Blessings Kit

Blessings Kit

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. For Canadians it is Oct. 8th. Although it is ideal if everyone can get together to celebrate, sometimes that is not feasible. I found this on http://www.kimstamps.com/index.html

(Kim has compiled a great collections of survival kits, poop poems and other fun stuff) and thought it might be nice to treat those who cannot join us for Thanksgiving dinner. Just have to gather the supplies and figure out what container to use and I'll post my version.

Blessings Kit
Bugles: Shaped like a cornucopia or Horn of Plenty,
Pretzels: Arms folded in prayer, a freedom sought by those who founded our country.
Candy Corn: The sacrifices of the Pilgrims' first winter. Food was so scarce that settlers survived on just a few kernels of corn a day.
Nuts: Promise of a future harvest, one we will reap only if seeds are planted and tended with diligence.
Dried Fruits: Harvest gifts from our bountiful land.
M&M's: Memories of those who came before us to lead us into a blessed future.
Kiss: The love of family and friends that sweetens our lives.
Blessing Mix: 2 c Bugles brand corn snacks 2 c small twisted pretzels 1 c candy corn 1 c dried fruit or raisins 1 c peanuts or sunflower seeds 1 c
M & M's Chocolate kisses In a large bowl, gently mix all ingredients except kisses. Place 1/3 to 1/2 cup mix in cellophane treat bags. Add one kiss to each.

Love this Christmas Card

I think I may have found what I am going to make as my Christmas cards this year. Donna Moore posted instuctions to her tag punch starburst. Ingenius! It's simple elegance is what intrigued me and the fact that it used the tag punches is a bonus. It would be pretty as a poinsettia wouldn't it? Watch for my variation in a few days.
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=289738

Countdown to Halloween

I took a Countdown to Halloween class with Heather but did the Christmas one instead. Here is my version of the Countdown to Halloween on a regular size clipboard from Dollarama.

The trick or treaters have googly eyes and I put Crystal Effects/Laquer on the Hallowe'en. I did buy speical Hallowe'en paper for it. I had enough left over to make a 2nd one for my sister in law and her boys. I found some other paper to make yet a 3rd for my other sister in law and her kids. The kids were all here to visit today.

Boo to You Wiper Card

This is one of the Hallowe'en cards we did last week using 2 of the stamps I bought at Michaels.

When the card is closed the Boo To You tag is hidden. When you pull the ribbon it pops up.

Instructions to make a wiper card can be found at http://stampspaperscissors.typepad.com/wipercard.pdf

Hallowe'en Pencil toppers

Heather got me thinking with her Hallowe'en kids class project seen at http://stampwithheather.typepad.com/stamp_with_heather/2007/09/kids-halloween-.html
I found these cool pencils at Dollarama (12 for $1.00) and decided to do it with a twist. Just added a bit of halloween fibres to the top and the kids say cool. Jenna offered to help me with them because she wants one for everyone in her class and thinks Aaron's class should get one too.

Emptying assorted baskets

I've spent the morning in our craft room again. This time I've been emptying assorted baskets and bags of embellishments and putting everything away individually. I had so many containers with assorted stuff it was hard to know what was in any of them. Buttons, brads, eyelets, stickers, fibres, bottle caps and other things are out of the packaging and in a small containers with like items. Doesn't seem like much progress right now in but soon I'll be so organized. Just think how much more

fun it would be to create. I'll know what I have and where it is.

Another type of Tag

Mary Beth is playing tag and catchinganyone who reads her blog. Her link is in my favourites so I got caught. I'm game are you?
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) - Canary Cavalier
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) - Heavenly Hash Almond Slivers
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)- grol
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) - Purple Tiger
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (Rietdyk Nkana)-
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) - Rolger
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put “The”) - Pink Wine
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) - Willem Cornelius
9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) - Obsession Kisses
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names) - Theodora Roberts
If you are reading this considered yourself tagged:)!! Please send me a link to your results or email them to me and I'll post them. Have fun!

Layouts as promised

I received my copy of Scrapbooks and Cards Today before going to the cottage. It again was invaluable as inspiration for many layouts. Here are some one page layouts I did this weekend.

1) Sparks Street Mall 2) Animal Care Center 3) Best Pals 4) Museum of Nature.

I will have some blog candy for those who post in the comments section and match the layout to the correct page in the magazine. If you don't have your copy yet it is available online at http://www.scrapbookandcards.com/magazine.html

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by my friend Heather. I know its taken me a few days to respond. Was away for the weekend
Four Tidbits about me
Four places I have worked:
1) Towers Dept. Stores my first job
2)RJ Brown and Associates- An American engineering firm in The Hague, Netherlands- while on a 6 month trip between high school and college
3)Various Day Care Centers in London over a 20 year period
4) Scrapaholics: A Healthy Habit
Four places I have lived:
1) Nkana Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia)
2) London ON grew up there
3) Windsor On. both my kids were born there
4) Strathroy
Four places I have been on vacation:
1) Venezuela
2) Mexico
3) Cuba
4) Disney
Four favorite foods:
1) Chocolate
2) Tuna or egg salad sandwiches
3) Steak with onions and mushrooms
4) Mom's apple cake
4 friends I'm tagging who are most likely to respond.
1) Eliz (in comment section)
2) Eileen (in comment section)
3) Lizz (on your new blog)
4) Jules (my new blogger friend.)

Home from the cottage

Just returned from a wonderful weekend at the cottage. The weather was great. We even had internet access and a printer. Very helpful when scrapbooking. We had more tools and embellishments than you would find in even the best stocked local scrapbook store and everyone was so generous with their supplies. Lots of creative energy filled the cottage.
Am 0ff and running to a dinner party to welcome Arthur's relatives from England. Will post some of my completed layouts later.

Arthur's Birthday dinner

My mom sent me some photos she took the other night at Arthur's birthday dinner. Here is one of Arthur and his father

The girls were here today

Had fun with our scrap/stamp day. As expected the Name frame took some figuring out. Heather the girls were wondering how you got it all done in one class. Using the stamp a ma jig sure did make things easier.

Here is a Hallowe'en card inspired Jan Tink. She calls it a Bib Card http://stampspaperscissors.typepad.com/

Check her Aug. 31 post)

Was able to use 4 of the Halloween stamps I bought yesterday.

The witches head and feet were stamped in embossing ink and embossed with black detail embossing powder. The gold spiders and The Witch is In were stamped using Encore Gold Ink which does not have to be heat set.

Jenna has caught the bug!

Jenna was so excited to go to Heather's Back to School mini album class. She definitely has caught the stamping bug. This is today's project.
It not only has lots of room for photos but also spots to record things such a shoe size, teacher's and classmates' names, and favourite things.
What a nice keepsake. Hope Heather doesn't mind that we posted it before she had a chance to put a photo on her blog.
I love the Bind It All. May just have to go and get one for myself.
We hear next month's theme will be Hallowe'en. Jenna wants me to sign her up for all of Heather's kid's classes. If you haven't stopped by her blog do so. She has my favourite one. http://stampwithheather.typepad.com/stamp_with_heather/

The kids can't wait for us to go out for an evening

Yesterday while browsing online I discovered that a dear friend of mine was playing at The Honest Lawyer in London.
I told the kids I'd ask Arthur if he'd like to go out for a drink and they thought it was an awesome idea. The deal is if things go well while we are out they will share the money we would normally pay a babysitter. So its "aren't you going out yet Mom" and "what time will you be home?" All the while they are figuring out how much money they will earn.
We did have a very nice evening out and it was nice to catch up with Mike. Its been a year and a half since we have seen him.
I would highly recommend and evening with Mike Fagan.
Check out his website. http://www.faganonline.com/frame.htm

So glad friends stopped over to visit.

I am so glad I had friends stop over to visit today. Thanks Carolyn and Eliz. I really enjoyed your company and having someone to talk to. It made me realize that it really is time to find a meaningful employment. Not just because I miss the little extra money I was making. I miss going to work. I miss feeling needed and appreciated. I miss getting up and not quite knowing what the day will bring. Since the kids have gone to school and Arthur is working days the only challenge that faces me is housework and more housework. I'm the first to admit Molly Maid I'm not. The kids can manage for short periods of time without me and its time for me to do something for myself. Up until now I knew it but didn't feel it. Now the job search starts in earnest. Wish me luck.

Double rainbow

We had a short storm last night after dinner and while it was still raining the sun reappeared. A double rainbow coloured the sky. When I took Aaron to Scouts on the other side of town we saw the other side of one of the rainbows. I don't remember ever seeing this before.

Heather's Christmas Countdown Clipboard

Here is the Christmas version of Heather's Countdown Clipboard I did at her class on Monday evening. It was so much fun and the papers went together so well. Thanks for all the prep work Heather. Here is the link to her original Hallowe'en one. http://stampwithheather.typepad.com/stamp_with_heather/2007/08/halloween-is-co.html

She may have some kits available.

Great find at Solutions

Found some square cd tins, round ones with a window, and various boxes at Solutions this morning. Only picked up a few samples. They have a cool collection of gift giving containers. Will have to do something cool with them for Christmas.

I've been tagged

I was tagged by Jules http://3jjjs.blogspot.com/ to do the following: You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

I don't have a middle name but hypenated my maiden name so my kids say now its my middle name so here goes.

R- I am considered to be a responsible person

I- Some people consider me interesting

E- I'm not feeling very energetic these days. Allergies are getting the best of me.

T- I love to teach

D- I'm devoted to stamping and scrapbooking

Y- I feel young at heart

K- My mother always used to say if you can't say anything kind, don't say it at all.

Don't have time right now to tag others but will later today.

A Card For Home

A friend shared this with me and I thought it would be nice to participate:

A Card for Home
Robin Blecker and Angeie Zuber, two military wives currently stationed at CFB Shilo in Manitoba, have designed a grassroots initiative to help Canadians show their support for our troops. Many times, military members miss the important events in their family's lives because they are deployed overseas.
A Card for Home invites you to help them celebrate these special moments by giving you the opportunity to put your talents to use and create a greeting card for them to send home!
Simply, put your scrapbooking, stamping, or other artistic abilities to work by crafting a unique card to be sent home. Our members will have the opportunity to select a card for a special occasion, compose a greeting to their family, and send it home ~ also sending along your support and love through your homemade card. Easy, eh?
We are hoping that by the end of 2007, we will have been able to bring 50 000 'love in an envelope' moments to our troops' families. A big thanks to the Veterans and their friends and family at Parkwood Hospital in London, Ontario for sharing this idea with us.
What are you waiting for? Show your support today and start sending a little love in an envelope!
http://www.acardforhome.com/
Cards can be mailed to:
A Card for Home
P. O. Box 40
Shilo, Manitoba
R0K 2A0

Too busy relaxing

Just returned from a great weekend in Tobermory. Bonnie's cottage was beautiful with lots of wonderful places to sit and enjoy the sun and the scenery.
We were too busy relaxing to do some serious scrapbooking. I did however scrapbook Sat. evening and a little this morning. I'll post layouts after I do a few finishing touches.

Stamp/Scrap Day

We had our Stamp/Scrap Day at Eliz's today. Lunch was yummy! Chicken pizza.

The projects were great!

We continue to be amazed at how different the scrapbook pages look from each other. We are each given the same papers and the same sketch but interpret them differently.

We have such a good time when we get together. Thanks Eliz for a wonderful day as usual.

Battling the Dust Bunnies

I knew they were there. I caught glimpses of them when they thought I wasn't looking. While researching them online I found out this interesting information:
"Dustbunnies have been around for centuries and are an untouched resource of easy-care pets for our busy life styles. They have lived quietly along side us and have already been domesticated. You probably have one or two which have "adopted" you and you wouldn't even know it. The Dustbunny seeks out spaces that receive little traffic, and preferably dark - although some do become curious of the outside world." "Dust Bunnies are very prolific. There is no such thing as ONE Dust Bunny. Left to their own vices, dustbunnies will reproduce at alarming rates." Natural enemies of the Dust Bunny: Giant sucking machines (i.e. Hoovers, Kirbys, Dust Vacs, etc.) keep them as far away from your Dustbunny if you don't want to scare them.

All kidding aside, today is the day I battle the Dust Bunnies in our family room. There are enough there to keep me busy most of the day.

A friend needs help.

My friend Jenn, from London Ontario has asked fellow scrapbookers for some help. Here is her request.
"Pages For eSimphiwe".
As people close to me know, my trip to South Africa was amazing this past year - it touched my life forever. While visiting eSimphiwe, a transitional home for children, I met the Director, Daphne Banks. I was so taken with this woman's energy, enthusiasm for life, and the heartfelt care that she gives to all the children who come through her place. She is just amazing. After having dinner with her I reached out to her and asked how I can help her. I think she knew I wasn't just looking to make a donation, I wanted to do something that will help her. That is when she asked me if I would scrapbook for her. She is also a scrapbooker but running the home just has left her with very little time to do it. She takes pictures of all of the children she has cared for and as children have been adopted from her home, she receives regular updates and photos of the children as they grow with their new families. She has many, many photos but no pages to put them in. She also said that scrapbook materials are hard to find in South Africa.
This is where I need your help. I told her I know so many who scrapbook and I know people will want to help her out. I am looking for people to make up generic children's 12x12 pages with mats for 4x6 photos. So, if everyone who reads my blog (and scrapbooks) can make a few pages and send them to me, and if everyone who reads my blog and has their own blog puts this out on their blog, and if everyone who reads my blog links this to an email to send out to all scrapbookers they know...well it would really make Daphne a very happy person. Her photos would now have a great resting place. Daphne is coming to Ontario in October and I would love to present her with a box load of pages just waiting for her photos.
So, everyone please put it out there and email me if you want to make pages (even one would be great!. Please let her know if you can help. Her blog address is: http://jenn.typepad.com/my_weblog/
Jenn

Day at the Beach

I got to spend the last lazy Sunday of the summer at the beach. The weather was perfect!
We enjoyed a lovely afternoon together.

Stamped the kids' pencil cases

I bought plain pencil cases at Dollarama for both Aaron and Jenna. Jenna has a Tinkerbell backpack so I bought a green and lime green case for her. We decorated it with stamped images of Tinkerbell and her name stamp. We did use Stazon so it should not rub off. Aaron's pencil case is red and blue. We stamped cats, dogs and his name stamp on them. I made a mistake on his and thought I ruined it but he says its ok because when I tried to fix my mistake it looks like a cave. I think I'll still go and get a new one for him and try again. Cool way to personalize their belongings.

Off to the drive in tonight.

I can't remember the last time we went to the drive in and have been wanting to take the kids all summer. Either Arthur was working or there was nothing suitable playing on weekends all summer but now we get our chance. Mr. Bean's Holiday and The Bourne Ultimatum are on at the Starlite in Grand Bend tonight.

Get your own drive in movie marquis at

http://www.redkid.net/generator/drive-in/