Click here to view the rest of the photos.

Today we visited an interesting place in Armstrong, BC, Chickadee Ridge Miniatures. This farm has 200 miniature horses as well as deer, turkeys, chickens, monkeys, lemurs, peacocks, bulls/cattle, donkeys, goats, dogs and cats.



What is unique about this place is that you actually get to walk with the animals (with the exception of the lemurs, monkeys and bulls/cattle). The kids could actually pet the goats and horses. Everyone had a great time with the animals and I would highly recommend a visit there if you have kids aged 3 or older (it is hard to stop the under 3 from running and scaring the animals).

Click Here to see more photos from Chickadee Ridge.

Oh I forgot to tell you that I haven't stopped digital scrapbooking but I am taking part in the Stand Up and Scrap event for the benefit of The Alliance for Climate Protection. This event consists of a weekly challenge for 6 weeks.

The judging and feedback for this event requires that the layouts submitted are not associated with a person only with a number. So while I am busy doing a layout a week for the next 6 weeks you won't be seeing them until the end of the event when I'll post them all.

If you are not participating in this event, I invite you to take a look at the fabulous galleries here.

In the meantime if I create any digital layouts outside of this event I'll be posting them here.

I've been a fan of Thomas Hawks' Photowalking for a while. Yesterday I got to go out on the first ever Kelowna Photowalking. We met up at the Dolphins and walked along the Marina, cut through some alleys downtown and finished up at Stugeon Hall (for yummies).

I've posted my pics here http://www.zooomr.com/photos/marinagarrison/sets/22239/.

If you'd like to join us for the next photowalking in Kelowna, make sure you join the "Kelowna Photography" group on Facebook.com. Links to photos from the rest of the Photowalking gang should also be going up on the discussion board for the group.

And here is the picture from the dance studio after the class. K *loved* the dance class. The girls all looked so cute in their pink ballerina outfits.

We are having a great day today. K had her first day at Montessori pre-school. It was only an hour but she said she had a good time and is excited to go back (you can't ask for more than that). School pics here.

Later we are going to her first dance class. She has a cute (and pink) ballerina outfit to wear so she's pretty excited about that. And tonight we are going to pick up my sister and her hubby at the airport.

This should all make for a very action packed day.

This digital layout uses a template from A Niehaus and papers from the Songbird Avenue Faded Sapphire Charity Kit (see previous post for more info about Songbird Avenue)

I'm back to scrapping vintage photos of me again (mid-70s). I'm usally guilty of just putting names and dates on mylayouts so this time I tried to put more of myself into my journaling.


Layout uses template from Ronee Parsons (05/14/07) and papers from Weeds & Wildflower "Paisley & Ivy".

I've not spent much money on scrapbooking in the last 3 weeks since I started the Jessica Sprague digital scrapbooking course. So today I decided to spend some of what I have saved on a digital scrapbooking kit from Songbird Avenue which is a site that has a monthly kit where 100% of the proceeds go to charity.

This month the kit is called Faded Sapphire and the proceeds go to the "Love Without Boundaries" charity.

I used the kit to make my first digital two page layout. This layout uses a template which I mirror-reversed to make the second of the two pages. It is called "Picture Day".

Here's my Jessica Sprague Up & Running course Mid-Week Assignment #3. This assignment uses a template so I won't take credit for the layout design, but I did get to pick the papers, the photos and font, as well as write my own journalling.

Papers are Amy Teets Sun Porch available for free on http://www.shabbyprincess.com/.

I've been trying to copy a curved photo block technique that I saw on Jessica Sprague's site (without taking the online workshop). With the help of some users on PhotoshopElementsUser.com forum I have managed to do it.


Here is my version:

When I signed up for this course, I have to admit, I didn't think I'd learn anything but I knew there was going to be an advanced course and that you'd probably have to take this course as a pre-requisite.

This week's Jessica Sprague Up and Running covered a lot of different things and I learned quite a bit. I now know how I should be cutting my digital paper, how to evenly space things and trim off excess photo. If I learn as much next week as I did this week, I'll be thinking that my $40 was well spent. I've bought books that cost that and haven't been as useful/practical.

Anyway... ah yes... I'm supposed to be posting my layout.


I want to quickly explain a couple of things. First, I modified the layout to make my 3 supporting photos rectangular and not square (as JS planned). I just couldn't crop these photos into squares that made any sense as the climber didn't show.
Second, I'm really happy with my title font selection. It is a mix of Renaissance and Base 02 which is a grungy high impact font. The idea is to fool you into thinking elegant and then to be shocked with the grungy "independent" statement. I totally love this 2nd font (who knew you could love fonts?) and might be throwing out all my alphabet stamps (ok, not really, but I do love this stamped look).

I just got around to posting pics on Zooomr of our outing to the beach on Thursday. The kids had a great time playing in the sand and even went into the water this time! Of course, it might have been better if their neglectful parents had remembered to bring the pail & shovel (or bucket and spade for us "English" speakers).

Here's a pic, click HERE for more.