Happy Wednesday, all!
It was an incredibly productive scrappy kind of weekend for me. If you can believe it, I completed 22 entire layouts, some of which I've submitted for publication to Canadian Scrapbooker, and the rest of which are slowly being uploaded to my online gallery at Scrapbook.com. Its too much work (and unfair to everyone there) to bomb them with that many layouts at once! Ha!
And, instead of starting at the beginning, I'm just going to share with you the four I uploaded tonight. If you'd like to see the rest of the layouts I made, just head over to my Facebook page or my online gallery at Scrapbook.com. That'll be way easier- for all of us!
The first one up tonight, is of my sisters' kitty, Neruda. We are babysitting her. I'm sure I've referenced her before. Anyways, I'm glad I'm starting to get some layouts in of her, because next week she's going back home to live with her mommy! I'm sad! I don't want her to leave. She's crazy, but I like having her around. I'm sure I've mentioned that before, too. She's added a lot of color to our household- more than there was before. I've told Kyle that the next pet we own needs to have a larger than life personality like this cat. I'm not sure we'll know what to do with ourselves after she's gone.
The sentiment at the bottom of this layout, Each day, my heart grows fonder, is sooo 100% true. We took to each other like butter on bread. She's been my little pal these last 7 months. She hangs with me every night when I scrap, and when there's a quiet moment without kids hanging around, she's cuddled in my lap. Or getting stuck in my drawer.
I'll share that story another day. Its worth a little chuckle, if not a belly laugh, for sure.
The next layout, Addison the Builder, has a bit of a story behind it. Just lately, we've been coming across signs and whatnot all over the place that references Bob the Builder. On our way home last Friday after dropping the kids' at their grandparents, I happened to see a sign for a welder entitled Bob the Welder. LIke, seriously. So, when I came across the sketch for this layout, and began thinking about a title, I couldn't resist playing on the Bob the Builder theme.
Addison is our little builder. She'll stack anything and everything, and when it tumbles over, it just makes her giddy with delight. She squeals and shrieks with incredible happiness. She loves it! She may just grow up to be our engineer! Or someone that destroys buildings for a living. Who knows.
The card sticker at the bottom of the layout, on the right, is actually symbolic of Addisons' age when this picture was taken (2 years old). I'm glad I thought to put that on there, considering it was just recently the girls' birthday. If I hadn't, we'd be wondering come next year, how old she was- two or three? I can just see it. LOL
Finally. That's the title of my next layout. I'm not sure, but I think this might be a cycle that every little girl goes through. At first, they didn't want me to touch their hair, unless I wanted to unintentionally start world war 3. Then, they gradually grew to be ok with it, and now they finally like it. They might not let me do their hair every day, but more often than not now, I'll be able to get a pony tail or two or three into their hair. I'm a happy mama!
On this layout, I punched the butterfly 5 times and stacked them to give it more dimension, and journalled on the circle. I also included some stamping in this one- the purple card stock has flowers on it, and the pink card stock has the hearts. All of which (both stamps and ink) are Stampin' Up.
The last layout I'll share tonight is one of my absolute favorites. Ever make a layout that you're so incredibly proud of, you think you need to frame it? Yeah, that would be this one.
Its all entirely Jillibean Soup- from the Country Pumpkin Chowder collection. The only thing that isn't Jillibean, is the tiny scallop sticker border on the journalling spot. That's Stampin' Up, I do believe. If not that, then its Creative Memories. This one is called Thanksgiving. And yes, its all about Thanksgiving!
What's so special about it? Everything :)
Go. Go now and check them out! You won't be disappointed. {I hope}.
Till next time,
~a
Showing posts with label Grandparents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grandparents. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Whole Lotta Sharing
Hello peeps! Its our weekend, FINALLY!! Its been an incredibly long week for us- Kyle's been on the road between 4 and 6 every morning, and has come home after 8 pm every single night since Monday. Tonight, he was home shortly after 6. He deserves a break!
The kids are heading to their grandma's (with Taco) for a couple of days, and we're planning to get a few minor things done around the house, and take it easy. We differentiate between grandma's because there's three sets of grandparents- two of which have pets in the house. We're all pretty excited about it.
Having said that, I'm taking Saturday to scrap. For as long as I want. Would anyone be interested in joining me for a simple, laid back online crop? Ha. The virtual type. I'd love to have some company, since I don't know of anybody near me that likes the same hobby I do!
So, I want to share those two layouts I forgot about last night, and two more that I made today. I want to share the cards I made too, but the computer isn't cooperating right now. They won't upload. So, I'll aim for sharing them with you tomorrow or Saturday. Whenever I get back to the computer :)
The first layout is about a bookshelf that's been passed down to Kyle. His paternal grandfather made it, and it means a lot to him. He has fond memories of his paternal grandfather; it sounds like he was quite the character. The bookshelf is starting to show its age- its cracked nearly half way up one side, and there's dings and dents all over. I like the bookshelf too, but I wanted to spiff it up a little bit.
So, one day in September, while the weather was still warm (and while the kids were out visiting their grandma with Taco), I got to work. I sanded the entire thing down, mixed half and half paint with water, then got to work. I wanted to give it a vintage look, so used steel wool after it had dried to give it a worn look. I love how it turned out. We did the same thing with our bed. It looks phenomenal! I almost want to give all our furniture the same treatment!!
I used February's sketch from the sketchy challenge over at Canadian Scrapbooker for my layout entitled Heirloom. Even though the month is over, I'm not sure if I can add it to the gallery over there. I would like to. At the very least, I submitted it for publication. I'd love it if it were published! But, we shall see.
The sketch includes a half circle, which I incorporated into my layout too, but I went one step further and added another half circle ring. I cut a doily in half and used both portions of the doily to create two rings. To make the top ring stand out a bit more, I slipped a brightly colored piece of scrap patterned paper between the doilies. I love the way it looks! In fact, except for the doilies, this entire layout is made from scraps. Oh, minus the kraft card stock base.
I tried a new technique on my second layout, Home work. The sketch came from SBE. All the patterned papers on this layout are Carta Bella (True Friends collection); the card stock is plain grey, that I punched to add some visual weight and interest. LOVE this color combination!!! I need to remember this one!
I took my wooden alphas that I found at Walmart, and gave them an Island Blue base coat using acrylic paint. Once it dried, I found a patterned stamp (which, in this case, was foliage themed, which I thought worked well, considering my layout is about yard work and maintenance), and stamped each letter in antique white ink. It isn't the clearest and crispest (...), but I still love the way it looks. I'm definitely going to try this technique again. I didn't have the letter 'O' in wooden alphas, but I did in glittery white, so I used that instead. I also took a Jillibean Soup label and added (in Bean alphas- Country Pumpkin Chowder collection) the word 'work'.
Voila, there's my title work!
In the bottom right corner, I added the date, and journalling is in the upper right corner of the layout. You'll find the layout that inspired me here.
My next sketch was found on Pinterest. Again. It inspired my Curiosity Killed the Cat layout.
We are still babysitting Neruda, my sisters' cat, and unfortunately, by the end of the month, she'll be back at home with her mommy. I'm going to miss her immensely. That cat is one of a kind. She makes me laugh on a daily basis. She's my little pal. She hangs out with me all the time- our place is my scrap haven. We trade spots continually while I'm playing.
Late one night, Kyle and I were talking in the kitchen, and he quietly redirects my attention from our conversation to the hallway, which is directly across from the kitchen. Here we see Neruda trying to figure out the humidifier. It was the funniest thing I had seen in a long time, and I HAD to get pictures of her trying to make sense of it.
The title? Totally describes Neruda. She's incredibly curious and inquisitive. Its kind of fascinating watching her, actually. She finds so many things fascinating. Especially the outdoors, but I'll save that story for another post.
The brightly colored papers in the background are perfect to her nature, too. She's one lively, talkative, neurotic animal. That's what I like about her so much. Even her own shadow makes her growl and hiss.
Lastly, the journalling spots were meant for another project, but it just didn't feel right. I had cut them in half, but I didn't like them on that particular project. They work perfectly here. I also added Neruda's name in Jillibean alphas (Country Pumpkin Chowder) to draw a little more attention to the journalling.
My last layout tonight is a total prize. To me. I love it. Probably because I love the subjects in the picture so much. Maybe because I love the collection I used so much. Maybe because of a mixture of things. Ha. I used all Jillibean in this layout. I wanted to keep it masculine, because it is all about my husband. The only papers that aren't Jillibean, are the blue and brown card stocks. Also, part of the title work is Carta Bella.
A layout I found at Scrapbook.com inspired this one. Hmm...I think I may have to frame it. I'm in absolute love.
Enjoy your weekend, everyone! I'll catch up with you again as soon as possible.
~a
The kids are heading to their grandma's (with Taco) for a couple of days, and we're planning to get a few minor things done around the house, and take it easy. We differentiate between grandma's because there's three sets of grandparents- two of which have pets in the house. We're all pretty excited about it.
Having said that, I'm taking Saturday to scrap. For as long as I want. Would anyone be interested in joining me for a simple, laid back online crop? Ha. The virtual type. I'd love to have some company, since I don't know of anybody near me that likes the same hobby I do!
So, I want to share those two layouts I forgot about last night, and two more that I made today. I want to share the cards I made too, but the computer isn't cooperating right now. They won't upload. So, I'll aim for sharing them with you tomorrow or Saturday. Whenever I get back to the computer :)
The first layout is about a bookshelf that's been passed down to Kyle. His paternal grandfather made it, and it means a lot to him. He has fond memories of his paternal grandfather; it sounds like he was quite the character. The bookshelf is starting to show its age- its cracked nearly half way up one side, and there's dings and dents all over. I like the bookshelf too, but I wanted to spiff it up a little bit.
So, one day in September, while the weather was still warm (and while the kids were out visiting their grandma with Taco), I got to work. I sanded the entire thing down, mixed half and half paint with water, then got to work. I wanted to give it a vintage look, so used steel wool after it had dried to give it a worn look. I love how it turned out. We did the same thing with our bed. It looks phenomenal! I almost want to give all our furniture the same treatment!!
I used February's sketch from the sketchy challenge over at Canadian Scrapbooker for my layout entitled Heirloom. Even though the month is over, I'm not sure if I can add it to the gallery over there. I would like to. At the very least, I submitted it for publication. I'd love it if it were published! But, we shall see.
The sketch includes a half circle, which I incorporated into my layout too, but I went one step further and added another half circle ring. I cut a doily in half and used both portions of the doily to create two rings. To make the top ring stand out a bit more, I slipped a brightly colored piece of scrap patterned paper between the doilies. I love the way it looks! In fact, except for the doilies, this entire layout is made from scraps. Oh, minus the kraft card stock base.
I tried a new technique on my second layout, Home work. The sketch came from SBE. All the patterned papers on this layout are Carta Bella (True Friends collection); the card stock is plain grey, that I punched to add some visual weight and interest. LOVE this color combination!!! I need to remember this one!
I took my wooden alphas that I found at Walmart, and gave them an Island Blue base coat using acrylic paint. Once it dried, I found a patterned stamp (which, in this case, was foliage themed, which I thought worked well, considering my layout is about yard work and maintenance), and stamped each letter in antique white ink. It isn't the clearest and crispest (...), but I still love the way it looks. I'm definitely going to try this technique again. I didn't have the letter 'O' in wooden alphas, but I did in glittery white, so I used that instead. I also took a Jillibean Soup label and added (in Bean alphas- Country Pumpkin Chowder collection) the word 'work'.
Voila, there's my title work!
In the bottom right corner, I added the date, and journalling is in the upper right corner of the layout. You'll find the layout that inspired me here.
My next sketch was found on Pinterest. Again. It inspired my Curiosity Killed the Cat layout.
We are still babysitting Neruda, my sisters' cat, and unfortunately, by the end of the month, she'll be back at home with her mommy. I'm going to miss her immensely. That cat is one of a kind. She makes me laugh on a daily basis. She's my little pal. She hangs out with me all the time- our place is my scrap haven. We trade spots continually while I'm playing.
Late one night, Kyle and I were talking in the kitchen, and he quietly redirects my attention from our conversation to the hallway, which is directly across from the kitchen. Here we see Neruda trying to figure out the humidifier. It was the funniest thing I had seen in a long time, and I HAD to get pictures of her trying to make sense of it.
The title? Totally describes Neruda. She's incredibly curious and inquisitive. Its kind of fascinating watching her, actually. She finds so many things fascinating. Especially the outdoors, but I'll save that story for another post.
The brightly colored papers in the background are perfect to her nature, too. She's one lively, talkative, neurotic animal. That's what I like about her so much. Even her own shadow makes her growl and hiss.
Lastly, the journalling spots were meant for another project, but it just didn't feel right. I had cut them in half, but I didn't like them on that particular project. They work perfectly here. I also added Neruda's name in Jillibean alphas (Country Pumpkin Chowder) to draw a little more attention to the journalling.
My last layout tonight is a total prize. To me. I love it. Probably because I love the subjects in the picture so much. Maybe because I love the collection I used so much. Maybe because of a mixture of things. Ha. I used all Jillibean in this layout. I wanted to keep it masculine, because it is all about my husband. The only papers that aren't Jillibean, are the blue and brown card stocks. Also, part of the title work is Carta Bella.
A layout I found at Scrapbook.com inspired this one. Hmm...I think I may have to frame it. I'm in absolute love.
Enjoy your weekend, everyone! I'll catch up with you again as soon as possible.
~a
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Wedding Series
How is everyone keeping these days? I'm good, but finding it hard to make time to blog! I'd rather be sitting at my scrap table playing! Ha!
There's a swack load to catch up on tonight. I'll try and make it as brief as possible!
There are 10 layouts to be posted in this series. Two of them have already been posted about. You can find them here and here.
The next one is entitled, You Didn't Know...The family didn't know that two close family members that reside in Holland had travelled to Canada to celebrate S's wedding. I managed to capture the moment L, the mother of the Bride, saw her cousin had shown up. I absolutely love the picture. There's so much emotion in it. There's so much beauty in it.
I didn't do anything really special in this layout, just kept it low key, making the photo the focus. I tied some Dear Lizzy ribbon around the bottom portion of the picture, and added the title work and journalling spot right next to it, to keep everything centred on the photo. Even though the present chipboard sticker (Carta Bella Merry and Bright) is meant for Christmas, it fit the theme here; nobody knew that the best wedding gift of all was going to be E and A's presence at the wedding. And, as a bonus, it worked with the colors I chose. Like it was meant to be!
Next, is another layout of my daughters. They were in heaven when the lights began flashing and the music playing when the fun part of the reception started. Quite a few guests thought the girls were cute, and indulged them with some dances. Including their grandpa, daddy and mama. I stuck fairly close to the sketch I used on this one. One slight change: the hearts in the top left corner were machine stitched in the sketch, but since I am afraid to use my sewing machine (and don't know yet how to use it), I stuck to creating my own 'stitching' lines.
I absolutely loved the center pieces on the tables. So much, in fact, that I brought one of each style home, and they work beautifully as decor in our bedroom. Ha! I wrapped some ribbon around the centre photo, and added a tag with the wedding date on it; I added more hearts with faux stitching through them, and blinged up the page a little with a K&Co bird, and a sentiment banner with some pearl rhinestones. This one is one of my favourites in this series.
HOw much Asian goodies do you have in your stash? I have virtually none, and decided that I should think about investing in more. They're a lot of fun to work with! My next layout is about the wedding supper. The bride and groom ordered Chinese food! I should have done something like that at my own wedding. LOL. Low key and low stress. What a smart idea!
So, to celebrate the asian aspect of their wedding, I used whatever Asian supplies I had in my stash. The floral paper isn't, but I felt that it had a bit of an Oriental flair to it. The red in it worked really well, and that's the color I wanted to focus on in this layout. Red has a lot of meaning in Oriental culture, I do believe. The patterned papers I have had in my stash for eons, and never had a reason (or knew how to) use them until now. I'm going to have to make more reasons to use stuff up like this! The first thing that came to mind was the Konnichiwa collection. I may have to invest in it.
I stamped the circle; I've had that stamp in my possession for eons too, and it came in uber handy on this project. I thought the strips of burlap patterned paper would work well here, too; if only to add a little more texture.
Lastly, I wanted to pull some blue into the layout, to keep it true to the wedding and the wedding colours, so used alphas from Carta Bella's True Friends collection for the sub title on my layout; then added a small blue flower that was among old SU stickers I've got in my stash. I should note, that the title was made out of alphas from Jillibeans County Pumpkin collection.
The star of my layout? Well, its two fold: the 'Specials' patterned paper- I liked the menu aspect of it, and had to include it somehow; and C's expression in the focal photo. Every time I look at it, I giggle. Whatever she bit into just isn't to her liking. Cracks me up!!
Well folks, there you have it! 6 layouts in a fairly reasonable blog post. I'm pretty proud of myself!
See you again soon,
~a
There's a swack load to catch up on tonight. I'll try and make it as brief as possible!
There are 10 layouts to be posted in this series. Two of them have already been posted about. You can find them here and here.
The next one is entitled, You Didn't Know...The family didn't know that two close family members that reside in Holland had travelled to Canada to celebrate S's wedding. I managed to capture the moment L, the mother of the Bride, saw her cousin had shown up. I absolutely love the picture. There's so much emotion in it. There's so much beauty in it.
I didn't do anything really special in this layout, just kept it low key, making the photo the focus. I tied some Dear Lizzy ribbon around the bottom portion of the picture, and added the title work and journalling spot right next to it, to keep everything centred on the photo. Even though the present chipboard sticker (Carta Bella Merry and Bright) is meant for Christmas, it fit the theme here; nobody knew that the best wedding gift of all was going to be E and A's presence at the wedding. And, as a bonus, it worked with the colors I chose. Like it was meant to be!
Next, is another layout of my daughters. They were in heaven when the lights began flashing and the music playing when the fun part of the reception started. Quite a few guests thought the girls were cute, and indulged them with some dances. Including their grandpa, daddy and mama. I stuck fairly close to the sketch I used on this one. One slight change: the hearts in the top left corner were machine stitched in the sketch, but since I am afraid to use my sewing machine (and don't know yet how to use it), I stuck to creating my own 'stitching' lines.
I absolutely loved the center pieces on the tables. So much, in fact, that I brought one of each style home, and they work beautifully as decor in our bedroom. Ha! I wrapped some ribbon around the centre photo, and added a tag with the wedding date on it; I added more hearts with faux stitching through them, and blinged up the page a little with a K&Co bird, and a sentiment banner with some pearl rhinestones. This one is one of my favourites in this series.
HOw much Asian goodies do you have in your stash? I have virtually none, and decided that I should think about investing in more. They're a lot of fun to work with! My next layout is about the wedding supper. The bride and groom ordered Chinese food! I should have done something like that at my own wedding. LOL. Low key and low stress. What a smart idea!
So, to celebrate the asian aspect of their wedding, I used whatever Asian supplies I had in my stash. The floral paper isn't, but I felt that it had a bit of an Oriental flair to it. The red in it worked really well, and that's the color I wanted to focus on in this layout. Red has a lot of meaning in Oriental culture, I do believe. The patterned papers I have had in my stash for eons, and never had a reason (or knew how to) use them until now. I'm going to have to make more reasons to use stuff up like this! The first thing that came to mind was the Konnichiwa collection. I may have to invest in it.
I stamped the circle; I've had that stamp in my possession for eons too, and it came in uber handy on this project. I thought the strips of burlap patterned paper would work well here, too; if only to add a little more texture.
Lastly, I wanted to pull some blue into the layout, to keep it true to the wedding and the wedding colours, so used alphas from Carta Bella's True Friends collection for the sub title on my layout; then added a small blue flower that was among old SU stickers I've got in my stash. I should note, that the title was made out of alphas from Jillibeans County Pumpkin collection.
The star of my layout? Well, its two fold: the 'Specials' patterned paper- I liked the menu aspect of it, and had to include it somehow; and C's expression in the focal photo. Every time I look at it, I giggle. Whatever she bit into just isn't to her liking. Cracks me up!!
Well folks, there you have it! 6 layouts in a fairly reasonable blog post. I'm pretty proud of myself!
See you again soon,
~a
Monday, February 25, 2013
Birthdays
Good evening! Did y'all get snow today, too? It was warm, but we still got a couple centimetres of the white stuff. I didn't want to go out and shovel it- I didn't even want to brush it off my car! I guess other things around the house were more important.
Last weekend, and the weekend before, were fabulous. The girls thoroughly enjoyed their grandpa M's 70th birthday, and they enjoyed even more their own birthday, which was the following Friday. We spent the day at home, just by ourselves, and spoiled the girls rotten. They got their most favourite foods at every meal on Friday, they got to open their presents, and their mama made them each a birthday cake (one cake mix, but two round cake pans) with the color of icing of their own choice. It was a really good day.
Saturday was an absolute blast. We threw a party for them, and invited the rest of the family (grandparents, aunties and uncle, and some new friends- to the girls). We had quite a few guests grace our house (and spoil my children rotten), but it was a really great time of visiting, catching up with old friends (and making new friends in the process! Our children had never met, and they're only a week apart!!), eating fabulous food (and no, I'm not trying to toot my own horn! LOL), and beating a pinata senseless. It was just very simple affair- a fruit platter, veggie platter, grilled cheese for lunch, some finger foods, and the best.idea.ever. for a birthday cake.
Dairy Queen blizzard cupcakes.
Ever heard of them?? Ever had one??
I think that was the biggest hit. The kids loved it, and I'm pretty sure the adults enjoyed them, too. There's still a few left over, and one of them is calling my name. Unfortunately, its too late at night to enjoy them!! Maybe tomorrow night...
Now that I've caught you up on the events in our lives this past week, I can share with you a new layout that I made.
Not that long ago, I decided to go out and buy acrylic paint from the Dollar Store. I wasn't sure how much use I would get out of it, so I only stuck to purchasing a couple bottles. (I wound up having to buy another one, because one of my girls got a hold of it, and emptied the entire bottle on herself and the love seat in the living room. It was the end.of.the.world.) No word of a lie. There's still some faint blue stains in the carpet (leading to the bathroom), but every ounce of the blue stuff came out of the love seat. Phew!! I know that both can be replaced, but I'm not as concerned about the carpet as I am the love seat. I don't want to replace the love seat any time soon; one of these days I would love to replace the carpeting in the living room with hardwood or something else. One of these days, we do plan on tearing out the carpet on the main level of our home. Having said that, though, I'm elated that most of the blue paint came out of the carpet, too. We need it to last until we CAN replace it!
Anyways...
On the last few layouts (two of which aren't being posted because they are not cooperating), I've been using my acrylic paint. I've been using my acrylic paint to paint wood veneers that I've been finding down at Walmart recently. In the scrap candy aisle. They're only a $1.00 each, and there's maybe 6-7 pieces in each little packet. I've got everything from leaves to crowns to helicopters and wedding dresses. I urge you to go and pick some up if you haven't already! They make great accents to any project!
So, on this project, I found a crown and painted it Island Blue (DecoArt brand). Its such a pretty colour! I had done part of the title in blue alphas, so I wanted to pick up more of the blue throughout, which is why I chose to paint the crown blue. To bling it up a little, I added some Recollections pearl rhinestones, and a clear rhinestone.
The centre part of the layout originally was dedicated to journalling (on the sketch that I used that inspired this layout), but as I was trying to figure out how I was going to make the journalling portion pretty, I came up with the idea of layering a few strips of scallop punched paper, on an angle, for some interest. I liked the way it looked so much, I decided not to cover it up (after adhering journalling strips and not liking that it was covering up the prettiness). Instead, the smaller blue half circle that's beside the larger circle (matting the crown) is actually a pull tab for hidden journalling. It also includes the date of the event we attended.
You're probably wondering what the deal is with the hats. Our niece got married on the first of September (2012), and silly hats were encouraged at the ceremony. The guests that came up with the most unique/goofiest hats would win prizes (which wound up being a bottle of wine. Pretty nice prize, actually!) There's a story behind Kyle's tacky piggy hat, but that'll be shared in a future layout. The girls, and their cousin Chloe, all got hats from the Dollar Store, so they could participate, too. Not that the hats lasted long.
I'm also trying to use up some of my older paper lately. The patterned papers I used on this project came from K&Co's Best Of Collection. There's 360 sheets of paper in it, and its great, but my only issue with it is its thin. Not always very functional if you want to...say...die cut something with your Cricut. Grr. Minor pet peeve. Sometimes even my paper trimmer messes up the paper. Anyways, there's a lot of gorgeous patterned paper in there, and I wanted to find something that would work well with red card stock, since red is the color of love, and since the major theme of this particular layout (though maybe understated) is a wedding.
You may or may not see more of it in future layouts. We'll have to see!
You WILL see more paint in the future- and in more colors than the three I currently own (blue, green, and antique white). Eek! I feel a Dollar Store shopping spree coming on!
See you next time,
~a
Last weekend, and the weekend before, were fabulous. The girls thoroughly enjoyed their grandpa M's 70th birthday, and they enjoyed even more their own birthday, which was the following Friday. We spent the day at home, just by ourselves, and spoiled the girls rotten. They got their most favourite foods at every meal on Friday, they got to open their presents, and their mama made them each a birthday cake (one cake mix, but two round cake pans) with the color of icing of their own choice. It was a really good day.
Saturday was an absolute blast. We threw a party for them, and invited the rest of the family (grandparents, aunties and uncle, and some new friends- to the girls). We had quite a few guests grace our house (and spoil my children rotten), but it was a really great time of visiting, catching up with old friends (and making new friends in the process! Our children had never met, and they're only a week apart!!), eating fabulous food (and no, I'm not trying to toot my own horn! LOL), and beating a pinata senseless. It was just very simple affair- a fruit platter, veggie platter, grilled cheese for lunch, some finger foods, and the best.idea.ever. for a birthday cake.
Dairy Queen blizzard cupcakes.
Ever heard of them?? Ever had one??
I think that was the biggest hit. The kids loved it, and I'm pretty sure the adults enjoyed them, too. There's still a few left over, and one of them is calling my name. Unfortunately, its too late at night to enjoy them!! Maybe tomorrow night...
Now that I've caught you up on the events in our lives this past week, I can share with you a new layout that I made.
Not that long ago, I decided to go out and buy acrylic paint from the Dollar Store. I wasn't sure how much use I would get out of it, so I only stuck to purchasing a couple bottles. (I wound up having to buy another one, because one of my girls got a hold of it, and emptied the entire bottle on herself and the love seat in the living room. It was the end.of.the.world.) No word of a lie. There's still some faint blue stains in the carpet (leading to the bathroom), but every ounce of the blue stuff came out of the love seat. Phew!! I know that both can be replaced, but I'm not as concerned about the carpet as I am the love seat. I don't want to replace the love seat any time soon; one of these days I would love to replace the carpeting in the living room with hardwood or something else. One of these days, we do plan on tearing out the carpet on the main level of our home. Having said that, though, I'm elated that most of the blue paint came out of the carpet, too. We need it to last until we CAN replace it!
Anyways...
On the last few layouts (two of which aren't being posted because they are not cooperating), I've been using my acrylic paint. I've been using my acrylic paint to paint wood veneers that I've been finding down at Walmart recently. In the scrap candy aisle. They're only a $1.00 each, and there's maybe 6-7 pieces in each little packet. I've got everything from leaves to crowns to helicopters and wedding dresses. I urge you to go and pick some up if you haven't already! They make great accents to any project!
So, on this project, I found a crown and painted it Island Blue (DecoArt brand). Its such a pretty colour! I had done part of the title in blue alphas, so I wanted to pick up more of the blue throughout, which is why I chose to paint the crown blue. To bling it up a little, I added some Recollections pearl rhinestones, and a clear rhinestone.
The centre part of the layout originally was dedicated to journalling (on the sketch that I used that inspired this layout), but as I was trying to figure out how I was going to make the journalling portion pretty, I came up with the idea of layering a few strips of scallop punched paper, on an angle, for some interest. I liked the way it looked so much, I decided not to cover it up (after adhering journalling strips and not liking that it was covering up the prettiness). Instead, the smaller blue half circle that's beside the larger circle (matting the crown) is actually a pull tab for hidden journalling. It also includes the date of the event we attended.
You're probably wondering what the deal is with the hats. Our niece got married on the first of September (2012), and silly hats were encouraged at the ceremony. The guests that came up with the most unique/goofiest hats would win prizes (which wound up being a bottle of wine. Pretty nice prize, actually!) There's a story behind Kyle's tacky piggy hat, but that'll be shared in a future layout. The girls, and their cousin Chloe, all got hats from the Dollar Store, so they could participate, too. Not that the hats lasted long.
I'm also trying to use up some of my older paper lately. The patterned papers I used on this project came from K&Co's Best Of Collection. There's 360 sheets of paper in it, and its great, but my only issue with it is its thin. Not always very functional if you want to...say...die cut something with your Cricut. Grr. Minor pet peeve. Sometimes even my paper trimmer messes up the paper. Anyways, there's a lot of gorgeous patterned paper in there, and I wanted to find something that would work well with red card stock, since red is the color of love, and since the major theme of this particular layout (though maybe understated) is a wedding.
You may or may not see more of it in future layouts. We'll have to see!
You WILL see more paint in the future- and in more colors than the three I currently own (blue, green, and antique white). Eek! I feel a Dollar Store shopping spree coming on!
See you next time,
~a
Friday, February 8, 2013
Looking Back
While the kids napped this afternoon, I pumped out two layouts. I'm quite impressed with myself, actually. When you've got your groove on, a lot can be accomplished! And, not only did I get two layouts done, I also vacuumed, cleaned the bathrooms, and re-organized and cleaned out the front entry closet this morning. It was a very productive day!
Every day, for the month of February (and then some), I'm tackling one room or cupboard- anything that desperately needs some cleaning and organization, and I'm getting this beloved house of ours straightened up. The girls are going to be three- I've decided I've lived in a baby proofed house long enough, and its time to start bringing out some of my prized possessions. My wedding pictures made it out onto the sofa table, along with my wedding bouquet; my prized hand made table runner for the sofa table (that I bought while visiting Michigan a number of years ago- specifically an Amish town, but I don't remember the name of it), and the table runner for the kitchen table. I need a centre piece, but haven't the slightest idea what to put there!
I printed out a whole bunch of pictures this afternoon- I had a ton of picture frames that I found in my linen closet when I cleaned it out yesterday, and I plan on putting up the rest of my gallery wall tomorrow, hopefully. If not tomorrow, definitely in the very near future. Its already become obvious that I desperately need more picture frames! Currently, the gallery wall is only on one side of the wall into the basement. It may expand to the other side of the wall, too. We shall see!
Back to scrapping. The first layout, Published, is celebrating my first.ever. publication in a magazine. Every so often, I submit my layouts to Canadian Scrapbooker magazine. I make a lot of one photo layouts, and it would be nice if they accepted more of those, but they don't. Well, they do, but they prefer multi photo layouts. Such as the one that was published. The girls were riding on their little scooters in the backyard last spring. Originally, I was going to title my layout Zoomy, because it was (and actually still is) one of their most favorite sayings. But, once I found the paper I used for the layout, inspiration hit me, and I changed the title to Metro. The lamp post was ingenious, and the girl- well, she was too. It just worked. Beautifully!
I picked up the colors in the girls' outfits- the pink in Addisons' dress, and purple, instead of blue, for Maren's dress. That is all in the original layout that I made. That was published.
The layout about being published was made with papers from the Faded Denim collection by Colorbok. Mostly. The green/yellow patterned paper is from another collection, and at the moment I'm not sure what it is. Once again, I was inspired by a layout I found on Pinterest. How did I ever survive before Pinterest?!
There is a tag peeking out from the side of the picture in this layout- its hidden journalling for the kids. The tag reads, 'don't ever give up on your dreams'. Being turned down a number of times didn't stop me from submitting layouts for publication. I kept hoping that one day my dream would come true. And, it did. I hope they hang onto their dreams and never let go. One day their tenacity will pay off.
The second layout, Great Oma, happened while I was flipping through older pictures, looking for material to scrap about our life in Saskatchewan. I feel its important for the girls to know where they came from, and give them a glimpse of the house they lived in for the first year of their lives. I've been avoiding doing it, and part of me still wants to avoid it. I'm not totally sure why- I miss living in Saskatchewan, and part of me wishes we were still there. The other part of me is uber happy that we're here back in Alberta. I honestly can't put my finger on why it bothers me so much. But, its there.
Anywho, when I saw these pictures of the girls meeting their Great Oma for the first time, I couldn't help but smile. She obviously loves children- which is testimony to why she had so many children to begin with (9, as a matter of fact!!) Every time we visit her at Miller, she brightens right up. The kids are the highlight of her day. The smile on her face, and the obvious happiness they bring her, warms me to the core, and makes me smile in turn. She doesn't know who they are; she doesn't know that they are my children. But, it doesn't matter. They are children, they are full of life and energy and purity, and they give her more to be happy about and look forward to than anything the nurses could give her.
The girls were only 5 months old when they met their Great Oma for the first time. She was in the hospital with a broken hip, and I remember her asking whose kids they were when we walked into her room. She remembered me as a small child myself. She couldn't believe I was old enough to have my own children. And, twins to boot!
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of my Oma (their Great Oma), is Blue and White. To me, they symbolize being Dutch. Most of the artwork in her house, and in her apartment before she moved into Extended Care, was what I call Dutch Blue. I don't know the correct term for it, or what style of art it is. Its just Dutch. Heh. That's where the colors come from in this layout. I thought the yellow would stand out nicely against the blue, so I used a yellow/green combination patterned paper for the journalling spot the title work is adhered to, and for the banner. To tie the red of the title work into the layout, I used a pink paper flower.
I just love how this layout came together. Quickly, seamlessly, and incredibly quickly! And, with the kids (half way through it) interrupting me every two minutes. Of all the layouts that I've made lately, I have to say this one is my most favorite. There is a lot of love, meaning, and sentimentality behind this layout. I'll treasure it for years to come, and I hope the girls do, too.
The sketch that inspired this layout didn't include any room for journalling. I needed to add a little something about the girls meeting their Oma, so added a few lines underneath the title mat, and journalled away. I think I'll have to do more layouts of their Great Oma in the future. They need to know what a good natured, saucy, strong lady she is!
I'm grateful and incredibly glad they had the opportunity to meet their Great Oma. I only wish they could have met their Great Grandmother on their Papa's side (Grandpa). She would have been enamored with them, too.
Till next time...
~a
Every day, for the month of February (and then some), I'm tackling one room or cupboard- anything that desperately needs some cleaning and organization, and I'm getting this beloved house of ours straightened up. The girls are going to be three- I've decided I've lived in a baby proofed house long enough, and its time to start bringing out some of my prized possessions. My wedding pictures made it out onto the sofa table, along with my wedding bouquet; my prized hand made table runner for the sofa table (that I bought while visiting Michigan a number of years ago- specifically an Amish town, but I don't remember the name of it), and the table runner for the kitchen table. I need a centre piece, but haven't the slightest idea what to put there!
I printed out a whole bunch of pictures this afternoon- I had a ton of picture frames that I found in my linen closet when I cleaned it out yesterday, and I plan on putting up the rest of my gallery wall tomorrow, hopefully. If not tomorrow, definitely in the very near future. Its already become obvious that I desperately need more picture frames! Currently, the gallery wall is only on one side of the wall into the basement. It may expand to the other side of the wall, too. We shall see!
Back to scrapping. The first layout, Published, is celebrating my first.ever. publication in a magazine. Every so often, I submit my layouts to Canadian Scrapbooker magazine. I make a lot of one photo layouts, and it would be nice if they accepted more of those, but they don't. Well, they do, but they prefer multi photo layouts. Such as the one that was published. The girls were riding on their little scooters in the backyard last spring. Originally, I was going to title my layout Zoomy, because it was (and actually still is) one of their most favorite sayings. But, once I found the paper I used for the layout, inspiration hit me, and I changed the title to Metro. The lamp post was ingenious, and the girl- well, she was too. It just worked. Beautifully!
I picked up the colors in the girls' outfits- the pink in Addisons' dress, and purple, instead of blue, for Maren's dress. That is all in the original layout that I made. That was published.
The layout about being published was made with papers from the Faded Denim collection by Colorbok. Mostly. The green/yellow patterned paper is from another collection, and at the moment I'm not sure what it is. Once again, I was inspired by a layout I found on Pinterest. How did I ever survive before Pinterest?!
There is a tag peeking out from the side of the picture in this layout- its hidden journalling for the kids. The tag reads, 'don't ever give up on your dreams'. Being turned down a number of times didn't stop me from submitting layouts for publication. I kept hoping that one day my dream would come true. And, it did. I hope they hang onto their dreams and never let go. One day their tenacity will pay off.
The second layout, Great Oma, happened while I was flipping through older pictures, looking for material to scrap about our life in Saskatchewan. I feel its important for the girls to know where they came from, and give them a glimpse of the house they lived in for the first year of their lives. I've been avoiding doing it, and part of me still wants to avoid it. I'm not totally sure why- I miss living in Saskatchewan, and part of me wishes we were still there. The other part of me is uber happy that we're here back in Alberta. I honestly can't put my finger on why it bothers me so much. But, its there.
Anywho, when I saw these pictures of the girls meeting their Great Oma for the first time, I couldn't help but smile. She obviously loves children- which is testimony to why she had so many children to begin with (9, as a matter of fact!!) Every time we visit her at Miller, she brightens right up. The kids are the highlight of her day. The smile on her face, and the obvious happiness they bring her, warms me to the core, and makes me smile in turn. She doesn't know who they are; she doesn't know that they are my children. But, it doesn't matter. They are children, they are full of life and energy and purity, and they give her more to be happy about and look forward to than anything the nurses could give her.
The girls were only 5 months old when they met their Great Oma for the first time. She was in the hospital with a broken hip, and I remember her asking whose kids they were when we walked into her room. She remembered me as a small child myself. She couldn't believe I was old enough to have my own children. And, twins to boot!
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of my Oma (their Great Oma), is Blue and White. To me, they symbolize being Dutch. Most of the artwork in her house, and in her apartment before she moved into Extended Care, was what I call Dutch Blue. I don't know the correct term for it, or what style of art it is. Its just Dutch. Heh. That's where the colors come from in this layout. I thought the yellow would stand out nicely against the blue, so I used a yellow/green combination patterned paper for the journalling spot the title work is adhered to, and for the banner. To tie the red of the title work into the layout, I used a pink paper flower.
I just love how this layout came together. Quickly, seamlessly, and incredibly quickly! And, with the kids (half way through it) interrupting me every two minutes. Of all the layouts that I've made lately, I have to say this one is my most favorite. There is a lot of love, meaning, and sentimentality behind this layout. I'll treasure it for years to come, and I hope the girls do, too.
The sketch that inspired this layout didn't include any room for journalling. I needed to add a little something about the girls meeting their Oma, so added a few lines underneath the title mat, and journalled away. I think I'll have to do more layouts of their Great Oma in the future. They need to know what a good natured, saucy, strong lady she is!
I'm grateful and incredibly glad they had the opportunity to meet their Great Oma. I only wish they could have met their Great Grandmother on their Papa's side (Grandpa). She would have been enamored with them, too.
Till next time...
~a
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Pumpkin Lanterns
Hi everyone!
As usual, life has been pretty busy around here. Last weekend was Thanksgiving, and I had the privilege of cooking my first ever Thanksgiving dinners (times two!!) It was a success! Kyle and I both tackled the turkey together; it was delicious! I also tried out a few new recipes- homemade dinner rolls (which will also be served at Christmas when the family-entire step family and my entire immediate family- comes out) and a yummy way to cook carrots. Both are new family favourites!
The carrots were so amazing, I just have to share the recipe:
Balsamic Glazed Carrots
10 carrots peeled, quartered lengthwise
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. butter (though I prefer margarine)
1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley
1) cook carrots in boiling water in large saucepan on medium heat 4 to 6 minutes or until crisp-tender. Meanwhile, cook dressing, sugar and butter in small saucepan on low heat 3 to 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
2) drain carrots; return to saucepan. Add sauce, stir. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until carrots are heated through and evenly coated with sauce.
3) sprinkle with parsley
Thanks to Kraft Canada for that delicious recipe! When looking for delicious, simple, new recipes to try out, Kraft Canada is my go-to source. What's yours?
Anyways, it was Sooo (yes--with a capital S--it was that great!!) incredibly delicious!!
There are also a lot of pictures to share over the last little while- Thanksgiving, our first snowfall (and the kids excitement over it- Addison kept saying that the sky was dripping--how cute is that??!), pumpkins (and things affectionately known as pumpkin lanterns--LOL), northern lights and a few other highlights of our humble days. That'll be coming in another post!!
In the meantime, I have another layout to share with everyone. This one is another that I did on my own- without the help of sketches and DT assignments! Ahh I love that my brain is starting to clear up enough that I can churn out some of my own designs, rather than relying on someone else's ideas. Though, don't get me wrong, I LOVE using sketches, too! I love that they take the guesswork (or most of it) out of making up your design.
Way back in July, we spent one afternoon in the garage with Kyle, just hanging out and {kind of} helping him try and organize his 'man cave' a little better. That is, until the kids got distracted with the toys he played with during his childhood. I think he's pretty proud- his girls like trucks. I think they like anything that moves and looks interesting. One day they'll turn into girly girls; at least, one of them is bound to be- their mama is, so one of them has to be, too. I said so.
Speaking of I said you so's, the girls were pretty excited about going to play outside in the snow yesterday. They were even more excited about the hot chocolate I promised I'd make them once they came inside. All I heard the entire time I mixed it and heated it in the microwave was 'you're amazing, mommy!'
So...I have it on good authority that I'm pretty amazing!
That makes a mommy feel pretty good- even if it was over something as simple as a cup of hot chocolate!
~a
As usual, life has been pretty busy around here. Last weekend was Thanksgiving, and I had the privilege of cooking my first ever Thanksgiving dinners (times two!!) It was a success! Kyle and I both tackled the turkey together; it was delicious! I also tried out a few new recipes- homemade dinner rolls (which will also be served at Christmas when the family-entire step family and my entire immediate family- comes out) and a yummy way to cook carrots. Both are new family favourites!
The carrots were so amazing, I just have to share the recipe:
Balsamic Glazed Carrots
10 carrots peeled, quartered lengthwise
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. butter (though I prefer margarine)
1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley
1) cook carrots in boiling water in large saucepan on medium heat 4 to 6 minutes or until crisp-tender. Meanwhile, cook dressing, sugar and butter in small saucepan on low heat 3 to 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
2) drain carrots; return to saucepan. Add sauce, stir. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until carrots are heated through and evenly coated with sauce.
3) sprinkle with parsley
Thanks to Kraft Canada for that delicious recipe! When looking for delicious, simple, new recipes to try out, Kraft Canada is my go-to source. What's yours?
Anyways, it was Sooo (yes--with a capital S--it was that great!!) incredibly delicious!!
There are also a lot of pictures to share over the last little while- Thanksgiving, our first snowfall (and the kids excitement over it- Addison kept saying that the sky was dripping--how cute is that??!), pumpkins (and things affectionately known as pumpkin lanterns--LOL), northern lights and a few other highlights of our humble days. That'll be coming in another post!!
In the meantime, I have another layout to share with everyone. This one is another that I did on my own- without the help of sketches and DT assignments! Ahh I love that my brain is starting to clear up enough that I can churn out some of my own designs, rather than relying on someone else's ideas. Though, don't get me wrong, I LOVE using sketches, too! I love that they take the guesswork (or most of it) out of making up your design.
Way back in July, we spent one afternoon in the garage with Kyle, just hanging out and {kind of} helping him try and organize his 'man cave' a little better. That is, until the kids got distracted with the toys he played with during his childhood. I think he's pretty proud- his girls like trucks. I think they like anything that moves and looks interesting. One day they'll turn into girly girls; at least, one of them is bound to be- their mama is, so one of them has to be, too. I said so.
Speaking of I said you so's, the girls were pretty excited about going to play outside in the snow yesterday. They were even more excited about the hot chocolate I promised I'd make them once they came inside. All I heard the entire time I mixed it and heated it in the microwave was 'you're amazing, mommy!'
So...I have it on good authority that I'm pretty amazing!
That makes a mommy feel pretty good- even if it was over something as simple as a cup of hot chocolate!
~a
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Visit
Did you hear? I'm having a giveaway! For more details, scroll down, or click on this link to head straight over there, and click here to see what's included in the RAK!
I thought I'd share a big photo post because I'm starting to find that I'm getting mixed up the farther behind I am posting here to my blog! So, if I can keep up with my online gallery posts, I shouldn't hopefully get confused anymore. There's two layouts that I'm pretty sure I haven't posted, but I am not 100% sure. I need to go back through my posts and double check, but I'm too lazy. Maybe one day I will, but not now lol.
These three layouts occurred back at the end of June, when Kyle's mom and step dad came up to visit. In the first layout, Addison was saying hi to grandma- they had just arrived. I wanted to stick with a green and yellow colour palette, and when I adhered the block sticker letters (they're actually the negative of the letters that were there at one time), they just didn't look right to me. I doodled the stitching onto each of the letters- I kind of like it. I love the homespun look, and that's how this looks to me.
Every piece of paper on that layout is scraps, save for the green polka dotted patterned paper in the background, and the grey piece of card stock everything is matted to. The flower embellies and the sentiment are Sandy Lion (dollar store), and the button is miscellaneous. This layout was also made using the week 1 sketch (July's) over at the monthly sketch challenge on scrapbook.com.
The next layout was made using another sketch, but this time I found it over at Page Maps (July 2009). A little later on that afternoon (when the grandparents arrived), the kids played in their pool and chased the new dog (to the grandparents) around. I wanted to especially highlight the picture of Addison switching hats with her grandpa- it just shouts all kinds of adorable to me!! Once again, all the embellishments on that layout are from the Dollar Store. (I have to admit, I'm quite impressed with the scrapbooking goodies our local Dollar Store carries...I think I should shop there a little more often!)
The last layout was done with my own brain power. I wanted to make this layout look like a magazine spread, because honestly, I {humbly} think it should be in a magazine! While the in-laws were here, they finally got my bed finished.
Bed finished you're asking yourself. Yes, finished. What began as a project that I wanted done while I was pregnant and living in Saskatchewan (I couldn't do it myself because of said pregnancy), wasn't actually tackled AND/OR finished until 2.5 years later and in a totally new province. Kyle had been hanging onto his waterbed frame (who knows why), and he asked me if I would like to use it as the frame for our bed. Yes, I told him, but only as long as it was made over. I loathed the 80's finish on it, and the horrid 80's frosted mirror that came along with it. Tacckkkyyyyy was all I could think.
I was a little afraid of how the mirror would look in it after we stripped the varnish, re-painted and aged the wood (which apparently was super simple- just mix half water and half paint, and once that dries, take steel wool and rub it over the wood. The more you steel wool your wood, the more antiqued/aged it becomes). But, it actually looks surprisingly good! (Now if only the mirror wasn't cracked).
(And, on a side note, the red blanket that's on our bed in the picture doesn't actually belong there. My colour scheme in our bedroom is grey and aquamarine/bluey...the comforter that matches the pillows on the bed is too hot in the summer, hence the red blanket...)
I bought new curtains so that our room wouldn't feel so heavy and dark (because everything that belongs on our bed actually came in a bed in a bag- including curtains), and I love how airy and summery it feels. These were clearance at Fields, because they were (are) closing out. I also bought brown ones, which are still yet to be hung in my living room. Maybe one day! Mayyybeee...when I get the custom shelving units that my dad is kindly going to build for me, which will be placed on either side of my living room window! That would be the most opportune time! (Pictures will follow when said project is actually completed!)
OK, back on task. The strips of patterned paper are both Recollections (My Favorite Things), and the buttons are once again miscellaneous. The title work was stamped using Basic Black ink (SU), and the banner sticking out from the side of the picture is hidden journalling. The scalloped border punch is Martha Stewart.
And, speaking of visits, my sister and brother in law were down for the night, as I mentioned in yesterdays post. I got spoiled again today! The kids and I had a rotten sleep last night- we were up every hour overnight, for one reason or another. Just before noon, J noticed me trying to stay awake while we were hanging out in the living room. The kids began asking for lunch, and he offered to make the mac and cheese while I went for an hours' nap. Bless his heart! I actually got to sleep for an hour and fifteen minutes, and it was the most well spent (personal) hour I've had all week!
I'm thinking that I'll have to go out and buy them some hershey's kisses and make them a card to thank them for their kindness to me over the last two days. Its really meant a lot! (Though, I'm sure they feel indebted to us because we're taking their kitty in as our own until further notice). On a brighter note, make sure you watch for more layouts with Neruda (kitty) in them from now on...once she gets accustomed to the kids and our house, I'm sure there'll be a lot of her! To help you remember who I'm talking about, here she is:
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Recipe for Goodness
For those of you that know of my recent breakfast smoothie/fruit and veggie smoothie addiction, I've got a new concoction for you: blend together a couple florets of broccoli, a small handful of (frozen) spinach, frozen blueberries (I freeze all most of my store-bought fruit and veggies), bananas, and watermelon, 1/3 -1/2 cup plain yogurt, and 1/4-1/3 cup milk. (The milk was added to thin it out a little bit- its quite thick! Instead of milk, you could also add more yogurt and some ice if you prefer). This will yield just enough for a small glass for you and two full (or four half cups, taking more than one child into account) toddler cups for your littles (if its just you, I would guess it would yield about 1 large glass full, or two-3 medium sized glasses).
YUM!
Try it out. The broccoli makes it a bit gritty- sort of like oranges do when you leave too much of the skin on, but otherwise it's delish!!
Here are some more pictures from Fathers Day. Maren gave me a huge hug and told me she loves me in the first pic, and in the second, she's playing with my necklace. You know, kids are so amazing- they're quick to point out to you when something is out of the ordinary. When we went to pick up the kids from their grandma's a few weeks back, I had taken off my locket because of the massage I'd been to earlier that day. I hadn't put it back on. Maren kept telling me over and over that it was 'gone'. Then, the other day, we were loading up to head out somewhere, and I put the girls in the wrong seats- on the wrong side of the truck, and Maren informed me, when I was putting Addison into her seat, that the seat that she was occupying was actually hers. Oops! Maren always sits on the drivers' side, and Addison always sits on the passenger side. I rectified the problem after we'd finished shopping at our first destination that day. But, how funny!
Back on topic now. This layout was completed for the monthly sketch challenge over at scrapbook.com. This was the week 4 sketch, based on a sketch from Pagemaps July 2009. You can find the sketch here, along with some other gorgeous sketches, too. I'm going to have to remember that website!!
I stamped the entire title- first one some left over packaging, and then underneath the second photo. I've had the stamps for quite a while, and don't know where I got them. Probably at Michaels. The black polka dot paper in the background is Recollections, and the brown patterned paper is K&Co. I used white card stock for the journalling spot, and I blended in the brackets (which have also been in my stash for so long that I don't know where they came from) with basic black ink (SU). Originally, they were patterned, but I didn't feel the pattern on it worked with my design. It was too loud and busy.
Enjoy your Tuesday evening, everyone.
~a
YUM!
Try it out. The broccoli makes it a bit gritty- sort of like oranges do when you leave too much of the skin on, but otherwise it's delish!!
Here are some more pictures from Fathers Day. Maren gave me a huge hug and told me she loves me in the first pic, and in the second, she's playing with my necklace. You know, kids are so amazing- they're quick to point out to you when something is out of the ordinary. When we went to pick up the kids from their grandma's a few weeks back, I had taken off my locket because of the massage I'd been to earlier that day. I hadn't put it back on. Maren kept telling me over and over that it was 'gone'. Then, the other day, we were loading up to head out somewhere, and I put the girls in the wrong seats- on the wrong side of the truck, and Maren informed me, when I was putting Addison into her seat, that the seat that she was occupying was actually hers. Oops! Maren always sits on the drivers' side, and Addison always sits on the passenger side. I rectified the problem after we'd finished shopping at our first destination that day. But, how funny!
Back on topic now. This layout was completed for the monthly sketch challenge over at scrapbook.com. This was the week 4 sketch, based on a sketch from Pagemaps July 2009. You can find the sketch here, along with some other gorgeous sketches, too. I'm going to have to remember that website!!
I stamped the entire title- first one some left over packaging, and then underneath the second photo. I've had the stamps for quite a while, and don't know where I got them. Probably at Michaels. The black polka dot paper in the background is Recollections, and the brown patterned paper is K&Co. I used white card stock for the journalling spot, and I blended in the brackets (which have also been in my stash for so long that I don't know where they came from) with basic black ink (SU). Originally, they were patterned, but I didn't feel the pattern on it worked with my design. It was too loud and busy.
Enjoy your Tuesday evening, everyone.
~a
Monday, August 6, 2012
Heinz 57
LIttle cousin C
Addison- this was taken Friday afternoon, just after we got to the lake. Grandma and Grandpa were the only ones there- it was a nice, quiet visit before everyone else arrived. The first thing Addison did was begin playing hide and seek. She counts, '1, 2...6, 7, 8, 9, 10!'
Addison played like this all weekend. She's always happy to sit on her own and 'make'.
Maren was playing a game with Grandma when we first got to the campsite.
Addison enjoying riding in their dinghy. Thanks to B for snapping some pictures for me.
Maren *really* enjoying the dinghy ride. She almost fell to sleep!
Maren pulling her boat around all on her own. She was pretty brave with that life jacket on- she'd go out fairly deep- at least chest height- before she'd start losing her balance. Daddy rescued her a time or two before she went face first into the water. They (both girls) certainly enjoyed the lake, though. We were down there for a good solid couple of hours on Saturday afternoon.
Maren 'driving' grandpa's motorboat.
Addison 'driving' grandpa's motorboat.
One of S's wedding shower gifts- an apron that all of the family signed. I thought it would be cute to let Addison and Maren 'sign' her apron, then I 'translated' what they wrote.
Better view of the apron.
We've decided that the kids are going to accompany grandma and grandpa on another camping trip- one by themselves- in a few weeks' time (the end of August). And, its got me stupidly excited.
Why?
I'm in 'home improvement' mode again. Yup. I'm gonna paint. I'm a go-getter- lets see if I've bitten off more than I can chew- I'm going to paint the half bath and the hallway upstairs. I'm going to DIY a bookshelf. I'm also going to sort through the kids' toys and donate a lot of it. I've been on the net, researching colours to paint the girls' bathroom (make it kidsy, but also classy enough to be used as an adult bathroom), and also came across a new colour to try out in the hallway. Kyle doesn't really want to use the same yellow in the hallway that I did in the kitchen, but I do for continuity's sake. I also think it will brighten up the hallway, because it feels really dark and murky. I looked at other colours, anyways, and I think I've come up with a compromise: I told him that if the hallway is going to be painted something other than what I want, then its going to stay somewhere in the same family that its currently painted (which is beige). I came across two colours (Behr brand): winter garden and/or willow herb. They sound pretty, right? Serene and calming- which I like. Both colours are beige, but are heavy on the green- so it will coordinate with both my living room (which is a beautiful olive kind of green) and kitchen, which is yellow, but heavy on the green. (Its seaweed something or rather). I'm stoked. Now I need an excuse to head into Edmonton while the kids are gone to pick up the paint.
Eek! I love home improvements!!
I suppose I have a little of everything tonight. I whipped this card up in mere minutes on Saturday morning for S, our niece. She'll be getting married on September 1, but her wedding shower was at the camping trip this weekend. I had already made one for her from myself and Kyle, but I made one for my MIL to give her. I also picked up her shower gift for the both of us and then slid theirs in along with the card I made for MIL to give to S. (Long winded and confusing? Yeah, sometimes- that's how I roll).
It was very simple and easy to make. (It would have to be if I got it done in 20 minutes or less!) I used Whisper White Ink (SU) and my large polka dot stamp to stamp the bottom half of the card stock base. The green card stock strip 3/4 of the way up is scraps (Autumn Leaves brand), and the white tag is Martha Stewart. The blue and green one thats inset is unknown. The wedding bells- Sandy Lion (Dollar Store), and I also used the mini phrases from SU for the 'celebrate' sentiment. I stamped that with Old Olive Ink (SU). Lastly, so that the white of the MS tag wasn't so stark and austere, I inked it with a sponge dauber and Old Olive Ink, so that it would blend in a bit better!
Tune in tomorrow for more goodies!
~a
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Shining Bank Lake
Fewf, I'm tired tonight! This post will be just a quick little update and 'hey how're you doing' then I'm going to bed. Oi. We'll be back at it again tomorrow before I even know it!!
Yep, it was another action packed, fun-filled day. The girls did awesome- no naps, and no major meltdowns! They got to go swimming in a lake for their very first time- which they loved (of course), and they rode in their very first motorboat. We thought Maren would for sure panic and dislike the sound of it, but it didn't bother her one bit. In fact, I think she loved it. When we returned to the dock, she asked if she could go again. Unfortunately, some of the family wanted to head out for some more fishing, so that ended our motor boating for the day.
Well...from then on, Maren was fairly fussy- but not in the usual way- if there is such a thing. Mostly, if anything caught her off guard, or if she had a little accident the tears would flood out of those sweet blues faster than a flash of lightning- and those sweet tears would just keep coming. Kind of like tears just hovering beneath the surface, waiting for any old excuse to come rolling out, and when they do, they just won't stop.
We hardly left the campground on our way home before she'd fallen to sleep. She.was.pooped.
Now, it could just be hearsay and gossip, but apparently, there was a tornado at the top of the hill tonight. We are only half an hour out of town (at the campground), so we knew there were thunderstorms around because we could see the clouds and hear the thunder. At one point, we thought we were going to be rained out, but they (two storms) went around us. There was one to the north, and another to the south of us lol. We're thinking it was probably just strong winds associated with the thunderstorms, but we're going to go check it out for ourselves tomorrow. Its made us curious. If I have anything to report back, you'll see it in pictures!
Ummm...any other highlights from the day? Nope, I think that was pretty much it. It was just a relaxed day, full of good visits, laughs and fabulous memories! Our niece and the girls' cousin is spending the night tonight- probably because staying in the motorhome with grandma and grandpa wasn't the most conducive to C sleeping through the night. I mean, she's only 5 months older than the girls. They've got it made tonight, boy. Sleeping in the basement where its nice and cool- they'll not want to go home!
Now I'm turning in, speaking of sleeping. I'll be back again sometime tomorrow- probably tomorrow night- with another little hello. Depending on how late we come home, there may or may not be pictures. Most likely, that'll wait until Monday! Kyle has plans to tinker on the drag truck, and I plan to scrap when I've got a spare moment on Monday, so at the very least, I'll be back in full force then!
Take care,
~a
Yep, it was another action packed, fun-filled day. The girls did awesome- no naps, and no major meltdowns! They got to go swimming in a lake for their very first time- which they loved (of course), and they rode in their very first motorboat. We thought Maren would for sure panic and dislike the sound of it, but it didn't bother her one bit. In fact, I think she loved it. When we returned to the dock, she asked if she could go again. Unfortunately, some of the family wanted to head out for some more fishing, so that ended our motor boating for the day.
Well...from then on, Maren was fairly fussy- but not in the usual way- if there is such a thing. Mostly, if anything caught her off guard, or if she had a little accident the tears would flood out of those sweet blues faster than a flash of lightning- and those sweet tears would just keep coming. Kind of like tears just hovering beneath the surface, waiting for any old excuse to come rolling out, and when they do, they just won't stop.
We hardly left the campground on our way home before she'd fallen to sleep. She.was.pooped.
Now, it could just be hearsay and gossip, but apparently, there was a tornado at the top of the hill tonight. We are only half an hour out of town (at the campground), so we knew there were thunderstorms around because we could see the clouds and hear the thunder. At one point, we thought we were going to be rained out, but they (two storms) went around us. There was one to the north, and another to the south of us lol. We're thinking it was probably just strong winds associated with the thunderstorms, but we're going to go check it out for ourselves tomorrow. Its made us curious. If I have anything to report back, you'll see it in pictures!
Ummm...any other highlights from the day? Nope, I think that was pretty much it. It was just a relaxed day, full of good visits, laughs and fabulous memories! Our niece and the girls' cousin is spending the night tonight- probably because staying in the motorhome with grandma and grandpa wasn't the most conducive to C sleeping through the night. I mean, she's only 5 months older than the girls. They've got it made tonight, boy. Sleeping in the basement where its nice and cool- they'll not want to go home!
Now I'm turning in, speaking of sleeping. I'll be back again sometime tomorrow- probably tomorrow night- with another little hello. Depending on how late we come home, there may or may not be pictures. Most likely, that'll wait until Monday! Kyle has plans to tinker on the drag truck, and I plan to scrap when I've got a spare moment on Monday, so at the very least, I'll be back in full force then!
Take care,
~a
Friday, August 3, 2012
Sometimes, Incredibly Nasty
We had an incredibly fun day today! Most of the family didn't show up until just when we were leaving, but we sort of assumed that. Its fine- we'll get to see them the rest of the weekend. They probably still had to work today, because the holiday really isn't until Monday. Personally, I'm pretty excited for the kids, because 1) they'll enjoy this years' camping trip much more than last years (they Maren was just beginning to walk last summer, and Addison was still crawling); 2) they'll get to go swimming this time around, too, and we all know how much they abhor love the water; and 3) their other little cousin, who is 6 months older than the girls, will be there for the first time ever. I am most excited about that. Maren gets along really well with C, so it should be a fairly interesting weekend!
We also got to see some of the devastation all the water and flooding has been causing around these parts this summer. When the weekend is over, I'll have some pictures to share. A few points along the highway has been somewhat washed out by the water. Mother nature is sometimes incredibly nasty!
In the morning, we'll be hitting up Walmart quick for a few necessities that were forgotten/overseen, then heading back to the campground to enjoy our day. Poor Maren lost Kiki out there, so she went to bed with twin stand ins- we've got two brown ones that were given us by a friend- and she surprisingly (thankfully) went down fairly easily and quickly! Phew! I promised her that grandma and grandpa were taking good care of Kiki, and we would find him again tomorrow when we go 'camping'. Hopefully its around somewhere- I have no clue how it made its way out of the truck after I'd already put it in there a few times because she constantly dropped him on the ground and left him there. Hopefully he's not lost!
ANother reveal day has finally come around again over at Lets Capture THese Sketches. You can find the sketch and the beautiful layouts the girls have made here. Seriously, what an incredibly talented group of ladies! Here's my interpretation of Sketch #143. I've finally made it through Father's day weekend! In honour of the men in my life, I made a layout especially for them.
I absolutely loved working with this sketch. Simple, clean lines, and straight to the point. Just how I like it! My favourite element is the black photo frames I put around the pictures of my dad and Kyle. Really eye catching! I also like the contrast the white frame provides around the 4x6 picture of Kyle in the middle, and I felt the neutral colours worked well for a masculine page- especially since both guys are 'mens men' lol. You'll probably see more variations of this sketch in the future, so keep your eyes peeled!
Well, I'm off to play for a little bit before turning in for the night. Have a safe and happy weekend!
~a
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Monster Jam
Good morning! Incredibly, its 9:30 am and my children are still sleeping!! What's up with that?!
It was a late night for us last night. The kids were scheduled to come home from their grandparents place. Originally, the plan was to take them out for dinner, but it didn't work out that way. We waited and waited to hear from them (to find out when they were coming), and never heard from them. So, at 5 yesterday afternoon, I finally texted Grandma to see where they were. She texted back saying they were just eating supper then were going to hit the road. Bummer.
Kyle and I were getting grocery shopping done while we waited for (as it turned out) Grandma and the kids. Grandpa had to go to work. He was able to meet up with me after my massage yesterday (yes...mmmm bliss!) and we got the grocery shopping done together. It was fun! After getting what I could from Walmart, we headed over to IGA (Sobey's) to get what I can't from Walmart- basically fruit, veggies and meat. (And a couple scrapbook albums because my lo's desperately needed to be bound!! I was afraid they were going to get mixed up if I didn't do it SOON! It was a big job, but I just.finished.it. Phew!)
Grandma called while we were in the checkout line saying she was broken down three blocks from home, and we needed to come pick up the kids. Ok! Zip home, quickly unload the Yukon, re-stock my fridge and freezer, hit up McDonalds (which I am so.sick of junk food!!! We've eaten way too much fast food this weekend. Enough already. I can hardly wait to cook a square meal tonight!) and 'beep beep, zoomy zoomy' down to Grandma's.
We got home at 10 last night, got the kids changed and ready for bed, made them some porridge for a snack (upon their request), read their bedtime stories and turned out the lights. All by 10:30. And, they slept right away, I think. I'm impressed- they didn't even nap on our way home. I think they were too excited about mama and daddy and going home. They chattered most of the way home- until it turned into fussing and whining (only on Maren's behalf, thankfully).
We were definitely tired when we got home! I had wanted to scrapbook last night, but obviously it didn't work out that way! My goal is to play for a bit this afternoon, should I decide to put the kids down for a nap. Since they're sleeping in, I might not get the chance. If not, there's always tonight!!
So, here's the few pictures that actually turned out from Monster Jam:
On our way into Edmonton on Friday, the girls fell asleep. Naturally. I was driving, and daddy turned around to have a peek at the girls, and he found Addison sleeping still hanging onto her Manny (Happy Meal toy)
I didn't get a picture of it, and now I really wish that I had. Maren had her first tumble at Oma and Poppa's house (we needed to stop there before meeting up with Grandma and Grandpa K to pick up the girls' playpens). She was walking along the sidewalk to the backyard, and tripped on an uneven piece and scraped her knee. She cried, daddy picked her up, and mama made it all better. I gave her a big hug, brought her to the bathroom, cleaned it up and put a 'doctor' on it. Then kissed it all better. As I put the band-aid on, she told me 'thank you, mama'. It melted my heart.
Then, on our way out of the house, we stopped to leave Oma a love note. She scribbled on some paper, and said 'thank you, Oma' while she was colouring. (So, I wrote on Maren's note that she said thank you for the 'doctor'). I wish I had a picture of that too, but alas, I left my camera in the Yukon. I guess there'll be many more boo boo's right?
Just gotten seated at the show.
Uncle- after the cranky pants face he pulled :)
Uncle and J (we--ok I experienced some confusion between these two boys. If Kyle and I talked about either one of them, I always had to clarify exactly.who we were talking about--they both have the same name!!)
This little guy was so.stinking.cute! He was sitting in front of us and is 7 months old (his mommy told us, after I guessed him to be 6-8 months old). He was just going nuts on an empty water bottle that his mommy let him play with, but as soon as his ear muffs were put on, he went cuh-razy!!! Just talking, and squealing and carrying on- he was such a sweet, happy baby boy! My heart really aches when I see babies like this, and husband gets all fuzzy and mushy over them. It always makes me think, 'seriously?? You're done? We could have this again, you know???' But, I never say it. Maybe one day I will, but that's truly what's in my heart.
And, of course, husbands' absolute favourite monster truck. Too bad Dennis Anderson wasn't driving, though! That'd be like the icing on the cake! We did, however, buy the girls each a Grave Digger tee, and a little Grave Digger stuffy toy. (They'll have to share it, though. We only got one).
Other than the motor x stunt team, a jet car came out and burnt a car to the ground. Literally. Pieces from it were flying all over the place, and at one point, the force of the fire coming out actually pushed the car backwards a few yards. Yeah, it was incredible!
Shortly after this, the batteries to the camera died, and I had no back ups, so this is where the pictures end. Not that much else exciting happened, other than the jet car taking an 8 second cruise down the quarter mile drag strip.
We bumped into friends (k, not really. I found out via Facebook that they were planning to surprise their boys- also twins- with a trip to see the Monster Trucks. We did manage to see them, amidst the crowd of 3000 + spectators, and I happened to see my cousin, her husband and their kids, though I'm not sure they saw me. So, small world when it comes to stuff like this!
In a nutshell, that's the majority of our weekend. Its at least the highlights of our weekend. I also got my Yukon washed and vacuumed- inside and out and we had brunch with my sister, BIL (who is in the pictures above) mom and dad. Then, we spent a nice evening to ourselves, and an incredibly quiet and too fast day by myself.
Having said that, though, I'm so happy to have my kids back at home.
On that note, its time to go. Kidlets are finally awake!
It was a late night for us last night. The kids were scheduled to come home from their grandparents place. Originally, the plan was to take them out for dinner, but it didn't work out that way. We waited and waited to hear from them (to find out when they were coming), and never heard from them. So, at 5 yesterday afternoon, I finally texted Grandma to see where they were. She texted back saying they were just eating supper then were going to hit the road. Bummer.
Kyle and I were getting grocery shopping done while we waited for (as it turned out) Grandma and the kids. Grandpa had to go to work. He was able to meet up with me after my massage yesterday (yes...mmmm bliss!) and we got the grocery shopping done together. It was fun! After getting what I could from Walmart, we headed over to IGA (Sobey's) to get what I can't from Walmart- basically fruit, veggies and meat. (And a couple scrapbook albums because my lo's desperately needed to be bound!! I was afraid they were going to get mixed up if I didn't do it SOON! It was a big job, but I just.finished.it. Phew!)
Grandma called while we were in the checkout line saying she was broken down three blocks from home, and we needed to come pick up the kids. Ok! Zip home, quickly unload the Yukon, re-stock my fridge and freezer, hit up McDonalds (which I am so.sick of junk food!!! We've eaten way too much fast food this weekend. Enough already. I can hardly wait to cook a square meal tonight!) and 'beep beep, zoomy zoomy' down to Grandma's.
We got home at 10 last night, got the kids changed and ready for bed, made them some porridge for a snack (upon their request), read their bedtime stories and turned out the lights. All by 10:30. And, they slept right away, I think. I'm impressed- they didn't even nap on our way home. I think they were too excited about mama and daddy and going home. They chattered most of the way home- until it turned into fussing and whining (only on Maren's behalf, thankfully).
We were definitely tired when we got home! I had wanted to scrapbook last night, but obviously it didn't work out that way! My goal is to play for a bit this afternoon, should I decide to put the kids down for a nap. Since they're sleeping in, I might not get the chance. If not, there's always tonight!!
So, here's the few pictures that actually turned out from Monster Jam:
On our way into Edmonton on Friday, the girls fell asleep. Naturally. I was driving, and daddy turned around to have a peek at the girls, and he found Addison sleeping still hanging onto her Manny (Happy Meal toy)
I didn't get a picture of it, and now I really wish that I had. Maren had her first tumble at Oma and Poppa's house (we needed to stop there before meeting up with Grandma and Grandpa K to pick up the girls' playpens). She was walking along the sidewalk to the backyard, and tripped on an uneven piece and scraped her knee. She cried, daddy picked her up, and mama made it all better. I gave her a big hug, brought her to the bathroom, cleaned it up and put a 'doctor' on it. Then kissed it all better. As I put the band-aid on, she told me 'thank you, mama'. It melted my heart.
Then, on our way out of the house, we stopped to leave Oma a love note. She scribbled on some paper, and said 'thank you, Oma' while she was colouring. (So, I wrote on Maren's note that she said thank you for the 'doctor'). I wish I had a picture of that too, but alas, I left my camera in the Yukon. I guess there'll be many more boo boo's right?
Just gotten seated at the show.
Uncle- after the cranky pants face he pulled :)
Uncle and J (we--ok I experienced some confusion between these two boys. If Kyle and I talked about either one of them, I always had to clarify exactly.who we were talking about--they both have the same name!!)
This little guy was so.stinking.cute! He was sitting in front of us and is 7 months old (his mommy told us, after I guessed him to be 6-8 months old). He was just going nuts on an empty water bottle that his mommy let him play with, but as soon as his ear muffs were put on, he went cuh-razy!!! Just talking, and squealing and carrying on- he was such a sweet, happy baby boy! My heart really aches when I see babies like this, and husband gets all fuzzy and mushy over them. It always makes me think, 'seriously?? You're done? We could have this again, you know???' But, I never say it. Maybe one day I will, but that's truly what's in my heart.
And, of course, husbands' absolute favourite monster truck. Too bad Dennis Anderson wasn't driving, though! That'd be like the icing on the cake! We did, however, buy the girls each a Grave Digger tee, and a little Grave Digger stuffy toy. (They'll have to share it, though. We only got one).
Other than the motor x stunt team, a jet car came out and burnt a car to the ground. Literally. Pieces from it were flying all over the place, and at one point, the force of the fire coming out actually pushed the car backwards a few yards. Yeah, it was incredible!
Shortly after this, the batteries to the camera died, and I had no back ups, so this is where the pictures end. Not that much else exciting happened, other than the jet car taking an 8 second cruise down the quarter mile drag strip.
We bumped into friends (k, not really. I found out via Facebook that they were planning to surprise their boys- also twins- with a trip to see the Monster Trucks. We did manage to see them, amidst the crowd of 3000 + spectators, and I happened to see my cousin, her husband and their kids, though I'm not sure they saw me. So, small world when it comes to stuff like this!
In a nutshell, that's the majority of our weekend. Its at least the highlights of our weekend. I also got my Yukon washed and vacuumed- inside and out and we had brunch with my sister, BIL (who is in the pictures above) mom and dad. Then, we spent a nice evening to ourselves, and an incredibly quiet and too fast day by myself.
Having said that, though, I'm so happy to have my kids back at home.
On that note, its time to go. Kidlets are finally awake!
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