Happy Father's Day

Father's Day weekend is here. Our Daddy is away working, so we celebrated last weekend. Had a great day! Slept in, lovely brunch (eggs Benedict) out on the deck in the warm sunshine, tennis with the kids in the afternoon, iced coffees soaking in the sun.... bliss.

Because I'm limited with what I was able to bring with me, I decided to make a card using a photo I recently took that I thought was cute. Joshua wasn't feeling too good, but he was a trooper to pose for the photo. I then treated it like a mini-scrapbook page and used accents, stickers & rubons to make it ours. All the kids wrote their special note inside. Of course we included some funky shorts & a big book of California to prepare for our upcoming CA/AZ trip.

I'm also DETERMINED to start scrappin' again, so I've been working on my first page in a LONG time and hope to have that to show you in the next few days.

Enjoy your weekend...and your Dad! :)

.j.

Very Bad Blogger....

I have been a bad blogger -- funny how I thought "moving" here would somehow make life slow down - HA. Guess when you have kids, you're busy no matter *where* you are! I have had no time to stamp, sure do miss it too. With homeschooling the kids now, my days are FULL... I think I need to start bringing a larger portion of arts & crafts into school - ha! I did make a Father's Day Card (I will try to photograph & share with you tomorrow...) using a photo. It's almost like a mini scrapbook page. In the past I've done books or some sort of scrap album for hubby, but this year, I just couldn't get to it. The kids were disappointed - they asked when we were going to the book. :( So I think I will work on a different book with the kids for his 40th this fall.... That will be fun & a little extra special. I've been pouring over my issues of Creating Keepsakes and am desperately wanting to do some scrapbooking -- hubby even brought my awesome canon printer with him on the plane this past trip {yes, he went through the storage units to find it! What a guy!!) -- So I have no excuse (except for lack of space), so that is my goal this week. My daughter wants to do a mini album for a friends birthday so we hope to get started on that tomorrow as well.... then there's gardening (our veggie garden is doing awesome!)... and some baking that needs to get done -- I love full days though - crammed packed with memories.
Our plans down south are slowly starting to come together.... as things are confirmed I'll begin to share -- looking forward to an amazing adventure ....
.j.

Hot Sunshine

Wow, are we ever enjoying this amazing Okanagan weather! Over 35 degrees today - beautiful. Love that heat & those WARM breezes (K, I love the air-conditioned house too!) Just popping in to say I am still here, just haven't been stamping. Inspire me. What have you been working on?

Stamped Vellum

This is the last card I had "on file" to share with you while I was away :) It's great when I have a full day to stamp out a bunch of cards, photograph & then save them to share with you on stamping "droughts"! I've been in a creative drought for too long. Anyone else get grumpy when they haven't had that creative outlet?! I do!! :) This was a *very* simple layered card. I used vellum cardstock (a lot nicer to work with I find) and stamped it with white stazon. Because I don't like the look of adhesive behind vellum, I always use some sort of embellishment to attach it and in this case, I used some light pink brads. The card is very soft, but I think it's simplicity is pretty.
I'm no longer a Stampin' Up! demonstrator - wow. It's strange after nearly 7 YEARS not be a demo. I haven't done a workshop in a couple years though, but still was a great customer to myself! HA. I did *finally* order a stamp set I've had my eye on, called Trendy Trees. So, hopefully in my stamping time I'll be able to play with this set and be able to show you a few ideas.
Hope you all had a great weekend!
.j.

Enjoying a sunshine recovery :)

It has been wonderful to have life finally s-l-o-w down!! We've been recovering from the months of chaos and enjoying the warm/hot weather here in the Okanagan. Soon we'll be planning our adventure south (which we hope to take this fall -- too hot now!!). Our house has officially SOLD! What a wonderful thing!! It'll be through at the end of July, so the happy dance will take place on August the 1st! :)

I also won a wonderful prize over at Joshua Jiraffe Designs' blog! Here's what I won:

Yes, this AMAZING gift (she even included the darling covered box!!) I ooh'd & aaah'd over EVERYTHING. She even added in extra bonuses! These absolutely darling Christmas tags (in a box!) check them out HERE. Aren't they fabulous?! I just LOVE them and I will ABSOLUTELY be using them next year (and I hope to case the idea for gifts myself!) Karen you were BEYOND generous with your gift. I love everything - all the buttons and embellies, the scrumptious ribbons, the darling stamp set, there was an adorable heart box covered with beautiful pink/brown papers (my favorite color combo!!!) -- I will seriously use EVERYTHING! Just what I needed after the last few months - a box full of inspiration & fun! So THANKYOU!!! You must all go check out here blog, here's the link again: JOSHUA JIRAFFE DESIGNS. She has amazing talent & inspiring ideas!!
I haven't done much stamping here.... one card I think, but I do hope to change that next week. While hubby is home for the week we devote that week to family time (boys are out golfing right now!) and then when he's gone I have a bit more time. Hope to set up some stamp time with my Mom next week and get going again. I do want to get scrapbooking, but my printer for some reason didn't make it on the truck (WAAA!!!). It's sitting in the storage unit up in Fort Mac. LOVE having a photo printer and not having to sit and order online... all ONE SIZE. BLEK! So... bummed about that. Need to get some photos though so I can scrap!

As school winds down, how is everyone doing? Drop me a line! :)

Enjoy your week,

.j.

A weekend home.

It's so nice to be here, enjoying the warm days and relaxing after a crazy few months. The cherry on top was that yesterday our house SOLD! A couple months before they move in and it's DONE, but sold - oh how wonderful that feels!!

Hubby is away, but flying in for the long weekend (yahooo!!) and then we celebrate my Dad's 60th - whoa, how did that happen?! We enjoyed a full afternoon at the park (above) yesterday and today we're off to the airport to pick up Daddy. It's a goooooood day!

Hope you are enjoying yours!

.j.

A Simple layered card.

I made this card about a month ago with my shop-aholic friend's birthday in mind (not mentioning any names, you know who you are! LOL). You'll see the waterfall punch {again} on this card. Love it. I think I need to look for another border stamp though... I love the crispness of the white cardstock. The white rub-on are from Stampin' Up! I love how they come in white, green, brown & black. I colored the image in with my Copic Markers {yes, they came too!} - and made it into a very simple, layered card. A few brads running down the edge and a rub-on sentiment completes it. :)
I hope you're having a happy day - the weekend is around the corner already! David is away (back to commuting {insert much sadness here}) so I think the kids & I might go to the movies this weekend - a special treat for them! :) Any recommendations? They totally want to see Monsters Vs. Aliens.
.j.