It's Thursday

Happy Thursday morning everyone! Isn't that sunset absolutely gorgeous? B. loves taking pictures of sunsets lately and she took this one with her ipod the evening of June 29th from our front yard.

 This is just a (somewhat) quick post before B. and I head out to the Kids' Movie this morning. The local movie theater has this summer kid's series every year when the tickets are only $4 to get in and that includes a small pop and popcorn. And it's for all ages. I usually forget about it until the summer is almost over. But this year, we only missed the first two. Not bad. So far I've taken B. to see Turbo, Dispicable Me, Dispicable Me2 (last week) and today they're showing The Nut Job.

I applied for three more jobs within the past couple of weeks. Two dental office jobs for some anonymous person in the paper (don't you just love that?) and I filled out an application for a retail job for a small local store. I was in there the other day buying, what else, but nail polish (my weakness) and decided to ask the manager for a job. He was really nice and gave me an application, which I took home and then promptly returned all filled out within a couple of hours,   He said he'll "keep my application on file." (I've heard that already a million times).

Ok getting really depressed again...... moving on.....

We had a small cookout up at my husband's parents' house on the 4th of July. Not the big blowout shindig like they used to have every year. That doesn't happen anymore.  

We came home and my husband worked some more on our deck and new swing. He's also worked on it throughout this passed week. It's coming along nicely....

On the evening of the fourth, B., my husband and I went to see the local fireworks from off the highway. The were really nice, although the street lamps were a bit annoying. But at least we had a bird's-eye view of them....

The next day, we headed up to my aunt and uncle's house around 1:30 for their annual 4th of July cookout. My uncle is quite the host and loves to grill. As always, we had a great time and it was nice seeing everyone again. 

On our way up to my aunt and uncle's, we saw the American Queen on the Ohio River!  It was getting ready to go through the lock and dam and I took this picture as we were driving up the highway 50 mph. Not bad, eh?  My husband honked the horn, and I waved out the window and a bunch of people on those balconies waved back. We thought that was pretty cool. :)

And without further ado, here is my scrapbook layout this week....

Patterned paper and cardstock are from the DCWV Harvest Gathering collection. Pumpkins and flourishes were made with Sizzix dies. I cut the flourishes up to make them fit how I wanted them to.  I embossed the pumpkins with a couple different embossing folders - the Tim Holtz swirly one and Cuttlebug houndstooth.  This is the second time I've used this particular SG sketch.  The edges of everything were inked with Vintage Photo.

That is all. Movie starts in less then ten minutes and I'm not even dressed yet....

Favorites @ Twelve Scrapbook Layout & Summer Card

This is just a quick post to show you a layout and card I made during the past week....

First up is the card I made to send to whoever won the scrapbooking prize package I was giving away on the forum where I'm participating in the layout-a-week challenge this year. Most of us volunteered to do a giveaway at least once during this 50 week challenge and this was my week. I tried doing a summer-related one for the most part and a lady in Michigan won. I made this summery card for her....

I used the clouds embossing folder from Darice, Fiskars boundary waters border punch, 3" circle punch, tiny alpha stamps from Studio G, and Tim Holtz Sizzix die for the word "summer". I think it turned out pretty cute. I'm not a big cardmaker, but it is fun to make a card every now and then.

And here is the layout I made on Saturday after a graduation party for the neighbor....

I used the Colorbok Confetti paper pad that I recently got on clearance at WalMart. I found the @ sign on the Graphically Speaking Cricut cartridge. I used a PL card from the Honey kit. Tiny alpha stamps by Studio G, the same butterfly/flower stickers that I have in this week's giveaway, my Bo Bunny curvy ruler, and I did some stitching. Various little stamps are from a couple different Heidi Swapp/Pink Paislee sets. I had B. write her favorites on the card after I did the stamping. And I used an old PageMaps sketch from July 2009 but changed a few things on it.

'til next time....

This Week's Scrapbook Layout, Our Nephew Got Married, etc. etc.

We celebrated Mother's Day last Sunday with my husband's family out at a restaurant called The Mill Creek Inn. It's an old farmhouse that someone remodeled years ago and that you have to make reservations for. My in-laws had been there more than several times in the past. But this was my husband, B.'s and my first time going there. The home-cooked food was fantastic and very reasonably priced. I wish it were the type of restaurant where you could go more often. But they only have room for so many people and it's something you have to plan ahead for....

I had already celebrated Mother's Day with my own mom the Sunday before when we went up that weekend....

Anyway.... after we came home later that afternoon from the restaurant on Mother's Day, I went to work out in the flower beds here at home and started planting the flowers I had bought. I ended up going back out to Lowe's at least one or two more times, plus Kroger's temporary outdoor garden center and planted more flowers throughout the week. I planted six wave petunias (pinks, white, purple), plus a bunch of single ones, the zinnias my sister-in-law gave me from Amish Country, geraniums, caletunias, a couple gerbera daisies, plus got five hanging baskets (four for under the deck where the patio is out back). And a nice planter for the front porch.

I think I am done.... for now.  I still have the deck to do, but it really needs cleaned or painted or something first. But at least the flowers for the front yard are done and the beds have been re-mulched.

Our rhododendrons started blooming the other day too. We planted this bush from a cutting that my mother-in-law gave us about ten years ago....

Our nephew, Matt, told his parents that he and Steph were going to get married on Thursday (May 15th) out in California. We all knew that they were planning on getting married because they've been engaged for over a year and a half, but they hadn't set a date yet. Then they decided not to have a big wedding and said they were going to have a small private ceremony in CA. But then they decided to get married this past week and my sister-in-law and brother-in-law just found out about it the day before Mother's Day. My sister-in-law was able to fly out last minute ($$$), but our brother-in-law couldn't. They are going to have a reception here for them this summer in late August. Matt is the head baseball coach for one of the colleges out there in California, and Steph is the head women's lacrosse coach at a nearby college to where his is.

They both look so very happy and we are so thrilled and happy for them! May they have a long, beautiful life together....

B. had her Spring Band Concert this past Wednesday, May 14th. She played the bells, bass drum, snare drum and cymbals. This was her (and everyone else's) first year of band. Next year, they'll start practicing every day during the school week and her band director said she may not have to bring home that very heavy bell kit to practice on anymore. She can just leave it at home to practice with and use the equipment at the school. He said that once she gets to high school, they don't use the bell kit as much anymore and are more focused on the drums. The concert was very nice. These kids have come a long way since the beginning of the year! I love the band. It's my favorite part of any high school football game....

A new self-serve frozen yogurt place just opened here last Saturday and B. and I discovered it on Thursday. It was really good! B. wants me to take her again today. So I will try and get this blog post done quickly. lol! So I leave you with some pictures of the layout that I made yesterday for the layout-a-week challenge I'm doing....

These pics were from spring picture day last year....

I used patterned papers from several collections - MAMBI, K&Co. and Colorbok, embellishments are K&Co., American Girl (which I found over at Gabe's fairly recently), and Making Memories (flower pins), die cut behind title is from Spellbinders Labels 8. I just got the Darice butterfly swirl border embossing folder on Friday at JoAnn's on clearance for $1.97.  Monarch butterfly border punch is Martha Stewart. I inked the edges of everything with Peacock Feathers distress ink. Sketch inspiration is from Scrapbook Generation.

Well, school is winding down and there's only about two weeks left. My husband is taking the week of Memorial Day off to do some things around here including getting our new pool set up. I am so looking forward to summer.

til next time...

How I Store My Sizzix Dies, Embossing Folders, Etc.

I've been busy cleaning up my scrapbooking area after the mess I made over the weekend making that baby mini album. It's my "happy place" and I get stressed out if it's not all neat and organized. lol! I had been storing all my Sizzix Bigz dies in plastic Sterilite boxes and I thought it was time to come up with a better system. I went out this morning and got this multimedia storage tower from Wal-Mart. It's for storing CD's, DVD's and VHS tapes, and my Sizzix dies just so happen be the same exact size (depth) of cd's so this works perfectly! I put it together myself this afternoon and here it is. Of course, I have my dies organized alphabetically....

I love having all the stuff that I use with the Big Shot in one spot. The fifth and sixth shelves from the top hold my Craft Mates containers with all my small embellishments (brads, eyelets, clips, charms, etc. etc.), and my Corner Chompers. Since the very bottom shelf sticks out a little further than the rest of the shelves, I was able to put my scrapbook idea books, Scrapbook Generation sketch books, and a smallish box with my embossing folders and Cuttlebug dies on there.  My Tim Holtz Alterations dies even have a shelf of their very own with room to spare. :) I buy most all my dies online from the Sizzix Outlet and when they put them on sale for anywhere from 50% to 85% off. I've gotten some screamin' good deals from their site.

 Here's my scrapping area from a different angle. The little table belongs to B. since she has her own little craft area too....

It's so nice to have my room back to normal again so I can work on a new project. But not before I get dinner going...

I hope you all have a good evening & thanks for stoppin' by. :)