Serious Play

Mother's Day 2013

So, I spent Mother's Day with my mama.

 

She is the greatest. Seriously.

I am blessed to have such a strong life-long relationship with her.

I am blessed to have her live close to me.

I am blessed to be able to spend time with her.

I am blessed to have her influence on my life.

I am blessed to know that she is always praying for me.

So today was about blessing my mom...

 

My girls and I drove out to my parents' house and spent the day with them. We took food and cupcakes and gifts and had a wonderful day. 

And then I got home to be blessed in return...

 

Trust your Mother's Day was fabulous too...

 

 

 

Me + Mom

So, I spent a couple of days with my mom last week.

 

She has always been my best friend. So supportive. So encouraging. So selfless. When I am with her, she makes me feel like I am the most important person in the world.

Last week I was on Spring Break and was able to spend two whole days with my mom.

The first day, we spent crafting at her house. I introduced her to the art journaling techniques I have been learning in my class. Turns out it is her favourite thing ever! We each made a page the day we were together and the next day, she was off to buy all the stuff she needed to do it herself. And after only a few days, she had already created five or six pages!

I am so glad that we have crafting in common.

Another thing we both enjoy doing is thrift store shopping. I mentioned that the first day last week we spent together, we did crafting. Well, the second day we spent shopping for treasures! I found a most lovely vintage linen table cloth priced at $4 and when I got to the till, the lady informed me that it was 50% off! I also found some vintage metal buttons that I am using as closures for my glass bead bracelets.

Mom is the best at spying good stuff. I had been on the lookout for a 'new' used sewing machine as mine has been giving me such trouble for some time now. My mom spied one in a thrift store in a neighbouring town for me for $40! I will be sharing about that little find next week.

When we had covered all the nearby thrift stores, we moved on to Michaels and stocked up on wonderful crafting supplies! We both found some great word stamps and little decor items for art journaling. And she scored a great rotating organizer to put all the supplies that she wants to keep handy in one place and easy to access. We were like kids in a candy store!

Then she took me to a wonderful place for lunch. It is a little old church that has been restored and converted into a restaurant. She had the Guiness stew and I had a lovely chicken + brie sandwich with sweet potato + ginger soup.

But the best part is sharing our lives together. We talk about everything from food, to crafts, to husbands, to faith. It is so wonderful. And we never run out of things to say. We just talk and talk and talk. And laugh of course too!

I am so blessed and I know it...

 

 

 

Mexican Vacation Album

So, a couple of weeks ago, we went on a much needed vacation to Mexico.

 

My husband works two jobs and is working all of the time.  The only way to get him to rest, is to go out of town. This time it involved an airplane and a beach.

I love vacationing, but I do not love coming home to make an album of our memories. So many photos to pick through and edit. So many stories and details to report. Such a short turn around as friends and family want to see pics right away.

I am so terrible at doing vacation albums, that our last 5 vacations still are in jpeg format...but not this time!

This time I took a different approach. The nice lady that I work with has created several albums as Apple books and they have all turned out fabulous. After much consideration, I decided to take on that format. It seemed manageable and all I had to do was take my camera and laptop with me to Mexico.

Each night as we wound down in our hotel room, I sat and downloaded, then edited the photos of the day and slid them right into my chosen template in the Apple book, all through iPhoto. This kept me on top of the photos each day so I didn't have to sort through hundreds when I arrived home. I chose a simple template with primarily spaces for photos and then designed it so I'd have a few white spaces to write in the stories later.

I did my final edit on the airplane home and a day or two later...I hit PRINT.

 

I sent the order electronically to Apple on a Thursday and it arrived in my mailbox on the following Tuesday! That night, I simply added a few stickers and words to note the highlights of our trip. It was that easy. This method also allowed me to get a little scrapbooky, which I didn't want to give up entirely.

 

I was super impressed with the quality of the whole experience, from the colouring of the photos to the quality of the paper to the quick turnaround and shipping of the final product. It even arrived all neatly packaged, making it feel like Christmas arrived early this year!

 

For the first time ever, I have a photo book of my trip only a few weeks after returning home that I can share with family and friends when they ask, How was your trip?

Have you done an electronic book of any kind? I would love to hear about your experience, whether through Apple, Shutterfly, Blurb, or any other of the many companies out there.







 

A Few Layouts

So, I am back to making a few layouts!

 

I know that it has been a while. Life has been very full for the past few months. We are all back to school, I am coaching varsity girls volleyball as well as working full time.

Somehow I always think I can manage it, but then when I see that I have only blogged a handful of times this month, I realize that some things have got to give...

But I am back! We have a vacation planned for next week and then I should be able to get back into the swing of things (translation: scrapbooking and crafting will be part of my life again).

 

The above layout is one for my hubby. He doesn't like to get his pic taken, but I snagged this one in late summer when we were eating outside in the backyard. I used mostly HeyDay papers from Studio Calico (from the 6x6 pack). The title letters are American Crafts. And the little wooden button is one of many that my Dad cut and drilled for me after scrounging a few sticks along the river near my parents' house. You will be seeing more of these...

 

This layout is all about the hours and miles that I logged this summer out running. This particular data is depicting solely my latest race back in September. I am proud of myself for the time that I put in even though I did not want to get up early on my summer break and even though it was stinking hot on some runs and even though there were days where I was breathing in mouthfuls of bugs as I ran along the trails.

I am proud that I completed three races this past spring, early summer and early fall. I have never done that before. Now I can say that I have!

Once again, this layout uses papers from Hey Day. The little manila tag along the right side contains hidden journaling that can be read when pulled out.

 

I like how both of these layouts turned out. However, I do apologize for the terrible colouring of the photos. I have hit that time of year again, when the natural daylight has vanished before I get home from work. So any photos I take are now done with indoor lighting, which I admit is not great. Any advice...?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saying Goodbye

So, we said 'Goodbye' to Sean's grandmother last week.

 

This is the last of the grandparents for both Sean and I.

It was another of those moments when I had to ask myself, How well did you know her? It is so easy to let life get busy, to not 'have time' for friends and relatives, especially the elderly. Often it is not until we are faced with writing and sharing some thoughts on one's life do we take the time to realize we have little to say...

I am challenging myself anew, to go deep with the relationships that I treasure. Really get to know the people that I care about. I imagined myself having to write a eulogy for any number of the people I know as a test to see which ones I know well and which ones I need to spend more time learning about. Surprisingly, it was difficult. 

My One Little Word this year has been OPEN. I am taking this self-challenge personal and I am purposing to OPEN my eyes and ears and heart a whole lot more and really get to know people, young and old. It is never too late... until it is too late!

 

 

40th Birthday

So, we celebrated a milestone birthday on July 28.

 

My sister turned 40 so our whole family gathered at my parents' house and we did a barbecue in the backyard.

The lighting was just amazing, so I was able to capture some great (for me) shots...

 

Something was up with the lighter and we had finished singing before the candle was even lit! My husband was cracking some kind of jokes here that had my sister giggling. She is so radiant when she laughs.

 

Without a flame, she huffed and puffed.

 

 

And blew... (we won't tell those that had cake what we are witnessing here, ok?)

 

After cake was gifts...

 

 

She is totally into gardening this summer in her new garden, so I bought her some hand soap and lotion especially for gardeners. Everyone wanted to sniff it!

 

My mom put together this fabulous scrapbook documenting the various stages in my sister's life. It was fun walking back in time with her.

 

Happy Birthday my sweet Sista!

 

 

 

Yoga Buddies

So, last week we had my nephew come to sleep over.

 

Ashley had been to a hot yoga class earlier that day, so she was showing Cohen some of her moves.

 

Of course he tried every move she did.

 

And bent into positions I am sure he had never tried before.

 

Ashley is his 'best bud', so he would do anything she said.

I love that we get a chance to speak into his little life once in a while. This was a perfect opportunity while his older brother was away at camp...and it gave my sister a little freedom too!

 

 

Layout :: Father's Day 2012

So, I am loving this neon washi tape from Heidi Swapp!

 

I have seen a lot of neon on Pinterest lately. It is showing up in fashion, home decor, nail polish...and now scrapbooking!

I began this layout by painting over a doily with yellow paint, then peeled the doily off to reveal the imprint. It turned out to be quite bright and that led me to want to work with the neon colours. 

A very simple layout, but my first with neons.

There will be more to come for sure!

 

 

Father's Day 2012

So, we honoured Dad this Father's Day.

 

Sean worked the day shift on Sunday, but when he arrived home we cooked him all his favourites for supper. We served him baked potatoes and bbq steak (marinated in Kikoman's soy sauce). Jess whipped up a fabulous salad of baby spinach, shredded carrot, radish, tomato, avocado, sunflower seeds, and hemp seeds.

His favourite dessert was a no-brainer...pecan pie with whipped cream! Between the four of us, we ate the entire pie (except for one small slice that Sean enjoyed the following night).

I was thankful that the weather allowed us to be outdoors to eat and connect as a family. There is something about being outdoors. It makes us all a little more content.

Since Sean was at work in the morning, we were able to spend time with my Dad. Bright and early the girls and I drove out to my parents' place where we attended a pancake breakfast at their church and then spent the rest of the afternoon at their house. My sister and her family were able to be there too. I love my family and I love these gatherings when we can just be together and enjoy one another.

Love you Dad...

And love you father of my children...

 

 

 

 

Birthday Plans

So, we are celebrating my husband's birthday today and throughout the weekend.

 

Tonight was chillin' at Starbucks after work then out for a nice supper at our favourite restaurant called Cravings.

Tomorrow night, dinner at his parents' house.

Friday night out to the condo in Canmore.

Saturday a nice long bike ride through the mountains on new bikes!!

 

And right now? Off to snuggle with the birthday boy on the couch with a cup of tea to watch the hockey game...