prairie girl

it's...

peanut butter and chocolate...YUM! this is one of jack's favourite chocolates and so this morning when my children rise they will be greeted by a little surprise along side their cereal...

since i won't be here to witness the squeals of delight and smiles as wide as the grand canyon (can you hear the dripping sarcasm??) i have given strick instruction for photographs to be taken...they're teens so we'll see what happens...to be perfectly honest i suspect there will be some grumbling and grunts and that will be it...so i probably won't miss much!!but just wanted my sweethearts to know i'm thinking of them while i am gambling, shopping, drinking, dancing relaxing in vegas...

so go forth and do a little peanut butter & chocolate celebrating of your own!

v

 

box #3.

but first, the winner of the red, orange & yellow box is:

jen

i pulled jen's name out of my bowl, then went to get her email from the comments and i knew she was meant to win...this girl is like my twin, she uses exclamation marks just like i do!!! so hope you enjoy the package!!!

thanks to everyone that commented and you still have a chance to win because next up is box #3 which is filled with some of the cool colours - blue, green & purple...

you know the drill, leave a comment by saturday, may 19th and the box of scrapping goodies could be yours...if you're new to my blog and don't know why i'm giving away some of my stash just go here to read all about it...

bonne chance!

v

five - may 2012.

this month's five:

celebrate.

today is national scrapbooking day!!!!! can it get any better??? what memory are you preserving today?...even if you're not a scrapbooker, take a couple of pictures - some of yourself, your kids, your pets and your immediate family together in one shot...you won't regret it...and since it's also cinco de mayo you could top off all that picture taking with a delicious, slushy-cold, salt-rimmed, lime margarita...SALUD!

here's a recipe link to a margarita made with beer...i love that the beer smooths out the bitterness of the lime...make sure to whir it up in the blender!

picture inspiration.

totally random...last week, while enjoying some miso udon soup, i noticed that one of the green onions looked like a heart...even better was i got to share this total randomness while lunching with my baby girl! she was all over it and captured another instagram moment! (i wanted to use my real camera, but since her iphone is attached directly to her hand at all times, she insisted that i needn't pull out my "dinosaur"!)

grab bag.

i bought the first issue of the quarterly lucky peach magazine and enjoyed it's quirkiness...i passed on purchasing the second issue, but i am really enjoying all the articles by contributing chefs like mario batali in this third installment...if you love food and/or eating, or love reading about food & restaurants, or have read anything penned by anthony bourdain i suggest you head out and get a copy while it's still on the newstands!

here i am.

standing on the first patch of green, albeit weeds, in  my peep-toe pumps!! ahhh spring...it might really be here! fingers crossed! 

grateful.

to be a mom to my wonderful kids, that are sweeping me along on quite an amazing journey...and that i am also able to take a weekend away from it all this month, to reconnect with my bff's in one of my favourite cities!!

v

OLW blog hop may 2012.

welcome to the may edition of the one little word blog hop!

our assignment for april was to write a letter to ourself with two parts, first addressing where you are right now and secondly, where you want to be a year from now...

this was really hard for me to do this month...despite trying to celebrate this year, the month of april was a bit of a grind...i am sure the photos and words that follow might belie this fact, but i was in a bit of a funk this past month...rather than sugar-coat what was really happening to me and create a letter that might have been less than truthful, i decided to go the route of honest reality and therefore have blanked out my journalling to protect the innocent! haha

i didn't reallly follow what ali did as i am often using different sized page protectors and this month i used a 6"x12" and cut it down to fit the printout which i glued on to some patterned paper, i added a cute, new little flag from bella blvd and created a little flag banner from scraps on the other side...

the jist of my ramblings was that there have been a lot of emotional upheavals in our house over the past month...throwing together a man about to turn 50, an incredibly strong-willed teenage boy, a dramatic daughter on the verge of graduation and a hormonal, perimenopausal women seems like nature has a cruel/wicked sense of humour, and i am praying that there is more peace in the valley this time next year!!!

as i am sure any of you visiting here today know, life has got it's ups and downs, and it is amazing when i look back at the photos i took this month (over 300 - a definite LOM fail because i couldn't hit delete!!) you wouldn't necessarily think anything was amiss...so what i think is great about this one little word class, is that we can tell a deeper, richer story than our photos sometimes provide...i don't want to do this kind of soul-searching, brutal honesty scrapbooking all the time, but i am glad that there is a slice of it in my scrapbook library...

so enough of that! on to the celebrate part of april!

i finally found some packages of those birthday cake oreos...so the kids indulged in those!

claudia had 5 musical performances this month: fine arts night at school, and four kiwanis festival entries plus 2 dance competitions...i have absolutely loved sitting in the audience soaking up all the talent and marvelling at these young performers bravery...i think it takes an incredible amount of guts to get up there and dance, sing, play an instrument or act and i am going to miss sitting in those dark theatres...

her grad dressed finally arrived...gorgeous...and yes, she will get her wish to be a princess!...and the two of us had our last ever mother/daughter book club...another chapter closes :(

we read a great book that was perfect for our final choice, as the main characters were all graduating from high school - i highly recommend the young adult novel Paper Towns by John Green...i am really going to miss reading some fabulous young adult fiction...

and last friday we showered our "baby" boy with sixteen little gifts along with this breakfast in bed...

and less than 12 hours later he became a legal driver...i was secretly hoping he'd fail, but no such luck...and just like that both my kids can drive and i am one step closer to being obsolete...if you have kids, you'll understand how bittersweet all these moments really are...but you have to embrace the good, the bad and the ugly! it is SOOOO important to celebrate it ALL!

i also wanted to give a big shout out to everyone that has been leaving such wonderful comments on my blog (and facebook too)...i haven't been responding to them all individually, but wanted you to know that i really do appreciate your kind words and encouragement...means a lot to me!

thanks for joining me on the blog hop today...you can pop over to celebrate with cheri next!

v

 

here is the complete blog hop list in case you want to bounce around or you got lost!

Margie   http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog/one-little-word

Monica   http://scrapinspired.com/

Jamie    jmpgirl.blogspot.com

Lisa     http://backtoallen.com/category/challenges/one-little-word/

Jenn     www.studiojenn.blogspot.com

Jill    http://jillconyers.com/

Veronica     www.veronicanorris.typepad.com                            <--------- you are here!

Cheri    http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com                                  <--------- hop here next!

Monica B    http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/

Ruth     http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com

Kaylea    www.myscrappylife.com

Cindy    http://www.cynthiacrysdale.com/

Donna    http://holimess.blogspot.com/

Kelly    http://mindingmynest.com

Carolina    www.micinnamons-en.blogspot.com

Cindy    http://seriousplay.typepad.com

Naomi    http://poeticaperture.com

Nikki    www.inkyart.com.au

Amanda    http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com

Rebekah    http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/

Tere    http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/

Kimberlee     http://scrapsandsass.blogspot.com

Brighton    www.dearbrighton.com

Kristina     http://hrinspirationfromthe403.blogspot.ca/

Missus Wookie    http://mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.com/

 

the winner is...

everyone who left a comment on my trash to treasure post had their name thrown into a bowl and gail is the lucky winner i picked out of the pile...now she can tell her BF that she's getting some more "scrap crap!!"

next up is the box filled with red, orange & yellow scrap supplies from my spring clean...

if these are your favourite colours of the rainbow, leave me a comment by saturday, may 5th and these supplies could be yours...i'll draw a name next sunday...and if you're curious and have no idea why i'm giving stuff away- check out the trash to treasure post...

good luck!

v

trash to treasure.

it's earth day!!!

even though it's been officially celebrated since 1970, our family started recognizing it more fully in 2007, there are often nature type movies that debut around this date and we have usually make a point of seeing them, however, now that they are too cool to hang with parents, this idea is being kiboshed by the kids!

since earth day is all about recycle, reuse and reduce, i recently did my part for rescuing items from the trash and helping local charities...i went to value village and for $25 dollars bought an assortment of candlesticks and spray painted them in spring colours (of course i only have the after photo of the candlesticks!)

i think they added a fun touch to our easter table...

and i can see adding more next year and even doing it for other events like halloween and christmas...the idea was inspired by various similar projects from my craft. board over on pinterest...

i think i mentioned that i had a hard time getting my twelve layouts done for march and part of that is due to the fact that i have been doing some hard-core spring cleaning...i mean why does a girl need SEVEN black turtlenecks???!!! but i really went to town on my scrapbook room, mainly because i had no room for all the new product that seems to mysteriously arrive at my doorstep or show up in the backseat of my car...hmmmm...it was time to purge!

they always say one person's trash is another's treasure...so in light of it being my year to celebrate, and because today is earth day, i want to pass on what i'm not using to 4 scrapbookers that need, want or appreciate my discarded and neglected scrapbooking supplies...for each of the next 4 weeks i am going to be sending out one of these four boxes and this week it's going to be the neutral box...

i didn't take pics before everything went into the boxes, because i am one of those people that when i make the decision to get rid of something i put it in a box or bag quickly - out of sight/out of mind!! so you will have to trust me that there is some good stuff in those boxes...i organize my supplies by colour (see my post here) so there are lots of various individual embellishments and tons of paper in each of the colours, there is old product and newer product...each box also has never used heidi swapp/advantus product (i was/am a huge hoarder of everything heidi!) but like the black turtlenecks, i am sure i didn't need 6 packages of the same embellishments!

so if you are interested in turning my trash into your treasure, leave me a comment by saturday, april 28th and i will pick a winner for the first box of goodies!

now i'm off to do some more spring cleaning!

v

creating keepsakes.

i am so excited that after numerous sporatic submissions to the largest and longest running scrapbook magazine i actually have this layout

published in the May/June 2012 issue of

it really is a scrapbooking dream/goal come true...and i'm just a little bubbling over with pride & delight! it really is unbelievable to be printed next to some of my scrapbooking gurus...better go pinch myself again!!!

v

 

twelve - march.

well i didn't meet my self-imposed date of the 12th to have my 12 layouts completed for march...but i'm ok with that, because as of last monday, i had exactly 1 layout done! so i have been a scrapbooking maniac this week and my family once again thinks i'm off my rocker! 

there is a reason for this delay but i will share that in a post later this week...

here is what i created for my march twelve BPC class assignment...

1.) me

this is totally scraplifted from stacy's page...i loved the idea of mimicking the cover of the twelve journal we received for this class...i originally started out with a 12x12 page and then realized i had more to say and i wanted to tell the story of when i first met stacy, so i created a 12x6 half page flap that is supposed to have the feel of the journal...

2.) holidays

i turned some of the elements from my st. patrick's day banner into a page...afterall i wouldn't want to throw away a single piece of precious paper!!

3.) places

while skiing in lake louise and while the boys were off doing whatever it is that teenagers do, i took the time to write about how special the chateau is to me...it really is one of my favourite places to stay...i feel lucky every time we get to go there...putting this page together took about 45 minutes because i used sketch #12 from lisa day's class (yup another one i signed up for that started a few weeks ago) and i just copied my journalling onto the page...

4.) everyday life

i used another sketch from lisa's class, #14 and i think the concept was prompted by one of stacy's emails or content from one of the topics...it's not a stellar photo but this is a common scenario on sunday nights at our house when we are often enjoying take-out dinner and catching up on some of our favourite shows...

5.) rituals

again i took pieces from my valentine's day banner and documented some of the rituals and traditions that have developed over the past few years around this "holiday"...

6.) people

after 7 years it was high time that eddy got his own page for our albums...can't believe it has taken me so long to scrap his adorable puppy face... i used lisa's #1 sketch and older products from an entire SEI line, something i rarely do, but it sure makes matching things easier, especially when you're scrapping in the wee hours!

7.) inspiration 

next to stacy, my most favourite other scrapbooking celeb/guru is none other than heidi swapp, so when she decided to teach another class at BPC i was probably the first to sign up!! i totally hoard all of her products...she has a new line of folders, but they are the one thing from her new product line that i didn't purchase (gasp) so i adapted last week's assignment from her art of observation class to a two-page layout...we'll see how long i can hold out until i purchase some of her folders!

8.) personality

all i can say is thank goodness for lisa's sketch...here sketch #6 came to the rescue...and no i do not want to know how much money is invested in this little obsession!!!i guess claudia could be spending her money or mine on worse things...right?!and her nails always do look super cute!

9.) things

this is an odd one, but one of stacy's daily emails prompted us to think about what we saved our pennies for as kids...seeing that canada is actually taking our penny out of circulation in the fall, the concept of saving pennies may very well be a thing of the past...i thought this was an interesting thing to document for future generations...from a design point i have been pinning lots of layouts that are using little frames from various paper lines, here i've used stamps, different ink colours and then fussy cut them...and i do pick up pennies when i see them...

10.) family story

this idea was a scraplift from a layout i saw in creating keepsakes magazine...originally i wanted to do one about our immediate family but then i realized most of my random facts were either about the lueders or norris families...so i made two layouts...i would still like to do one about our family...

11.) seasons

i really can't believe that it's only 2 1/2 months away and we'll be watching claudia walk across that stage at the jube getting her diploma...i used lisa's #8 sketch...

12.) FUN

it wasn't until i was down to the last topic, FUN, which i find the hardest topic because i have fun creating all my pages, so i always have to think a bit differently about this category...here is how i arrived at this page, which i'm warning is a bit like the "give a mouse a cookie" story!...i wanted to use a fun picture and i thought of one from that recent ski trip...they have these guest guides who stand on top of the mountain as you get off the gondola and ask if you need help...well actually i do! i would like you to take a picture of me!! the guy said i had a great olympic pose!! that was a fun memory and while looking at the picture i thought i really do love skiing and i noticed my goggles...then it hit - a connection - i use goggles in my other favourite activity - snorkling...after a good long search for a photo of me wearing snorkling goggles, i came up empty handed (vanity, perhaps or the fact that i take pics of everyone else?)...so i am a little embarassed about this photo but i figured if i'm going to choose a random photo of me on a snorkling boat, sans goggles, might as well make it a good one from a long, long, long time ago!! and who knows maybe it will serve as inspiration to move more and eat well!! as i was creating the page using lisa's #5 sketch i suddenly remembered stacy's fun video where she was wearing her swim goggles...so maybe, just maybe the subliminal connection of goggles was there all along! so cool...and yes you really do need to be a scrapbooker to understand this crazy thought process...i am sure some of you are shaking your heads...aaahhh the inner workings of the scrapbooker's brain!and yes a picture of me in my goggles next time we're on a boat will be in order!

thanks for surviving to the end of this month's twelve post!

and if you are a scrapbooker be sure to check back later this week...i have a little surprise to share!

v 

twizzle.

it's national licorice day!!! so i am going to go grab me some of these...

i like the original strawberry twizzlers that have been around since 1845...did you know that you can use twizzlers as a cool drinking straw, to perform magic tricks and make gifts bows?...don't believe me? then check out this very fun site here and make sure your sound is on!

and all of this candyeating, websurfing, blogcreating is just a diversion from the fact that my twelve march layouts are not done yet and i still have about 200 pages to read in The Dovekeepers for tonight's book club... 

hand me another twizzler please!

v

five - april 2012.

here is my five list for april (a day late mind you!)...

celebrate.

easter, earth day, a certain teenage boy's 16th...and it's national grilled cheese month! a perfect reason to serve that simple, but oh so comforting meal on a day like this...

picture inspiration.

not sure if this photo is inspiration, but it's what i saw when i looked out my bathroom window yesterday morning...a bit of a shock...did mother nature not get the memo that it's april??? it's supposed be rain showers not a snow storm!!

grab bag.

this month it's another recipe because claudia has been into eating fruit, yogurt and granola for breakfast, so i have been testing out a few homemade versions over the past month and the one i landed on this past week, according to claudia, is "great granola"!

granola

(recipe adapted from apples for jam)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease one very large jelly roll pan (or two smaller ones).

In a pan over med-low heat, mix the following together until melted and combined:

1 cup honey

6 tablespoons butter

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

Meanwhile in a large bowl mix together:

1 cup large flake oats

1 cup quick cooking oats

1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/3 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup slivered almonds 

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4  tsp allspice

Once the honey mixture is melted, remove pan from heat and stir in 1 tsp vanilla extract. Pour over oat mixture in bowl and mix well. Spread out on jelly roll pan and press into a thin layer. Bake for 15- 20 minutes and then stir well. Bake another 15 - 20 minutes until the granola is a golden brown. Stir granola one more time. Turn off oven and let granola sit in the oven for another 10 minutes or so then remove and let cool completely. Break into little pieces and store in an airtight container. Makes a bit more than 5 cups of crunchy, nutty, spicy, healthy deliciousness. Serve with thick, creamy, greek yogurt and fresh fruit of your choice. Or as my husband likes it, in a bowl with ice cold milk as a snack before bed!

here i am.

going up the larch express at lake louise with 3 teenage boys in tow...or was that 3 teenage boys with me in tow???!!!

grateful.

for numerous amazing conversations with wonderful girlfriends this past month...linda, merran, janice, cos girls, lori, book club gals...i feel very lucky to have so many fantastic women in my life and i'm grateful that i am able to indulge in many girl's nights out!!

cheers...

v