April Template Freebie | Sahlin Studio

Here is the Sahlin Studio template freebie for April. 

I recommend you stop what you're doing, right now. Download it. Then create a layout. Trust me, creating layouts and going through photos, takes your mind off the madness that's happening in the world right now. Download it free, through April, by following this link. 

I shrunk my template down, to fit 8x10 size. 

Here it is: 

Team Armada had such and exciting season. 

Ironically, the girls won gold for the first tournament of the season, the NW Ringette Rumble the first weekend in November. Then their last game of the regular season. Not too shabby.

It really was a pleasure watching you girls play. 

I'm thankful that they won this game before the season was cancelled. [Which it was, 6 days after this epic win] 

The girls had made it to provincials, in Leduc, AB, March 13-15th. The remainder of the season was abruptly cancelled, after they played [and won] their first game against the Leduc Jaguars. 

A huge let down, to say the least. They were playing so well together, it's quite possible they might have won the whole thing!  

The following Sahlin Studio products were used: 

Celebrate Kit - https://the-lilypad.com/store/celebrate-kit.html

Celebrate J. Cards - https://the-lilypad.com/store/celebrate-journal-cards.html

April Template Freebie

So, I kind of struggled with this months template...

Not the design, because as you know, I'm a sucker for multi-picture layouts. I struggled with the size of it, 12x12. 

This is the template, which is free to download here, through the month of April:

I like love the style. The problem I have is, for this Canadian girl, it costs so dang much to print bigger sizes of photos. A ridiculous amount. Costco charges $6.99 for a 12x12 size picture. 

For one single photo. That's just too much for me. Because I never have just one picture to print off.   

I initially created this layout. Once some time passed, I knew I wasn't super happy with how it turned out. I also knew I wouldn't have it printed at this size. 

So I went back and tinkered with it a little. And then a little bit more. 

I ended up shrinking it down to 8x10 size. At 8x10 it's not nearly as costly to print off, and I can add into a page protector directly into my album. It's so easy to manipulate digital files. I love the flexibility that digital scrapbooking has. 

I have to say, I'm really happy with how this final version turned out. 

The following Sahlin Studio products were used: 

Highs and Lows J. Cards: https://the-lilypad.com/store/Highs-and-Lows-Journal-Cards.html

Elements: https://the-lilypad.com/store/Highs-and-Lows-Elements.html

Paper: https://the-lilypad.com/store/Highs-and-Lows-Papers.html

PL2017 - Week11

Week 11, focused on the story of provincials.

Madelyn's team made it to provincials, for the 2nd year in a row. Which is not usual. This year, the provincials were held in Calgary. [Last year we had to go to Medicine Hat] 

It was a tough go. We played against 3 northern Alberta teams, and they are always very strong. The girls played really well, and rallied, but in the end, we lost to all 3 northern teams. Having said that, the games were all very close. We gave them a run for their money. We also played against two southern teams, which just so happened to be Calgary teams. Teams that were in our division, and teams we have played throughout the season.  We won those games. 

Ringette could potentially be over by mid-February, and is for a lot of teams. Once they lose two games in city play-offs, their season is over. These girls played their hearts out at cities, and ended up with a silver medal. It was awesome to watch. The teams were all very evenly matched, and therefore, made the games very close, and very exciting. 

Because we played right to the end of cities, and we're headed to provincials, we had practices right through the middle of March. These girls got another month of ice time and games, because they made it as far as they did. 

All the girls from the team, were available and made it to the provincial weekend. They had to take Friday off school. They played twice Friday, twice Saturday and once Sunday. They attended an opening ceremony Friday morning. It was a pretty awesome experience for most of these young players. Madelyn moves up to U14 next year, this was such a special way to end the season. 

The following Sahlin Studio product was used:

Worth a 1000 Words - Elements

Worth a 1000 Words - Journal Cards

PL2016 - Week 12

Here is week 12 in my project life album. This week centered around ringette. The girls had played in a huge game on Sunday, and won. Had we lost Sunday's game, we would have had to play and win one, maybe two more games to get to the cities. Because we won on Sunday, it meant we automatically went to the city championship game.

Talk about exciting. This whole season has been exciting. Back in September, I never expected we would head into the city championship game with no losses in league played games.

The last game was tough... The team we played against quite literally wanted to take us down. But they didn't! We came away city champs! Such an accomplishment. Best year playing ringette ever.

Win or lose this final game, we'd qualified for Provincials in Medicine Hat. So, after school on St. Patrick's Day, we loaded up our vehicle and headed to the Hat. Out of the 13 girls on the team, 12 of us were able to make provincials work. 

Again, what a special experience to be a part of. This was our first year in U12, and our first time qualifying to make it to provincials. Will that happen every year? I don't know. Maybe it does. Again, this team never lost a game in the regular season. We had one tie, and the rest were wins. [We did lose a few games in the tourneys, but they don't count in the standings]

Friday morning we played our first game against the Spruce Grove Rage. We lost 1-4, but it was a closer game than the score leads you to believe.  And those northern Alberta teams, they are GOOD.

We won our second game against Red Deer Elite, which was a feather in our cap for sure. In a tourney in January, we lost by one goal. We also lost to them in the gold medal game of the Golden Ring, again by one goal.  To say our girls were pumped up over this win, was an understatement. The parents were pretty pumped up too. 

Friday night, there was an opening ceremony that the girls all got to be a part of. It felt like it was kind of a big deal. The girls all got matching ball camps, and got to wear their practice jerseys onto the ice, carrying the banner with our team name on it. 

Friday night was full of a lot of laughs, have I mentioned these parents are awesome? We may have got asked to pipe down, on several occasions. The girls and the parents had a blast Friday night.

Then, Saturday morning, at exactly 5:23, Miss Madelyn jumped out of bed, flew down the hall to the bathroom, and threw up. Poor little peanut. She was sick for the entire day. It was heartbreaking when she finally realized that she wouldn't be able to play ringette. She was in tears and so upset, the last thing she wanted to do, she told me, was let her team down...

The girls all made her a 'get well soon' card, and played 'for Maddy' and subsequently won the next 3 games. [5-2 win against the Ice Fury, 3-1 win against the Leduc Jaguars, and 2-0 against Brooks]

They had a game first thing Sunday morning at 7:45am, which suddenly Mad bounced out of bed at 6:00am, and said "Let's go". Once she was up however, she realized how weak she was. There was no way she'd get on the ice. So, we went and watched the game. The girls on the team were so thrilled to see her, and they all greeted her so warmly. They lost that game against Lacombe Edge, 1-7. It was a hard game to watch. The girls definitely got a little down, but keep in mind, this was the team that ended up winning the gold medal. They were good. There was a bit of speculation that they were too good to be playing in this tier. Considering all their games were total blowouts, I tend to agree.

We played the Bronze Medal game, against the Spruce Grove Rage, we lost, the final score was 0-4. The most important thing about this game was, Madelyn played. I still am in disbelief that she did it. She was absolutely determined to be there, and be apart of it, and she did. Which was so awesome.

In the dressing room, there were lots of tears. Not because they lost, but because that was their final game. The season was over. They're done. These girls really bonded. It was our best season ever. 

So there you have it. An amazing accomplishment, especially to be the only southern Alberta team to make it to and play in the medal games. We called this weekend, the 'icing' to our amazing year. Wish I had some Tsunami Mommy photos to add.

The following Sahlin Studio Product was used: 

Compositison - Elements: http://the-lilypad.com/store/composition-elements.html

Composition - Journal Cards: http://the-lilypad.com/store/composition-journal-cards.html

PL2016 - Week 9 and Ringette Provincials

So much to share.

Let's get week 9 out of the way.

 

This week both kids got new shoes. New Vans, if I'm being specific. Pretty cool. We went to a retirement party for my sister in law. [Doesn't Barry's side of the family really resemble one another?]

Madelyn had a kick ass game of ringette. She got a goal, 2 assists and a body contact penalty. HAD to document that. Hockey and ringette. That's what our life consists of these days.

You may recall me saying that the Super Tsunamis made it to provincials. This year, provincials for her age group, were held in Medicine Hat. So, the first weekend of springbreak, that's where we headed.  The first game they played, was in the old Medicine Hat Arena... Seriously. So cool. These girls were totally pumped... During their warm up, they blasted the music on speakers while they were on the ice.

Friday, the girls played 2 games. They won a game and lost a game.

Friday night, they were involved in the opening ceremonies. There were 12 teams in total. Our girls got to come onto the ice, with our banner first. Great photo op. 
 

The girls played 3 games on Saturday, and won all 3. They did outstanding.

When I say, all the girls played on saturday, I mean almost all the girls. Because one poor little muffin woke up with the flu at 5:23 am [yes, exactly at that time] and she was sick all. day. long... It was absolutely pitiful... [and I don't recommend being out of town, and in a hotel when your kid is sick. It's pretty boring. And pretty uncomfortable]

She looked like this all day:

However, the little trooper that she was, woke up first thing on Sunday morning, and said, "Let's go".
She got up then, and felt woozy, so we went and watched the sunday morning game, but she didn't play.

The Tsunamis made it to the bronze medal game. And little miss played. Can you believe that? She's on the bottom right. She didn't have as much energy as normal, but she ate lunch, got her gear on, and she played. We were so proud of her.

We lost the bronze medal game, but we came in 4th out of 12 teams. We were the only southern Alberta team to make it to the finals. What a feather in our cap. What a year. We couldn't have asked for a better crew. And we've made some life long friends in this bunch. Lucky us.

All the matching provincial garb. These girls totally rock.

Way to go Tsunamis!!

Sahlin Studio Product used:

http://the-lilypad.com/store/documentary-elements.html

http://the-lilypad.com/store/documentary-journal-cards.html

http://the-lilypad.com/store/documentary-papers.html