School Starts Soon

It's that time of year again and the kids will be heading back to school this coming Thursday. So that gave me LOTS of motivation to finish up some school layouts from the last couple of years. I can't share most of them as they have class pictures and I don't know how to blur out the faces in PSE. Here are the ones I can share.

I really like this patterned paper. It is a Die Cuts With a View paper pad that's all school themed.

This layout uses October Afternoon patterned paper. I loved that the paper was lined. Made it perfect for journaling on!

I'm including this layout because the black & white photo is when the boys were in 4 year old preschool together. I used the Echo Park line for this layout along with a Jenni Bowlin journaling spot, basic grey bling, SEI and Cosmo Cricket alphas and Glimmermist.

Heatwave

Can you call two days of high temperatures a heatwave? Likely not however we haven't seen too many hot  days around these parts this summer and it will be cooler again beginning tomorrow. Now I just have to get the kids out from in front of the t.v. to go enjoy the day outside. I am also waiting for the installation guy to show up to install my new phone. We're switching phone providers for a better price. So not much on the go here today.

Now here's my latest scrapbook layout:

I still have to get my head around the fact this guy is starting junior high next week and in less than a year he will become a teenage officially when he turns thirteen. He is growing up so quickly!

Wednesday Wish List-Bella Blvd

The ladies over at Scrapshotz have been talking about what CHA new releases they are looking forward to Bella Blvd was mentioned by a few people so I had to go to the Bella Blvd blog to check it out. So much great new stuff from this company! I may have to get a part time job to pay for my wish list items if I want to add them all to my stash!

Beautiful isn't it? Now today is a special day here because it is my darling boy's birthday. 

Happy 11th Birthday Jack!

Here is the card I made for Jack which I have to wait to give to him until next week when he is back home from camping.

The image is "Catch of the Day" by Christy Croll. Patterned paper is Basic Grey Marrakech, HB sentiment and twine are from Stamping Up and cardstock is Bazzil. I coloured the image with Copics.

Up and At It Early Today

In preparation of the children returning to school I have set my alarm for 6:20am this week. Now I don't get out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off but I have been out of bed by 6:35 am the second day in a row and  secretly, I love it! It is so peaceful in the house while the kids sleep so I am able to read my bible, pray and journal. It also feels nice to get back into a routine. It's good for my soul!

Today was the second day in a row we were out of the house by 9:30am. We went to visit a good friend and her little guy who is only 2 weeks younger than Cole. Now the only bad part about it was that I missed Ray's call from B.C. so I have not spoken with him since last Wednesday. I miss him and I miss the boys too. I am just so grateful that they are away together.

I forgot to share some AMAZING news yesterday, the Scrapshotz kits are back!!! Sandy will be taking preorders beginning September 1 for the first kit in October featuring the Fancy Pants "Happy Together" line. Bookmark this link http://www.scrapshotz.com and keep checking the site for kit details. I have previously subscribed to these kits I highly recommend them, great products as well as value for your dollar!

Lastly, here is a layout I did for a challenge on the Scrapshotz blog. The patterned papers and orange alphas are Basic Grey, the small alpha stickers are from Cosmo Cricket and the white cardstock is from Michael's and I used the Martha Stewart lattice punch for the white border.

Next is this sympathy also created for a Scrapshotz card challenge See the forum for details. It's the All About Cards thread. The card base is card stock from Michael's. I stamped it with a SU stamp and Versamark ink. The sentiment is also from Stamping Up, ribbon from American Traditional Designs, flowers are Prima and Making Memories and brad is Basic Grey (I think).

Friday Fun

I had a fun, fun day with my best friend Amy scrap booking! Amy generally works weekends so she tries to take Fridays off and if possible we get together to scrap. I was able to finish off a bunch of school layouts of the kids so it was a productive scrapping day. I probably won't share most of them unless I can figure out how to blur out the class photos as I do not have permission to post photos of classmates on the web.

On the home front, the little guy is sleeping in a real bed for the very first time!! Since he has missed his nap for the last 2 days I figured it would be a good day to put him to sleep in his bed, he'd be too tired to try and get out of bed to run around! He was asleep in mere minutes! I also piled up large pillows at the bedrail and the foot of the bed to discourage an escape so we'll see how it goes at bedtime tonight.

We also have a lot of smoke in the air from forest fires in B.C., it smells like you are the campground with a campfire burning and you can see it in the air, it looks like fog.

All in all it has been a good start to the weekend today and I am looking forward to an evening of scrapping and hopefully watching a movie with the kids. I really love my life!!

Wednesday-Scrappy Wish List

I found this while surfing the net and I really, really want one! It's Prima's Scrapbooking Jewellery. Aren't these gorgeous? 

Then I came across this new release from Graphic 45 and while vintage isn't my style, I really like the turquoise green colour in this.

Tuesday

It was a gloomy day here so it was a nice time to just hang out indoors. Both Ray and I got to bed a bit late last night so he slept in and I hopped in bed for a lovely afternoon nap. Ray is taking the older boys out to BC for some camping. They are all looking forward to it and I am excited for them as well. They all need some time away especially my hard working husband. That leaves myself, Peyton and Cole to look after the home front. We are off to visit Grandma N. tomorrow and then shopping with a friend on Thursday. I also hope to get LOTS of crafting done as well. Off to bed soon as I hope to squeeze in a workout before heading out tomorrow to Grandma's which means getting my butt out of bed early!

So Sorry

For the long awaited post. The days have disappeared so quickly since Thursday and to be quite honest, I can not really remember what happened on Friday! I'll start at Saturday then...our furniture, or most of it arrived from Sears Saturday morning so my hubby Ray, with some help from the boys were busy putting together the new dining room set:

 

Jack's bed arrived in it's entirety but only the headboard/footboard of Blake's trundle bed came so we'll have to wait to get his all together. At least the mattresses came so they were both able to sleep on new mattresses but it was an adjustment for Blake as he's been sleeping on a double mattress so a twin feels kind of small for him. I'll post photos of the new furniture once I have a chance to take some! We also picked up our new 2010 Yukon SLT on Tuesday so that meant some work to clean out the storage room in the basement to  make room for the freezer that was in the garage because the new truck does not fit with the freezer in the garage. 

Phew! It's been busy around here so I decided to hang out at home with Peyton, Cole and Blake on Sunday while Ray and Jack went to church. Later we all went to the Calgary Stampeders football game and watched the Stamps mop up the floor with the Edmonton Eskimos. Today has been full of getting ready for Ray, Blake and Jack to head to Shutty Bench camping  for a couple of weeks. Oh, I almost forgot, Ray hired a couple of nephews to build this lattice in our front yard:

I love how it turned out! We wanted a courtyard in our front yard because it gets the most sun so all this area needs now is some plant material! 

So I'm all caught up now. I will post some pics of the new vehicle and furniture and leave with some of my latest paper craft projects:

Thankful for Good Friends...

Today we spent the day with a very good friend and I am reminded how blessed I am by the people God has brought in to my life. It is not uncommon to have a very, very good friend for a "season" of life, a short  period of time. One of the uncommon things, these days, is to have a very, very good friend who you may not see or speak to on a daily basis but who you can count on to challenge you, support you and love you no matter what. That's the kind of person my friend Michele is and I am so very grateful for her friendship. Days like today remind me how blessed I am by my friend and the fact that our kids can also have so much fun together makes the friendship even more wonderful! It's been a wonderful day!

Wednesday-Scrappy Wish List

With all the new products being released after CHA, there are a few that have caught my eye. One is the Coredinations line.

I love the colours and the embossing! Hope to get my hands on some of this!
When I first saw the prototype of this I wasn't too jazzed about it but after seeing it in action, I love it! It's this little number by Tim Holtz:

photo from sizzix.com product list

I see it as a souped up Cuttlebug that can take any type of die, embossing folder and material. It's pretty cool in action. You can see it in this video as demonstrated by Tim Holtz himself.

Only two items on my list?? There's more but I don't have a limitless budget so these would be my first choices!

Monday...

The laundry is on and I am changed into my workout clothes in preparation for a workout. The big kids are all at Grandma's, they went for  a sleepover last night and the little guy is playing nicely in the other room.

I love quiet mornings and I know most people dread mondays but I honestly like them. I seem to be motivated to get after the chores, finish the laundry and just get things done around the house. I am feeling very excited about what's to come this week, I don't know exactly what will happen but I've got a good feeling about it!

Here's a favourite in my scrap room lately:

It's kraft cardstock and I love it! It works with any patterned paper and looks great misted as well.

Lastly, here is a layout I completed last night:

New Projects to Share

Well I had a fantastic time scrapbooking on Friday and I completed a bunch of projects! So happy to share them now.

I am making great progress so far on the summer trash your stash challenge at Scrapshotz! I love this hobby!

Hurray for Friday

It's just a quick post today as I am getting ready to spend the day scrapping with a girlfriend. I have actually completed quite a few projects but just have not had a chance to get them posted here yet. Ray and I went looking at new vehicles to decide what would work for our family and wouldn't you know it, we found one we liked and the right price. We are now the owners of a 2010 Yukon SLT. We pick it up on Tuesday. Here is what we are getting:

Here are two projects I have not yet posted. The card is the product of a Scrapshotz blog challenge.

Off to do some scrapping!

Lazy Me

I am in such a lazy mood right now. I don't want to do anything but have so much that needs to be completed. Ever have one of those days? I am going to just go with it and not worry about it. It is only 4:30 so I may be hit by a burst of energy yet!

Pairies was lots of fun. The kids finished in 7th place and had a great time! It was a nice family vacation and also the end of baseball season. The boys will have a break until fall ball starts in September. They will be going to the trailer in a week or so and then back to school, yikes, already!

We will enjoy the rest of the summer that is left and have a great time doing it! I love my kids and my hubby so very much. I am a very blessed gal!