Easy Peasy Lemon Salmon

One of my best girlfriends recently gave me some salmon that her hubby had caught.  I've never been very confident about cooking fish but recently came across a recipe that I thought I would try.  This was very easy and the results were great!

Ingredients:

2lbs filleted salmon

Olive oil

Salt and pepper 

Lemon slices

Directions:

Lay your salmon on a rimmed baking pan (you may want to line the pan with foil)

Drizzle olive oil overtop (just eyeball the amount)

Sprinkle with salt and pepper (just a good shake of both)

Top with thin slices of lemon (enough to cover the fish)

Bake at 400F for about 20 minutes.  Serve with your favourite side salad and enjoy!!

Before

After

A Working Mom and Scrapaholic

Well, it has been almost 4 months since my last post.  Wow..how time flies!  My maternity leave is now over and I have been back to work full-time now since the middle of March.  I find I'm enjoying being back at work more than I thought I would, but I'm not able to scrapbook nearly as much as I'd like to.

I was able to get away in May to attend the Burnaby Crop and Create!  This was a fun weekend away with my Mom.  The classes were fantastic and the prizes were awesome!  I found the event a bit pricier than most crops I go to, but the classes and instructors were great.  I took a mixed media class with Vicki Boutin and made an art canvas using stamps that we created in class.  It was a lot of fun and I love the finished product!!

Mixed Media Canvas

Vicki was probably one of the funniest teachers I've ever had.  If you ever get a chance to take one of her classes - go for it!

My Mom, Vicki and Me

While I was at the crop I got to finish a cute little mini album using October Afternoon Sasparilla. Product Link.  It is so stinkin' cute!  I just love it.  Here are some of my favourite pages:

Cover

                                      

Another huge accomplishment for me is that I have FINALLY finished the digital scrapbook that I've been working on with Shutterfly.  I've been plugging away on it (off and on) for a year and am so happy that it is done.  It turned out so fantastic!  Shutterfy's rates are really reasonable and the quality is fantastic!  Again, here are some of my favourite pages (was hard to get decent shots of these pages):

                     

 
My next scrapbooking adventure will be in November.  I'm going to the Creating Keepsakes Scrapbook Convention and can't wait!  This will be my third time attending!  Yahoo!

On a totally unrelated note, I have recently taken up running and am, surprisingly, enjoying it!  I will be running my first 5K in September!  Yay me! :)

First "Pub" Credit!

I am very excited and happy to announce that I have received my first published layout credit!  Yahoo!  My layout, titled 35, was published in the first online issue of Life.Paper.Scrapbook.  It is a dream of mine to be published in print, one day, but for now I am happy to have received this recognition!  Thank you Life.Paper.Scrapbook!!  Here is a link to their wonderful online magazine  Life.Paper.Scrapbook.  My layout is featured on page 67.  Here is a look at the layout I had published.

 

Studio Calico's Bright Ideas Gallery Highlights Video!!

Just a quick post today to share that one of my layouts was featured on the Studio Calico Bright Ideas Gallery Highlights video!!  I was so excited to see it pop up!  My layout, meeting Santa, was created for the washi tape challenge.  Here is a link to the video - Video Link Here is a closer look at the layout!

DIY Baby Gift!

One of my best friends recently gave birth to twins - a beautiful boy and girl!  How perfect!  I brought them a gift when I first went to meet them but I also wanted to make them something special.  I had seen a few pictures of subway baby art on Pinterest and thought it would make a nice, personal gift.

I played around with the words and fonts in my Silhouette software until I found a combination that I liked.  Then I cut it out on white, textured cardstock and backed the cuts with patterned paper.  I thought it looked so cute to have them displayed in a double frame.  I'm sure it will look great in the nursery! : )

Baby Book Countdown

Well my maternity leave is coming to a close.  I have two months left to go and am now frantically trying to finish my eldest son's baby book.  He's now 4 by the way.  ; )  I would guess the book is about 60-70% complete, but I would LOVE to get it finished before I go back to work.  Plus, when I started my mat leave I told my husband I was definitely going to finish the baby book!!  Haha!

Anyway, I've been busy scrapping lately and thought I would share some of the recent layouts I've done for my son's baby book!  Here we go:

This first one is highlighting one of my favourite pictures of my son.  I used papers from the Studio Calico Roller Rink kit, Fiskars cloud punch, twine, Studio Calico wood veneer stars and the title...I believe...is from Recollections.  Oh!..I also sprayed some Mister Huey's in powder blue on the cardstock.

The next one has some of my favourite photos from when my dog, Sally, used to sleep beside my son.  She was such a little Mommy to him.  This layout was made primarily with Crate Paper's "Little Boy Blue" collection.  The circles on the side were fussy cut from a piece of patterned paper from October Afternoon's "Five and Dime" collection.  

Next up is one of my favourites, also made with Crate Paper's "Little Boy Blue" collection.  I used Mister Huey's Letter Jacket and Powder Blue.  The alpha's are from Basic Grey, Jenny Bowlin and Thickers.

This next one is one I just finished today.  It's the first time I have used the POW glitter paper and I am hooked!  Love it!  I should note...I thought the POW paper was sticker backed, but it's not.  When I tried to pull the back off, it just started to rip.  It has a glossy back to it, which might make it hard to adhere.  I used Tombow's Mono Multi liquid glue and it seemed to bond really well.  I'm a big fan of the hexagon trend and this is the first time I have created a layout with it.  I used Simple Stories "Take a Hike" for the background paper.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the hexagon pattern as well as the title.   The patterned paper is from Studio Calico's Roller Rink kit.  I threw on some MME enamel dots and button, Pebbles wooden clips and Marcy Penner flair.  I stamped the fork and knife using Amy Tangerine's Ready Set Go stamp set.  I used a white glaze pen for the journaling.  I love how this one turned out!! : )

Lastly, I thought I would share a layout I have done of my youngest son.  This one, once again, is almost entirely Crate Paper "Little Boy Blue"...sure love that one eh?! ; )  The title was cut using my Silhouette Cameo.  The "heart this" phrase is from Ali Edwards and the "look" tag is one I made by altering a Studio Calico class cut file.  I love the ledger washi tape I used on this one.  I'm pretty sure it came in Studio Calico's Roller Rink kit...not positive though.

Organized?

Just a quick post to share today. I was recently inspired to get a yearly planner. In the past, my "planning" was mainly done on my iPhone calendar. I enjoy having this feature on my phone but find that when life gets really busy, all I see are tiny black dots all over the calendar. I find it's nice to be able to look at a calendar and actually see what's scheduled for a certain day without having to "click" on each day. Plus, it just feels good to put pen to paper right? ; )

So I went to Staples and picked up this 2013 planner as a way to try to stay a little more organized this year. We'll see how it goes!

I thought it was a little ugly as is so I dressed it up with some washi tape, brads and label stickers. What do you think?