Happy Mother's day!

Hi everyone!

Today I just wanted to pay a little tribute to my mom and 2 little girls who made me a mom.

This is in July 2010 when, the week Maya was born and made me a mom for the second time. I was lucky enough to have my own mom with me for several weeks (but it's never long enough!) and I couldn't be more thankful for that.

Today I'm looking back at all the things we have done together and these are the best memories ever! Cruises, travels in Europe, Disney, shopping trips, laughing till well, you know what! :)
Here's a little walk back memory lane. To many many more stories together!!!

 My wedding, July 2001

 Strassbourg, June 2006

 Zermatt, June 2006

 Cruise on the Carnival Glory, January 2007

Cruise on the Carnival Triumph, January 2005

 Disney, January 2007

Cruise on the Star Princess, January 2005

My mom was always there to help me through my struggles and to cheer on me and to listen to me and mostly to give me the advice that I should listen to my little voice inside my heart. Thank you so much for being the mom you are, Maman! I wouldn't have trade you for any other mom!! <3 nbsp="" p="">

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Citrus Twist Kits - I capture

Hi everyone!
Salut tout le monde!!

I did a blog post over at Citrus Twist Kits about photographing people and the relationship between them. A while back, Noell Hyman's dad passed away and Noell and Izzy, from the Paperclipping Roundtable, did a very touching episode (listen to it here!!). One of the things they were talking about was the photos one really need to have in their photo library. One of these were photos of relationships between people and that stuck with me!
J'ai fait un billet sur le blog de Citrus Twist Kits sur la photographie. Il y a un petit moment déjà, le père de Noell Hyman est décédé et suite à celui, Noell et Izzy, du Paperclipping Roundtable ont fait un épisode qui m'a fortement touché. Vous pouvez l'écouter ici. Une des choses qu'ils retenaient du décès du père de Noell était qu'on devrait absolument avoir des photos qui montrent la relation entre les gens. Je n'oublierai jamais ça. 

This summer I spent some time at my parent's house in Canada and I focussed on capturing relationships. Relationship between my two daughters, between my daughters and I, between my daughters and their cousins, between my daughters and their grand-parents. And that's what I'm talking about in this article that you can read on the Citrus Twist Kits blog. You'll also see several examples.
Cet été j'ai passé deux semaines avec mes filles chez mes parents au Canada et je me suis mis en tête de capturer la relation entre nous tous, mes filles, moi, mes parents, les cousins-cousines. Et c'est de ça que je parle sur le blog de Citrus Twist Kits aujourd'hui. Je donne des trucs, ma façon de voir les choses et plusieurs exemples. 

When people look at my Project Life album, I often get the comment that I have such beautiful photos. Well, I don't consider myself a great photographer, but I do consciously try to tell stories through my photos. Portraits are beautiful, but pictures with interaction are more than just beautiful. They are priceless! Some come on over and let's look at how I do it. :)
Quand les gens regardent mon album Project Life, le commentaire qui revient souvent est que j,ai des belles photos. Je ne me considère pas comme une grande photographe, mais c'est vrai que j'essaie de raconter des histoires avec mes photos. Des portraits parfaits, c'est beaux, c'est vrai, mais pour moi ce sont les photos moins belles qui racontent une histoires qui sont les plus précieuses! Alors voilà, si ça vous intéresse de voir un peu mon processus, vous savez où aller.. :)

Marie

We are moving - The process of moving

Hi everyone!
I'm coming to you today directly from our beautiful Hotel Room in Charlotte, North Carolina! It's our 4th day here now and I'm starting to adjust a little. This whole moving process is not easy, a little exciting, a little fun, but also very chaotic. It could be worse, it could have been better... I'm taking lots of pictures along the way and you can follow me on Instagram to see them coming up live if you'd like. My user name on Instagram is mpcapistran. Today I'm going to summ up the situation a bit.

Friday, July 25th.

Just to put you in context, this is when they took my car away to bring it to North Carolina. I was going to get a rental car anyway, but I preferred to have it in Avon, rather than in Charlotte. So on Friday we said goodbye to our Tiguan. The man who came to pick it up was VERY nice and let the girls climb in his big truck!!

 And then he drove away.

I didn't get my rental car right away, but since this was Friday, Patrick was going to be with us the whole weekend so we really didn't need a second car. And on Monday and Tuesday he was on a business trip so I had his car. Tuesday night, Patrick brought me my rental car. He was supposed to leave the next morning with his car to Charlotte and bring with him all our personal belonging that we didn't want to let the movers move.

Only, it didn't happen like that....
OK, so back to the big moving days. :)

Tuesday July 29th.

It all started last Tuesday, when the movers first came to our house to pack.

I was more or less ready. I had packed up the 8 boxes that I didn't want the movers to touch. 6 of them were full of scrapbooks (after hearing about Lain Ehman's story, and her moving truck not arriving for weeks and finally showing up with 50 boxes missing!, I didn't want to risk it!!) and the 2 others were filled with important paperworks, jewelry and chocolate. ;) I also had started to pack our luggages that we would need for 2 nights in Avon and 2 weeks in Charlotte.

While the movers would pack up the basement, I wanted to tidy up the rest of the house but that didn't happened. The morning the movers came, I had to go to swim lessons with Arielle and the plan was to bring my girls to my friend's house right after swimming so that they could play there while the movers were packing. When I arrived at my friend's house though, my husband's car (a brand new Acura!!) just didn't start anymore. What???! After several trials, I finally called the Acura vendor who sent me a technician, who brought me home to get the second key, who finally brought me to the garage and called a towing.

There you have it, my whole day worth of tidying the house went into taking care of this.
I arrived at the house at 4:50, just to see the movers coming out of the house. :(

(This is my scrap room. GASP!)

They had made good progress in the house and I didn't have anything to tidy up anymore: everything was packed! Even the breakfast from the morning that was still on the table! Luckily they hadn't touched my 8 boxes and my luggages! Phew!

So I went back to my friend's house where we had a last meal together.

Wednesday, July 30th.

Moving Day No.2 started with another swim lesson for Arielle. Followed by a MUCH NEEDED haircut for me (yay for daddy being back home! Since 3 months, he's on the road... it's more than time that the family gets reunited!) and by an afternoon of sitting around at the house, looking at the movers packing up and loading the truck. That didn't feel good at all. The kids were bored and I felt bad to do just nothing.... Ugh!

(Yay for my camera! It has been saving my sanity several times lately!)

And this brought us to our first night at the Residence Inn in Avon. With Patrick - who couldn't leave that day as it was planed, because his car still had to be fixed.

Thursday, July 31st.

Moving Day No.3. This was the last day of swim lessons and also our last time at our beloved pool. I was very sad to say goodbye to Arielle's teachers. We all loved them dearly and we are grateful for all they did for Arielle and for our whole family. I didn't even took a pictures that morning because I was too sad. I also figured that we already have some good pictures of the pool and of our friends.

A little before noon, Patrick got his car back and could leave! We would see him again the next day when he would pick us up at the airport.

The movers finished the packing and loading of the truck. I really didn't believe that it would take 3 days to pack our things. I feel like we really don't have that much. But I also saw that the movers weren't hanging around so, I guess this means that we really do have lots of stuff. Maybe another purge will happen when we get our boxes.

When the movers had left, it was time to clean the house and to say goodbye.

And to leave...

We ended up eating for the last time at our favorite place: Flatbread. It was sad. Thursday night is the night where they have singers at the restaurant. It made it funner.

And after dinner we met our beloved neighbors at the frozen yogourt place right next to Flatbread. The kids could play again one last time. It was a nice way to end our time in Avon. Although I have to say again that it was very sad.

(We love these kids!!)

Friday, August 1st.

Moving Day No.4. It was time to fly away. I was a bit afraid of how this would go. Bring back the rental car to Avis, take the shuttle to the airport, go through security. All this with the girls and our luggages. I had packed only two 2 small luggages that we wouldn't have to check in. One that Arielle could roll and one for me. And I had put some toys in the girl's school back packs. I thought it would work. I finished carrying 3 back packs, my luggage and the lunch that we bought at the airport. It was sporty but we made it.

(Waiting for the shuttle to the airport)

     (iPhone quality is better than no picture at all)

And just so, we were in Charlotte.
We all needed a little adjustment.
We were tired, and overwhelmed. And sad.

So we went to see the house. The girls hadn't seen the house yet, other than looking at pictures we had showed them.

It wasn't love at first sight.
But it was love at the first sight of the pool. Phew!

The day we arrived in Charlotte, there was a record temperature of 70 degrees F. They hadn't had an August 1st that cold since 1936! And there we were... it's probably because we arrived. But we won't tell them. It took 2 days for the sun and the warmer weather to show up and as soon as it did, Charlotte seemed already a little nicer.

I'll tell you the rest of our moving adventure later. The girls just woke up so we'll go get breakfast before it's too late. :)

Have a great day!
Marie

Please bare with me while I move

Hi everyone!

I haven't posted here in a while and felt like I owe you an explanation. I also felt the need to write again. :)

WE ARE MOVING

So for the ones who still don't know (which means you are not following me on Facebook and/or Instagram. Hint Hint!), I'll be moving very soon. My husband got a job transfer and we'll be going south, to another state, at the beginning of July. What does this imply?

1. Selling our house: showings, keeping the house clean everyday, packing up half of my studio and moving it to the basement - sigh!!

2. Finding a new home without being there where the houses are!!!

3. A husband on the road which leaves me alone most of the time to do all of the above.

That implies lots of stress and of question marks for me and my two girls who have been crying  everyday for a month! It's tough.

On the scrapbooking side, I have been left with no creative energy for a while. Thankfully, I managed to finished 2 months in advance my work for one of my Design Team. My second Design Team is being very very very understanding and are letting me breathe and I appreciate it more than they can know. As for the third Design Team, I found enough inspiration and time to keep rolling. I'm working very hard to be ahead of my assignments so that when we pack up, at the end of June, I can be without scraping for a month or two without being late with my assignments. (You'll see all these pages poping up here in June and July).

It's pretty crazy around here right now. When my girls finally are sleeping around 9:30-10:00, I have to clean the house and have it ready for showings the next day. Scrapbooking? I don't have that on my mind very much. Or lets say that I simply have no time right now.

VACATIONS

In addition to that, we were on vacation at the beginning of May. It was planned before my husband was transferred so we didn't know it would be like that! But you know, even though it was probably not the best time to leave, it has done me much good!! We went away for a week. We spent 5 days at Disney and 2 days at the beach. It was awesome!!

There was family time. All of us 4 together.

There was princesses hugging.

And when my husband had to leave for 2 days on a business trip (I know, crazy!!!), I was lucky enough that my parents were only three hours away and they could come and help me!!! I was so so so lucky!!!!

 

There was time to forget all the craziness happening in our life.

And there was sun, and salty water, and shells, and photo taking, and love, and laughs, and so many things to refill my soul and recharge my batteries.

A NEW HOUSE

When we came back from vacations, Patrick's number of days away grew bigger and bigger and bigger. But I kind of got used to be alone with the girls. And I have very good friends here who take care of me and spoil me very well.

So anyway, as Patrick was in Charlotte one week, he went to visit some more houses (on a previous house hunting trip we had visited 30+ houses…!!) and guess what. We bought a house. Just like that. I felt like in the Zillow commercial. I haven't seen it. Only pictures. It has a pool. It's small. But hey, if he thinks we could be happy there, then I guess we'll make it happen.

BIRTHDAY

Oh, and last week, the day after we bought the house, it was my birthday. I was to be alone, but Maya reminded me:

"You are not alone, mommy, Maya and Arielle are here."

And she couldn't have said it better. The whole day, I didn't have a minute to be sad or tot hunk that Patrick wasn't there. We got a surprise showing, which means we got to clean all morning and go out for lunch (we chose Flatbread - our favorite place). :) And we then went to the playground, and I went grocery shopping and picked all my favorites to make myself a one of a kind Birthday Dinner!! :)

Sushi, cucumbers, cheese and olives make me happy. :)

My girls sang to me (they had to start over after Arielle realized they had started the song in English! "No, wait Maya, we have to do this in French.").

I received over 100 wishes from my friends on Facebook. It was an awesome day.

And even Patrick managed to come home one hour before the day was over and he brought roses and chocolate.

And then of course, the long weekend was all mine!! So we went from one restaurant to the other. ;)

Here we are at a Korean BBQ. Really good and different.

Voilà! You are now up to date. :)

I can't wait till you see all the pages I've been creating lately. Please please please bare with me. I'll get back to my normal state when all this craziness is over. I promise!! After all, I'm a hard core scrapper. You know that! ;)

Thanks to be there!!

Marie

CHA 2014 - once in a lifetime!

Hi everyone!
CHA is almost over. This morning I get to go once again, but only until 2:00 this afternoon. After that the show will be over.

What I am planning to do in these short 5 remaining hours?

I'l definitely go make one last make and take at the La-La-Land booth. Their little girls and boys stamps are SO cute and fun to color!!

And I'll go back to Lawn Fawn to see was they have in store for today as a make and take. I'm not into clear stamps at all. They don't work for me. The ink doesn't stick to the stamp, the impression is not great, BUT, but but, I was so pleased to discover Lawn Fawn's clear stamps this weekend. The quality in phenomenal and the stamping is awesome! As for the designs? To die for. Love them!! :)

I'm also planning on hanging out just a little longer with my new friends from Art Impressions. These guys are AMAZING! They are friendly, loving, generous and they made me feel right part of their family. I was blessed to meet them. :) So I'll go see if I can take in some more watercolor tricks so that I can show that to you later. :)

What else, I guess, that,s it for the planned side of the day. The rest will be surprise. I had so much fun all weekend long. I met nice people. I met famous people. I met new friends. It was an awesome experience. Here are some pictures. Don't worry I'll be back with an enormous blog post featuring all the great products that I want to get in the near future. ;)

 Heidi. You know how I feel about Heidi. :) She was the first one I went to see. And it was neat because her booth was right next to the Art impressions booth so I got to walk by several times. She might think I was stalking her. Really, I wasn't. I was just enjoying the view. ;)

She is so genuine!! Love her!

Amy Tan. :)

The beautiful Elizabeth Kartchner from Dear Lizzy.

Maggie Holmes with Crate Paper. LOVE her work!

Becky Higgins and Project Life.

It was an amazing thing to see people taking pictures of the cards I made for Art Impressions for CHA. Oh my gosh it made me so happy!

The very sweet and lovely Kelly Purkey (Basic Grey).

No need to introduce the very busy Tim Holz. :) Very nice man. (I know we are blurry. I'll try to get another picture today.)

This is the very lovely Art Impressions team! And some new friends from Singapore.

Kate Swanson. She is the one taking care of the creative team at Art Impressions. She's also my new friend. :) Love you Kate. :)

This is Freddy. :)

Bonnie (Art Impressions) is drawing me something. You know, something quick, on the corner of the table. ;) Loved it!!!! We are so much alike me and her.  We share the same passions. I'd love to spend a day a Disney Studios with her, we'd just watch the designers all day long. :) I was amazed by her and her personality.

Every morning, my friends from Art Impressions would pick me up to go to the show, but that morning I was late (so sorry again guys!) so I got to walk to the next hotel to grab a shuttle to the convention center. The weather was fabulous and so was the view. I enjoyed ever bit of it. :)

I mean.... right?! :)

This is my new friend at Lawn Fawn as I made a couple of make and take there. :) Their stamps are one of the good things I discovered at the show.

Ran into the very lovely, simple, and generous Julie Ebersole!!!!

  And I got to meet Noell and Izzy!!!!!!!! So nice people!!!

I than ran into Stacy and Wendy. It was my lucky day. Nothing of that was planned and you know, CHA is huge!! So when you run into people like that, it's pure luck!

They are so nice and genuine and accessible. Incredible!! And I'll get to spend more time with them at Play (starting tonight!!) So excited!!! :)

I had lunch with my friends Karine and Celine from Entre Artistes. LOVE THESE GIRLS!!! So happy I can call them my friends.

My team. Phil, Bonnie and Kate. Love you guys. I'm so proud and happy to be part of your team. It's an honor!

 And this is Kendra, Phil and Bonnie's daughter. Oh my gosh, one more lovely people. Here she is giving me a quick watercolor class. You'll know more about that soon. :)

In action. This moment, for me, is one of the best of the entire show.  That's where I know that that's what I love. I'm an artist. :)

I have to run now. I have a shuttle to catch and a show to attend!!

Talk to you soon!
thanks for following my blog. :)

Marie