My Little Snow Girl

Hopefully these pictures speak for themselves...love love love you my little baby girl!!! Can't wait to meet you face to face :)

My first day of the THIRD TRIMESTER!

{Photo is imitating the work of photographer KellyMacDonaldPhoto.com)

Our puppy is so silly!

Seriously, puppies are flippin' adorable. And, Jolie just seems to keep getting cuter...even as she ages. I suppose I can't really call her a "puppy" anymore - at 18 months of age - but she totally does the silliest things!

Laying between the sliding glass door and the blinds:

Twisting herself in the curtains:

Falling asleep under the coffee table:

Sprawling out on the couch like she owns the place:

Peeking through the sheer curtains with her nose sticking out (she'll lay like this for hours!)

Using pillows like a human does:

Taking advantage of the comfortable support of my belly/breastfeeding pillow:

Acting like it's all just no big deal!

Love my sweet Jolie Violet!

KJ & KJ wedding album

Here are the promised photos of the 9X9 wedding album (that I am keeping for my collection) of Karen & Kenny. Seriously such a beautiful event! The photographer was flown in from Ontario to BC to take these marvelous pictures. I love having these albums of other photographer's work on hand for inspiration. They're so fun to look at!

Many of you know that I can whip through a wedding album very quickly. Often times, at retreats, I would complete a wedding album the first night of the weekend. It's so rewarding to have a whole album finished so quickly! There are reasons, though, that my wedding albums go SO FAST. And, here are some of my rec's:

1) KEEP IT SIMPLE AND CLASSIC. I use a black, cream, or chocolate background, depending on the theme of the wedding.

2) CHOOSE ONE ACCENT COLOR. Or, at the most, two. In this album, I chose red, because her flowers were red. Every once in a blue moon, I would do a page with maybe different colored photo corners or matting, just because it made the picture look that much better.

3) NO PATTERNED PAPER. As much as I adore patterned paper, it's very difficult to choose patterns that are truly timeless. I want a wedding album to look beautiful for the next 50 years, not to look fun and funky and trendy. That's just not what I am going for.

4) KEEP EMBELLISHMENTS TO A MINIMUM. I love using Making Memories Definition stickers in wedding albums. I also like to use a dab of metal embellishments here and there (although I didn't in this one). Photo corners are handy. Maybe a little bit of ribbon is okay too. But, other then that, keep it simple!

5) USE STAMPS. Stamps are an incredible way to repeat something a hundred times. In this album, I used a damask stamp because that was one of the themes of the wedding. I embossed black on the black cardstock for a subtle look that adds texture. In another album, I did snowflakes embossed in robin's egg blue sparkles, also on black cardstock.

Thanks for looking!

Snowed In = Projects DONE!

I am sure a lot of expecting mothers are like me: long to-do lists titled, "Before Baby Arrives." Well, I not only have my household/nesting list before baby arrives, but I also have a long list of creative/scrapbooking projects to complete! I don't often make to-do lists when it comes to art projects; I find as soon as it's in the have-to-do category, my creativity is GONE. However, the fact that my MIND is also gone right now (seriously, BABY BRAIN is real!) means that I must write things down, or I will completely forget that they exist.

I was snowed in this week - no hubby to shovel me out (he comes home tomorrow - yay!) So, I took advantage of the free quiet time (although Jolie was definitely NOT impressed without her daily trips to the dog park). I finished three projects:

1) Starbucks mini book *check*

2) Christmas Canvas *check*

3) Karen and Kenny's 9X9 wedding album (for myself) *check*

Here are pics of two of the projects; the wedding album has yet to be photographed in decent daylight (it's dark here at 5 pm!)

STARBUCKS MINI BOOK:

This book's final size is 5.5" X 8" or so...It's a VERY different album then what I normally do!

It's funky, and wild, and messy, and chunky, and odd-sized, and all those fun things.

This is a book to hold all my SB memorabilia - my pretty gift cards, my cool sleeves from around the world, and my pictures from my many memories there.

It's also a book to tell the stories of my beverages (as they change each season), and all the things I LOVE about Starbucks!

I decided to try a totally different way of binding this book (above). I used binder rings, but put them through the paper parallel to the edge instead of perpendicular. Then I used Tim Holtz tape to wrap around the edges. I don't recommend using the rings this way, unless your project is less bulky (it was REALLY hard to get the rings in, and I tore some of my paper this way).

So the reason this book is such a different size is because I have been collecting the SB ads that are printed in Real Simple magazine over the last couple of years (since they first began advertising). They're about 8.5X11", but that was too big for my liking for a "mini" book. So, I decided to glue them down and fold them in half. So, all the pages open up and have room inside for an add or other things like pictures, journalling, etc. And, there are extra pages for more things as I collect...

CHRISTMAS CANVAS:

Oh, how this project evolved! That's the cool thing about canvases, though, is if you don't like something - you can just paint over it! Originally, I wanted to do 2 square canvases back in the summer for our bedroom. Suffice it to say, I didn't like the way they were turning out, and after a silver-glittery background evolved, I just STOPPED and complained to my friend Kristin. She remarked the silver-glittery reminded her of Christmas, and maybe I could do something with snowflakes...GREAT IDEA!

So, I ran with it...

Used my Cricut to cut all the letters (thanks mom and dad - it was my Christmas gift last year); vinyl snowflakes from both Treasury of Memories and Stampin Up; a TON of modge podge; and some snowflake ornaments for depth/dimension.

It's still not my fav canvas I have ever done, but it works!

Thank you for looking!

Oh, and during the making of this blog post, I ate a whole pizza. By myself. Mmmm.

OH Christmas Tree!

The Story of Putting up the Christmas Tree

by Jolie Violet, 2010

This year our tree did not smell like usual. It smelled like plastic instead of wood. This was very confusing for me, but I decided that I would eat it anyway.

I like to help Daddy put up the ornaments, but not the lights. He gets sort of frustrated when he does the lights, and so I just sniff things.

Mom and Dad always get to have treats while they decorate. Fortunately this year, although they didn't share the Cini Melts from McD's with me, they did let me chew on the empty Coke bottles after their "Cheers!"

Sometimes I like to sit on the couch, listen to Christmas carols, and watch the pretty tree. The other day I did try to eat a glass ornament, and it didn't really suit my taste, so I left it shattered on the carpet for Mommy to clean up.

I am very proud of our Christmas tree this year. I hope you like it. And I hope that I will get a bone or two in my stocking this year. I think I have been pretty good! Well...and if I haven't been good, I am at least CUTE, right?!

Merry *ruff!* Christmas to everyone!

(the end)

San Fran Pictures

Alrighty...finally some pictures for you from our BABYMOON! This was SUCH AN AWESOME trip for us - we would HIGHLY rec San Francisco to anyone :)

We loved it there...and here's why...

Ghirardelli Chocolate...mmmmm...We got ice cream sundaes there TWICE! Baby liked it ;)

Our hotel was right across the street from the Orpheum theatre. We went to see West Side Story there - so awesome! We love seeing theatre together :) I am really glad my hubby enjoys these things!

A shot of trees (and a homeless person - one of many) downtown.

How HAPPY am I that there's a Starbucks IN OUR HOTEL LOBBY!!!! Woop woop! And yes, David memorized my drink a few days into our trip ;)

It was lovely and warm and beautiful the whole time we were there. Only one rainfall!

Amazingly, we met up with our VERY DEAR friends Josh & Jen - they live in Hope, B.C. and were in the Napa Valley for their anniversary. They drove down and met us at the Muir Woods and we went hiking...then had the FANCIEST picnic ever! Truly, this was a HIGHLIGHT of our trip to spend wonderful moments with these incredible friends!

Ahhh, Fisherman's Wharf. We enjoyed walks, shopping, and lots of amazing seafood down there - especially love the clam chowder, of course!

Union Square - shopping, hot dog carts, and a HEART for love pictures like this one!

Anthropologie - my new favorite store in the whole world! I think I went there every day just to SEE and TOUCH and SMELL and EXPERIENCE this incredible place. Oh, and I suppose sometimes I DID buy things too - lol ;)

The Golden Gate Bridge...so beautiful at sunset while riding in an open-top touring bus! SWEET!

Shopping shopping shopping!!!! Need I say more!?

Art EVERYWHERE. Oh, and the mural is cute too ;)

Alcatraz - a creepy but very cool day. Out to the Island, and a tour of the prison. Seriously, SO LIKE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION it's not even funny!

The HardRock Cafe - we ate there after Alcatraz and I was SUPER hungry and grouchy! But, here I am all filled up with a yummy California Hamburger and there's a big smile on my face :)

The Cowgirl Creamery - a cheese store for people like DAVID who love cheese (both the kind you eat and the sense of humour - hahahaha). He was in HEAVEN at this place!

The Museum (well, the only one we went to) was incredible. We were pretty bummed that the planetarium was randomly closed that day, but it was still awesome!

And don't forget the TROLLIES! Actually, all the public transit was really easy to use and pretty affordable too. We had a very good time just getting around town.

TFL!