Still in VA...

Hey everyone....we decided to extend our stay in Virginia until Monday....so look for a post from me next week about our travels. HOPE you have a great weekend.

A few new cards....and a bracelet too!

The boy and I are headed to Virginia tomorrow to visit a really good friend and her family. He's also going to participate in a Civil War Reenactment. We've (I mean I've) been scrambling all week to get things done: laundry, assignments, birthday presents bought wrapped and ready to send, cards made....I could go on but that would be pretty boring. Instead I thought I'd share a few of the cards I made for Father's Day and a Thank You card for the boy's teacher.

I'm not sure about the bracelet, but it's all I have time for and that's what she's gonna get. I'm pretty sure she'll like it..... I hope.

I'll try and post from VA....but no promises. We'll be back next Wednesday night - so expect a post from me on Thursday! Enjoy your weekend and all that!!

Summer layout at Scrapbooking & Beyond!

Thought I’d share a quick hybrid page I created for Scrapbooking & Beyond magazine. You can download the instructions if you are interested in how I did either the digital part or the traditional paper part!

Got a ton of things to do today, so I’m on the run! Enjoy your day, thanks for visiting!

We had a Visitor today...

Of the 4 legged variety! She was looking for a place to make a nest and lay her eggs....and in my raised rock flower garden no less. We heard the dog barking and growling at something and when we came down to investigate saw this little girl slowly moseying her way around the yard. I wasn't too happy that she wanted to get in my flower beds - and in the long run I think she changed her mind. It could have been after she fell on her back and I flipped her over using the end of a shovel, but I'm not sure. The boy thinks that when they fall on their back they have no way of flipping themself back over....

In other news, I learned how to sew a buttonhole today. Not that it was very hard, or that you should be excited about it - but my Mom's sewing machine was a little challenged, and I had to do everything in reverse.....but they're done and no one will notice the little imperfections but me. I'm making a constume for the boy for this weekend. We're going to Virginia to participate in a Civil War Reenactment. Looking forward to that! I turned a Women's Blazer into a confederate coat - my creative endeavor for the day! Well that's all for now, thanks for visiting.

It's the Weekend...

Aren't we supposed to rest? Today I tackled the 8 yards of loam that we had delivered for my raised beds several weeks (maybe a monthish or so??) ago. I kept thinking that somone else would tackle it before me but that didn't happen. Someone else probably knew that I'd get tired of looking at the green tarp that kept the weeds from growing on it and would get a wild hair one day and move it. Today the wild hair struck and someone else wasn't home so I worked pretty much by myself. One more wheel barrel full and it'll be moved, then I just have to smooth it out. Phew, I'll be happy to drive down my driveway and not cringe when I see it. I wonder if someone else will notice when he gets home?

I took these pictures Thursday night, but haven't had a chance to blog them. I think gardening is another form of creativity. I know it doesn't take much skill to dig a hole and stick a plant in it, but it takes some sort of creativity to arrange the flowers so they look nice and grow pretty. Right now, my gardens don't look that nice. No garden does in it's first year really. Right now I have some purple and yellow iris' blooming, and this pretty purple salvia. My peonies are goingto bloom soon, which I am surprised since I just moved them to these beds last fall.

I thought I'd share my vegetable gardens with you. Someone else, being the wonderful husband that he is - built the raised beds for me. I'm pretty happy with them. Pictured above are the peas that the boy (that's almost as tall as me and wore my old sneakers today - size 9) planted. they're growing with leaps and bounds. He's looking forward to getting some peas for dinner - though I think it'll be a few weeks before that happens.

Daikon....notice the green tarp in the background?? It's now folded up and waiting to be put away and the dirt now fills the spot in our lawn that became a lake when we got heavy rain.

greenpeppers. chile peppers. banana peppers.

Someone else got a new toy on Thursday. If it keeps the lawn mowed and not 2 feet high I'll be happy. If not it's going back. (yes he reads the blog ;-) but some how I don't think he'll take that seriously. How the heck am I gonna get it back to Sears?

tomatoes. heirloom tomatoes. Can't. wait. for them.

Cucumbers, tomatillo and cherry tomatoes.

Yesterday I went with the 4th Grade to the Gray Animal Park. They had three baby moose that had been abandoned for some reason, I'm not sure if they are triplets but they were really cute. They seemed pretty interested in people.

the painted turtles were pretty cute, the little one was having a ride on the big one....

After a busy day yesterday we drove home across the bridge last night and stopped for a minute to admire the beautiful sky and how calm the river was.

I hoping to get some crafting in tonight. I've been inspired by a friend that made some inchies and posted them on her blog this week...it might be the fast and easy that inspired me - but it could also be the catch phrase of saving and USING up all those little scraps of everything I save.....hmmm...gotta get the boy off to bed so I can get started! Ta Ta for now and thanks for visiting.

Forget me Not...

Fabric and paper ATC. Image printed on muslin with my trusty HP printer. Made when I could still find fabric tape measures.

It's been a busy day finishing up projects, writing instructions and invoices...baking and working a few minutes to put up a fence that will protect the broccolli that is growing nicely from the deer that may discover it in the garden. And even exercised for nearly 45 minutes on the treadmill. Phew, busy. And baking. Yes, I do bake too. Here's a picture of creativity for you..... I was showered with my clean new green tree t-shirt on, brown and pink Life is Good to long pj bottoms that are so long they drag on the floor and a blueberry print apron that hangs to my knees so I don't make a mess of my clean t-shirt. Yes, I was a picture, but I smelled good. Oh, and don't forget the black flip flops. :-) I crafted and worked on the computer that way all morning....it was great! Everyone needs a pajama day every once in a while.

The baking involved making 1 batch of brownies and 1 batch of blondies. The brownies came out great - they were for the field trip to the Gray Animal Park tomorrow...but since the Gluten Free Blondies were a total and complete flop - some of the brownies went to the Silpada party with me tonight. What a disappoinment. Since I'm pretty much a cheapscate on some things - to spend nearly 10 bucks on a batch of blondies, follow the instructions to the absolute T only to have them totally flop really frustrates me. No, really it pisses me off. But anyway. I think that the reason they flopped is because I added white chocolate chips to them. There was no trace of chocolate chips in the final flop, so some kind of weird thing happened. The boy said they tasted great but I thought differently - and they went in the trash!

The Silpada party was fun, and I restrained myself and only ordered one thing!! I can't wait for it to come! Well, that's all for now....hope to have some pictures of my garden to share with you tomorrow. Thanks for visiting and see you later!

Did you know I love chocolate...

I love it enough to clean up a drip off the counter.

ps. I forgot to say that my friend Kelley took this picture...she posted about our day on Monday here...

Another week in pictures....

I knew the last week was going to be busy....thought I'd share some pictures with you! My boy, running hard at his last cross country meet. It was a little windy - and I don't think he drank as much water as he should have throughout the day - and the course started out with a long hill....so he finished 65 out of 83. I am so proud of him, he put his best foot forward, and is already looking forward to the fall when it starts again. I think we'll be working on some hill training this summer to help him!
Friday I met my art pals Kelley and Karen for lunch at 111 Maine. It was a great lunch and we planned our Art Day that we had yesterday. I was really happy because they had a GREAT vegetarian dish and soup that I ordered - we all enjoyed our lunch!

Later in the day my boy had his A.A.T.V. (Advanced All Terrain Vehicle) in the 4th Grade Invention Convention. He worked so hard on the two models and poster, and he had some really great features in it. The grade came back yesterday, he go an E (Exceeds Expectations...) and he was very proud of the comments his teacher gave him!

Friday night I threw a bunch of things I'd been piling up over the last couple of months and headed out to my friend Leslie's house to set up for a yard sale on Saturday. My boys went camping and I had the weekend free to yard sale and garden. I was too busy to take pictures - and apparently put on sunscreen or remember a hat. I got a pretty good sunburn on my face and neck. Thankfully it's finally feeling better and I'm happy that the piles are gone. I'm also happy that I got to spend most of Sunday working in my garden and then planting what wouldn't fit in my garden at my Mom's. I sure hope that it starts to warm up so things can start to grow! I'm happy for the rain, just wish it was warmer......I had to put the dang heat on today!! It's supposed to be summer!

On Monday when Karen and Kelley came over we decided to have dessert first...because Karen had brought us a delicious chocolate pudding cake and ice cream. It was still warm from the oven!! Here's Kelley having a panic attack over her cake :-)

Here's Karen enjoying every moment of her cake. Luckily no one took pictures of me licking up the pudding that fell on the counter!

Hard at work!!

We made hand-stitched art journals....it took a few minutes to get the hang of the stitching, even though Karen was a great teacher....I had a hard time with the first two or three signatures but after that everything came together. I still have a little bit to do, but overall I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I used white muslin on the cover and painted it with Gesso so I can paint or collage or do what ever I want on it and it'll remain sturdy. Inside is a mixture of watercolor and drawing papers. I'm planning on taking it on our summer vacation in July.

Here's the three of us after about an hour of trying to figure out the timer on Karen's camera...he he he. What a great laugh that was!

Thanks for visiting....ta ta for now - I've got to get myself to bed now!