Serious Play

Bleeding Heart LO

So, I made a real paper LO today!

 

It has been so long! With consistent printer troubles haunting me, I have been avoiding printing out pics and instead just working with digital LOs. I must say that I have been missing the hands-on!

I used the pic and most of the journaling from this previous post. I had taken the pic with my Anscoflex camera.

I had fun messing with supplies again. Both green papers are by Basic Grey from my stash. The pink background paper is Stampin' Up. The hearts are punched from a cereal box, as I wanted a little dimension. Recently I purchased some Gel Medium and wanted to try it out by layering it on thickly on top of the hearts and before it dried, I sprinkled some glitter from Stampin' Up. Now that it has dried, it adds texture, which is difficult to see in the pic above. The "lucky me" stamp is one that I found at Michaels and then punched with a circle punch. The edge of the paper looks like it was torn from a notebook, but it is also a punch from Stampin' Up (remember I used to be a demonstrator). My journaling was done on a scrap of ledger paper that I found in a book at Value Village!

My goal is to get messy more often in the coming days...I thoroughly enjoyed it!

 

 

Team Meeting at Starbucks

So, we had to have a team meeting today.

 

Okay, it was a little bit of an intervention for mommy. She lost it on her teenaged girls and went all berserk and then felt badly afterwards and had to apologize. But daddy intervened and whisked mommy off to Starbucks for a team meeting.

Team meetings consist of daddy taking mommy to Starbucks and letting her pick out any drink she wants (despite the calorie count, the sugar count and the fact that it is 9 o'clock at night). Once settled with drink in hand the meeting could begin with reminding the team members (mommy & daddy) that we are in this together and that we brought these kids into the world and we can take them out and we love them dearly no matter what they do and that we are in this together and we are stronger for it.

Mommy made a few motions and daddy seconded them. Daddy made a few motions and mommy seconded them. And when the drinks were gone and the emotions were released and a plan was discussed, then the meeting was adjourned.

So glad I have a supportive daddy...and Starbucks...and a Fuji Instax Mini!

 

 

Summer Reading

So, I have begun stocking up on good summer reads!

 

I had heard about 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett a few months ago and picked it up at 40% off a Superstore when I saw it. According to the back of the book, it is about three seemingly different ladies who come together to work on some project and of course become great friends! Funny thing, I was just finishing up 'Water For Elephants' last week, when my mom texted me saying that she was reading 'The Help'! I responded by letting her know that it was next in line on my bedside table!! It is uncanny how we think alike sometimes.

The second book in the queue is 'The Water Man's Daughter' by Emma Ruby-Sachs. I just picked it up randomly at Chapters the other day. It is about South Africa, and surprisingly, again, about three women whose paths cross. This was not on purpose. I do not go out looking for similar story lines, I just happened to be interested in the first couple of pages of this novel and was hooked in!

Thirdly, waiting to be read beside my bed, is 'New York' by Edward Rutherford. Similarly, this one was a random find. It had not been recommended to me, nor had I heard a review or any comments on it. It simply grabbed my attention while walking past in the bookstore. As far as I can tell, it is a novel with fictional characters, but through which the author is able to retell the story of this great city based on historical facts. "...a cast of fictional and true characters whose fates rise and fall and rise again with the city's fortunes", is what the back cover tells me. I am definitely interested. 

Now, I just have to finish off my little sidetrack and full-of-laughs novel, 'Mini Shopoholic'! A little humour mixed in with the more serious life struggles never hurt anyone now, did it?

 

What are you reading, or looking forward to reading this summer?

 

 

 

Greek Girls

So, my girls treated me by taking me out for supper!

 

It was in honor of Mother's Day...I am just posting this a little late.

 

Journaling reads:

This was such a special night for me. Sean was out of town and, with his permission (and his money), the girls had arranged to take me out for supper to celebrate Mother’s Day. We decided on a Greek restaurant and, rather than each ordering our own meal, we chose a variety of foods to share. We had greek salad, calamari, spanakopita, dolmades and skewers of beef and chicken. Regardless of being stuffed, we ordered tasty traditional desserts too!  It was an evening of giggles and stories and red faces from having spent a day in the sun. But, the thing that made it so special for me was that this was the first year that the girls took it upon themselves to treat their mother. They had planned it out as a surprise and chose the right moment to reveal the plan to me. It really was heartwarming to see them wanting to show their appreciation to me. I am so blessed.

 

I created this as a 2-page 12x12 layout suing Ali Edwards Chevron papers. I have used these a few times now and I just love them! The journaling card I created on my own and the yellow flowery icon and tab are from Echo Park with a few adjustments by me.

I love simple layouts.

 

 

Stamps

So, I have a vast collection of stamps.

 

For every occasion I make all of my cards by hand. Stamps have served me as the beauty or message or both. I used to be a Stampin' Up demonstrator and therefore the majority of my stamps come from that company. I fell in love with the designs, versatility and quality of their stamp sets. For quite some time I used only Stampin' Up stamps.

Then I stopped being a demonstrator (simply because I am not a salesperson at all!) and for a long time I did not buy any stamps. Most of the stamps in my collection were geared towards card-making. As a scrapbooker, I am always on the lookout for stamps that are more universal, or really just more geared to scrapbooking. One day, while browsing through Michaels, I noticed that there was a bin of $1.50 stamps that were super cute!

It seems that each time I visit Michael's now, the bin has a new batch of adorable stamps that speak directly to scrapbooking. You can imagine my delight (and how my husband has become suspicious of my increased trips to Michaels)!

Needless to say, my stamp collection is growing again!

 

 

Bleeding Heart

So, I have a bleeding heart bush right beside my front door.

 

It greets me every time I walk along the path and up the steps and it makes me smile. I don't know how it does it, but it goes from 2 inches tall to 4 feet tall in one weekend! Of course, all of the rain we have been getting helps. I love the little pink blossoms and the wide fresh green leaves. 

As a little girl, I remember my mom had bleeding hearts in her yard, and so did my grandma. It just seemed like the right thing to do to have them in my yard too! I like traditions...just as much as my bleeding hearts!

 

 

 

Happy Anniversary

So, today is my parents' anniversary.

 

They were married on a sunny June day 42 years ago. It was in a little country church. My mom wore an A-line dress with a very full veil. My dad stood tall with a cane instead of his usual crutches. They both looked 16 but they were in love.

It really is an accomplishment these days to make it to 42 years together. Our family is ever so proud of them and their dedication to one another. No matter how rough it got throughout the years, they stayed together to fight as one. I admire that, and I now also have the same desire to stick it out through thick and thin. 

Happy 42nd Anniversary Mom & Dad!

We all love you and are proud of you.

 

 

Family Emergency

So, we had a family emergency last week.

 

My little nephew was extremely sick for a couple of days and it turned out to be his appendix. He went in for surgery to have it removed on Thursday night. 

In all of this, what struck me the most, was how family comes around to support one another in times of need. I am so grateful that I have a close-knit family, as well as family that live close! Everyone stepped in to do what was needed to be done to help out my sister and her family.

I hope we don't experience many more family emergencies, but if we do, I am confident that we will make it through, knowing that we have the strength of each other.

 

So, this is why I am behind on my emails, my blog posts, looking at and responding to the OLW Blog Hop posts. Thank you for your patience as I work to play catch up!

 

Oh yes... our little man is home from the hospital now, but still needs constant care. It is painful for him to move around, but he needs to walk in order to heal. I am praying for a week of quick recovery and peace for the family.

 

 

Giveaway Winner!

So, we have a winner!

Thank you to those of you who left a comment regarding the pricing of my journals. Now I have a clearer idea as to what is reasonable.

 

And the giveaway goes to...

 

Congratulations Lynn W!

Please email me at cinback @ shaw (dot) ca to leave your shipping information and I will get this journal in the mail to you!

 

June OLW Blog Hop

 

Welcome once again, to an exciting blog hop from the One Little Word class offered by Ali Edwards on the Big Picture Classes website.

This month, our task was to write down our tasks/mission/goal/objective/thoughts/stuff to tackle related to our word. Since my word is REALIZE, this was easy for me. I simply needed to list more of the things that I have intended to do for some time and track the completion of them!

 

I still have not yet been able to create a new blog banner. My difficulty is in determining the size that the banner must be in order to fit in the space! I have done the 'hit and miss' thing and missed over and over... a little too short, a little too long... aarrgggh!

I did break down and sign up for another class though. This one is Blogging for Scrapbookers at shimelle.com. I haven't started yet, but hopefully by July's blog hop I will have a new banner for you to see!

And speaking of Shimelle, I encourage you to check out this post, as she is inviting us to use our Girl Power to help others.

I've not been able to do as much writing this month, compared to April, but I did get ambitious with my planters on the front step... and that makes me happy.

The facing page on the right hand side looks like this. I just used assorted stamps that I have picked up here and there at Michaels. It is the back of last month's assignment.

Overall, I am please with my progress in this class and am totally up for the challenge in the months to come!

And before you go... I am having a GIVE AWAY this week, if you would like to check it out.

 

Thank you for your visits and for your comments!

 

Now, please visit Nikki at Inky Art who is next on your blog hop journey. 

NOTE: All blogs go live 8am PST.

 

 And, in case you have lost your way in this blog hop, here is the entire list of participants this month:

 

Margie               http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog

Jamie                http://jmpgirl.blogspot.com/

Cherie               http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com

Jill                    http://jillconyers.typepad.com/

Amanda             http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com

Lynn W              www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com

Rebekah            http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/

Melissa S            http://blog.mshanhun.com

Lisa A                http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog/

Sam                   http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com/

Jenn                  www.studiojenn.blogspot.com

Junelle              http://yesandamenblog.blogspot.com/

Jen S                 www.byjen.com 

Monica B2          http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/

Cindy                http://seriousplay.typepad.com                  <<<YOU ARE HERE

Nikki                 www.inkyart.com.au                                     <<<NOW GO HERE

Karen D             http://womenontractors.blogspot.com

Enjoy!!