Hooray for Long Weekends

Hi everyone.  Lots planned here today, not all fun...totally need to tidy my office/scraproom.  With all the scrapbooking, school starting, and the end of swim season...goodness...the mess!  But, there is some fun in store and I plan on doing a little mess making today and tomorrow as well.

Before I am off to do some errands tho, I wanted to pop in and share a few recent projects.

This first one is Ainsley playing in the beaver pond in Stanley Park (Vancouver).  They had a few docents with lots of little goodies including a telescope, nets, and microscopes so that the children could explore the environment.  Ainsley of course jumped right in and was ready to play.  She didn't catch much in her net, mostly bugs...but it was very scenic and there were pretty flowers, turtles, and the beaver dam to look at.

Pink Paislee Daily Junque collection, Prima flowers, Maya road flowers, American Crafts alphabet, Misc. lace.

And you have seen this photo before.  This is the South Sawyer Glacier in the Tracy Arm, Alaska.  Stunning.  Simply amazing how massive these glaciers are.  Such a shame that many will never have a chance to see them as they are rapidly receding.  To give you some perspective, the crevasses are 300 feet deep and the seracs are also a few hundred feet tall.  Needless to say, the idea of walking on these glaciers is not smart.  You need some serious ice climbing equipment.   I promise, it is straight in real life.  I wish I could get my scanner stitching again, but alas, for now I must deal with photos and keystone distortion.  sigh

Authentique papers, Pink Paislee alphabet, vinyl.

Anyway...off to run a few errands.

Hope you are having a great weekend.

Hugs.

Nancy

Another Favorite Photo

Ok, I admit it...I took almost 1000 photos on our vacation and I have too many favorites to count.  So, slowly but surely I will be working my way through them and sharing them with you in their scrapbooked form.

This one was taken of the two girls after we had canoed out to the Davidson Glacier.  It was an incredibly beautiful trip.  A catamaran through the fjord, a bus to camp where we geared up, a quick hike to the canoes and then off we went.  We paddled so close to the glacier that we could see individual rocks falling out.  The girls ate glacier ice the whole way and the rugged wilderness was gorgeous.....It was cold and wet, and this photo was taken in the catamaran on the way back to town.  Did I mention we saw dozens of bald eagles, humpback whales, and seals on the way?  anyway......  That is the back story, here is the finished project.

Crate Paper Emma's Shoppepapers, die cuts, chipboard, buttons, Prima Marketing flowers, Pink Paislee alpha, The Twinery Twine

I think I will be heartbroken when I finish the Emma's Shoppe collection from Crate Paper.  It has become one of my faves.  Of course, there is always something new, right?  hee hee

Well, off to get the children doing some school.

Hugs.

Nancy

Missing Magnets

Hi everyone.  Well, I told you I would be back today with a fun home decor project, and here I am.

As you know, I recently remodeled my kitchen.  And, as is the style, I went with stainless steel appliances.   Unfortunately, magnets don't stick to stainless steel, so I needed to come up with a place to hang my grocery pad and other bits of paper.

I popped into my local hardware store and found a piece of sheet metal for the great price of $6.00 and spray painted it black.

I added a few sheets of patterned paper.  Helpful hint:  be sure and use thin papers as you want your magnets to stick and hold down other paper items.

Jenni Bowlin patterned papers

Next, I added a few fun embellishments.  I didn't use too many and kept them to the corners as I did want this item to be functional as well as pretty.  These beautiful flowers and leaves came from the Your Memories Here store. I also used a piece of Prima Marketing lace that I spritzed with a bit of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist to set off the different patterned papers.

Prima Marketing flowers and leaves.  Jenni Bowlin and Maya Road stick pins.

And here is the final project....

I mounted it to the cabinet that holds my refrigerator with Command Adhesive so as not to mar the surface.  The clock and the "white board" are also mounted this way.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,

Nancy

And so it begins....

Well, we are back full force, into school/swim mode.  This year, Mackenzie has chosen not to continue with the ballet, but instead to go back to competitive swimming...which is fine.  Of course, with the teams growth I am now at three pools at three different times.  Sigh...menu planning is a going to get interesting.  hee hee  Speaking of menu planning, I will be back next week with Menu Mondays.  I know so many of you were asking, and how can I say no?

Anywho....just wanted to pop in and share a layout I did this weekend.  Still trying to work through my paper stash.  I can't believe I ordered more!   It is a disease I tell you!  lol

Crate Paper Portrait Collection, Webster's Pages Bloomers, Prima Marketing flourish, American Crafts Thickers, Jenni Bowling mini alpha

My three darlings dressed up for formal night.  I can't believe how big they are getting.  They look so grown all dressed up for dinner.  sigh  Where does the time go.  And the Alaska wilderness makes such an awesome back drop.  This has got to be one of my favorite photos from our trip.  This is based on an old Pencil Lines sketch.  Not sure which number, I just had the sketch lying around.  It was for two vertical photos, but I just used one large one.

Tomorrow I will be back with a fun home decor project I just finished.  One for my kitchen!  Remodeled kitchen means new ideas.  hee hee

See you then.

Hugs.

Nancy

I Have a Secret

I don't like to tell when I am going to be out of town.  Even though I have a house sitter...someone who lives in my house while I am gone...I don't like to tell.  So, I set up my blogs to post ahead of time, and not mention a thing on Facebook, and then I go.  This time, I was gone for almost 2 weeks!  I bet you didn't even notice.  hee hee

Where did I go?  Seattle, Vancouver, and then a week long cruise to Alaska.  

I just finished unpacking and downloading all my photos.  And of course, school had to start, so I have begun that.  No time to edit photos yet, but here are a few straight out of the camera.

Vancouver from our hotel suite

My little darlings, not so little anymore.

South Sawyer Glacier in the Tracy Arm Fjord.  We were about 700 yards from it.  Amazing!

The port of Ketchican

Sailing through the most beautiful rainbow

Well, I have almost 1000 photos to scrap so I guess I should get busy.  hee hee  Be back soon with some scrapiness, hopefully.

Hugs.

Nancy

Distress Inks Make me Happy

I know, I use distress inks a lot...they are really one of my favorite products.  I seem to use them almost daily.  Why?  because I feel they add so much to my projects.

I was recently working on this layout of my son.  The papers are beautiful, but they don't have much depth and in my option, and for my scrappy style, they don't blend together.  They are beautiful, but......

Tim Holtz Kraft Resist paper, Authentique patterned papers

So, I used my foam inking tool and a few different colors of distress ink in blues and browns and came up with this.

Tim Holtz Kraft Resist paper, Authentique patterned papers, Basic Grey alphabet,  Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Tag.  Custom dyed seam binding

Now the colors blend seamlessly.  I was also able to add a quick swipe of ink over some naked chipboard to blend it into the layout.   I also added a bit of ink, as well as some Tattered Angels Glimmer mist to my tag to blend it in as well.

I really like the inked layout so much better.  That said, my dh...he likes the one without the ink.  I guess it takes all kinds.  So....which do you like better?

Hugs.

Nancy

Look at Me Go

I said I was going to try to be a better blogger and I think I have been doing quite well.  hee hee...I think I have posted more in the past week than I did the month of July.  In my defense...July is just crazy around here.

And speaking of crazy....here is part of the reason.  July means cabana champs!  And with the end of the season it means that as president of the team, league rep, and treasurer for the league...I am crazy busy.  Here are a few photos of the children with their cabana coaches at our awards banquet.  We are so blessed every year to have great coaches all of whom swam for the team in their younger days.

Making Memories 5th Avenue Collection, The Twinery baker's twine

In my quest to make room for new goodies I have been working hard to use the old goodies.  For these layouts I used some beautiful papers and embellishments from the 5th Avenue line from Making Memories.  The colors worked great with these outdoor shots.  And I was lucky to have some beautiful sketches to play with from my good friend Heather.  Did you know, if you use one of her designs or templates, you can be featured on her blog?  

Well, thanks for dropping by.

Hugs.

Nancy