Two for one

It's my blog's buy one get one free event :D

Okay, it's only because I didn't blog last week, but still, it makes it worth your while today!

Lots of things have been happening, with my son on his way back to school after 2 years in a specialized program. He starts Monday, so there were meetings and shopping in preparation.

We also spent a decent amount of time this week looking at a potential new vehicle...

And the weather has started to turn towards fall, so I  made sure to enjoy as much of the sun as possible while it was still shining (today is grey and cold...).

And in the middle of all that, you guessed it, I scrapped :D

Last week, Bella Gypsy released the September installment of their year-long collection. Check out the gorgeousness of Snap Happier: September 2015 Collection:

The image is linked for a closer look at all the goodies, but you can also see them in action in my layouts.

I used the collection for my desktop with a photo of my happy dude:

But it was too big and too pretty to only do that, so I also scrapped the beautiful new cozy Bench jacket that my parents bought me while they were here visiting this summer. I am about to start wearing a lot, I think, with the weather the way it's going, but it's okay because at least I will be comfy and look good :D

The other collection last week was all about fairs and carnivals. It's called Fair and Square:

I used it twice as well. First for photos of meeting Woody in Disneyland Paris in 2012. It was my Mom's birthday and Woody was awesome, made her get up for a hug and even carried our dude for a family shot (it's people like this Woody who make Disney parks extra magical!) :D

I also used it for a layout closer to the theme. Every July the Beauce Carnival comes to our city. Cédric can't do many rides, but he really loves the ones he can go on and therefore we always go, even if only for a couple of rides (plus it's walking distance from our house):

And now moving on to this week's releases and layouts.

The first one is called Wild at Heart, a bundle full of wild animals and cool wood elements:

I knew right away when I saw it that I had to use it for some of my Cedar Meadows photos. Cedar Meadows is a park with wild animals walking around and you can take a ride through the park and see them up close, even feed some of them. I don't think I had ever seen a kit with a buffalo, a deer, a goose, ... it was perfect!!

And last but not least is Fall In Love, a bundle that combines, you guessed it, fall and love themes, in a colour scheme I love :D:

Every week, for the first week, if you purchase the bundle, you get a free pack (sometimes elements, sometimes extra papers, ...). I always forget to mention it, but this week, it is an alpha to die for. You can't just get the kit, you have to get the bundle to get the Leafy alpha (or you can also buy it separately!):

I used the whole bundle to make a birthday card for my husband's grand-mother. She turned 95 on Wednesday!! It was a nice card, but minimal element use and mostly text, and I knew I wanted to use it again. So I scrapped a very recent photo shoot of my dude at our neighbourhood park:

I used as many hearts as I could :D All the hearts in the kit I believe!

And there you have it!

Do glasses help to look on the bright side?

So the title is linked to the kits that Bella Gypsy released this week, but also very much to my life right now...

I'm feeling pretty old lately as my eyesight seems to be going down :(

Things are a little blurry sometimes, I can't read small things and when the sky is bright, I can't focus my eyes anymore. I have an appointment to the optometrist in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime, I've been wearing some really old glasses that I got in my third year of university. Back then the doctor said my eyes were fine and I was just tired, but prescribed them with the minimum correction available to help force my eyes to work and keep me awake. I was doing A LOT of reading to study and they helped a little. So I thought I'd get them to see if they would help a bit, and sadly I think they kind of do. I had chosen them with my sister :D

This time, if I need some, I'll have to bring my hubby to help me chose! But maybe I won't need any (cross your fingers for me people).

And as a fun coincidence, Bella Gypsy released the mini Bespectacled, which is all about glasses! So I put on my old glasses and took a couple of silly selfies. Check out Bespectacled:

And my silly layout;

But if you like Bespectacled, I suggest you take a look at the kit that it coordinates with (and if you like both, you can invest in the bundle, get the kit, the mini, and an extra pack of accents if you buy it in the next few days!). It's called Bright Side and is all about looking at the positive side of things (an attitude I love and try very hard to embrace):

This one was perfect for a photo from our Florida trip last summer. We took a golf cart ride in the neighbourhood and got caught in the rain! So it is both a literal and philosophical use of the kit :D

Cedric was so happy and thought it was so funny (of course, they were covered and I was in the back with no roof...):

Can I just say how happy the rainbow colours forming the word "rainbow" in the sticker above my head make me?

ALL DONE

My album for our March 2014 road trip to Florida is ALL DONE!!

And the funnest part for me is how easy it was, because I chose a style (sort of pocket style), I planned what I wanted to scrap and organized my pages, and then I joined Bella Gypsy's CT and as they released kits, they kept working with my pages :D

And so I was able to keep myself focused and motivated to complete the album and I had gorgeous kits to do it with! At the end, I had my eye for those last two on a couple of coordinating kits that were released a couple of weeks before I joined the team, but the designers are awesome and told me to grab them if I wanted!! And so I'm ALL DONE!

I hope the designers at Bella Gypsy didn't get too tired of seeing that type of page with almost every new release...

So here are the kits I used to finish the last two pages. They are called On The Go and Beep Beep:

And of course, you might guess that I used them for the road trip part of our trip. The 3 days going South and 3 days going back North (2800km each way!):

Aren't the themes and even colours perfect?

And of course, I also used one of their two new releases last week. Both kits were back to school themed and there is one boy bundle and one girl bundle. I used the boy one which is called Wise Guy Bundle:

And the funny part is that I didn't use it for back to school because Cedric has not been in school for a couple of years. I used it for a photo of him and Helio in the cab about to leave Florida to go back to Canada in August 2014 (so the same theme as the previous two layouts!). I also used a template by Fiddle Dee Dee Designs:

Aren't they sweet cuddling?
And now off to scrap quickly with this week's new releases...

Having too much fun

We're having an awesome summer, and my parents have been here visiting and my little dude is on a reduced schedule. So we're taking walks and playing games (mostly double 15 dominoes) and watching TV (we've introduced them to Chuck). But with all that, it's taking me days to finish layouts and I haven't shown you the few I made...

So here they are, one from last week and 2 from this week.

First off was the August 2015 installment of the Snap Happier Collection by Bella Gypsy:

I used it for one more page form our March road trip (explanation of why we left and photo of the souvenirs I brought back), as well as this month's desktop!

And this week, they released a gorgeous end of summer themed collection. There's a main kit, but also some gradient papers, extra alphas and a mini kit which all come separately or in a bundle.

The collection is called So long, Summer, and the mini is My Summer Story:

I used the main kit and gradient papers in a layout from summer 2014, of the sad attempt at a selfie with 3 people, a stroller, a dog and the iconic Magic Kingdom castle... and the awesome photo you get when a nice cast member offers to help :D

And then, I used My Summer Story alone for a layout of Helio sleeping in a perfect circle on the pillow I made him! I particularly amused myself with the title. I was going to title it "doughnut", but it was long to write, so I was going to write it "donut". But the Canadian in me was struggling until a pun happened. I kept the "g", got rid of the "u" and "h", and called it "dognut". Get it: it's a dog, it's a doughnut/donut, it's a "dognut" :D

Anyways, bad puns aside, the layout turned out pretty and makes me happy:

I was too busy, so I didn't scrap with the other release from last week or this week, I hopefully will get around to it at some point as they were also gorgeous!

My parents are now gone, which is sad, but I might scrap a little more, which will be nice!

Until then, have a great weekend!

Vacation, water fun and hot tubbing!

This week's kits and memories scrapped are actually quite in line with what we did this week!

We took a road trip about 9 hours away to visit a Great Wolf Lodge water park. Gastro all night aside, we had a lot of fun in the various pools, lazy rivers, and hot tubs. We had rented a minivan and were all pretty comfortable (hubby and me, my parents and my little guy), and it was fun to see the ontarian landscapes change and get out of the evergreens we live in.

Incidentally, the kits that Bella Gypsy released led to scrapping more of our Florida road trip last year, and some water fun photos from 2012!

First, the two Iron Scrapper 2015 kits that came out are called Best Day of My Life and Pocket Full of Sunshine. They are very versatile and happy:

The colours were perfect for some of the everyday moments and non-disney parts of our road trip to Florida in March 2014. There's a gorgeous little cake which I used for the photos of my father in law's 60th and an cute night owl to document my little guy night antics (not sleeping and climbing in the furniture):

The other kits are coordinated and both pool themed. The first is a bright, awesome summery kit called Pool Party:

I used it to scrap some really fun photos of Cedric and his uncle Marcel who was visiting from France having some water fun on the deck :D

Isn't my uncle cute sitting in a turtle, eating a duck and wearing a crab? lol

And the coordinating kit (which you get free for a few days if you buy Pool Party) is called Night Swimming and is GORGEOUS. It's all blues and purples and has the most amazing flair with the moon and some waves. I LOVE it:

I used it for another photo from 2012 of our first dip in out hot tub. We were under a gorgeous full moon and I always wanted a hot tub, so it was a very happy evening:

And that's it for this week!

Berries and memories

Happy Sunday morning!

This week has seen a good amount of scrapping memories, some recent and some older. But we've also had good summer weather and therefore playing in the park, taking walks and enjoying the local carnival; the arrival from France of my parents for their 4-week visit; and the start of my little dude's summer break.

In the midst of all that, I did manage to scrap 5 layouts with new releases.

First, Mel Hains Designs had a fun new summery kit called Cook Out great for summer bbq memories and more:

I used it with a template by Jen Yurko (Feeling Hexed collection) to scrap Cedric's visit with Pluto in Disneyland Paris in 2012:

And of course, Bella Gypsy Designs had lots of new releases! These ladies are so productive and talented it's scary...

First, they released Berry Happy, a fun berry themed kit, with a coordinating watermelon themed kit called Taste of Summer (which you get free right now if you buy Berry Happy):

I used them together for a memory from the same restaurant as the first layout I showed you, where Mickey came to see us (for a challenge at Mousescrappers with a great template by Melidy Designs):

And I used Berry Happy alone, with a Fuss Free template by Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs for a photo of my dude with a blueberry and acai moustache (he LOVES berries!):

The second pair they released was Happy Mail, a great kit about getting fun stuff in the mail (boxes, gifts and stuff), and the coordinated First Class about classing mail and trips to the post office:

I combined these as well to scrap the first time I got a Shutterfly order in the mail and got to unwrap my first photobook:

And finally, they released two kits for this week's Iron Scrapper at Scrap Orchard. Sweet Dreams and Every Morning:

I combined them as well. I had a gorgeous photo of my son the way he looks in the morning, still asleep and so peaceful before I wake him up:

And we're off for a walk and a little park visit, so I hope you enjoy the layouts and the rest of your Sunday :D

And then there were 6

SIX KITS! Last week Bella Gypsy released 4 kits, and I thought it was a lot. But this week, there are 6!

They are all quite different so there's variety :D

First let me tell you I had a fairly uneventful week, which is fine by me. Hubby and I went to the movies and I made it back to yoga after over a month without any exercise or activity...

We had also been waiting very long for out little dude's new stroller and it finally came in, so we went to get it (and pay :( ), visited the occupational therapist to get all the straps at the right length and the right positioning, and we took our first neighbourhood walk with it. Of course, neither of  us had our phone, so I'll take a picture next time!

And in my free time, I  made layouts :D

Here are the 6 kits and the 4 layouts I made (they all go in pairs, so I combined!).

1. For the Iron Scrapper at Scrap Orchard, they released Mister Big Stuff and One Fine Day, which coordinate and are very versatile, manly/boyish kits:

I used them together with some happy photos of Cedric and Helio hanging out:

2. The second set of kits is Gotta Wear Shades and the coordinating mini Bright Future. I think they might be the brightest kits I've ever worked with:

I was worried about using them at first. Then I saw a photo of my little dude which would work well and I needed a new desktop, so I did that and it turned out great. And then I used it again for my Facebook timeline photo:

3. And the last kit is my favourite this week and probably one of my favourite kits ever. It is called Sunkissed and has a beachfront theme, and there is a coordinating mini called Sunshine and Sand. I love everything about them:

I used them to scrap our first visit to the Disney Boardwalk and it matched perfectly:

I have my parents visiting from France for 4 weeks starting Wednesday and a little roadtrip to a water park after that, so I might have to slow down on the digiscrapping for a little while, but I've been very productive, thanks to joining Bella Gypsy designs' creative team and that makes me really happy :D

Hope you like them!