New layouts

Just putting up some layouts tonight - it's been a difficult day so I'm just going to list them and go to bed LOLThese are the toes of my little one. The photo is from a year ago when she got beach sand between her toes - and just about everywhere else - for the first time. It was so much fun! I got to play with Lemonaid Lucy's gorgeous new kit, Summer Escapades - and I love it! Really gorgeous and fun to use!

Here's another layout from Matthildur's birthday in June. In April she learned to say that her birthday was in June - so as soon as June came around, she declared each day that today was her birthday. Since we always kept telling her NO, when it was finally her actual birthday at the end of the month and we agreed with her, she was really surprised and happy LOL

This is again done with Cinzia Loosemore's gorgeous Celebrate kit. It's an amazing and huge kit and I'm sure I'll come back to it again and again!!

Have you checked out Dawn Inskip's gorgeous Balance Is Beautiful, yet? I made another page with it. This is Lovisa in the spring of 2007. We were on a trip and while on a walk we came across an exercise field for scouts. There were all kinds of strength and balance equipment there, all made from things in nature. Of course, she had to try out everything, and here she's on the balance beam :)My last page for tonight is my gorgeous Lovisa. I took this photo a couple of days ago and I just loved it! I used Lydia Kurniawati's (silversword71) beautiful Happy To Be ME kit - available in her Shabby Pickle store. Well, that's it for tonight - I'm off to bed. All layouts are linked for full credits :)

NEW from Dawn!

Dawn Inskip has a new kit out. It's called Balance Is Beautiful - it's huge and it's gorgeous!!!! Dawn is the featured designer on Gabs' blog this week and you can only get the kit at Treasures To Scrap.Here's my first page with it - I have another one in the works LOL It really is a very versatile kit and perfect for any photos - even the problematic photos where there is lots of color and you have nothing to scrap them with. Well, this is definitely IT for those photos!!

I scrapped my gorgeous 5 year old with it. And I had to try something - because there is this gorgeous woven white paper in the kit and I thought it would be just perfect for blending. So I tried it out and I really like how it turned out.

I made another page with the Let's Connect collab. It's so big - and bright! It's a bit out of my comfort zone since I'm more of a subtle and dark color scrapper - but I always enjoy the occasional "think outside the box" scrap LOL The designers call this kit a celebration of friendship and technology - and the designers are amazing: Amy Sumrall, Ellie Lash, Flergs, Franziska Altmann, Heather Manning, Kim B's Designs, Krystal Hartley, Lost Gurlz Venture Designs, mgl Scraps, Miss Crow, Moon Scraps, Polka Dot Plum, Sugarplum Paperie, Tracey Monette, Web Designz by Kristi and Wenchd Grafix

It's available at a lot of places; Gotta Pixel, Faith Sisters, Sugarplum Paperie, Sunshine Studio Scraps and Designs in Digital.

Since I'm afraid of bright colors (LOL), I decided to choose the brightest of them all, this gorgeous sunburst paper, to scrap my little star :) I love her to pieces!Did I tell you that Karah Fredericks is having her 2 year digi-designing anniversary celebration this week and next?Not only does she have a 40% off sale, there are RAKs being given out all over the place and there are challenges over at the Blue Flombingo blog for 2 weeks straight - with a chance to win wonderful prizes! The first challenge is to lift one of Karah's layouts - and this is my attempt...using mostly Karah's Momma Mia kit.

These are my lovely Lovisa's many faces when she was 2 years and 3 months old (I guess that makes 27 months LOL).
My last layout for the night is done with a lot of different things from my growing collection of Birgit Kerr goodies...

Isn't she cute? This is Matthildur in June of last year. She was a little over 11 months, walking and kicking a soccer ball all over the place. She loves her balls!!

Thanks for looking - everything is linked to stores or galleries for full credits :)

Summer...

...finally we have some indication that summer is here. Granted, we usually don't get too many warm summer days here, but last year, for instance, we had 4 days where we could go to the beach in swim suits before June 26. Now we haven't gotten even 1!! Yesterday was nice, though, and the forecast is for more of the same. Here's hoping for a nice and warm July!!

Meanwhile, I've been scrapping LOL

We always go camping every year, usually for at least 2 weeks straight and then for some shorter trips. In 2004 we took our older daughter for a camping trip around Iceland. She was 18 months and we took it really easy. Little driving, lots of outdoors play and lots of walks. This one place, we went hiking up a little mountain between two glaciers. She got a ride on her daddy's back on the way up and fell asleep in the backpack - when we were up, she woke and we had a little snack and then she decided she wanted to walk herself. She loved it - stopped a lot to enjoy what she saw - and it was great to watch :) This is her while exploring a piece of wood on one of the paths...I used Lydia Kurniawati's (silversword71) gorgeous Happy to be ME kit, available at Shabby Pickles...And, my little one turned 2 on June 26 (probably mentioned that before LOL). I can't believe how time flies!! Since her birthday was on a Thursday and a lot of family lives quite a distance away, we decided to have her birthday party on the following Saturday. This photo is her, in her birthday dress and fairy tiara, busy helping decorate her cake :)

I used Cinzia Loosemore's gorgeous new Celebrate kit. The actual kit is part of the Digital Freebies kit club for the month of July, but Cinzia has a huge and gorgeous add-on to the kit that you can buy separately. I just love this kit, it's perfect for each and every celebratory occasion!

Lastly, I did another layout with Lori Wiley's gorgeous new Hidden Secrets kit. It's just too wonderful for only 1 layout :)
We went on a walk yesterday since the weather was nice. My little one wanted to sit in her stroller while my older one wanted to go on her bike. When we had walked about 500 meters Matthildur announced that she wanted to walk - and walk she did. Or actually she ran - full speed - for the remaining 3,5 kilometers of the walk. In between running, she sat down on lava rocks and waited for mom, who tended to lag behind, too busy with the camera to bother with keeping up LOL. Anyways, this is Matthildur on one of her "waits" :)

And here's Lori's gorgeous kit...I hope you are having a great weekend!!

Lots of new stuff...

Ok - I have tons of layouts to post, so here goes...LOL

First off, the new Diamante kit! Have you seen Lori's new kit it's soooo gorgeous? It's called Hidden Secrets and it's 20% off this week...take a look, it's absolutely worth every cent!!
Here's my page with it - showing my little one with her little pout. It's just the cutest thing LOL

I did this page also for the newest ITC challenge over at Lori's Loungerette's blog. It's fun, we are scraplifting Teresa's gallery and she has some MAJOR gorgeous layouts to lift!!

Next up is Dawn Inskip with the coolest set of alphas I've seen for a LONG time!! It's called Say It With Flowers...And my page with it...I also used Dawn's Pets kit, don't you just love that background paper??!! Oh, and this is my 4 year old nephew and his dog. She is just a puppy but so big already! He is a bundle of energy and this photo is taken about 3 weeks ago at a beach in a secluded valley. We went there when visiting my sister's family and had a blast - we were almost alone in the world while in this valley, just us, the birds and some sheep!

Next up is Karah Fredericks 4th of July kit. It's gorgeous - and called Starry-eyed Wonder. I used my 5 year old girl's pre-school graduation for this layout too. The 4th of July kits seem to work well with the celebratory feel :) BTW, Karah is celebrating her 2 year digiversary this week and the next with a 40% off sale at both her shops, The Digi Chick and Blue Flombingo. There are also challenges every day at the Blue Flombingo blog and giveaways throughout the digi world!

Two more - and then I'm done for the night :)

This one I did with a collab called Let's Connect, and is the collaboration of Amy Sumrall, Ellie Lash, Flergs, Franziska Altmann, Heather Manning, Kim B's Designs, Krystal Hartley, Lost Gurlz Venture Designs, mgl Scraps, Miss Crow, Moon Scraps, Polka Dot Plum, Sugarplum Paperie, Tracey Monette, Web Designz by Kristi and Wenchd Grafix. It's a celebration of friendship and technology! Great tribute to the online friends we make in the digiscrapping world! It can be bought at Gotta Pixel, Faith Sisters, Sugarplum Paperie, Sunshine Studio Scraps and Designs in Digital.

The last one is the last layout I did while I was a guest CT member for Kim De Smet in June. Kim is a wonderful designer and I love her designs!Everything on the layout, except for the frame/overlay, is from the new July Collaboration Kit by Edeline, Nikki Beaudreau, Amy Hutchinson, Janosch Designs, Summer Simmons, Kim de Smet, Vicki Stegall & Sunflowers available at OScraps and SugarGiggles

Thanks for reading/looking - you've got quite the stamina if you made it this far :)

Contemplation...

My younger one turned 2 on Thursday!! Big milestone! And my older one's last day of pre-school was Friday!! An even bigger milestone since she starts school in the fall and I feel like she is growing up WAY too fast.
Matthildur, my little one, is a little bundle of energy, but she can amazingly sit still for the longest time and play in the sandbox or draw pictures or read books when she feels like it. I took this photo of her a few weeks back while she was drawing. She just has this calm look and it looks so adorable on a 2 year old with a pacifier in her mouth LOL

I used Birgit Kerr's gorgeous new kit, Heaven Sent, to scrap this photo. The kit is gorgeous! Birgit never fails with her awesome stuff!Tracey Monette has a new Grab bag out! It's a collab type thing with Tracy King and Phuong Ton at Scrapbook Elements. It's only $3 and I can tell you right now that it's stuffed full and definitely worth it to get! I love Tracey's stuff - she never fails to amaze me with her talent and her kits always make me think outside the box! And they are ALWAY fun!! Here's a page I did with some of her stuff in the bag - check out the Cow-a-bunga LOL There's also a Pig-a-bunga LOL

Tracey also released a 4th of July (and Canada Day) kit today, called North Americana. It's a collab kind of thing with Tracy King...it's huge and you can buy both kits together for less than $5We don't celebrate 4th of July here, so I'm having a bit of a problem using these kinds of kits. Tracey's papers, however, are gorgeous and there are so many different and beautiful elements in there that it can easily be used for a variety of occasions. I used it for my older daughter's pre-school graduation...

Isn't she just the cutest :) I'm suffering from proud mommy syndrome here LOL

Ok - that's long enough! I'm making up for lack of posting with length when I do post ROFL. Anyways, everything is linked to shops or my gallery for credits. Thanks for looking :)

Expressions Summer

We live right by the shores of the North Atlantic, watch it out our living room window, actually, and feel the salty water everywhere when the wind blows from the south west. It's a spectacular sight, watching the ocean when it's windy - and since we are actually by the open ocean, it's almost always gorgeous. There is a big difference between the ocean in fjords and the open ocean, it's like the difference between a tame and a wild horse.

Anyways, Lovisa Lin is absolutely fascinated by the ocean. Last summer we got a few really warm days (for Iceland LOL) which we got to spend at the beach. The currents are too strong for kids to go in the ocean - and even if they could, it's always just a tad bit too cold, but Lovisa Lin loves to watch it and she always looks almost like she is defying it. "Come and get me if you dare" kind of attitude - so, when Dawn Inskip came out with this amazing set of summer word art, this photo is the first one I thought of when I saw this quote. It just seemed to match perfectly!

Dawn's pack is called Expressions Summer and it's just fabulous - if you haven't seen it already, go check it out.I have another layout to show, it's one I did a few days back - and it's not a CT layout LOL I used Ah! Designs (Amy Hutchinson's) gorgeous Melon Madness kit to scrap a photo of Matthildur eating a sandwich on a little pier we found while traveling last week. The weather was so nice and we stopped there for quite a while, taking in the gorgeous landscape of one of Iceland's remote fjords and the beautiful bird life.

Have a good day :)

Bad blogger!

I really am a very bad blogger!! Maybe I'll try to mend my ways LOL

I have two layouts to show today, both done today in between cleaning the house and walking on the beach - which left me half crippled with sore muscles!! Anyway, here they are:

This one is Lovisa Lin enjoying the sun and her ice cream the other day :) She knows how to get comfy that girl! I used mainly stuff from Birgit Kerr's June Grab bag. She has opened it and it's all available separately in her store. Birgit's stuff is always gorgeous!

Christina Renee is the featured artist at DST this month and tonight is the last night to turn in pages for the featured artist challenge. I whipped this up tonight, I'm not entirely happy with it, but it will have to do.This is an old sod house in the middle of nowhere here in Iceland :) I love those old houses, they just fascinate me and I have to stop and check them out. This one was built in 1895 for 2 families and up to 20 people lived there, in a house which is less than 30 square meters + a little sleeping loft. People lived there until 1969 - it's the year I was born and I can't imagine people still living in houses like this at that time.

Oh - and check out the ITC challenge over at Lori's Loungerette's blog. We are scraplifting Iris - and her layouts are gorgeous. Here's my layout for the challenge...
Off to bed - layouts are linked for full credits :)

Dawn's newest kit...

Life is incredibly busy and since I got on a few too many CTs during the past few months, I've been "downsizing" - I couldn't handle being on so many teams and all the pressure was just sucking all the joy out of scrapping. I hated to give each and every one of them up, but I had to. So, I'm down to 4 permanent spots and a couple of guest spots. That's just about all I can handle with real life right now LOL.

I'm guesting for Dawn Inskip this month (yeah!!) - I've loved her stuff for eternity and I really can't believe my luck! She has a gorgeous new kit out today, called Hush - and it's just fantastic!! Amazing colors, beautiful texture on the papers and, as always with Dawn's kits, GORGEOUS and unique elements!!

The colors were just perfect for my younger daughter's angelic face :D She has big blue eyes and blond curly hair. And she just looks so innocent and sweet and angelic. But she's NOT!! She is the biggest teaser and the things this almost 2 year old can come up with are just unbelievable. And she's always got a shiner, or black and blue marks all over her body, or bumps on her head, or she's bleeding from somewhere...that kid just does NOT know the meaning of fear and if she thinks of something she just puts it into practice right away without ever stopping to think LOL Maybe a typical 2 year old - but my now 5 year old was never like this, so it kind of caught me by surprise :D Anyway, here's that layout...linked for credits, of course :DHave a great day :D

Happy Mother's Day!!

To celebrate the day, Anja Jahn is having a 50% off sale at her Angel Dreams Boutique store! The prizes are unbelievable, you get full kits for less than $2! Her new kit is gorgeous - it's called My Angel...I used it to scrap my little bundle of joy :) She is ALWAYS happy - even when she is sick you can hardly wipe that smile off her face LOLI have a couple of layouts in the Gallery Standouts Thread at DST this weekend! Yeah! I'm not in there very often, so imagine my surprise when I saw my layout there in the first post of the weekend :) I also got layout of the day at Scrap Scandi Style with this layout. I used Kjersti's gorgeous Sailors Delight kit - available at SSS.

Then, my jaw dropped to the floor and remained there for quite a few seconds when I was browsing the Standouts thread again this morning and found this layout there...

M 5 year old is learning to ride a "big-girl" bike. She is very curious - actually the type who runs into street lights because she is so busy checking everyone and everything out LOL. So, when her dad took off her little helper wheels (don't know the English word for them), he started to help her, but as long as she knew he was holding the bike, she started wondering about everything - EXCEPT trying to keep her balance. So we decided to let her do this by herself. And it's working beautifully! Her concentration is completely on staying ON the bike and keeping her balance. So that's the story bethind my gorgeous girl's serious expression :)
I made the layout using mostly Birgit Kerr's new stuff. Check out her store - it's full of gorgeous goodies!!

OK - enough tooting LOL. Have a good day!

New stuff...

The weekend is almost over and with it NSD - can't wait for next year LOL, although I spent way too much money and I have hardly scrapped one little bit! I've got to start diving into my new stash, though :D
A lot of my designers had new stuff in their stores this weekend. I'll start with Sue, she did an amazing collab with SherrieJD who's the Aspiring Artist at Christina Renee's. The collab is called Summer Breezy...
Isn't it gorgeous! I did a couple of pages with it already. Here's one of my 5 year old, I love that expression on her face, she is such a worry wart and is always worrying over every little thing! Her dad says she's just like me - and I think maybe he's right :D
This kit is such an amazing joy to scrap with - but best of all, and I can't really believe it, but I HAVE A LAYOUT IN CHRISTINA RENEE'S STORE!!!!!

Anyways, this is not the only gorgeous new kit this weekend, Birgit Kerr just loaded up her store with new stuff. Her newest kit is called Sparkly Delight and it definitely is a delight! Reminds me of summer mornings...gorgeous colors! She also has some new paper border templates, a couple of brag books (they are beautiful) and a couple of alphas.
I used this kit to scrap my older one in the bath. She is 5 and she has just started to enjoy taking a bath, since she has been deathly afraid of getting water in her eyes! Now, she tells me, she is getting to be a big girl and soon she'll be able to take showers! Just as well since she is going to have to in the fall when she starts school!That sneak peak from the other day was this kit...
...a huge and gorgeous collab between Heather Manning and Dawn Inskip. It's called Evitangel - and it's just unbelievable!
I did a couple of layouts with it already, these days I love doing layouts where I extract the people and put them in a make believe world - I just hope I love them as much when I look in my scrapbooks 10-15 years from now LOL. This is Lovisa when she was almost 2. She was busy getting dressed on her own - and made sure she put on the essentials first: Her hat LOL
Anyways, here is my other layout. These are my daughters wading in the North Atlantic last summer. It's never warm, but we had an exceptionally nice summer (for us!) last year and it turned out to be bearable to wade in the ocean :D
I think I'm going to leave it that. There is more, but that has to wait until tomorrow LOL I hope someone made it this far - and if you did, I also hope that I enabled you some :D

A Sale and a New Kit...

NSB is almost here and there are sales everywhere! Anja is kicking off her NSB sale today in her stores at Angel dreams boutique and Elemental Scraps with 50% off ALL products!!
Check out her newest kit, Alec's Garden, it's so beautiful - I just love her papers!

I just finished a layout using it and it's just a delight to work with!

A lot of my designers are coming out with gorgeous new kits over the weekend - too bad I can't show them already LOL - but here's a sneak peak at a gorgeous collab between Heather Manning and Dawn Inskip. It will be released tomorrow (Friday, May 2) in Heather's stores at Digital Candy, PPF and her personal store, as well as Dawn's stores at TTS, NDISB and SSS.

I wish I could post layouts LOL

New G.R.I.N. Challenge!

Nina has been such an inspiration lately - not only with her gorgeous designs - but also with her layouts. She is an awesome scrapper and has been constantly in the DST Gallery Standouts. So, since it was time for a new challenge, we decided to lift our wonderful designer! Go check out our CT blog and our scraplift challenge - the random winner will get a $5 GC to Nina's OScraps store. And with all of Nina's gorgeous new releases, I'm sure the GC will be useful!
Here's the layout we are lifting - isn't it gorgeous!

And here's my scraplift - I used some of Nina's new stuff, her Men's World Papers, Trendy Coltabs and Bowfun Bows.

Check out the GRIN blog and play with us... :)