Fireworks, sort of...

..the floral kind

I can't remember when, if ever, my rhododendrons have bloomed like this.

They looked like cotton candy, they were so full of blooms.

I wonder if one of the reasons is that we cut down the huge birch tree next to them last year.

It was still pretty when it was almost over.

The backdrop

 I left it up for three weeks.

It just looked so pretty with the lights.

I love how the light reflecting on the foliage made the curtain seem invisible.

Had to have some near midnight photoshoots just for fun.

Feeling a bit upset... but smiling..

 The international scrapping community got hit with news that made waves on Wednesday.

 

 The initial shock (and a quick last shopping trip) turned into a lovely walk through memory lanes... and how by finding one website changed so many things in my life.

I joined 2Peas back in October 2002.

I was fairly alone in Finland with no scrapbooking friends.

I happened across this site online and I remember it being such a trip.

So many people scrapbooking!

Sharing their stuff.

Message boards.

I was sold.

This was my first layout I shared.

Oh boy.

Well, technically girl, but you know what I mean...

In addition to everything else the site was also a shop.

It fed my patterned paper addiction for years.

 Swaps on the messageboards led me to try new things like altering postcards and making ATCs.

And declaring my love of Gil Elvgren's pin-up girls publically.

The Pub.

It's where I went every day for Sharyn's good morning posts.

People who understood this passion for scrapbooking.

Some legendary things happened in the PUB.

  

But mostly I loved 2Peas because that is how I met my TIPster friends.

Thanks Zoe!

Talent Incubator Participants.

We even had our 15 minutes of fame in print :)

Back in those days over ten years ago there was a mad rush to get your pages published.

It was the thing to do.

Submit, submit, submit.

And I have to admit I was quite giddy when I got a layout published in Creating Keepsakes in November 2003.

 Funny to see how my style has evolved over the years.

And apparently tearing paper was the trendy thing then.

 But back to these lovely ladies.

Our group took on a life beyond 2Peas, we had our own private message boards and some of us have even met up. 

And even though some have drifted apart, there are ladies in this group who I know are friends for life. We still keep up daily on Facebook.

I made an album about our group and much to everyone's delight, it got published too.

 With a bunch of other lovely ladies originally met on 2Peas, there was another blog where we gathered and we were always up to celebrating each other's achievements, like Elizabeth's book.

The Lists with Friends posts, you've seen here, is a project with this bunch of gals.

 With out the Tipsters, I would've never had the nerve to try out for a Design Team.

As it was I got a chance in Jill's A Million Little Things website/shop.

Best times.

Great DT members with whom I'm still in contact.

These are the reasons I love Facebook and Instagram, I'm in the loop on what's going on, even though we are thousands of miles apart on the globe.

During the years scrapbooking had slowly landed in Finland and through this blog and my online presence on 2Peas, fellow Finns found me, yay!

The one who timidly contacted me, is now the dearest of friends.

I even ended up on morning tv talking about scrapbooking!

Before I knew it, we had our own Get Inspired blog going on here that had us busy.

And even more local scrapbooking friends popped up.

All because I stumbled upon 2Peas.

 While I was browsing my order history on my phone the other day, a FB reminder popped up.

Sure enough, guess where I know Susie from?

Yup.

2Peas.

I know scrapbooking has been on the decline these past years, many online shops, magazines and websites closing down. Could be because of Project Life of course. 

I tried it, but found I wasn't enjoying it as much.

I still scrapbook. 

Not as much as before, but there's nothing better than getting together with my dear locals for a crop.

I still find the whole creative process thrilling.

It is relaxing.

I've let go of all the "rules" in the past few years and given myself a creative license to do just that: create.

What I love most about this hobby is that it has made me a better photographer.

Be it through the lens of my big DLSR or my iPhone.

Capturing the everyday.

#Thanks2Peas

There's a graduate in the house!

This spring was both busy and stressful.

Saara had her high school matriculation exams (huge final exams at the end of HS that you need to pass to graduate).

Once we knew she had passed (even if the grades weren't final yet) I began preparing for what is most likely the biggest party of her life beside her (possible) wedding.

(No idea what's with the parenthesis today) (Hah!)

Yes, HS graduation in Finland is a HUGE deal.

I had about 70 guests on our list, not including kids....

This is the photo we used on the invites.

Taken by her friend.

I love it.

The graduate's one wish was that she would love a photo booth.

I had some accessories already, but thought speech bubbles would be awesome.

I bought some foam board, cut them with a craft knife and painted with chalkboard paint on both sides.

(And to those Finns who are now aghast at my careless use of vintage Arabia plates, rest assured this one has been glued together just so it can be my paint plate.)

(again with the parenthesis)

(what's up with me?)

I began baking in March/April. Every weekend I'd choose a recipe, double it, bake and freeze.

Every weekend.

Except for the two I was traveling with Niina's class.

Did I mention stressful?

I made marengues for the first time in my life.

Cute tiny ones.

Cute, tiny, pink, striped ones!

How do you make them striped?

Paint the inside of your bag with red food coloring.

They come out so pretty. 

And striped.

Stripes are good.

One of the most important jobs of course was choosing the sparkling wine.

We test-tasted three different ones.

 

Ummm.. yeah...

Nevermind.

We ended up choosing a lovely Italian prosecco called Fiorentino, we got a lot of compliments on it.

The number one reason I chose it was that it got a "Oooohh... this is really good!" statement out of my god daughter who never likes anything that isn't sweet.

This particular prosecco is extra dry.

Win!

The party was on Saturday and on Friday morning before heading to my last day of work before summer vacation, I gutted 100 (or so) cherry tomatoes, so they could be filled with a mix of cream, mozzarella and basil.

Caprese salad in one bite.

Yum.

I also had these in my freezer...

I am so proud of this girl. 

She is simply awesome.

(the white hat is the mark of a graduate)

It was especially wonderful seeing her graduate together with her best friend from grade one.

Over here you can choose which high school to apply to.

I'm so glad they chose the same one.

Two years of preschool, the next nine years with the same class in elementary and middle school, three years of high school.

Well done.

Party worthy.

After the graduation ceremonies at Finlandia Hall, we dashed home and had a frantic 50 minutes to set up before guests started arriving.

Luckily we had a dry, semi-sunny, if a bit cool, day, so we could be out in the garden.

We had huge balloons welcoming guests.

And the photo booth was set up.

With its' own hashtag for Instagram, naturally.

I tested it :)

The backdrop is an old curtain I picked up at a thrift shop.

Lacey, but modern.

Fruit kebabs!

That's why I was freezing balloons.

They kept Saara's own bottle, to take along after the party, chilled all day.

Lots and lots of goodies.

Sweet and savory.

Even though I had said in the invite that you are welcome anytime beween 1.30pm to 5.30pm, the place was full at 2.30pm...

My in-laws naturally arrived 40 minutes early.

I knew to expect that.

Our neighbors' son Mikael also graduated and stopped by.

He in fact graduated from our school (the one I work at, where Niina goes to and where Saara went to, confused yet?) and there's a fun bit coming up due to that.

My first grade teacher, a good friend of my Mom's, Sr. Mary dropped by.

When I asked her if she would like a glass of bubbly of something non-alchoholic, she grabbed my hand and said to bring her "the real stuff".

And that my friends is the attitude with which you reach the grand age of 91.

Yes, she's 91.

The secret to her skin by the way is soap and water.

I didn't take many photos during the day.

I'm sure my guests did.

I've even received some from them.

I decided to put the camera down and enjoy family and friends.

It is a lesson I've learned.

To remember to enjoy the moment.

(Also why I think the only one allowed to bring a camera to weddings should be the official photographer. OK, I'll get off the soap box now.)

From 5.30pm onwards I had asked staff members from the school to come over.

The plan was to congratulate the graduate, let her then get ready for the continuation of party time downtown with most of the other thousands of graduates in town. 

We could then just relax and celebrate the fact that summer vacation was here!

And so we did.

Then Mikael walked in his yard and all his old teachers noticed him.

He and some of his old classmates ended up toasting in our yard with their old teachers and there was fence hopping back and forth.

Good times.

I did apologise for the non-intentional ambush :P

 

In the end we had to get indoors, pull on wool socks and start a fire in the fireplace.

It got cold.

I mean c.o.l.d.

I had to rescue the flowers from outside.

Some of these roses lasted two weeks.

Even I got flowers.

It was a fabulous party.

Saara was very happy.

Personally I'm glad I survived.

Almost sane.

(Hah!)