Under Water Adventure in Donna's Scrap Room

Viewer Discretion is Advised.

If you are an avid scrapbooker, card maker or crafter of any type, the following photos may be hard for you to see. Please proceed at your own discretion.

If you have never seen my scrap room before, please look at my right side bar and you will see a photo with a title bar that says Donna's Scrap Room. Click on the photo to see all the photos that I had posted of my sanctuary.

On Monday, May 28th at 6:00 a.m., we woke up to 8 inches of water in our basement. It was coming in through our drain, toilet & bath tub. It didn't stop there. The water continued to rise until late afternoon stopping at 2.5 feet high.

My parents, my cousin Brandi & her two girls came over as soon as I called them. My best-friend's husband (Gerry) came over. My girlfriend (Irene) my mother-in-law & later in the day Brandi's mom came to help us save as much as we could & take care of TJ.

We started pulling stuff out of our basement at 6 a.m. and didn't quit until shortly after 6 p.m. Not only was my basement my scrap area, it was also my photo archival area, our spare bedroom, our storage room, our laundry room & Amy's cool hang out room.

Amy & I lost a lot of keepsakes & scrapbooking supplies & tools, but with the help of some amazing friends & family we also saved a lot. I only lost 12 photo albums and most of the photos in those albums are on cds. So they can easily be printed again. I only have approximately 2 dozen photos that need to be scanned and printed.

Trevor's shed, my living room, TJ's nursery & Amy's room is storing all the items that we were able to save.

Due to the height of the water, the hydro & gas were cut off to my house. The gas hasn't been put back on, but some of the hydro has been.

First General from Sudbury, needed the hydro to be restored to completely dry out my basement with their 10 fans & 2 dehumidifiers. To give the contractors the hydro they needed, an electrician disconnected all the basement breakers & put in some sort of panel for the contractors to use.

This gave me hydro back upstairs, but only to part of my house because we found out the hard way that a good portion of my wiring on the main floor was connected to the basement breakers.

This is why DAT'S Scrapbooking has been CLOSED.

At this time, we do not know when we will be re-opening. We need the electrical work in the basement completed, the new furnace put in, the tankless water heater taken care of, a shower rebuilt downstairs & my washing machine plumbed back in to be able to return home.

You may ask....why a shower and the washing machine. Well, we have always showered in the basement. The bath tub upstairs is built on the slant of the house and therefore is only good for TJ's baths. The washing machine is because I do a load of TJ laundry every second day. 

I have been doing enough carting of my close to 25 pound son back & forth to the house taking care of flood related items that to continue to do so while running the store will just add too much stress to my life.

So, with so many people displaced, who knows how long it is going to be before we can move back home. My contractor is working hard for me and has already found a company to put my furnace in tomorrow. We are now just waiting to hear back from the other parties involved to see when they can get their areas of expertise done at my house.

We are all hanging in there. We have had some rough days.....inventorying on Monday & seeing all that we have lost was one of them.

A BIG THANK YOU goes out to Lee-Ann, Mom, Shanna & Brandi for helping Amy & I get all the inventory done this past Monday.

We are trying to keep positive and just take it all day by day. I got to see Amy at her track & field try-outs for the first time because I didn't have to run the store. 

I also got to see her at her 3 Pitch tournament & this week I will get to see her at her Tennis tournament. Last Thursday, TJ spent 6 hours in the new baby pool we bought him for the backyard. I got to take some great photos of that. 

As soon as I can open the store again, I will and I will definitely get the word out to you. 

Thank you all for your kind words, support & understanding throughout this crazy time in our lives.

Happy 14th Birthday Amy!

Amy turned 14 on May 21 and today we are celebrating her birthday with a Karaoke Family BBQ. Tomorrow we are celebrating her birthday with 40 of her friends in Karaoke style.

Not only is the birthday theme Karaoke, but it is also florescent colours. Amy has always loved all her colours, but she has fallen in love with the 80's florescent colours that seem to be back in style.

That is why my card for her is so BRIGHT!

I used American Crafts Amy Tangerine Sketchbook 6 x 6 paper pad with Bazzill Black & Grape Slush cardstock, Stampin' Up Bright Teal cardstock from an old line and Staples Bright Cardstock. None of my CTMH, Stampin' Up or Bazzill cardstock came close to being bright enough, so I used my Staples Computer paper that I general use for posters around the store.

To embellish the card, I used Neon Green Flower Soft and Key Lime & Daffodil Liquid Pearls. I also used EK Success' circle punch, small & medium star punches; star circles & standard circles nestabilities; Spellbinder's M-Bossabilities Music and I even pulled out my old Marvy Corrugator (it's hard to tell in the photo).

The main image on the front of the card is Kraftin' Kimmie's "The Partridge Family". It was the perfect stamp for this card because it represents Trevor, TJ & I singing to Amy. I also used CTMH's Wild Thing, Party Pennants and Live out Loud - July Stamp of the Month stamp sets.

Copic Markers used: Yellow - FY1; Green - FYG2 & FYG1; Lime Yellow - FYG1; Teal - FBG2; Orange - FYR1; Pink - RV06 and Purple - V06.

I hope to post Amy's Birthday Invite along with some of her party favours by Tuesday.

Amy's Grade 8 Grad Photo Layout

My daughter, Amy, is graduating from Grade 8 this June. Her graduation photos are absolutely beautiful and I designed this layout to showcase her grad photos in the store.

I limit the photos of my children out on the world wide web, so if you want to see the layout with the photos, you will have to come into the store.

I used Reminisce Graduation Carpe Diem, I Made It & Senior Year two-sided patterned papers with Best Creations Black Glitter cardstock & Bazzill Black & Gray Prismatic cardstock.

To embellish this layout, I used Prima Marketing Black Rhinestone Scrolls, Karen Foster Baroque Black 4 inch Page Pin Ups, Stampin' Up Basic Black 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, We R Memory Keepers Black Magic Glitter Floss with Bazzill Border Stitchz Template, Around the Block Tape Writer & Black Tape, Labels Four & Standard Circles Nestabilities & Base Camp Cricut Cartridge.

I am playing along with the DAT'S Designing Divas 3rd Challenge, Graduation or Congratulations Theme.

Happy 89th Birthday Grandpa!

Today is my grandpa's 89th Birthday. Due to his Cataract operation on his second eye today, we celebrated it yesterday.

We took him & my grandma to the Therapeutic Riding Association's Pancake breakfast out in Murillo, we went to Vanderwees to pick out our Cherry Tomato plants, visited my Auntie Pat, ordered Chinese for supper and then played shuffle board.

We have to go back to get our tomato plants because they weren't quite ready yet. My grandpa and I have a friendly competition going on with who can grow the best cherry tomatoes. Two summers ago, I won. Last summer, we won. This is our tie-breaking year. His cherry tomato plant is his birthday gift from my brother and I.

Anyways, one of the best days that I have ever had with my grandpa was mushroom picking on my brother's property one Thanksgiving weekend. The mushrooms were a plenty and my grandpa was like a kid in a candy shop. 

So, when Kraftin' Kimmie came out with this stamp set, I knew I had to make my grandpa's birthday card with it.

Due to the flu, I didn't get my card done in time to be posted with the DAT'S Designing Divas 2nd Card Challenge - Masculine Theme. So, I decided to post it on my grandpa's birthday instead.

I used patterned papers from My Mind's Eye On the Bright Side - One 6 x 6 paper pad with Bazzill Suede Brown Dark cardstock.

To embellish the card, I used Maya Road Wooden Buttons, Stampin' Up Old Olive 1/8 inch Taffeta Ribbon and embroidery floss from my stash. I also used Spellbinder's Wavy Rectangles Nestability and EK Success' Ric Rac Border Punch.

I used Kraftin' Kimmie's Willow stamp set & CTMH's Happy Birthday stamp set with CTMH black ink.

Copic Markers used: Skin - E00 & E000; Brown - E44, E47 & E49; Teal - BG57 & BG72 and Green - YG91 & YG95.

Happy 1st Birthday Rhylan!

I used patterned papers from the Doodlebug Sugar & Spice 6 x 6 paper pad with Bazzill Intense Orange cardstock. The Doodlebug paper pad used on this card will be out in the store on National Scrapbooking Day.

To embellish the card, I used American Crafts Confetti Assortment Plastic Buttons, We R Memory Keepers Bubblegum Ribbon, embroidery floss from my stash & Cantaloupe Liquid Pearls.

The tools I used for this card are Classic Scalloped Circles Large Nestabilities, EK Success 1.25 inch & 1.5 inch Scalloped Circle Punches, Stampin' up Scalloped Border Punch and Don Juan Cricut Cartridge.

I used CC Designs Monkey Zoo stamp, CTMH Just a Number stamp set and Stampin' Up Petite Pairs stamp set with Stampin' Up Pink Passion Ink.

Happy 89th Birthday Grandma!

Here is the birthday card that I made my Grandma. Of course, the most sewing that I ever do on a card and that is when my sewing machine decides to act up. It wasn't sewing as smoothly as normal on the front of the card and on the inside of the card the machine jammed on me.

So, I do love how the card came together, but I am not overly thrilled with how the sewing turned out. My husband and daughter think I am over analyzing it.

I am very excited to finally use this design. I have had this idea for over a year (ever since I bought the diamond nestabilities) and when I received this paper pack for free from my Stampin' Up Party in March, I knew the time had come to use my design.

I used two-sided patterned papers from Stampin' Up Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper Pack with Stampin' Up Pool Party & Soft Suede cardstock.

To embellish the card, I used Stampin' Up 1/8" Calypso Coral Organdy Ribbon, the straight stitch on my sewing machine with thread from my stash, The Stamp Barn Detail Gold embossing powder and Diamond Nestabilities.

The image stamp on the front of the card came from Stampin' Up's Fresh Vintage stamp set, the "Happy Birthday" came from one of the stamp sets that comes with the CTMH Cricut Cartridge & the inside sentiments came from CTMH's Card Chatter - Love stamp set.

My grandma loved her card.

Just My Type - Last Instalment

I made a few typewriter cards for samples for my Stampin' Up Party last month. After my gathering, I still had some typewriter patterned paper that I wanted to use up.

So, I borrowed Jennifer's stamp set for a few extra days and I made four of these cards and 5 more of one of the other styles on a previous post. My stash of cards is getting quite substantial.

I used Jillibean Soup Sweet & Sour Soup 6 x 6 mini pad with Bazzill Tangelo, Navajo & Butter Cream cardstock.

To embellish the card, I used Stampin' Up Pumpkin Pie 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon and the zig zag stitch on my sewing machine with orange thread from my stash. I also used Stampin' Up Word Window & Modern Label punches.

All the stamps came from Stampin' Up's You're My Type stamp set and I stamped with Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay Ink.