Just One More Day Until.....................

And I draw for my Tattered Angel Goodness. I just know that you will love all the sneak peeks and fun on the Tattered Angel Blog. So pop on over and check out the great design ideas and get in on your chance to win a prize package from them.

Just a Reminder

You definitly want to visit the Tattered Angel blog this week and check out the amazing give aways as we count down to the reveal of our new Angel........... and not to mention that there are going to be sneak peeks coming up from the new CHA product release.

Those of you that know me understand what a huge part of my life scrapbooking is. I am excited and grateful beyond words to experience this oppurtunity.......I am in some MIGHTY fine company too.........and as long as you don't tell anyone how nervous I really am ......I don't mind telling you that I feel like a little kid waiting to see Santa or for the candy store to open. These people are so very talented.......and I have to be honest.....I never thought there would be two of us in the same city and given the talents of Leica Forrest. So I repeat I am super excited.

I was talking stock of my glimmer mist tonight so I know what I needed. Okay, now some of you might not be surprised........but I sure did surprise my self as to the large number of amazing colors both past and present that were in my clutches.

So I decided that in honour of our new Tattered Angel
Being Revealed this week I would offer you a chance to win some Tattered Angel Goodness.

There were 95+ colors of glimmer mist including the 60 year round colors. Of those 95+ in my hot little hands are 32 from 2009 line up. For your chance to win a mystery pack of Tattered Angel Goodness I want you to answer the questions below.

1. From the 60 year round colors can you guess 12 of the top 24 colors?(2 are red, 2 are orange, 2 are yellow, 2 are brown, 5 are greens, 6 are blues, 2 purples and 2 are pinks)
   
2. What is the kit of the month?
3. Share with us your favourite Tattered Angels Project.

You can post your answers in the comments and on December 14th after the reveal of the new Tattered Angel I will draw a name and then reveal the lucky winners name.

Have a great week everyone!

THERE's a NEW SECRET AND I'M NOT TELLING

Your going to have check out the Tattered Angel website on Dec. 14, 2007 to see who the new Angel is. While your their click on the blog and take a look at the really awesome December Daily Journal that was created with Tattered Angel goodness.

I am really getting excited about becoming a certified educator for Tattered Angels.....Poor little me has to fly all the way to LA and endure the nice warm temperatures......and play with my favourite scrapping tool and supplies. Poooooooorrrrr Poooooorrrrr me. Is that not the most awful thing to have to do.........LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL but for you ladies.........I am willing to bite the bullet!

Tattered Angles and Tim Holtz are so awesome!

You have to check out the Tattered Angels website and Blog, the folks at TA are rocking out the projects with Graphic 45 papers (Be still my beating heart!!!!!!!) . There is so much talent coming out of the TA designers so hop over to the Blog and check it out.

Are you looking for some great new ways to use your glimmer mist for the holiday season? Well don't forget to check out all the great gift ideas and tutorial videos. You are going to be sooooooo inspired by these ladies. So follow the links and get busy creating with your Tattered Angels products.


After having a really crappy week and feeling beaten Tim has found the inner strength and fortitude to once again share with us his amazing talent. Get on over to his blog and check out the details...........Live the Life You Have Imagined.

Something Scrappy that takes me out of my box

Those of you that know and love will know that scrapping anything that is not distressed, inked, misted or glossy accented is as far out of my box as I can get.

So have I done one page out of the box...........perhaps two.........are you all sitting down.......we are in the midst of a WHOLE 12x12 album........yeah you read it right people......

One of my colleagues is off to soon give birth to a wonderful new baby girl....and I wanted to do a baby album. Well Mom loves all things Winnie the Pooh so here are some samples of the pages.

A Princess is born was created from the desire to play with my new Copic Markers that were recently acquired..........thats a whole new addiction that I will have to post on later. So all the doodling is my freehand doodles. Don't tell anyone but all the stickers, cardstock and ribbon are sooooooooooooooo old that I can't even vaguely remember where they came from or what product line they belong to. My goal for this album is to scrap with scraps and stash and I am pleased to be successful so far.
Just One Look....will let you know that this is not my typical form of scrapping, the Cricut characters are flocked (Roo and Rabbit) and glittered or Glimmer Misted (Owl). I know that that first glimpse of this little bundle will have Mom and Dad melting and wondering how they got along without her all these years. I have to admit that I am really hoping that I can do the family photo shoot in the next couple of weeks when this bundle of joy arrives.


Ohana Means Family, and family means your never alone..........I know its not from Winnie the Pooh's writings but it is one of my favourite sayings. I can't begin to tell you how many times I have had to pull together basic family tree information for my kids, so I hope that this little one will never forget where to look for her start. Each tree has approx. 200 hand punched leaves from all sorts of green pattern paper scraps. The tree trunks are curved out to add my manditory need for dimension (oh come on people you didn't expect me to scrap flat too?). Glimmer mist is everywhere to provide shimmer and shine on leaves, trunks and grass. I will be honest with you all this is one set of pages that I am gonna have a hard time letting go.......... I know that the new Mom and I have also talked about the possibility of having this layout framed into a shadow box for the babe's room......A real keepsake.

I have some more pages in progress and I will share them with you as they are completed. I might have to make myself a duplicate book.......and wait for the FAR OFF DISTANT (all of my kids are noticing the FAR OFF DISTANT is emphasized?) Day that a grandbaby blesses my world.

While I have your attention................

Thank you to everyone for your words of encouragement, support and prayers. The surgery has been completed, and while there were more tumours than expected (6 small and 1 large) they have happily all been removed (which was not what was expected) there remains the waiting time for the biopsies to return with the official results but a positive outlook is predicted. So now time will be my allie as my body regains its strength for the next challenge life throws our way.

So watch out everyone.........I am getting ready to create and design and teach and share the wonders of Tattered Angels Products. Just look below and see what wonderful things Bob bought for me last night........I am so excited to play!

I tell you folks this stuff is so much fun! Well off to rest for a bit

Make it a GREAT WEEKEND!

Something a little different for me

Hi Everyone,

This posting is a little bit off the wall for me but as my surgical dates approach all to rapidly I find myself doing a little bit of reflecting.

First I am blown away with all the kind words that I have received from the ladies that I attended Creative Escapes with. Many of you I spent but a few moments and at most a few hours with and your support and well wishes have touched my heart. I am really looking forward to being more active on the boards and seeing many of you next year.

I have had amazing support from my collegues at work....I honestly felt that I could disappear and wouldn't be missed but this week I discovered how valued I was. I wish for everyone that at some point in their life that will experience this feeling.

I miss my Mom.......yes she is just a phone call away....but she is the only person that is really close to me that can understand that you can look one way in the morning and in the evening your not quite as you remember. She is my best friend and while I know the move to Calgary was the best for her and my Dad, I do miss her like heck.

Will I miss my breast itself.... no, I miss my hair way more and yes it is now growing back but it is very very dark brown and alas it now contains grey. But even though I know I may not lose the whole breast there is something about the process that plays with your mind.

Please don't get me wrong........I am in no way complaining, because I truly have nothing to complain about.....I look at Noelle and follow her never ending battle to stay alive and I know that this will be a walk in the park of life. I look at the hardships suffered by my Mom and Grandmother's and I know that this is but a blip in the radar and that I have the genetic material and fortitude to handle this with all the grace that they did.

Life does change in ways that you least expect....and a few hurt a lot....but for each person that has pulled out of my life or backed off to a safe distance I have had people that I least expected to step up and take my hand over the rocky bits. It has brought my children back to a point where I can enjoy spending time with them again not because they think I am dying......but because they have seen the importance of forgiving and moving past old hurts. I would do this all again for that reason alone. I had the greatest gift of all from someone that I didn't expect I would and that was a discussion of discovery and understanding.....what I mistook for indifference was a deep seated fear that caused them to keep me at arms length. After hours of talking and chatting there is now a potential to repair what I thought was broken and soon to be thrown away. I look forward to the day when those that are to afraid to be close now......feel safe to come back into my life...I understand.

I am strong.....or stubborn call it what you will........but I have learned that if I concentrate my will and effort I can overcome anything. So when this battle is finished I feel that I can now dig in and make some other goals and dreams a reality........so look out scrapping world I am gonna be out there sharing my passion for scrapping and start teaching not just big urban stores but for little communities that would like to have a someone come and teach them new techniques. From there I will plan my next step.........and I will achieve and succeed.

Well its time to go and rest......don't want to be run down now. So thanks everyone for letting me ramble and reflect on how lucky I am to have this life, challenges and all.

Hugs
Dawn

Looks like there is a change in the wind

I want to thank everyone for the well wishes.

What I really miss is the energy and ambition to post and keep sharing the learning process. So I thank you all for your patience.

Just to let you know the next posting is likely to be aways off as they have decided to perform not one by two surgeries in short order then closer to xmas the final one. Then we will know what the balance of treatment is going to be.

Take care and make it a wonderful day!

Main Pages from a Calendar for a friend

These are some ATC cards that I created. from odds and ends left from a project and a magazine.
This is certainly not something you would normally see from me but those scraps needed to be used and so did the wacky butterfly that I inherited. I am using up the stash of scraps.


So I have finally managed to get my mind to function long enough to trouble shoot why I couldn't up load yesterday. I hope you enjoy this little bit of a teaser. Each page has a fold out or pull out with some very special journaling for that friend.

Surprise.....I am still alive and kicking

Its been awhile since my last post.
Again those of you that pop in frequently I apologize for the lack of eye candy and educational information. I thought it appropriate that I should share a bit of my world with you.

I am currently dealing with cancer, and while we are facing a few challenges with treatments I know that once these are completed........it will be nothing more than a small speed bump in the road of life.

I have not done alot of scrapping as I have been working coming home and sleeping till the following morning. Weeks of unread emails are currently awaiting me, and will wait a wee bit longer.

I would like to share with you a few things that I have created in the last few weeks.

Three circle journals pased over my desk...
and these are now completed and ready for viewing,

Alas Mother Nature is calling me and I too am succumbing to its song.

Well just to let you know..........

I am not dead..............feel like it might be a viable alternative somedays but I am here and still kicking. Things are a weeeeeeeeeeeeeee bit tough medically but I am so not ready to go coffin shopping yet.

So bare with me folks and I will post on my next good day.

Wishing you all the determination and desire to make each day a day to remember.

Whoops we will have to try that again!

Sorry everyone!

I apologize for the break but regrettably treatments have me moving slower and thinking slower. But I haven't forgotten!

Chapter 3 - More Shopping and Starting the Weekend

So It is WEDNESDAY and BAZZILL Day!!!!!!!! Yahooo!!!!

This is the day that we get to see the factory and buy from the warehouse at severly reduced prices. Then continuing in the Bazzill theme we will head over to Scrapbooker's Etc. the retail division and the reason that Bazzill was created.

I have some fun and facts and I am going to bore you with them as I take you through my day LOL LOL

Creative Escape Chapter 2

The Shopping Spree



So bright and early Tuesday morning we all gathered in the lobby to go on the Lux shopping tour. We were to go to ten (yes 10) of the local area stores that were related to scrapping or papercrafting in some manner. The goal was to meet at 8 and return at 8:30 that night......snicker snicker well we did meet at 8 as you can see by the photo, but we did not get back until almost 10:30.

This is all of us except for four ladies that caught up with us at Melrose Vintage because their plane didn't get them here as early as they might have liked. It was funny because as all good scrapper we had a line up of cameras and so a bellman, and a non-shopping scrapper went through the line up twice and took pictures on each camera. I am sure it was not the last for that fella during the week.

Krista was the organizer and she did a fabulous job. From having coolers filled with water and softdrinks to bags of wonderful snacky goodness. Lunch was great and supper was tasty. She had us all covered and that in and of itself was the sort of thing that makes spending $85 for the tour worth it


So off we go into the wild warm (okay dang hot) blue yonder and after about a 30 minute drive we arrive at the very delightful store called Melrose Vintage. As you will see from the following photos that it is filled with Incredible Vintage Goodness for the home, office, and what you don't see is the scrappy stuff. While there is a little bit of something for every scrapper I have to tell you that if you like the look of Anna Griffin, Seven Gypsies, Prima etc. Your gonna love this little store. I did manage to empty my hands long enough to take a photo of what I thought was the coolest "ribbon" I didn't buy any because it was $10/yd. However, I am thinking that I can maybe make my own version..............

Now this has nothing to do with the scrappy fun of the store but outside was a wonderfully and beautifully bright tree with rich pink flowers. I loved taking the photos and was about to reach my hand into them to hold a flower closer, when I was stopped by Bill the bus driver. Who then warned me of the long inch to two inch thorns that were hidden within. Looks like the photography gods were on my side.






(This photo is from Leslie who was on our tour, probably the only photo that I appear in sort of LOL)





Next was the fabulous Mystic Paper - oh be still my beating pocket book.


This store is a bit deceiving when you first walk up........In no way does it elude to the wealth of scrappy and vintage goodness inside its doors. Nor does it prepare you for the wonderful and giving nature of the owners.




I walked in not expecting very much but my breath was taken away the moment I walked in the door and met with a display of vintage maps, drawings. The display cases are filled with the scrap talents of the store instructors and designers. It blew me away that they allowed us to photograph in detail the mini albums - and of course very thankful.


It was here that I first encountered the three new lines from Graphic 45 and I amongst others stood by snitching papers as they tried to put them on the rack. Not sure if much made it to the rack when we were done. We were also besieged with a plethora of ephemeria to make our mouths salivate. I am telling you this is a vintage, chabby chic designers heaven on earth. What I know for sure is that the next time I visit that place it will be with a large UPS box and fully charged credit card.

Featured below was the famed Rufflers Roost this was the one store that was mentioned to me as a must visit place for the avid Ribbon Collector (another name was used but....that is not suitable for a PG rated Blog.) I was told it was a ribbon lovers mecca and yes indeed there were many tasty ribbons availble. I was a bit disappointed because the few ribbons that had me drooling were well above what I was willing to pay. The rest were run of the mill and there weren't any that consituted a bargain compared to Canadian prices.














There were a few more stores but I must admit that while they were all nice and they all had there niche or they tended to cater to the non-vintage scrapper so that made a lot of my fellow shoppers happy and that is what this whole tour was about letting us see and feel the scrapping community in the Phoenix area.
The last store of the evening for me was Stamp Works, this is an absolutely fabulous little store that is filled with loads of stamping goodness. This is another store that I am returning to with a fully charged card and a big box............... Aside from incredible stamps, an amazing selection of accessories they have the one thing I was hoping to get.........Copic Markers. They had their Copic Marker certified instructor their and the things she should me...... ok us but I honestly feel that she was put there to show me what I was missing. So I may not have bought the most - come on cut me some slack.......9 stores before this and still two more stores for Wednesday - but I probably came out as one the ones the most passionate about them and the desire to play and incorporate them into my scrappy world. So I bought a parakeet green color and a more vintage green (darker) and the blender pen This blender pen is what sold me. I will acquire a few more and then do a write up on the virtues of Copic Markers.




So its been a really long day......we straggled into the hotel around 10:30 a couple of hours later than we expected to be but all still smiling and laughing even if it was not as energetic as we were at 8 in the morning. Krista should I be lucky and priviliaged enough to be able to attend next year I will be making sure that I am amongst the first to sign up for your full day tour. Your attention to detail, willingness to admit there were a couple of flaws that threw things off and that you would take those into consideration for next year won me over!

Well I will close this posting and get to work on Wednesday and maybe even Thursday of this fabulous trip.

Creative Escape Chapter 1

This was such a wonderful journey, yes there were some minor hiccups during the week but overall it was a jorney that every scrapper should experience. When my pal Corinne came back and told us about it last year I only heard about the trip to the Bazzill Warehouse with the terrific opportunity to buy cardstock for next to nothing. Then I remember thinking that the projects were the sort of thing I would like to make. I don't recall her telling us about much more. Not because she didn't tell us........just because I didn't understand and hear her. Well Corinne........I understand now.

I have to tell you that this journey started long before the day we boarded the plane. It started with my notification that I had been accepted and that I was able to bring someone with me. I chose this oppurtunity to take my good and close friend Janet. The excitement we shared was pale incomparrison to what we experienced later on.

I joined the Yahoo Group of women that formed the community to share in the wisdom of past attendees and to get to know people before arriving in Phoenix. There were more swaps to partake in than you could shake a stick at.....I chose to partake in two Charm swaps, the ATC and finally the Candy Swap. This group was invaluable to me. I learned alot about standard protocol for the event, I learned about Sprinkles Cupcakes, I learned that this group of women
was a sincere and caring group. I learned that they are amongst the most generous and genuine people I will have the privilage to meet.

I have a collection of memories that need to be scrapped but I don't want to wait to share them with you. The memories start with me moving my parents back to Calgary after almost 10 years. We were pulling back into Saskatoon late on Sunday night when I called Janet to make arrangements to meet only to discover that she had forgotten we were leaving on Monday and she thought we were leaving on Tuesday. I will chuckle over this moment for years to come imagining the look on her face on the other end of the phone as the realization sunk in.

I spent the entire remaining evening washing clothes and packing. Despite having been up in excess of 36 hours I am proud to say that the only thing that was forgotten was the autograph book that I had been building with the downloads from The House of 3. Our flight left at 5 in the morning whisking us off to Calgary where we cleared US customs and then from there we zipped down to Denver. Upon landing in Denver we HUSTLED our tail feathers from one end of the terminal to the other (for those of you that haven't been in Denver it makes anything in Canada look puny) and got there just in time to jump on the connecting flight to Phoenix.

We arrived on time and my luggage arrived on time but alas poor Janets luggage just didn't have the stamina to get to the connecting flight on time so about 10 hours later it was delivered to us.
We were met at the airport by the Lovely Veronica (from the Yahoo board) she lives in the Phoenix area and was gracious enough to pick up Janet and I, and my other new friend Debbie from Texas.

I was tickeled pink to discover that Veronica was taking us to our first Creative Escape (hereafter referred to as CE) photo oppurtunity. We were headed to the legendary Sprinkles Cupcakes. I don't know how to portray to you the excitement that was generated on Yahoo over these little tasty treats but they are indeed some of the best your tastebuds will encounter.



After we devoured our cupcake and took a few dozen photos of the Sprinkles store we were off to the hotel.

The Sheraton Wild Horse Pass (here after known as WHP) is an awesome 4 star resort that gives you the feeling of being out in the desert in with a Pima Indian band not to far off. Oh wait we were in the middle of the desert. For the first night there my excitement was to get set up in the room and then fall asleep and leave poor Janet to wander around on her own. It might have had something to do with me being up for almost 40 hours.

Back from Creative Escape 2009 and Life is never gonna be the same

Ohhhhhh my gosh Ladies and Gentlemen

I have just had the thrill of a lifetime............................... attending Creative Escape 2009. I have certainly attended my fair share of crop retreats and conventions. What I have to tell you is that never ever, have I had this sort of experience.

I am back now for two days and I remain speechless and just not where to start sharing this fabulous weekend.

I think I am going to start with sharing a few moments that will never ever leave my mind.



How about being like a giddy little tween and speechless with Tim when I gave him the journals for him and Mario. That's a whole story for another night.


How about the amazing woman that donated $29,000.00 USD for this lamp decorated by Tim. That WAS a tear jerk moment bar non during the weekend and trust me there were a ton of those moments.



Or the appreciation on Heidi Swapp's face when I gave her the journal I gave her.

I will return with more from Creative Escape

What A Weekend

Well its done.
With mixed emotions, a few drops of blood and a lot of sweat. My parents are now living back in Calgary where they resided for 30+ years before I kidnapped them 9-1/2 years ago to live in Saskatoon.

So now I have 3 hours remaining to pack and get to the airport for my trip of a scrapping lifetime..............Creative Escapes 2009

I will share plenty when I return!

Have a wonderful week everyone.

Tattered Angels and Graphic 45 Goodness

Good Morning Everyone. I have been busy creating lots of scrappy goodness as I create a wedding gift for some new friends of ours. They chose to have me scrap an album from the photos I took of the cruise that we shared. So here are some of the pages that I have completed.

Do I really need to tell you all how wonderfully Tattered Angels and Graphic 45 work for this book........I don't think just take a look for yourself.

This first page is at sunset in the Mazatlan Harbour. The use of shells, netting, seaglass, lace, its hard to see but glimmer mist was used to tone down the cream colors to more of a tan.








Cabo San Lucas is one port that I would like to return to and explore more. The Grungeboard shapes are glimmer misted with Black gold. For the Title, I pulled out three colours of glimmer mist. First I used the darker blue across the top of the letters, then the lighter blue was used across the bottom and of course the two marble together in the center. Then just before the letters dried I grabbed The black gold and lightly misted the black seemed to migrate to the edges and when it dried I didn't have to ink.



Then I coated the letters with glossy accents and let it sit for about 30 min. While it was a bit moist I sprinkled pigment powders on and some was absorbed deep into the moist glossy accents and other parts stayed on the surface.

Well I am off to work but I will share some more Tattered Angels goodness with you tonight.

Make it a great day!