Coffee with a good friend

Nothing compares to having a good Starbuck coffee with a good friend. Today, i'm having one with my friend Natalie, and we are having fun setting up her new iPhone!

Cheers
Nathalie

Noël sans Papa

As much as I would love having a happy Christmas, this year's is going to be a difficult one. As some of you know, I lost my Father on March 30th of this year. My dear Papa was a very important reference in my family, and all of us, his children, sought for his blessing for any life changing decisions we were making... right 'til the end. Papa was the kind of person who helped you weigh the pros and cons of everything, with a very critical eye. It was not always easy to deal with him and his recommendations, but whenever we did, we were so grateful for his wise advises, whether we admitted it or not.

So this year marks my first Christmas, my first 'everything' in fact, without him. And this is hard. I am dreading this upcoming Christmas, especially knowing that Christmas was one of his favourite holidays. Papa was 'Un bon vivant' like we say in French, someone who enjoys a good time with good company! This year will have to be about celebrating his life, and everything he brought to us, rather that mourning our loss. He wouldn't want us to be sad... so with everything my Dad brought to our family, we owe him to be strong, united, and happy.

A couple of months ago, I felt the need to create a nice 'decor' for the most recent and last picture I have of Papa. Using a Creative Memories display frame I had for a while, I used paper from the beautiful paper collection Generations (Simple Stories) to create a layout for this special picture, taken last Christmas.

So here is what I did:

Choosing colours that he particularly liked (his favourite season was fall), I created a background that talks about generations, memories, and the comfort of raw materials (burlap, metal, crackle paint, texture).

I know he would have liked this special layout for his picture. Papa and I shared this love for intricate art, aged metal, old trinkets, textures and burlap, and earthy colours. I loved our Sunday mornings' excursion to the flea market together...we did this for years. These fond memories will stay with me for the rest of my life, just as much as the happy Christmas we spent with him over the years. This probably explains my love for vintage looking layouts and altered art....

Je t'aime Papa. Joyeux Noël, et s'il te plait, viens nous rejoindre pour célébrer...

Mini Album - Mega Work!

Recently, Tina from Tina's Scrapbooking asked me if I could make a couple of projects using the Generations collection from Simple Stories. Being a vintage-style fanatic, I was very happy and excited to use this beautiful paper collection! I got a few small wooden pages to create a cute mini-album, and off I went to my cellar!

I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to create, but I didn't expect spending sooooo much time making this mini!! In the end, though, I am pretty happy with the results... As I was starting to work on this project, my friend Natalie took a picture of me, that she posted on her blog. You can see how small these pages are!

And here is the outcome, a few weeks later (I couldn't work on this project as often as I wished!).

I entitled this mini-album 'Blessings'. It tells the story of my little family and reminds us of how lucky we are to be healthy and have each other. This is a fact that we often forget about... we sometimes have a lot for ourselves, and take it for granted.

Now; I can hear some of you asking: 'Where are you going to store that album?!'. 'This is bulky, not my cup of tea!'. To which I will answer that this is the kind of little album you put on the coffee table so people can flip through if they want to. It gets the conversation going...

So here is how it unfolds.... let me know what you think!

I created a couple of mini-albums in my mini... I didn't have enough pages to put all the pictures I wanted, so here is what I did to add more:

So, lots of little details for a very intricate mini-album! I loved making every bit of it!
Hope you enjoyed this post. Thanks for reading!

Learning curve...

Four days after writing this post stating that I created my own signature, I finally figured out how to post it! It might have been faster if I asked my 8 years old boy to help me... ;o) 

**************************

Hey everyone! I'm not sure if this is going to work, but I added an electronic signature of my blog. Many thank to my dear friend Natalie (http://mamanhall.blogspot.com/2011/11/paper-storage.html) who posted a link where I could create my signature!

Off to a super crop tomorrow, Saturday November 19th, at Dixon's Corner. More to come from this event, and a new mini album for http://www.tinascrapbooking.com/, that I will be posting here very shortly!

Cheers,
Nathalie

The 11/11/11 Resolution: Taking a Leap of Faith!

I read on many blogs that people were planning on documenting what they did on 11/11/11. For me, this special day was about celebrating Remembrance Day in a very special way. Every year, on November 11, I realize that I am very fortunate to have my husband with me. My love retired from the military 6 years ago, after spending 20 years of his life serving our country. I am also blessed I got to meet him after he retired, while he didn't have to leave on mission for months, leaving my children and I behind. When I think that I might have not met him, I feel like a big void would have always occupied my heart.

So on this Remembrance Day, I decided that I wanted to have our children with us, rather than taking them to school. I wanted this day to be a special one, where I can truly thank my Scotty for what he did and sacrificed for our country. We went downtown, all four of us, and attended the ceremony. It was very touching to hear Scott explaining the kids the different steps, music, prayers and traditions taking place during the ceremony.

On 11/11/11 I also realized that I should stop being scared of writing on my blog. For the last six weeks, I came up with every possible reason not to populate this blog:
- I am French Canadian, what if I make mistakes when I write in English?
- What am I going to say?
- Will people read my blog if I write a little bit in French sometimes?
- What if it’s just plain boring?
- I always finished what I started, what’s wrong with me??
- Who wants to know about me anyway?!!

But on this special day, when I realized that we are blessed to be alive and have one another, it no longer mattered whether my blog was good or sucked, whether I wrote in English, French or Spanish, whether others liked it or not. I decided that my blog would be some kind of storytelling – beside my scrapbooking of course – for when my children are old enough to read it. It will always be there for them somewhere on the web, as a legacy, to help them understand me a little better at every post.

So here I am, making a resolution on 11/11/11. I am not the type of girl to make resolutions on New Years’ Day... I make them as I go through life. And when I feel strong enough to embrace them, I take a leap of faith.

So... stay tuned. There’s more to come.
Nathalie

New Beginnings!

Hi everyone! Today, I received some great news, which resulted in one of the best days of my life! I was picked to be part of the Design Team at Tina's Scrapbooking Creations! To say that I am super happy is an understatement... I am ecstatic!

When I started creating my own cards in 2005, I never thought that crafts would become such an integral part of my life. As a scrapbooker, I truly enjoy dedicating at least a few minutes (if not hours!) to it each day. I like to try new techniques and experiment with different mediums - inks, stains, grunge board, crackled paint, glimmer mist/glam/glaze, you name it! My preferred style is vintage, with a sophisticated look; I also get grungy from time to time!

New techniques excite me and I sometimes attend scrapbooking classes to stay current. For inspiration, I also read magazines, blogs, exchange tips and tricks with my scrapbooking ''Divas''! Inspiration is everywhere and can be found around each corner - even in my kids' crafts sometimes!

So today marks a new beginning for me. Being on this Design Team brings immense joy and allows me the opportunity to share stories, scrapbooking layouts, cards, altered art pieces, and ideas with all of you!

I hope you enjoy and I look forward to hearing from all of you!

Happy Scrapping!
Nathalie