Flashback Friday

Flashback friday...when I post about past events or old layouts or anything I feel like reminiscing about. Are you enjoying these flashback posts? Let me know if I should keep them or toss them.

Flashback to October 20th, 2006...8 years ago...when I had my very first crop in my scrap cave. I don't have any photos of attendees but am pretty sure I had at least 4 scrappers.

We put together a 2 page Halloween layout - KI Memories papers, Making Memories foam stamps with acrylic paint and my staple, Bazzill cardstock!

The products have evolved...in fact, some of these companies have closed their doors - Cosmo Cricket and Chatterbox.

Some things have changed and yet others haven't. I no longer host crops in my home and have in fact moved my space to the other side of the basement (I actually have windows now). We've also put in new floors and yet those orange poles remain :(

Garden Tales 08.12.14

The garden hasn't changed much since last week's post other than the snap peas have sprouted. I haven't been home much to mess around in the garden other than to harvest (beans, herbs, tomatoes, greens) and enjoy. Instead, I'll show you what else we did...we have 2 pet turtles...the boys and I made a make shift pond in their old sand box for them. Basically we dug a hole, lined it with an old shower curtain and placed rounded rocks around the edges to hold the liner down. Filled it with water and dropped them in. They were happy to be out of their tank and happily explored.

This guy stayed out there for over an hour reading and "babysitting" the turtles...they were trying to get out. They made it out a few times and each time, we just picked them up and placed them back in the pond, moving the rocks they were using to climb out on.

The next day, we did the same but this time covered the top of the sandbox with the boys' baseball throwback net and weighed it down with pieces of lumber. Well, sad to say we didn't "babysit" them and when we came back an hour later, one of them was gone. It's been over a week and we still  haven't found him. We are sad but are hoping it found it's way to a nice pond. As for the other turtle, we are undecided on what to do with it. For now, he is back in his tank with a few shiners for company (edited: 1 shiner for company, the others... .)

Weekend Wrap-Up

Still sticking to the OUTDOORS theme, we spent the entire weekend outdoors AFTER spending the entire week camping. The weather has been beautiful and the family willing :) Loving all the time we're spending together and away from electronics. And this pic...LOL, DH doesn't like to smile for the camera and the boys decided they needed to mirror his signature look...don't they look like they're having a blast? Ahh summertime, time for making memories!

Sunday, we met up with friends to celebrate a 10th birthday...even the cake matched the theme of the day.

Please don't think it's all a bed of roses, the boys have their moments...the most memorable ones are
- when D decided he was done hiking 2/3 of the way into our 6 mile hike
- when I'm untangling fishing lines for the umpteenth time
- when we do have a day home for chores and they are the most un-co-operative heathe, one even had the nerve to tell me he was on vacation and therefore was exempt from chores
- when a quick grocery store trip becomes an ordeal 'cos they're arguing and pushing n shoving in the aisles...ugh!
All in all, the sum of it is we are enjoying ourselves and I am choosing to mostly remember the good times.

Around Here

We've been spending a lot of our time outdoors...camping, hiking, canoeing and most of all fishing! Sorry if I've been a little absent here and posts are coming in late, enjoying the last few days left of summer vacay.

Nailed it!

Worm farming - We have been fishing a ton and it was just ridiculous shelling out $ every single time we headed out for crawlers (worms). I kept seeing worm farm pins and decided to give it a try. D is my fisherman and was totally into it so we dug in. We just did a basic 1 bin system since it's sitting outside - we (as in I) drilled holes in the bin, shredded newspaper and ordered the worms.

When they arrived D dumped them in and they are living in there happily (we ordered 250 worms but I don't see 250 in there...let's just assume they're happily in there).

We feed them once a week from kitchen scraps and have been going through the bin when we go fishing.

In case you're interested, here is my Worm Farm pinterest board.

Garden Tales 08.05.14

Just a quick post...everything is growing and blooming. I pulled out the sugar snap peas as they were done and planted a new batch.

Vacation wrap-up

Instead of a weekend wrap-up, I'm going to do a vacation wrap-up post. After baseball season ended for the boys, we decided on a last minute trip to Florida...to spend some time at the beach and some cousin/family time. It was much needed and we all had a great time. And it's pretty safe to say that I'll probably have classes and kits with the following themes...

Beach/Surfing - we spent 75% of our time at one beach or another while we were at the coast. We even signed the boys up for a 1/2 day surf camp to learn to surf.

 Fishing...we went deep sea fishing one of the days and had a great time, except for the seasick part.

 Food...there were lots of delicious meals and lots of photo-taking ;)

 Family...the kids even posed for some pics...amazing!

Baby girl...yup, there is finally a girl in the family. Can't wait to scrap some pink pages :)

And in 3 days, I believe my boys are on their to becoming pool sharks. Anyone know of any pool themed papers out there?

How is your summer coming along? Ours is shaping up nicely and I am still enjoying the time at home with the boys. It has it's moments but the slower pace is awesome!

Pinterest Fave Five

On the last Friday of the month, I post five of my favorite pins. I then attempt them during the following weeks and share with you my "Nailed It" moments.

This Weekend Brunch Casserole combines all of my boys' faves...crescent rolls, sausage and cheese.

 And this sketch, created by Cheryl Even...going to have to put it to use. It is totally my style - linear and clean.

And this...what a brilliant idea. Will have to see if I can fit a tube of Neosporin in with the bandaids. Perfect for camping and for the beach.

 This cowl...looks like a super easy pattern and a quick knit. It's never too early to start on X'mas gifts and/or winter wear, right?

And last but not least, I find that I love the 30 day fitness challenges that abound on pinterest. This one looks like a good one to try for the month of August. Join me?

Weekend Wrap-up

Nice weather plus the desire to be more active and unplugged led us to quite a bit of outdoor adventuring this past weekend. Saturday, we hiked Mt. Wachusett...where the boys, all three of them, left me in their dust with their longer legs. I am officially the shortest one in the house now :(

Sunday, we took our canoe out to our favorite spot and I offered free mom fishing charters. I rowed and they fished. That is definitely the best way to fish on a canoe. This one here was actually directing me to certain spots, Jori was nice enough to go on a super short ride and the husband took turns with me.

Before all this took place, Saturday morning I headed out to meet Cris Q and her sidekicks for a photo shoot. Location was beautiful, weather (cloudy) was perfect and they were so much fun to photograph. Just one pic to share...I had to, it's just so dreamy...and my all time favorite shot.

We're off on more adventures this week so I may or may not be on here...don't miss me too much.

I am

loving having the summer off to play with my scrappy supplies and hang out with my boys.

looking forward to a vacation planned for next week.

reading The Fault in Our Stars

enjoying the neighborhood library branch down the street from our house.

listening to "Bailando" by Enrique Iglesias.

working on designing layout kits for the fall.

harvesting raspberries from my backyard garden daily, and watching spunky baby squirrels scamper right up to the bushes and sitting there eating said raspberries!

delighting in the baby bunnies that have made an appearance in our backyard.

grateful they (bunnies) haven't found their way into my vegetable garden

Product Spotlight: Prima chalk inks

Have you seen these chalk inkers? I was introduced to them by a customer and love them. I was disappointed with the quality of my ex-fave chalkers and these babies are my new BFF's! They have a pointed end to get into nooks & crevices, sponge is soft & smooth and are durable.

The handle makes it easy to hold and I love that I can leave the cover on the table and stand them up as I work. No having to lay them face up so I don't get ink everywhere.

What are they used for? I use them to distress the edges of my papers and elements. It helps with definition and gives the embellishments a little grunge look. Chalk ink is smooth and dries almost immediately and doesn't smudge on paper.

They retail for $2 and are available in all colors. Check them out in my booth come september.

Garden Tales 07.15.14

The rain came down in sheets today interspersed with plenty of lightning and loud crashes of thunder. Obviously I didn't head outside to take any pictures today so I'll leave you with this pic of my ripening raspberries taken on Monday. I can see lots of red in the raspberry bushes and am hoping the squirrel doesn't get to them before we do. 

Weekend Wrap-up

We wrapped up baseball over the weekend...Darin's all-star team got smoked in the district championships friday night. It was really cool watching them play under the lights and a SUPER MOON. He worked hard on the team and also had a great time. The best way to end a Little League career, I think.

We also wrapped Jori's Babe Ruth and AAU seasons with a double header on Sunday. Same thing for this guy...he had a great season and adapted well to the bigger diamond.

Saturday, Jorge and I headed out for a run in the morning and then spent the day working around the house. The big project of the weekend was taking down the old play set and getting started building a tree house. A certain someone has big plans for it and has been spending his evenings drawing up plans!

The boys are at basketball (on to the next sport) camp all this week and I'm planning on spending my time in the scrap room. Stay tuned!

Flashback Friday

Another new feature on my blog...flashback friday. This is when I'll post about past events or old layouts or anything I feel like reminiscing about.

This is one of my all-time favorite layouts. Every single time I come across it, I stop to look at the photos and read the journaling. This is why I scrapbook...to remember these fleeting moments. Nothing fancy about the layout, Cosmo Cricket papers and Fancy Pants Designs felt embellishments, but it says it all him, his art and his words (Age 4, in preschool and learning about owls).  Journaling reads...

What a Hoot!
learning about owls at preschool, you learned
- owls are knock-journal
- if you ow-eleen (owling), you have to be ery very quie and if you don't see any, bring a flashlight
- one kind eats bats (really?) and to he bats try to knock it out of the tree so it can eat them

Garden Tales 07.09.14

Seeing fruits ripening...actually ate a delicious warm raspberry right off the bush. Plenty more to come :)

The veggie garden was too small to fit everything so I'm experimenting and planting in the ground and in containers, zucchini, yellow squash, jalapeno and butternut squash, in the front of the house. I also think there is more sun out front than in my backyard.  We'll see...

And the insects are loving it too...ants in my lavender and spiders in the clematis "seeds?"