Say Cheese...

It was the perfect Sunday to be scrapbooking, got 4 inches of snow in the past 2 days. Nice day to be inside. Fortunately, on Saturday it was only -2 so we got some snowmobiling in on the field across the street with Raydn.....some much needed fresh air!!! When you get a day like that lately, you have got to jump on it; there has not been to many. Another reason why I got this layout done, Timm was actually off the whole weekend (that has been rare) and Raydn was occupied.
In this layout I used old potpourri ( it has no smell), I was looking for a "rustic" look....to go with the outdoor pics and was super excited when I found the potpourri. I ended up glimmer misting them with olive green glimmer mist to match the paper. This shows you can scrapbook with just about anything lol. On the first page, I braided some brown and green ribbon onto the picture and tied the bows within the potpourri. For the lettering I used grunge board, inked them with distress ink and then brushed them with some perfect pearls (green and gold). I also added the perfect pearls on the picture edges, on the tops of the potpourri and on the buttons.

Page 1- My intrepation of a Swirlydoos sketch

Page 2- My own to match

These pictures were taken in Edson, AB by one of my good friends while we were camping July long weekend 2010.  She is currently setting up a business "Krystal Clear Photography"....super talented girl!!! Not afraid to get in the trees and dirt to get that perfect picture!!! Its amazing how she got him to pose (well....he HAS had a bit of practice). This was such a fun day!!!!

I also have to post the layout I did by Roxanne (Urban Scrapbook) last week. All I can say that I have NEVER used so much glitter in my whole life. When I got home, Timm had a good chuckle because I was SO sparkely. You should have seen my work station...not pretty..or VERY pretty depending on how you look at it. Very interesting in all the different ways she used it though. I love glitter but the thing I dislike about it, is it usually still gets everywhere after its applied. I learned ways where that does not happen :P  I also learned a double application technigue to apply 2 colours of glitter within eachother. Super cool!

Happily Ever After...

You know as much as I love to be in the house scrapbooking, I would absolutely love some warm weather!!! Trying to keep a 18 month old busy some days is just not very successful. You can only take so many pictures that look the same because Raydn's wearing the same winter jacket and you have the same white background!!!  Time for some heat to melt the snow and bring out the suntan lotion.... but right now I think I even settle for spring...less than a month away :) Time is not moving fast enough... Speaking of time..

For me, its hard to believe that my husband and I will be married for 5 years this July and this is first wedding layout I have done of us. Our wedding day was a VERY hot (+30) day (dreaming about it right now..), in these pictures we were dying from the heat but I say we held our composure rather well...I think the champagne helped a bit though. lol.
This layout is what you would call an experiment.......I tried some sewing and some different techniques. Haha, you could say that sewing is definitely is not my forte. Couldn't sew a straight line if my life depended on it, also the "sewing machine" I have is about a foot long by maybe a foot high (a mini one), so I am limited to where my paper fits on it. Never less I had fun trying anyways :)
I also tried a technique I had learned last year..I took tissue paper, stamped it and then glued it onto my paper with "rock candy crackle paint". What happens is, your stamped tissue paper becomes really shinny. The only thing with this, is when it dries, your paper becomes warped ....well mine did because I crackle painted a rather large area. 
Ahh yes..flowers..I am going to try REALLY, REALLY hard on my next layout NOT to use flowers. I just love them though, I can't help it and I have to try not to make a clump of them on my page (I know I do that quite often too..).  On theses flowers though, I pressed them on black ink and then mini misted them with water so the ink would blend and run creating a softer look.
One reason why I was so excited to start this black and white layout (our wedding colours), was all the black and shinny bling, bling I found. I used jewels, black/silver stars and  black chandelier jewels...a nice touch.

Designed and created by Rhonda Witzke



Our Baby

I guess you could say that I have been in the scrapbooking mood lately. My poor husband probably feels pretty neglected right about now. I was so excited though when I saw this line by by Creative Imaginations (IOD-lullaby boy), I had been waiting for the perfect paper to scrap Raydns ultrasound pictures and the light antiqued blue/green colours were amazing. I couldn't wait, I had to start right away. The layers flowers I did using my cricket- the home decor cartridge I believe it was. The pearls on each flower felt very tedious at times but added that perfect special touch. I absolutely LOVED working on this layout- this was a project though that my hubby finally had to say "Rhonda! Don't add anymore-it's going to look too busy" and also saying "you sure have come a long way since my very first layout four years ago"- totally agree, from lots of layered paper and not a lot of technique. What a supportive husband I have huh? ;) I picked up the flowers at scrapfest-an item that I contemplated buying but in the end obviously glad I picked them up. One thing that is driving me batty though is the flowers aren't inked (I ink everything usually)....I didn't do them because I didn't know how they would turn out. I thought they may look cleaner/fresher this way (if that makes any sense what so ever :S)

Designed and created by Rhonda Witzke

Sitting here, I have no idea what I am going to scrapbook next-maybe perhaps something with the new "My Minds Eye" line that just came out---not to sure yet but of course never the less super excited to get started. Happy scrapbooking all!

Happy Valentine's Day

 I am so fortunate this year to celebrate my Valentines Day with my two special men in my life, even though Timm is working, I get to spend the entire day with my little valentine. Lots of people think that it is just another day of the year but I love it because on this day everyone seems to share a little bit of love. This morning for example, Raydn was surprised by a special little girl Emma with his VERY first Valentine. It will be put away for safe keeping (it's barbie...Emma is 5). In return Raydn and I made Emma a Valentine (well I did, he crumpled paper and destroyed my ribbon drawer..again :( to pass along the love). I knew Emma would be excited to see this on my blog so I though I would add her card. The card is in pink of course..Emma LOVES pink.  Emma has the most pink room that I have ever seen in my whole life and of course with matching pink drums that Raydn got her for her birthday (Sorry Amy and Steve). Even the walls are pink. Pink, Pink, Pink!!! Here's Emma card:

Designed and created by Rhonda Witzke (& Raydn)

In light of one of the most romantic days of the year, I thought I would share some fun Valentines facts for all you hopeless romantics out there.......

The most enjoyable and unbelievable collection of Valentine's Day Fun Facts. Share these fun facts with your friends to amaze them this Valentine Day.

• About 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged each year. That's the largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas.
• Women purchase 85% of all valentines.
• In order of popularity, Valentine's Day cards are given to teachers, children, mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets.
• Parents receive 1 out of every 5 valentines.
• About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine's Day gifts to their pets.
• Valentine's Day and Mother's Day are the biggest holidays for giving flowers.
• Worldwide, over 50 million roses are given for Valentine's Day each year.
• 73% of people who buy flowers for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.

Valentine's Day Superstitions

It is said that the kind of bird a girl watches on Valentine's Day predicts her future husband. For instance:
Sparrow: a poor man
Owl: remain spinster
Bluebird: a happy man
Blackbird: a priest or clergyman
Crossbill: an argumentative man

• If an apple is cut in half, the number of seeds found inside the fruit will indicate the number of children that individual will have.
• To be awoken by a kiss on Valentine's Day is considered lucky.
• On Valentine's Day, the first guy's name you read in the paper or hear on the TV or radio will be the name of the man you will marry.
• If you see a squirrel on Valentine's Day, you will marry a cheapskate who will hoard all your money.
• If you see a goldfinch on Valentine's Day, you will marry a millionaire.
• If you see a robin on Valentine's Day, you will marry a crime fighter - maybe they mean Batman!
• If you see a flock of doves on Valentine's Day, you will have a happy, peaceful marriage.
• If you find a glove on the road on Valentine's Day, your future beloved will have the other missing glove.

(This info was taken from:  http://www.stvalentinesday.org/valentines-day-fun-fact.html)

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

"You & Me"

You know when you have a certain  idea in mind and when your done it looks completely different....that's what happened. I'm actually really happy with how it turned out (I don't think I would change anything...which is surprising..considering we are our own worse critiquers). First, I changed the paper from the new BoBunny pinks to an Older line of Minds Eyes Red. There was just way, way to much pink!! Yup, and no homemade flowers on this layout.... the reds matched so perfectly that I couldn't resist. Lastly, I couldn't even tell you how many times I arranged the layout. Of course anyone who knows me knows that I love to use pop dots, lots and lots of 3 dimensional in this layout...layering, layering, layering! I think the thing I love the most in this layout is my stamped xoxo flowers. First I stamped the brown, I wasn't to sure how it looked and was worried since these were my last 3 big flowers, then I stamped the pink and LOVED it!!! ....so I did all 3 and all the little ones.

Designed and created by Rhonda Witzke

Marchs Moments..

This is my Mama-razzi layout (I couldn't resist, the paper was perfect), as you can see I did it around March last year..... some of Raydns firsts. I just love this paper, you can use it for anything; its very interchangeable (I still have lots of it). I really wanted to use cream flowers but couldn't find any so this is what I did: I crackle painted the flowers and dried them with my embossing gun until they started to burn a tiny bit, this gave them an antiqued creamy look. I then applied black sickles on the edges. The crackle paint also made them crispy and shinny. An extra added touch.

Raydns firsts this month (7 Months Old):
1. Started to sit without support
2. Really started to roll around on the floor
3. Learned to fall asleep on his own
4. Started to play strange :(
5. First word was "DAD"......of course, it still is his favourite word!!

Designed and created by Rhonda Witzke

Coming.... I have been working on a Valentine's Day layout (lots and lots of Pink) but with this nice weather we had last week (did some skating and sledding) has not made for very much scrapbooking time. I also had 2 classes at Urban, so lots of time spent there as well. Days/weeks like this sure makes the saying "Where does the time go?" so, so, so true. It seems just like last week that Timm and I brought home this little tiny boy and now he's...well not so little anymore (a couple of days ago I found him sitting in the bathroom sink...oh boy..)

So yes back to the Valentine's Day layout..I'm laying in bed thinking about all the ideas I want to use..glitter, embossing, hearts, which homemade flowers I should use, glimmer mist, stamping..the list goes on but I'm having trouble deciding which ones to use in THIS layout. I think that I might have to spread them out in my next one. Hopefully I will get this layout done soon but I have no idea what the end product is going to look like :)