All my bags are packed

... I'm ready to go.
I'm standin' here outside your door.
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye.

Cuz our flights leave at 7 in the morning, so you do the math as to what time we need to be at the airport.
{and those that know me KNOW i am not a morning person}. Can you say, "good luck to my family!!!!?"

I will hopefully update you with some photos from close to the equator. :)

anticipating the heat already {from the farm},
j.

my mother did well

One of the things on my list this year {which was very short, by the way} were some scrapbooking supplies. I had full confidence in my mom that she could walk into a store and know my tastes right away. She's seen my work and knows what I like. The only hint I gave her was that I love supplies by Prima Marketing Inc. AND Ki Memories.

Boy.....did she ever get it right!!!! Look at what I came away with!!!!! Can't wait to start some projects with these babies!!!!!

So.....we've been busy this Christmas. Thought I would share some Christmas sights with you -- just some of the new memories from this Christmas at the Hildebrand Household.

Carter received a fabulous World puzzle from his cousin, Solomon and we officially completed it the other day. Boy, was it ever difficult. Took 3 of us: Carter, Ron & myself. Lots of ocean pieces with tiny words on them (all the countries listed with lots of stats) -- right up C's alley. Great gift for the geography-lover in our family!!!! Thanks Sol.

Asha performed in her first "Kindergarten" Christmas Concert. They were little snowflakes and sang a little song. The handsome snowflake on the left is her cousin, Colin. Boy, were they ever cute!!!

Some photos of the kids with their presents.
We always go to church Christmas Eve. The kids are part of the annual play and Nativity Scene. Love this!!!!!!

And here are just a few of the sights that I am enjoying throughout our house these day:

Sweet music playing on the ipod.

My new bedside lamp from my little sister.

Our Christmas wreath hung on the new barn door to our office.
Some Christmas "bling" on the dining room table. I just purchased some of these before Christmas at one of my fave household stores -- Winners.
These beautiful embossed paper doves hung on the bathroom mirror from Ten Thousand Villages.
The HUGE vinyl chandalier hanging above my scrap-space. I'm planning to add a few more in different colours & sizes from my sister.
And my wonderful family. LOVE them sooooooooo much!!!!!!!

{from our farm} to your's.

Happy New Year!!!!

j.

Blesssings ...

... and wishes to everyone this holiday season.

Wanted to share the layout I created using the Chrismas card our family sent out this year. The story behind this photo is not necessarily pretty:

miserable, cold day + kids right off the bus + tired kids & hubby + rowdy dog, not wanting to sit still + a wife & mother with a mission to get a good photo = a family photo with fake smiles, a tight grip on Kayna & a great memory and story.

journalling: "This is our first attempt to get Kayna in a family photo. Our little secret? Not everyone is happy in this photo."

To create some dimension on my chipboard tree (Maya Road), I first painted the tree with MM green paint. When the paint was still wet, I pressed my word stamp into the paint -- no ink on the stamp; just dry & clean. When the paint on the tree was completely dry, I brushed a small Colorbox pigment brush pad (raven black) over the embossed words to make them slightly more visible in places. I then heat embossed a few snowflake stamps onto the tree in a variety of sizes and shapes (stamp - CTMH "Snow Flurries"; embossing powder - American Crafts ZING! - "powder"). To finish the tree, I added some cardstock strips (Bazzill), a chipboard star (AC) and some Christmas sticker embellishments (BG).

To add some finishing touches to the page, I dotted the edges of the cardstock background (FP Kraft Kutz) with Ranger Stickles -- Lime Green, Xmas Red & Turquoise. I had to let it dry for a few hours.

To mat my Christmas card photo, I used the packaging from a Prima Floral that I purchased for another layout.

May you all enjoy the Spirit of Christmas and find the true meaning in everything you see, hear & touch this Christmas Season!!!

blessings {from the farm},

j.

painting again???

The other evening {like so many evenings} I was waundering around on some of my favourite blogs & websites. Ki Memories {LOVE this company} was having a fun, little challenge on their blog -- taking a favourite {busy} pattern paper and adding white paint to calm it down a bit. Then using it as your background to start your layout.

Well........the "calming down my busy pattern paper" part did not really catch my attention -- as all of you know, I LOVE LOTS OF PATTERN!!!!!! ON MY PAPER -- but.......the "adding white paint" sure made me curious. I had just purchased this fabulous pattern cardstock from Bazzill Basics and I was dying to see what a little paint would do to the embossed design -- totally the intent when I bought it. What a perfect excuse to start scrappin' at 10:30 at night!!!!!

So.....I got to work with the paint, brushing it on with a foam brush and wiping it off right away with a paper towel. The shiney, embossed motive {such a design word -- "motive"} resisted the paint and came shining through the paint. I left a cardstock border around the outside to show what the pattern paper used to look like. Love the effect.

Here's the completed layout. I know it doesn't really showcase any Ki Memories products, but it does stick with their challenge. Either way, I will definitely use this technique again. Thank You, Ki Memories for challenging me to get my fingers dirty on this one!!!!!

Here's a close up of the background pattern.

My title, "so, so blessed to have you" is very subtle against the background pattern. I used silver, vinyl letters cut from this beautiful woman and doodled around them with my favourite black Sharpie.

Always love adding a little bit of whimsy to every page. This felt, little "dear" is from BG.

I challenge you to get out your white paint and busy pattern paper. Create something today!!

Go visit the Ki Memories blog for more inspiration and check out their website here. I know you will fall in love with them -- just like I do every time I visit!!!!!!

drooling over Ki Memories {from the farm},

j.

'Tis The Season for Lots 'O Layouts

Fa La La La La .......

Wanted to keep your hearts all warm tonight so.....i just wanted to show you some of my most recent layouts.

*WARNING: lots to see here.

"The Love of my Life"
You can't really see it, but I dry embossed circles onto the white background cardstock; then went over them with some chalk -- an old technique; but always a goodie. Love all the pp that I could use in this lo.....I have enough of it.
"Balloon Baby"

This lo is incredibly simple, but i love the result. Lots of pp strips and just a few embellies.

I created my own title letters by drawing them onto watercolour paper, shading them in with pencil crayons & a blending pen. Then I pop-dotted a few of the letters. Totally inspired by CK Muckosky....love the personality she always shares on her layouts. I want to try that more."Looking UP"
Always have to create a Rocket Day (labour day) LO......this one focuses more on the relationship that the kids have with Ron's uncle Harry -- what a great guy!!!!! Love the AC foamy arrows in the corner.

"What's in your Hand?"
Lots 'o Layers and Lovin' this background PP. And a great story (journalling) about how Ron has changed his mind about texting. Men!?!
"coolin' Off"
Tons of layering here and some serious dimensional elements. The flowers are cut from K&Company pp and i'm lovin' all the felt embellies these dayz.....and always some bling.

"wonder"
This lo is totally scrap-lifted. Love the simplicity of it. You can really use a fave pp to showcase in this layout -- I have LOTS of those. :)

"jump into Fall"
Had to use this woodgrain background pp for this lo -- it was the PERFECT paper. Love the felt embellishments here & all the ribbon strips that are sewn on the bottom of the photos.

I used my paper piercer to free-hand draw around my center photo (yes.....I scratched right onto the photo!!!!) and then cut around the doodling with my scissors. Just another way to give some texture and dimension to your layouts -- neat to include some texture on the photos as well.
"summer Lovin'"

love the photo on this layout -- one of my fave summer photos of Carter & Asha (backyard trampoline dayz).

"ours"

Last, but not least, on this layout I used a very busy and bright pp for my background. It just wasn't doing anything for me. So, I layered strips of masking tape right onto the background paper, butting them up to one another. I simply just ripped the tape strips at the top and bottom to give them a very rough look. I then rubbed water-based dye ink onto the tape and wiped it off right away with a paper towel. Most of it stuck to the tape, but by wiping it off right away, the look was very subtle -- not too bold. Very cool look. :)

One problem: no adhesive sticks to the {almost} glossy masking tape. So, I had to stitch around all my photos with the sewing machine. Not planned, but love it.

Remember........."no mistakes; only unexpected creations!!!!!"

Hope you enjoy.....now, get going and scrapbook some layouts tonight.

freezing {from the farm},

j.

i ask, she delivers

As promised, here are the layouts that Lisa Hildebrand (uber-talented sister of mine) has whipped up with the 50 Post Contest kit that she won a few posts ago. Now.....this girl ROCKS out the pages every week. Whenever I go over to her house, she has {at least} 3-4 new layouts to show me.
Several weeks ago I purchased some love elsie and K&Company paper kits with multiple duplicate pattern papers in them. Of course, I shared the extras with Lisa. So, I see that she has incorporated some of these papers in these layouts as well.

Love this first one: Our Big Guy


Love the background K&Company pp that Lisa used here:
My Favourite Smile

Awesome photos in this layout: look at you

And in this yummy layout, Lisa handmade some fabulous fabric flowers from the same fabric as little Erica's dress. Clever. :)
You can find the tutorial here. These will be on my next project....seriously.


Here's a close-up. Love the dimension.

Hope you enjoyed Lisa's layouts. Leave her comment on this post to give her some encouragement to submit "for crying outloud already!!!!!".

{from the farm},

j.

enjoy

...five more layouts from Valleyview.

"Ma & Me""Picture Perfect"
"Family"

"Mini Me"

"3 Big Buds"

Off for the weekend {from the farm},

j.

more layouts & winning kit

Hey everyone -- just wanted to share a few more layouts that I created at Valleyview a few weekends ago. But before I do that, here is the product that Lisa received from winning the 50 Post Contest. What a haul!!!!! I've asked her to send some images of the layouts that she has created using the kit (I already know she has been busy). Don't know if she'll send some though. Hope so -- she's soooooo talented. Better watch out though -- she might be taking my next spot on a cruise. :)Here's some more layouts that I've been promising to share. I won't bore you with the descriptions this time; just titles.

"Seriously"

"a sweet girl""a love for Webkinz"
"POOL diva"

enjoy {from the farm},

j.

slacking

Off to teach in the city this weekend. I will post more layouts from my crop weekend next week -- promise.
And.......I'll share with you what Lisa picked as her prize for the 50 Posts Contest. OMW -- did she ever get a haul!!!!!!
See you next week.
{from the farm},
j.

sharing

some of the layouts that i created last weekend. These ones all have a "school" theme to them.

Title: your freckles
* your typical "jill-layered-LO" with a few little twists. I actually cropped my photo and pattern paper with my scissors; no paper trimmer involved. I saw a very similar lo on a blog I was reading and fell in love with the more non-traditional way of cropping a photo. love this. Can;t take the credit here for this brain-wave. the circles in the corners are stamped with black ink & hot pink paint. The mini dots are an actual Stampin' Up stamp that I borrowed at the crop from a friend. i WILL be purchasing them soon though. :)

Title: Looking Forward to Gr. 3
* a very simply-designed LO. I love the background paper -- so typical to Carter at this age. and the dictionary paper (that i actually ripped out of our dictionary at home; the "pn" section of the book, i think) shows Carter's keen sense & character in school.

Title: 3 waiting

* This LO is actually scrap-lifted from a magazine that i loved and ripped the page out one day. no idea which issue though. love the strips of pp & dictionary paper; love the painted background; love the floral in the corner (i think that is my design :) ; love the vintage little dick & jane card in the corner under the flower; love the photo of my 3 kids waiting for the bus on their first day of school. love these memories.

Title: shine

* this LO is totally inspired by the homemade felt hearts that i cut and sewed onto the lo. I also hand-doodled all the flowers on the page -- these are doodled onto watercolour paper with a black Sharpie marker and then coloured using "Smooch". This lo is actually really dimensional and this photo doesn't really show that. :( Maybe i'll post some close-ups one day.Title: K

* another product of "jill-layering" and tryng to include all the embellishments i've had forever in my stash. I actually don't have THAT many school-themed embellies; i tend to purchase generic embellishments that i can use on multiple-themed lo's. It's fun to get the creative juices flowing with something that isn't typical sometimes.

beware: you are going to see a common layout theme in the pages that I will be showing you. I had never really noticed before, but my sister-in-law pointed out to me on the weekend that I tend to always (maybe more like "usually") place my photos on the right-hand-side of my layout and design around them. She, on the other hand, "usually" (more like "always") places her photos on the lhs of her layout. Strange, eh? Is this b/c i am right-handed and she is left? I have no idea. I do know though, that looking through my albums, i DO tend to draw ones eye to the right side of my lo's for some odd reason.

just a little something to ponder.

thinking & questioning {from the farm},
j.