Second Chance Challenge - Sketchy Thursdays

I loved this card sketch over at Sketchy Thursdays so I knew I HAD to do it. Lastnight after FINALLY getting some stuff cleaned up and organized from the holiday chaos I spent some time making this card with the papers I got from scrapbooksteals.com. Can't wait to get in some decent time to scrap my Christmas photos as well, SO much to do!!!

Sketchy Thursdays and a few other projects

"Bundled up" is my LO for Sketchy Thursdays, Ive wanted to work with this picture since I took it.. then again I want to work with almost every picture I take of my sweet little girl! Still so in love with the bobunny kitchen spice and dream street papers. It was also nice to take a bit of a break from all of the Christmas cards and pages Ive got brewing!

These two were for Simply Scrapping - I was their guest designer for the week so these are both based off of their sketches.

Christmas is coming people and Im excited!! In ONE week I will be free of school for a whole 2.5 weeks and *hopefully* will get lots of scrapbooking done. Ive also got a lot of goodies coming in the mail to play with so that should help motivate me!

Sketchy Thursdays - Second chance challenge

Not only did this sketch rock but the prize - oh my god! I did a Copic class at the begining of November and am really hoping Santa is nice this year!

Sketchy Thursdays

This didn't turn out how I envisioned but I do like it, didn't think Id be scrapping these photos either but Im glad I did. John and I spent a couple of summers in Nunavut when we were first together and it really was beautiful but sadly we don't have a whole lot of pictures. Used Bo Bunny Kitchen spice for this and sketch from Sketchy Thursdays.

The Halloween stuff

I am so thankful that after the week prior to Halloween and us all being sick with the flu (minus the baby) we were well enough to get out for some trick or treating. John stayed home with Grace who only wore her hand me down costume for a matter of about five minutes (while I snapped pictures). As usual it was impossible to get decent pictures of the two kids together and generally I was unimpressed with the Halloween photos as a whole but I am quite happy with how everything looks now that Ive gotten it scrapbooked. Love this paper line as well, good purchase for sure!

What I've been up to..

Ive been rather bad at posting but Ive been busy with challenges so Ive got to get to posting those so.. here goes!
Loved this card sketch from the Bo Bunny blog so I figured I'd try my hand at their challenge, so here's what I came up with. Check the challenge out on their blog http://bobunny.blogspot.com/

C4C3 - Card challenge

Another C4C3 challenge, loving these sketches and my son insisted we make a halloween card for his Granny so that's what we did!

Another card challenge

This one is for Simply Scrapping, really like how it turned out too.

C4C2 - Card challenge

Just found this card challenge blog and figured Id give it a shot. Here is what I came up with.

Figure I will add sentiment later, hoping one of my cousins has a baby boy. We will find out soon!

Who knew.

A year ago I was still getting used to the idea of being pregnant, being that it took so long to get to that point I had some trouble getting used to it. It's wierd to think back now to the points before we finally managed to get pregnant and realize how I was trying to shut myself off from the world, I really was very depressed.

In the past six months I cannot get over how much I have changed, Ive lost weight, I go out and I CARE about what I look like. The days of sitting in my pjs (maybe because thats all that fit?) are over! I love being outside and going and DOING things with my kids. I feel bad a bit about this but I attribute all of these changes to Grace. She is the perfect baby and she just melted away all the nastiness I had brewing from the years since Cameron was born.

I just went into work and asked for more shifts so that we can hopefully buy a new house and rent out ours sometime next year. I am hoping to start some courses to get a degree in October (money permitting), I am actually DOING things! I feel like I fell into a black hole after Cameron was born and it just got worse and worse, don't get me wrong I love the kid but I just wasn't in a good place and Grace has made all of that go away.

Another giveaway (in PINK!!)

Check out Bona's blog here http://keeponscrappin.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-first-pink-blog-candy.html for this awesome PINK giveaway. Who doesn't love pink??

Another scrap page

Made with the July kit from JustCre8, lots of Cosmo Cricket Early Bird, Bazzil cardstock and brads.

Journalling reads :

They say that the first birthday is a celebration for the parents making it through the first year. For us that seems very fitting! A lot has changed in the last twelve months, you've grown, learned to crawl, walk and talk (a little) and you have tons of teeth! You have quite the personality, demanding yet oh so loveable and busy, busy busy! Some days it is a chellenge just to get you to sit long enough to eat. We have been through a lot of sleepless or sleep deprived nights but they are all worth it when you give us slobbery baby kisses, hugs and cuddles!

- Mom XOXO

Win $1,000 at TheCuttlebugSpot.com!

I have just discovered that The Cuttlebug Spot is having a contest - "The Journey to 1,000"! They are trying to reach 1,000 followers by the end of July and need your help. To enter all you have to do is go to their site, sign up as follower and complete a few easy steps and you could win a $1,000 gift certificate to Custom Crops (www.CustomCrops.com)! GO NOW and check it out at www.TheCuttlebugSpot.com

A recent favorite

I just love how this layout turned out. Did this for a challenge at lets scrap after finding some photos of the hubby on our wedding day that were taken by some close friends. So shows his personality.. lol

I don't post enough.

Clearly I don't post often and I want to get into the habit of posting more. I'm not sure what all that will consist of but I know I want to start posting some of my scrapbooking stuff. We shall see how things go as Im still trying to figure out this blogging stuff.

Blog Candy!

Yet another awesome giveaway, I mean WOW.. this is awesome. Check out Nicole's blog here http://pinknickels.blogspot.com/2009/07/blog-candy-alert.html for this giveaway!

Glimmer mist giveaway!

Glimmer Mist is the same great product with a Fabulous NEW Look!

Check out their website at www.mytatteredangels.com to check it out!

I don't know how people live like this.

Over six months ago I took my maternity leave. Seemed like a good idea at the time, now six months later I'm not so sure. Canada boasts wonderful parental benefits which my husband and I were gladly going to take advantage of for some much needed family time.
Sadly our much needed family time is now consisting of spending nothing because we are two months behind on bills because I have yet to receive my benefits (which would pay the bills and then some). Now we sit at home and wonder what to cook and what bill to pay this month so we don't get shut off.

Every time I contact EI about my benefits they tell me it will be three more weeks, they cannot speed up the process because it's not fair to the other people who are waiting for EI and sometimes they tell me I do not qualify (we know I do and my employer has sent correct numbers to them two months ago). I am beyond frustrated and really at this point want to lock myself in the bathroom and cry. Tomorrow with lack of other options I will have to go to work and tell them I will pick up shifts because I can't stand waiting with no gauranteed end in sight.
So at this point I feel completely robbed of the time I should be enjoying.. seriously, what did I do to deserve this?

Icing on the cake is that I EBF so.. What do I do for my daughter while I am at work, I have to find 60$ to buy a pump or fork out the cash to feed her formula and enjoy being engorged while Im not home. Seriously beyond frustrated, I don't even want to deal with any of it.

My cat is insane.

Of all the thoughts I have to possibly blog about, this one just can't escape me. I suppose it doesn't help that my cat (Katie) is currently trying to break into my son's room as he sleeps. Last night I woke to my daughter at 5:30 to be fed (wow an 8+ hr night, not bad!), shortly after that my son came to my bed complaining of nightmares. The nightmare thing is nothing new and I would have been fine with him sleeping in our bed but when he came in the room so did the cat and I couldn't catch her to try to kick her out.

I grabbed Cameron and we went to sleep in his bed because there was NO way he would get back to sleep with the cat trying to play with him and pouncing off the dresser right onto his head (did I mention she was insane?) So I get him in bed and all is well, he is drifting off to sleep and Katie starts trying to break into his room! All we can hear is the handle being jiggled and scratching at the door.. I'm starting to wonder if this is where part of the nightmare issue comes from.

So not only does she try her darnedest to get the door open, sometimes she succeeds. I was in the bathroom lastnight and she was literally dive bombing the door handle from the tall shelf next to the bathroom door. Thankfully I locked the door, my god it's bad enough that I have kids to open the doors on me but now I have to worry about the cat too??

I've only owned two cats in my life, one was antisocial and only wanted to be near us when we were in bed (which was fine, she just cuddled at the foot of the bed) but Katie, wow. Hopefully she grows out of some of this insanity.

Blog Candy Alert x3!!

Have a few of these to mention..

http://singem1.blogspot.com/2009/05/blog-candy.html This is a fellow Cafemomer and member of simply scrapping, she does beautiful work! Love her!

http://jillofallcrafttradez.blogspot.com/2009/05/blog-candy.html Another Cafemomer and member of simply scrapping. She's got 2 sweet little girls and claims to be a craft-o-holic. She's got some awesome work posted too, definitely a must see.

http://simplyscrapping.blogspot.com/2009/05/blog-candy-giveawayso-yummy.html This site is awesome, I joined the community last month and LOVE it! There are tons of talented ladies there with great ideas and some awesome sketches.

And so it begins

Another night of exhaustion. Clearly I should be in bed but as normal I am not, there's always time for sleep tomorrow right? Yea we all know that isn't true.

Not sure what all this blog will consist of but for now perhaps a slight introduction. I am Erica, mom to two. Cameron who is three, stubborn, loud, busy and very VERY testing. In all fairness he is a very sweet boy but he certainly wants things his way and when they don't go down the way he wants we are WELL aware. Grace is my other babe, just over three months old and the sweetest thing I've had the pleasure of meeting, she sleeps well, and is just superbly content 90% of the time.

I'm generally a stay at home mom although I will likely be picking up a few short shifts every now and then working in the dietary department of my local hospital. I went to school to be a chef and as much as I love cooking I don't have a whole lot of love for most of the jobs I've had in the industry. Some day Id love to open a little coffee shop/ bakery but who knows if that will ever happen.