The F Word(s) ...

Facebook …. Truth is … I really don’t enjoy facebook that much … reading everyone’s status and clicking “like” just doesn’t do it for me … and I don’t have a need to keep the world informed of my minute by minute status … little abbreviations of friend’s lives … I’m not abbreviation girl. I want to know who you are, what you enjoy and what you truly think, what makes you tick, how you made that gorgeous thing … I think that’s why I blog, and read blogs … I don’t want the surface or the link or how many cows you have on Farmville … I want real substance …

Father … now this man has real substance … my dad is the real deal … he is a real man … he can cook & bake with the best of them, he can (and has) built houses from scratch … he teaches, he lives, he loves, he listens, he learns (wow, maybe I should save those words for my L post) … he is still in love with my mother … and I have always know that I am unconditionally loved … even during my rebellious snotty teen aged years … He is an amazing role model … he has saved us from bears, given shelter to a family who lost their home, helped strangers, saved lives, rescued kids in a sinking boat … he has always provided us with stability, taught us how to be strong, to have a strong moral compass and strong work ethic …

Dad 1960

Family … my parents and my daughter are the most important people in my life … they are the reason I am who I am … they give me strength, they give me joy, they give me love and I return it in abundance …

DD, Dad & Mom (taken 2 days ago ... cheeky DD)

Faith … I have it … in my family and the strength of its bonds … in my daughter who is so strong in so many ways and in me …

Follow … did you know you can follow your own blog on BlogSpot? I tried it because I was bored and yup … it works, you can follow yourself … I just can’t figure out how to unfollow myself, which is what I want to do … because now I look all stuck-up and totally desperate for followers … in all truth, I am laughing at myself for my silliness!

I am playing Alphabe-Thursday with Jenny Matlock … for other fabulous F words; check out the McLinky links on her blog.

Daddy & Me

I know I had something to say ...

... or i did when i signed on to blogger this morning ... cup of fresh hot coffee ... ready to say what it is i was going to say .... so i stare blankly at the screen for a minute ... probably two ... and i wonder if i clicked on the help button if it would write my blog for me ... or at least remind me of what i was going to write about ... i mean it is a "help" button ..... right???

okay, so i forget ... so here is something i wasn't going to post .... I challenged myself ...
We got this new line of paper in a the store ... its all boyish .... C says she thinks she wouldn't know how to use the white piece with writing all over it ... so i say, "C ... I'm going to make a layout with it and you are going to like it!" ... geez i'm all full of myself aren't i? but seriously, i loved this piece of paper, in fact i really love the line and i totally wish i had boy pics to scrap because they have cool vinyl shapes of snowboarders and guitars and well just all boy stuff that is uber cool ... so i searched my photos and finally found one that had potential ... it's dd and friends outside of the club where they had their staff Christmas party ... and its all blurry, but its orangey (like the paper) and it has bricks ... that's kinda boyish isnt it ? I had loads of fun with this layout ... i cut out the v and the e and reattached them over the photo, then i used glossy accents and glitter on the "live" ... i made some flowers by distressing punched out shapes ... added some bling and its all done! and the best part ... C liked it! or at least she said she did ... and i like it! So for all of those scrappers out there ... i challenge you ... to try and use a piece of paper that was designed for one purpose but you used for another .... it's fun!

E is for ...

E is for ……

Empty …. As in my mind is somewhat empty on this topic … and somewhat uncomfortable … almost as if there is an elephant in the room … only the room is my mind …

Elegant … something I always wanted to be but have never managed to achieve … My Great Aunt Millicent was a very elegant woman… always dressed to perfection … a fashionista in her day … and she was so tall … with long legs that were lovely even into her last days … for some reason I associate elegance as something only the long and lean can achieve … not meant for the short & round like myself!

Eloquence … something else I dream of … the ability to speak with fluidity with clarity, wit, charm, humour … with an appropriate tone … the ability to move others …

Excellence … again, I try … I think I came real close in grade 2 when I wrote my Mr. Brown Goes to Town poem … then again there was that whole medal & certificate thing

Exposed … is how I feel at this moment … putting this out for a whole lot of people to read …

Excited … watching the Olympics, visiting the venues and soaking up the whole party vibe of the city …

Exit … stage left … leaving you with a few snaps of the dd & me in the city!!!

DD with some crazy fun tourists!

DD and me by art gallery!

This store had the most delicious shoes!!! and great spirit too!!

Banners are eveywhere!

Gotta love a flag wrapped building!

And for those of you that missed it, my DD is somewhere in this crowd of thousands ... Dancing in the Streets! (I was totally Excited for her)

make sure you check out Jenny Matlock's blog for more "E" posts!

Dancing in the Streets!

Yeah ... the Olympics are here ... the world is here ... so much to be happy about ... and yet so many sad and bewildering and discouraging things as well. Like the weather ... I know the current nick name is the "rain" olympics ... but i prefer to call it the "spring" olympics, the tragic death of a young athelete just before the games start (RIP young angel) and of course the riots by a group of little troublemakers posing as peaceful protesters ... such a total discredit to their parents & families ...

On the good news front ... The Olympics are here!!! it is exciting ... it is interesting ... it is thrilling ... and it's just fun to see the city celebrated! It's also Valentines day and Chinese New Year!!! It is goodness all around!!! My daughter spend a couple of days learning the choreography and participated in the Imagine 1 Day's Dancing in the Streets flashmob ... now this is the kind of mob you want to see at the Olympics .... no trouble here, just a whole lot of fun and a whole lot of dancing! Check it out here !!!
Happy Valentines day all, Gung hay fat choy! and have a lovely week!
ps, a little mini book and card for my DD on Valentines day!

D is for Dolls & Daughter!

I have always loved Dolls … so let me introduce you to a few of my faves …

Meet Betsy … she is not mine, she is my mother’s. Mom got her for a birthday gift when she was about 6 … she started showing her age about 25 years ago so my dad snuck her out of the house, sent her to the dolly hospital and had her repaired & restyled with some lovely new clothes and wig. Miss Betsy … meet Hayley, my irl Doll! This photo is about 20 years old.

Brucey! This is and always will be my favourite doll. Brucey is the first doll I received. I named her after the neighbour’s new baby Bruce … a girl doll with a boy name. I remember being very young … trying to nap in my crib, playing with Brucey and her arms came off … I have this recollection of standing and screaming for my mom to come fix Brucey … now I know we really don’t remember things from an early age but I do remember this … I remember feeling confused when I saw the broken elastic dangling from the end of one of Brucey’s arms …. I remember the sense of relief and comfort I felt when Mom fixed Brucey and gave her back to me …. I almost feel like I am cozying up with her now for a much needed nap. And Brucey’s clothes … all hand knit by my Grandma … I am amazed that they have held up so well over the years ... unlike her feet and hands and a bit of her head which were all chewed on by moi.

The little dolls are all gifts from my grandma … she knit or crocheted all of their outfits … again I am amazed that they have all held up so well.

Dolly …. I remember the day I found a book in the library that told you how to make dolls … I remember sitting on the library floor and just feeling like I was in some sort of wonderland … the dolls were all so beautiful … and I felt so blessed when Mom gave the nod that I could check the book out. And I remember making dolly …. I remember going through the fabric scraps looking for just the right bits of lace and fabric. I remember wrapping the pipecleaner frame with yards of fabric, and carefully knotting the hair onto her head … I was about 6 or 7 when I made Dolly … and she was one of my first real labour’s of love.

Isn’t this little pink doll cute! … I don’t have a name for her but my daughter bought her at a craft fair and gave her to me in my stocking this Christmas … she is a teeny tiny clay doll! Totally adorable!!!

Barbie … sadly I don’t have her anymore, but she was one of the originals … with the short dark brown hair … My Great Aunt was a seamstress and published author on sewing design and techniques. She would give me her left over bits of gorgeous fabrics (she only did the best) … and I remember sitting under the plum tree in the summer sewing these beautiful scrounged pieces of silk into Barbie clothes …

My other Great Aunt and Uncle travelled the world … from almost every stop they brought me a doll. I had the most amazing doll collection … some of them are so fondly remembered … I can almost feel the silk and lace of the doll from France, and the leather and fur from my Eskimo doll … Sadly this collection was lost or stolen somehow during a move … I still miss by babies …

Hayley … my daughter … more than a living doll, the best gift ever … I think I will save the details for this entry till the letter H.

C is for Compendium ...

A while ago, I took an online scrapbooking course ... and it was a lovely course, it was all about making an encyclopedia of yourself. Sort of the A to Z's of me ... anyways, loved the course ... but somehow in my misadventures with my computer i lost the downloaded files that gave the templates to the pages and title page ... So I resurrected it in my mind and tried to recreate the page format as best as i could.

Well ... the project looks neat and tidy ... so far no journaling ... but it just isn't and expression of me ... even the title which was something like "Me: the Unabridged Version" didn't sit right with me. So this project is just kind of hanging out in an unfinished form ... UNTIL ...Mrs Matlock's class began!!!

Gotta say, this project came at the right time for me ... i will be using most of the journaling in this "one day it will be finished" project!!!

And the "C" word did it for me .... C is for Compendium ... Not encyclopedia, not A-Z, not and Unabridged Version .... My project is a Compendium... and i cant wait to get it done ... the full name with be "A Compendium of Craft, Comment and a dash of Crazy" ... doesn't make sense??? it doesn't have to because it is mine! and the inside pages ... well they will look a whole lot different once i am done with them as well ... Now i truly cant wait to get started!

Shhhh! C is also for Cover ... this is how i covered the book ... keep in mind i was trying to keep it simple and use up paper that i had on hand ... this would have been the encyclopedia.
Now that i have allowed myself to put "me" back into the project my "Compendium" looks like this
and yes there is a whole mixture of styles ... i didn't want to waste the cover paper so i embellished it with stuff that is more me. i punched the butterflies out of art postcards that had numbers on them. glimmer misted the flower, inked & painted the grungeboard hinge, stickled and pearled the dots on the paper and added two types of text tape.

Scrapping a song ....

I've gotta feeling
(Woohoo)
Tthat tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good good night...
(Black Eyed Peas)

Sometimes i just don't know what to do with all of the photo's my daughter shoots, especially the fuzzy or out of focus ones ... this occassion was the H&M staff Christmas party and dd took loads of snaps ... In this case i just took a few and paired it with a great song... I know she is going to love looking back at all of her random shots and not just the perfect ones ... and hey, pairing it with a song of the same time frame should hopefully bring back great memories when she looks at this layout be it next week or 20 years from now!


I've gotta feeling (Woohoo) .....