Gotta have a little rain if ya want a rainbow ...

I figure if I am going to blog mise well blog the good, bad, sad and stupid too ~ hopefully sometimes just letting things out means you can let it go. I have such a need to create lately for the peace of mind it brings but I find that life and all that it is holding lately is getting in my way. Or maybe I am just letting it get in my way, which I hope in time will pass as things are resolved.

I wanted to post all those pictures of fun times ~ the one from the Scraptacular and the ones from the last SG crop ~ for those times have been such a soul saver lately. Sometimes we don't get alot done hee hee, but it is the atmosphere of the group that refreshes my soul. I have recently found out I have some health issues to deal with ~ and I don't know if it is the issue itself or my reaction to how life is going to change, but I am terribly fatigued of mind and body lately. The days at work are longer, and at the end of the day this gal is done ~ I see the housework piling up, and the layouts and projects I have yet to start or need to finish ~ and all I do is sigh.

I am hoping that spring time will bring with it a time of refreshment, that I will be able to soon start addressing health stuff that will help me also feel more alive and energetic! I am wishing all of you a lovely weekend, one full of love and laughter ~ and sending cyber hugs your way.

Feb Spruce Grove Crop

Haha I know I am posting these in the wrong order since Scraptacular was attended after this crop, but I finally did some scanning last night ` here is a few pics of our fun full day cropping time at Spruce Grove :-) We hope they have another day like this soon!

Little Pooken Touquen Andrea :-)

Dawn, Angela, Nicole, Andrea and Alex

Mona and Dawn
Marguerite, Tanya and Donna Tammy and Kelsey Angela and her very cool door prize ` a soft soft cuddly robe ~ so cool and a big surprise :-)
I really enjoy the cropping times we all get together ~ has inspired me to get back at scrapbooking and I actually can say I am getting alot more done than I use to, it's been great :-) And alot of fun, we all need the stress relief of being with good people and doing something we enjoy!

Cheers

Sherri

Scraptacular 2 was Scraptaculous!!!!

Well Scraptacular 2 in Cold Lake was where we went this weekend ~ and it was a great time! Miss Marguerite is missing in the picture above because the lucky duck had to leave early because her family had tickets to Riverdance!! But the others in the picture from left to right ~ Angela (Andrea's mom), Andrea, Dawn and myself (Sherri) ~ the theme of the weekend was Beach bash and the decorations were awesome. The ladies at Cold Lake certainly know how to throw a crop weekend, and they treated us all so well from beginning to end ~ always feeding us with snacks, giving us little treats, and handing out door prize after door prize as well. They had some awesome fun challenges that you could enter, and win prizes for ~ and their vendor fair was amazing ~ honestly there were almost too many vendors ~ but the prices were good and if ya love to shop like some of us gals tee hee ~ it was heaven. Being we were out of town we had to reserve accomodations on the base, and they were more than adequate ~ definitely very clean and totally suited our needs ~ for all we needed was a bed and shower haha, the rest of the time we were scrapping!

We are so ready to head out again there next time, we all came home more than tired but happy with the great experience. And I had an added plus going out there, one of the ladies that was there from the Ladies Guild - serving us a very yummy lunch on Saturday, well she was a long long lost friend. She came up and tapped me on the shoulder ~ I turned around and there stood Kim ~ we were close friends when our sons were small from about 1-4 years, and we lost touch during and after my divorce ~ we were both overjoyed to see each other again, and even better she facebooks haha, my biggest addiction ` so I look forward to catching up with an old friend in the future, and keeping in touch.

All in all it was a great weekend ` and coming up this weekend a bunch of the gals that I crop with on a regular basis have decided they want to go out dancing haha, so I think we are going to find ourselves a place to do just that, and spend some down time together ~ should be fun.

I have recently taken on a second job on the weekends, so my down time is even more precious to me ~ but my second job is a light retail position with a bunch of fun people to work with, so ~ so far so good. :-)

Oh and I wanted to comment on the neatest idea ~ I am sure it is not new ~ but Angela generously let us take a quick peek at her art journal this weekend, it is just amazing and such an inspiration ~ I know more than one of us that saw it this weekend are making plans to start similar journals of our own, the constant art applied and the neat way of journalling is bound to be inspiring ~ I can't wait to get one going myself! So many ideas so little time haha, I almost need to win a lottery so that I can stay home full time and create, instead of taking on more work haha. Well I will have lots to do once life slows down hee hee, whenever that will be.

Hope you all have a great week!

cheers :-)

I can't believe the time is whipping by so fast ...

Isn't life just a constant busy pace?! I am looking forward to a few awesome and fun events at the mid to end of the month, and yet I wish I could slow the days down just a touch. Enjoying the milder weather we have had this week, compared to the deep freeze of last week, one of the guys in the office was even commenting on how pretty the blowing snow was today coming off the roof ~ all sparkly in the sun! Quite a change from the grumbles of last week hee hee.

So what is coming in the few weeks ~ I have a very close friend's (Kelly-Ann) bday coming up, so I am hoping to share some time with her ~ she is a special woman and though has moved away on me, we have managed to stay in very close contact and still see each other on a pretty regular basis.

I have a retreat in Cold Lake (Scraptacular 2) that I am really really looking forward to ~ will be cropping with my friends ~ Dawn, Andrea, Angela, Kelly, Marguerite and Trisha and maybe more ~ it's always a treat to see some of the creations these talented women come up with, and hey let's face it a weekend away with the gals scrapbooking away can be nothing but good right?! haha. Plus it will be a different location and group, so I am looking forward to meeting some more scrapbooking friends, and checking out the event.

And then the very end of the month, actually the beginning of March (so that is nice starts off March well) my friend Kelly-Ann is coming for a visit from Calgary ~ so again I hope to have some great quality time with her.

Of course in between I hope to spend some lovely coffee date time with my friend Dawn, it certainly breaks up a long long week when we can sneak out for a couple hours and just chill ~ the time we spend has become very special to me. And of course any time I can get in there cropping with my friends also is just a bonus upon a bonus. :-)

A good bunch of us were all out at the Kinette Club Spruce Grove crop on Saturday, it was a great time and the hours flew by so fast. Thanks to Dawn, Andrea, Angela, Nicole, Mona, Tammy, Kelsey, Marguerite, Donna, and Tanya for being a part of the day ~ as well as a big big Thank you to my friend Kelly for inviting us all out there in the first place. It was a very affordable day ~ only $10 ~ and included supper and 12 hours scrapping time, and the location was great. We hope that the Kinette Club found the event to be a success and not too much trouble and does it again sometime, we certainly would love to join them again!

I wish everyone a wonderful Wednesday ~ and hope your week is going smoothly.

Cheers

Well what's up next?

So I am home from my retreat from this last weekend, figures it was on the coldest weekend of this year haha, and for the most part it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately ran into some heating problems which put a big kink in our creative processes, and our bones, muscles etc. haha ~ and gave the owners of The Barn Loft some idea that they need to make some upgrades, which they were already busy brainstorming about. I did get some layouts done, which when I have time I will get all scanned up so I can post some in here, I really think it's time I start thinking about investing in a digital camera, how simple it would be if I could just take pictures of my layouts ~ so I could post right away. I am hoping the facilities at the Scraptacular 2 event in Cold Lake are comfortable and warm ~ and hopefully I can sometime schedule in a retreat weekend in warm weather too, see what the difference is haha.

So today I am still chilled through and a bit tired, but as I have another cropping day long event this weekend in Spruce Grove I am hoping to get re-energized soon. The really nice thing about going to this first retreat is that I did put together a number of packages and only got through about 1/4 of them, so I should have lots to do for the upcoming event and the one at the end of February so packing should be a breeze. :-)

Looking forward to Saturday ~ and spending out in Spruce Grove with a bunch of my scrapbooking cronies, and being able to support my friend Kelly in one of the events she has organized. Going to have some great chat and inspire time with: Dawn, Mona, Andrea, Marguerite, Tammy, Kelsey and more I hope ~ and we can scrapbook to our hearts content for the day, and support a good cause, The Kinette Club out there. :-)

Going to be busy this week clearing all the space around my windows, so hopefully I will still be getting those replaced at the end of this week, but who knows what the fridgid tempertures will do to their schedule, have to wait and see. Tonight I am going to tackle my craft room haha, as it is the most work ~ once it is done I can breathe easier and then look forward to the new windows!

Wishing you all a great week!

It's getting closer !!!!

... Meaning the retreat I am attending with my friend Donna at the end of the week ~ at one time it seemed like it was such a long way off, and now here it is just 5 more days to go until I am away for the weekend ~ creating and chatting and visiting and relaxing. I am so looking forward to this first retreat / weekend event of the year ~ and so excited to say I know there are more coming haha.

The biggest thing is drawing inspiration from all my wonderful scrapbooking friends, as I won't have access to a computer (hhhmmm a weekend without a computer ~ probably my biggest challenge haha) and all the beautiful layouts that make me oooohhhh and aaaaahhhhhh ~ but I have put together a couple dozen packages (pics included) so that I have lots to do ~ I really would be happy if I even managed to create half as many wonderful pages, I really am so ready to go!

Not much else to say, I hope I have some lovely layouts to post next week and thanks to my amazingly talented friends for continuing to post layouts and ideas and links to more ideas ~ you are amazing my friends!

hugs

I am trying hard ..............

To keep my blog updated on a regular basis, I think in alot of ways it will be an awesome tool to make sure I continue to regularly journal and track life in general. I know I constantly find so much inspiration from those who update their blogs on a regular basis ~ and especially the scrapbooker in me loves to see the updated work of the wonderful talented ladies I know ~ so thank you Mona, Janine, Trisha, Lynn, Kristine, Tracey and Corri to name a few who post their creations and update their blogs on a regular basis ~ simply you inspire me.

I have a scrapbook retreat coming up at the end of the month ~ and I wish I could bring a computer haha, so that I would have all this lovely inspiration at my finger tips for when I could use it most, while I have the time to scrapbook for hours at a time. :-) So at the moment as I don't have this option, I am trying to soak up daily all the inspiration I can find, so that once I get to the retreat I am raring and ready to get creating ~ I am quite excited about this retreat, as I have been to this location once before (my first and only retreat so far) and know so much better what to expect, and how to prepare. It's with a group of people that I never see at any other time, so it will be nice to visit and catch up with them all also ~ I see a couple late night ~ early morning scrap and chat times coming up, and this time I am going to bring movies, books and magazines and have some relaxing rejuventation time as well. :-)

My condo association is redo-ing all the windows in the next couple weeks as well, and that is going to be a huge packing and moving session with my craft/computer room ~ don't know what kind of notice we are going to get before they actually schedule my condo in, making me a bit nervous ~ life has been busy the last little while, as well as I have been ill with a stomach flu ~ so of course nothing has been done to this point, and as all the windows are to be done, not sure where we are suppose to put it all when we have to move it haha. And at the same time I am trying to organize and get ready for a retreat ~ I am in a bit of a tizzy, and time is just flowing by.

I am excited to say I have another crop weekend coming up in February as well !!! Going to attend the Scraptacular 2 event in Cold Lake ~ very excited about this one as well ~ totally new experience, and a whole different group of awesome ladies to spend the weekend creating away with :-) Have to say starting out 2008 on a strong high, going to have to keep it up, with spending more time with friends and some quality time with family ~ and already I do believe 2008 is going to be a very good year!

Some of my recent fave layouts!