I spent hours playing with a gift card holder for this year's Teacher's gifts. We bought cards from Chapters Book Stores. {Aaron wants to insist his teacher buy something for herself and not the class with it.}After several attempts I decided to use the Hidden message slider format http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/hiddenmessageslider.php
with an oval card holder as seen in http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/578032?cat=500&ppuser=89711 to show the apple and book on the gift card.
This card it way too thick to mail but I'm please with the results. The greetings on the card were done using some $1.50 acrylic stamps from Michaels. The doodle style of the words match the flower and the Basic Grey patterned paper I used.
As some of you already know I love a scrapbook challenge so my friend Eliz called me with one this morning. She wanted a 1 page layout for 2 photos she has of a recent fire in Petrolia. I have some glitz and glitter to add to the flames. Oops I gave it to her without taking a photo of it.
Summertime and the living is easy. We got comfortable this afternoon at the St. Thomas Wings and Wheels Air Show. A little sun, a little food and a little entertainment. The aerial manoevers are just amazing. That they can control the aircraft and make it look so easy.Show. A little sun, a little food and a little entertainment. The aerial manoevers are just amazing. That they can control the aircraft and make it look so easy.
Now that summer {my favourite season of the year } is officially here I am compiling a list of all time favourite summer music. I want to make add some summer music to a MP3 player and need suggestions. I already have
Walking on Sunshine- Katrina and the Waves
Under the Boardwalk - The Drifters
Kokomo- Beach Boys
Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
Under the boardwalk? (added by Leeny)
Tequila Sunrise - Eagles
Pina Colada song {Escape- Rupert Holmes}
Margueritaville -Jimmy Buffet (am I sensing a theme)
Summer Lovin' - Grease
Summer in the City - Loving Spoonful
School's Out - Alice Cooper
Surfin USA - Beach Boys
Hot Fun In The Summertime- Sly and the Family Stone
Sunshine On My Shoulders - John Denver
Summer Of '69 - Bryan Adams
Brown-Eyed Girl, Van Morrison
Dancing in the Streets, Martha & the Vandellas
Locomotion, Little Eva
Seasons in the Sun- Terry Jacks
I was in a scrapbooking mood last night and this
afternoon. I finished a couple of layouts I have had kicking around for a bit. The home one is a scraplift of one that Deb did for the store and the pool one is one I did when I scrapbooked in St. Thomas. The birthday one was a scraplift of 2 different layouts in the current issue of Scrapbook and Cards today. Still have to add photos to that one. 
I was making up cards from extra kits I had at work today so continued on this evening with cards made using scraps of paper. I used the Becky Fleck card sketches at http://www.pagemaps.com/
We changed the screen door on the front of our house because the cat could come and go as she pleased but so could the bugs. Several people who visit regularly said it was a good thing the car was parked in the driveway. They almost didn't recognize the house. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or bad.
What could be finer than spending Father's Day with Dad:
* A warm summer afternoon.
*The kids got to go swimming at the public pool across the street. 
*Then mom's best apple pie
*Family movie night watching Mrs. Doubtfire to top it off.
Some recent events have made me take a hard look at things and decide that it is now the time for some major changes in my life. I have decided that after the summer I will leave the business world of scrapbooking behind and re-enter the work force to use my education, training and skills in other avenues. We have some plans that require me to contribute more to the financial goals of our family and our children are now old enough to allow us to leave them alone for short periods of time.
Wish me luck and I will continue to maintain this blog as a creative outlet.
Arthur says he doesn't like cats but judging from the photos I'm pretty sure that Kally has won just a little bit of his heart.
Last night the Scouts went to the Delaware Speedway and invited family to come along. It was a beautiful evening to spend time together. We had a nice time. I hadn't been to the races since I was a child. We had neighbours who were involved at least 35-40 years ago. The took us a few times.
It was so nice to come home to a house that is nice and cool. We had been without air conditioning for a week and I put off calling a repair service afraid that we would have to replace the unit. Fortunately that was not the case. We needed 2 new capacitors although we had replaced one a couple of years ago. In any event it was worth a good night's sleep.
Tonight when I get home from work we will celebrate Aaron's birthday. I'll have to remember to get the camera out. I haven't taken photos in a while and want something new to scrap.
This time it was Eliz's turn to host. She's been ready for a month with her projects. Love the Sunflower stamp. We made 2 cards, a fridge magnet and a scrapbook page. Notice how I used the fridge magnet idea as an accent to the page. Now all I have to do is add photos, a title and some journalling.
Thanks Eliz, you never disappoint us. Great lunch too!
I had my whole family working with paper this evening. No we weren't all making cards or scrapbooking. We were stripping wallpaper {I never liked} off the bathroom walls. Had to stop though because the boys went to cubs and it was so hot in the bathroom with 4 of us in there and the air conditioner not working the wallpaper wasn't coming off very well anymore.
Tomorrow we'll take off the mirror and finish taking off the paper behind it. Probably won't be able to get it done by the weekend but I'm sure I'll like it when we are finished. All because I wanted a more energy efficient light fixture.
I think its time to take my chances again with a lottery ticket. Friday Jenna and I won some Pearl ex as a door prize at Heather's Stamp Camp and last night I won a stamp set as a door prize at Lizz & Mary's Open House. If 3's a charm I'll have to try my luck.
I've had my eye on those scalloped punches people are using on cards and was able to get both the giga and mega scalloped circle ones today at http://www.scrappingreatdeals.com/ just outside of Kilworth. Sheila still had a good selection of them in stock. I know they've been extremely difficult to get. Her prices are awesome too. Thanks Heather for letting us know she had them in.
When we got home I showed Eliz how to do a spirelli circle {do you remember string art using nails in a board and string}and while blogsurfing this afternoon saw someone else had the same idea. Check it out! Too cool http://parisestates.blogspot.com/2007/02/giga-scallop-circle-punch-alternatives.html
Here is a video tutorial of the technique http://craftingdirectcom.drct2u.com/page?pageId=597
Jenna and I went to Heather's Stamp Camp last night and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Now that's my kind of camp! No bugs or smelling like Smokey the Bear. A camp where I was able to stamp with my daughter and other lovely ladies. Made 6 projects and Heather I must say Jenna's favourite was the Udderly Exhausted project. She really enjoyed what was inside the bandaid tin. My favourite was the coaster post it note holder. Thanks for changing up the papers a bit too so we didn't have exactly the same projects. Nice touch!
Jenna was talking about your kid's camp idea too and said she would like to join you.
Check out Becky Fleck's new page & card maps and samples
http://pagemaps.com/june07maps.htm
http://pagemaps.com/june07cardmaps.htm
I didn't realize how much I liked my Perfect Glue until I ran out and we didn't have any in the store. While I was at the Creating Keepsake Convention I tried several other adhesives I had in my bag. They seemed to work ok while I was there but now since the projects have been in and out of my bag and handled by others the adhesives are not holding as they should. We all have our favourite adhesives and this experience just proved what I say. Perfect Glue will glue anything.
Finish Line scrapbooking 
by Stacy Julian of Simple Scrapbooks fame
Two separate classes from Little Black Dress Designs. The first one is literally a little black dress mini book complete with unbuttons and gems to decorate the dresses with. The second one for the guys in my life. Using rubber bumper letters covered with some heating/air conditioning metal tape. Fastened with plastic ties and washers. Where is my perfect glue when I need it. Glue dots just don't cut it.
I took a Latest and Greatest Basic Grey class and although the papers and techniques we used were not new to me, Shelby had some great tips.
1)When spacing your elements on your page, lay them upside down so that you can apply adhesive, turn them over and put them down where you want them.
2)When distressing do it in the air. Hold the paper in the middle, chalk or ink around 3 sides and put it down. Do the next piece. When finished then pick up the first one and ink or chalk the final edge. Less likely to get it all over your fingers.
3)When sanding. Put piece on the edge of your work surface and sand there with a coarse sanding block or nail file. To get in the middle of your chipboard letters roll up a piece of sandpaper like a toothpick or use a file specifically designed for the purpose. I bought the Basic Grey Precision file set for that purpose.
4)From the Little Black Dress class Tina taught us that hand sanitizer removes Stazon ink from your fingers. Just clean your hands with a wipe after to get the alchohol off.
5)Stacy Julian, from Simple Scrapbooks fame and author of the Big Picture says we have more photos than we can scrapbook in a lifetime so we have to be selective with those we do scrap.
Instead of getting overwhelmed about how far behind we are getting stop thinking about scrapping chronologically and work on the things that matter most. For instance we could do a book about the people we love or the places we have been.
I know, you are dying to see the photos but my camera batteries are not holding a charge. I will try to get that remedied tomorrow and post photos.
We found a incredible Stamp Store with an awesome selection of stamps and scrapbook supplies. We called from our hotel room to find out the hours and were fortunate to find that they were open til 9:30 that night because of a class. Sharon the owner gave us directions and we arrived around 9pm. Man the store was busy. There were at least 15 people finishing up a terrific project and shopping. The sales people were so helpful and did not seem phased at all by the fact that it was late in the evening and they had to be at the convention first thing in the morning. She even took the time to suggest restaurant choices in the area and came outside to show us a better way to get back to the highway. If ever in the Buffalo area this store is definitely a must to see.
Here is the website http://www.buffalostamps.com/
