Weekend Wrap-up

It was nice to have a few weekends off from structured activities but it's now back to our normal weekend. Flag football games started this weekend and I can't believe how big my kid (and his team) looked compared to the other team. I remember when J started and I thought he was going get hurt since he was so small compared to the other team. Now the shoe is on the other foot!

Ice hockey also started back up this weekend with evaluations...a little practice on his own with his personal 4-legged defense-man helping out. Sitting in the cold rink waiting for the kid meant I got to pull out my knitting, a start to one of two baby boy blankets.

I wasn't kidding about my  kid getting big!

Sunday was also roll on your own sushi night...have you ever tried making your own sushi? It's a lot of prep work and quite messy but so much fun and it gets everyone together at the table for a nice chunk of time. In case you're wondering, we made avocado rolls, salmon avocado rolls, california rolls, spicy salmon rolls, mayo tuna rolls and spicy tuna mayo rolls.

How was your weekend?

Sneaky Sunday

The Summer layout classes are finally done and ready to roll. The colors were super pretty and the layouts came together with plenty of supplies left...see what I did with the extras below. 

Summer Lovin' layout class $15

We will use Carta Bella's Summer Lovin' line to create 4 pages that are perfect for all your summer adventures. In this class, we will distress, ink, and use mists (optional). 

With the leftover pieces, I made a few cards to add to my stash :)

Fave Finds

Good Morning! With the start of a new season, I usually sit down and set goals. The goal this year is to have a good work-life balance. I do have a pretty awesome one right now but there are a few things that I would still like to tweak. Mainly the amount of time I spent on the computer and on my devices. I would much rather spend that time with my family, reading, knitting and scrapbooking! With that goal in mind...
- emails will take a little longer to get a reply...I am going to try to check it twice a day, before and after my day job.
- the iPhone...ugh...I'm just as bad as my kids. No hard plans but I leave it on my nightstand as much as possible. So if message or text me, I may not reply right away.
- this blog will still get updated but not as frequently. I'm thinking posts on Monday, Wednesday, Fridays and some Sundays. I may post more often if there are things to share but otherwise, I'm sticking to that schedule.

Now that I've gotten that out, a Friday post...something different from the Fave Five and Nailed It posts...Fave Finds. Just a compilation of things that I've found on pinterest or the web that I think are cool and want to share with you.

a business card stamp - genius

loving the idea of fruit and yogurt parfaits for breakfast

this is contender for this year's X'mas card except it looks like a TON of die-cutting

gorgeous & colorful sheets from IKEA

anchor set-up how-to = no more drifting when we're out fishing

beautiful FREE digi + printable back-to-school cards from Simple As That blog 

quote and print - just perfect

want to try this Crock Pot Beef Carnitas recipe

Another freebie - a cut file for the silhouette plus a DIY mist tutorial

Weekend Wrap-up

LWhat a fabulous weekend to say goodbye to summer! Although I don't think summer is ready to go quite yet. We cleaned up a little around the house Saturday morning before heading to the beach,  Spencer Fair on Sunday and Rutland State Park on Monday with friends. Pretty much squeezed as much as possible into a long weekend.

Oh Summer you will be missed! Bring on Autumn...first crop of the season is Cropical Getaways in Hartford, CT...looking forward to it!

Share A Card Tuesday

Another stamp set I picked up at an RSC yard sale (they have the best stuff there) and justt had to play with. Just a little something simple...colored with copic markers and using scraps from way back!

Colored in the hearts with Wink of Stella markers and I love how sparkly they came out. The sentiment inside says, "thought you could use a little pickup!"

September Bazzill Bulk Buy

A Bazzill Bulk Buy is an opportunity to stock up on Bazzill cardstock at a reduced price.  New to my cardstock bulk buy?  Here's the scoop...

• You will receive 60 sheets of cardstock, 5 sheets each of 12 different colors.
• Price includes tax and shipping to me.
• Price is for local hand delivery only - It does NOT include shipping to you. We can meet up or deliver at an event (check my schedule here).  Cardstock will be available for delivery at Cropical Getaways Hartford, Cool Crops Portland and beyond.
• Mailing from me to you will be actual USPS cost for a priority flat rate box. I can fit 2 orders in a box.
• Order Deadline is noon, Wednesday Sept 9. 
• Payments in advance by check are appreciated or cash upon delivery.  No CC's or paypal please.

The cost of this month's buy is $28.  Email me (sluvs2skrap at yahoo dot com) to purchase, please include # of buys, payment method and delivery location.

Share A Card Tuesday

I bought this stamp set at a RSC yard sale since I can't seem to pass up on anything froggy. The card looks cuter in person AND obviously Mr. Froggy is falling off the mushroom! My masking skills are good, just the lining up part needs major work, not so easy with wood mounted stamps. Any tips? Suggestions? Mat the image and patterned paper? Ribbon/twine?

I colored in the image with Copic markers and used the color blender to hit certain spots to get the marbled effect and a dab of the white souffle pen gives it a little dimension. 
Hope you like it!

Weekend Wrapup

What beautiful weather we had this past weekend! We worked in the yard all Saturday morning and then decided that we needed a little fun so we packed it in and headed to our favorite state park. We took the canoe and got some fishing in. I caught a teeny tiny fish and D decided to use it as bait. I kept telling him he wouldn't catch anything...and within 20 seconds of casting he yelled that he had a BIG FISH. Ummm...yeah he did indeed catch a big fish. I went to grab (he fell off the hook) him so we could take pictures and realized he had TEETH when he bit me. DH and J were out on the canoe while D and I stayed on shore. Needless to say I will be double checking fishes before I pick them out!

On Sunday, we went over to a friend's house for a pig roast. The boys (big, small and tiny) had a blast playing football and soccer while the ladies cheered them on. What is it with adult men that turns them into little kids the minute a ball comes out? LOL...DH getting ready to tackle D in this pic!

And best of all, getting a picture of my nephew and hanging out with my friend's baby...both sporting onesies I made for them :) Well my nephew isn't 'cos the hunk-a-chunk doesn't fit in the 3-6mth onesie 😳

Have a wonderful Monday!!!

Sneaky Sunday

I had a vision in my head of an altered art project back in the spring and knew it would be a perfect class project. Problem was I couldn't make it affordable enough nor could I find the perfect embellishments for it. I had bits and pieces but couldn't source enough for a class. Fast forward to the summer and the release of some new items. I did a little shopping, waited impatiently for it to come in and got right down to it. It only took me 2 hours to put this piece of art together and that included playing and testing products. I'm just going to share a sneak peek with you today...more details on the class to come in my newsletter sometime later in the week.

I love it and had so much fun putting it together. I hope you like it too...and enough to sign up for class!

Summer Recap

The kids are back in school and it's back to work for me as well. I did take some of July and most of August off. I'm back and have quite a few things to share with you. I thought I'd start off easy here on the blog with a little recap of our summer...this summer we made our way to Malaysia to visit family and friends. Here's a pic of my boys with their great-grandmother. I love that there is a picture of a younger her in the background. We stayed for 2 weeks and included a whirlwind trip to KL and Singapore. As always we got back and wished we had stayed longer.

There was ONE beach trip...hoping to get one or two more in before it gets too cold and sports start up again.

Ice cream was on the menu A LOT. Even Diego got in on that and his favorite is Madulka's on the lake.

The vegetable garden survived the summer...thanks to our awesome house sitter...and provided us with plenty of fresh goods.

There was plenty of time spent with my boys...trying to get shots from different angles and I think I like this one.

There was also fishing, canoeing, shopping, home projects, video games, hikes, walks, grilled pizzas, etc. Here's to a great summer 2015...hope yours was wonderful and full of memories. Now onto scrapping those memories!

Sneaky Sunday

Carrying a new to me brand Paper House Productions and loving their two new collections.

Flashback Friday

Flasback to when I taught my first ever scrapbooking class...the Lullaby Album at Maria's house. I had a full class and remember being super nervous. Fact, I'm always super nervous before an event and calm right down once I get there. The lullaby album had a title page, and then 12 lullabies plus space for a pic of baby on the opposite page - one more each month of the first year. I believe everyone had a choice of a boy or girl album and we used Chatterbox papers!

Sneaky Sunday

I remember the days when all Jori wanted to do was line up his hot wheels and drive them one at a time on the roads of his town rug. And when Darin went through a train phase and always had a train with him everywhere we went. This new layout is perfect for those pictures and I plan on using the title A Boy and His Toys. This is a quick and easy 2 page layout...reserve yours today, I only have 9 in stock.

I Am...

planning our summer vacation

hoping to also get in a camping trip
working on layout kits to add to the store for the fall
adding lots and lots of cool new scrappy products to my wishlist
reading as much as I can while my schedule is a little lighter than normal
trying not complaining about the heat but the humidity is a different story all together...so glad it finally broke
balancing work and fun while the kids are off from school. This may be the last summer they're willing to stay home and hang out with me
breathing deep as they try my patience...don't get me wrong, I love having them home just not the bickering
enjoying the rest of baseball season

I will be taking a little hiatus from the blog to enjoy the summer with my family. I'll be back before you know it ;)

Nailed It Wednesday

Looking for a dessert that was easy to make and also easy to transport, I came across this S'mores Brownie Bar recipe by Deliciously Sprinkled on Pinterest. It was super easy to make and everyone at the softball game loved it. So much so I don't have a picture of it. I'm sure I'll be making it again, and again.

photo by Deliciously Sprinkled

Share A Card Tuesday

It's so nice out I thought I'd try to get some work in out on the deck. And then of course the clouds rolled in and I'm back in the scrap cave. Today I am sharing with you the cutest card I've made so far. This is stamp set by Paper Smooches called "Let's Roll". There are several other sayings and sushi types but I haven't played with them yet. I had to dig up some rusty masking skills and got creative with my limited copic colors.

Weekend Wrap-up

We set off on Friday for Rochester NY for the annual La Familia 4th of July softball game. We went for the first time last year when the boys had a break from baseball and it was forecasted to rain all weekend here in MA. This year, their cousins started texting way back in May and the boys were insistent that we go again. Once we knew their schedules were clear, we decided to make the 6hr drive.

 Saturday morning, after breakfast, we got a call from a cousin that another cousin had bailed on a donut eating contest he signed up for AND if one of the boys would like to participate. D said "Why not!" and she said, "Get here ASAP. Contest starts in 15 minutes!" He had cold feet in the car and kept saying he was stuffed from breakfast. We told him to just participate and no problem if he only ate 1 donut. We got there and were told to eat as many as he could in 5 minutes, the rest he could take home. He had a tray of 24 fried cake donuts and cups of cider to wash it down. He was Antonio for the contest and that's the cousin's boyfriend next to him. Results: D ate 1, cousin's bf ate 4 and winner ate EIGHT!!! We took over 3 dozen donuts home to share with the rest of the family and they were delicious.

Group pic before the game...more showed up later while some left for work/other activities.

Epic paint war battle after the game and here are the cousins...they kept at it long after everyone gave up. Ages from left to right...soon to be 14, 13, soon to be 15, 14...love when they're so close in age.

Slip n Slide back at the house, bocce, corn hole, etc etc before heading over to another cousin's house to hang out before walking over to the river for fireworks. It's a carry your own chair/blanket affair and we were the ones sent over early to grab a spot. Our group tripled when the fireworks started.

It's so much fun to get to spend time with family. We're thinking this might be an annual trip for us. Hope your fourth was family & fun-filled too!!!

Sneaky Sunday

Back again for another Sneaky Sunday post. This time I have robots and gadgets to share with you. Kaisercraft's K-bot collection was the perfect line to put together 4 pages - two 2 page layouts - to highlight the boy in your life. They are titled All Boy and Best Buddies. There is quite a bit of fussy cutting involved but so worth it. Wait 'til you see the pages.

Fave Five

Just some random stuff I found on pinterest. This looks like an easy enough project...wonder if my boys would help me with it. Now that they're teens, craft projects with mom isn't quite so cool anymore.

Sea glass jewelry...be still my heart. I have a pile of sea glass in a jar from our time in the pacific and it would be awesome to make them into wearable jewelry. In my spare time, right?

And this sign...I'm thinking I need to make one for my store. Yes?

This! This made me almost spit out my coffee when I came across it. So super accurate especially the part about "what my mom thinks I do"...I think it should say "what my FAMILY thinks I do". No one quite gets it.

Someone once asked me if I got tired of scrapping baseball pics. My answer was it's not too bad, I just do a layout for each kid for each team they play for and when I started listing them...we just looked at each other and laughed. Seriously this year alone, Jori's album will have layouts for the three teams he's on plus All Stars. These Sports Page Titles will definitely come in handy.

Garden Tales 07.02.15

A little late for a post but better later than never, right? We'll start with this cutie visiting my parsley when I really need her at the dill's since there's aphids moving in. I tried moving her over but she decided to fly away home. 

Here is a patch of the healthiest cilantro I've ever grown. I let the plants from last season go to seed and left them alone. They're growing all around the tomatoes and we're using them as fast as we can. 

And just in case you're wondering why the tomatoes are a weird color, it's a weird hybrid that I thought would be interesting to have in the garden.

Moving on...I Spy a baby zucchini. Always so exciting when I find one. I'm a pessimist when it comes to the zuchinnis and squash. 

There's even a little hint of red on the raspberries. Can't wait!!!