait to start scrapping all of the hundreds of photos......

Vacation Photos

I have had my camera out a lot this vacation! Much to my eldest son's dismay - "Mom!! Turn that thing off!!!" Gotta capture all the fun!

I finally got a chance to view the photos yesterday on a screen larger than my camera and I was pleased with most of them. I have been really happy how my new camera is working with some of the night shots that I managed to get of the amazing moon rises we have been experiencing.

We visited Barkerville and spent the afternoon wandering through all the old buildings - and, of course, sampling some of the baked goods from the little bakery operating in the town. I made sure to take some of the close up, macro-type shots of some of the more interesting textures from around the town. Most turned out OK, but I can see that I still need to learn more about my camera.

We are now at my brother-in-laws in the Kootenays - more chances to get more photos!