Fantastic weekend away!

What could be better than spending an entire weekend surrounded by 30 talented, fun loving women at a country inn with amazing food and gorgeous surroundings? Nothing. Absolutely nothing is better...and I just experienced it first hand. I had an absolutely fantastic weekend. I scrapbooked, laughed, ate, cried, laughed some more and was inspired at every turn. I learned some new techniques, made some new friends and didn't have to cook or clean all weekend! Heaven! The only bad part about the entire weekend was that it had to come to an end!

Here are a few pictures.

SWON II...4 days and counting!!

I am so excited that in 4 days I will be scrapping, relaxing and socializing with some amazing women at SWON II!! I organized the first SWON (Southwestern Ontario) scrapbooking retreat last year at Elm Hurst Inn & Country Spa in Ingersoll, Ontario and it was a big hit! It looks like it's going to be an annual thing! It's a lot of work but soooo worth every second of it! Elm Hurst is an amazing facility with amazing service, fantastic food and lots of pampering! There are acres and acres of beautiful landscaping, ponds and trails. We have an entire building to ourselves to set up for uninterrupted scrapbooking the entire weekend. All kinds of amenities are at our disposal as well...full service spa, fitness center, many lounges & patios, whirlpool tub, free Saturday night entertainment, full service bar etc. Not to mention the fabulous breakfast buffet and 5 star meals made just for us! It's a fantastic time for everyone!

Now to finish planning and packing!

My Scrap Studio

I realized after my last post that I have never posted pictures of my studio renovation here on my blog. I completed this reno back in the spring and since then some things have changed (mostly I have bought more stuff!! ;) ) But I decided that now was the time to share my space with you! If you have any questions...leave a comment and I'll answer as best I can.

So here goes...

Starting on the right side...my IKEA Expedit shelving FULL of stuff. My ribbon jars, my spinning spice rack that holds all of my CTMH ribbon rounds wonderfully, idea books, finished albums, floss boxes of small accents, photo & negative storage (CM organizers on bottom shelf)...

Close up of ribbon jars...

Close up of CTMH ribbon rounds in my old spice spinner.

Magnetic board that holds new products, paper sample rings and sketches...

My Store In Style Cubes that create my stamping and cutting areas (my MM trimmer - LOVE it!). Also a shelf my Mom built me years ago to showcase Cherished Teddies now houses my ribbon spools, baskets with CCS shapes, rubber stamps & misc. tools. My pens are also stored by colour here. The little frame shelf from IKEA (below the ribbon) is where I keep my acrylic blocks. Buttons by colour are in the spice jars on the 2 small shelves and other embellishments are in the magnetic containers on the magnetic board below. In the SIS cubes (starting at the top left and moving downward and then to the right) Floss & Fibers, Adhesive, Punches, IRIS 12x12 projects totes, Photo Mats & Journal Boxes, Stickers, Chipboard letters & shapes, Miscellaneous, Acrylic stamps are in the 4 drawer in these categories...Holidays & Seasons/Everyday & Celebrations/Frames, Tags, Borders & Backgrounds/Sentiments & Alphas.

The station is so wonderful for stamping and picking out embellies...

Close up of my work top...

My Making Memories trimmer (love this!), acrylic block shelf, stamp cleaning supplies and mat...

Floss & Fiber drawer...

Adhesives drawer...

Punches drawer...

Sticker organization...

Chipboard Letters & Shapes (raw)...

CTMH My Acrylix storage...

Button jars (I have MANY more now!! :) )

Magnetic board with spice tins that hold embellies...

My stamp pad storage spinner that my Mom made for me for my birthday...

Part of my paper storage area - this rack came from Hallmark and was given to me by an someone who worked there for FREE! I store solid 12x12 paper and some paper stacks here. More patterned paper is stored below (on the right) in the 12" drawers. I also keep CM pages/protectors and large chipboard here as well. (there is also an area for embellishments and tools on the lower left - rub ons, dimensional accents, chalks, CTMH embellies organizer, vellum titles etc). My primas are in the little jars above on the IKEA frame shelf...

Paper Files - SIS cubes store paper sets by manufacturer & the CM Workshop organizer file frame holds all of my CM 10x12 paper (from my CMC days). My Sizzix cutting area sits on top of the SIS cubes and the dies are stored in the IRIS cart below the CM organizer. The frame above the area is the CM magnetic frame and I use it to display pictures, notes, finished projects and tidbits of inspiration...

In the Sterilite drawers up top I store all of my paper scraps by colour...I love this. I just grab a drawer and take it to my desk to riffle through. It actually makes me use my scraps up! The little organizer in the middle I bought for $4 at Zellers and stores embossing powder the jumbo CTMH flowers. The unit below holds some albums, idea binders and my E-size CTMH alpha stamps binder. The drawers in this unit hold my Xyron refills, blade refills and my DYMO labeller & refills. The white IKEA boxes below store memorabilia. The brown boxes at the top are still empty...but I am sure not for long!!

My IKEA desk that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE!!! I bought this on my shopping trip to IKEA with Christy (momtomaxandaaron). It has a glass top with storage underneath and it is so perfect for trimmers and stuff I need at easy reach but it doesn't clutter my work top. The lazy susan hold little containers with my most used tools and neccessities.

My CM personal trimmer, embossing supplies, my inspiration notebook, inks etc...

A box that I received a kit in makes a great pull out for some supplies...

My CM trimmers and mats (which have been replaced with my Tonic personal trimmer and Basic Grey magnetic mat)...

Close up of my table top lazy susan which holds all of my most used tools...

WHEW!!! That's it! Thanks for looking!

Great website to bookmark...

I used to visit the site Kevin and Amanda all the time for great scrapbooking inspiration and to drool over her scraproom! Now Amanda has really focused on posting new recipes and has an amazing recipe section. She shows you the scrapbook layout she makes for each recipe too...very cool! Someday I would love to be this organized! I have only tried one recipe so far...the Alfredo Tortellini and it was really good...although it was VERY rich. I served it as a main dish but next time I think I would serve it as a side just because it was so rich but it was still awesome. The next on my list to try is Amanda's super easy recipe for Calzones. The recipe for Chicken Packets also looks great and so does...

Well...you get the idea! Go check it out for some great inspiration!!

Sympathy Card

This is a sympathy card that I needed to make up yesterday and I found inspiration from Lisa Stenz's card. I copied it almost exactly because it is beautiful as is. She makes beautiful cards and I find her blog very inspiring.

I used a black textured card base from DCWV and then made my own background paper using some tan paper and the rustic dot stamp from CTMH Rustic Flowers set with Chocolate ink (2nd generation). I really like how it turned out. I matted some white cardstock with black and then stamped flowers stems in black using some of the flourish stamps from the CTMH Playful Flourishes set. I took some flowers (CTMH) and folded them in half to create a more 3-D effect adding a glue dot behind to hold it firmly in place. I inked the center with black using a sponge dauber and chalked the edges lightly with brown chalk for dimension. I used glue dots again to stick the flowers firmly atop the stems and then in black stamped the sentiment "Thinking of You" (from CTMH For Every Occassion set) on a scrap of the background paper. I inked the edges of this in black and then used Dimensional squares to pop this off the front of the card. A sentiment was stamped inside the card in black that says "To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven." And that's it. I am really happy with it.