What a glorious weekend

The weather was perfect and we had 4 days to spend time together. Who could ask for anything more? Here are just a few pics of our time in Frankenmuth.

Happy Easter

The turkey is cooked, gravy made and a candy display ready to go to Granny's for Easter. Now its up to Arthur to carve the turkey and we can be on our way. Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter

Off to Frankenmuth for the weekend

Arthur and the kids are meeting me in Sarnia after work and we are off to spend a couple of days in Frankenmuth. Can't wait to share this pretty town with the kids.

Happy Friday!

By working 1/2 hour a day extra for the last 3 weeks I have earned my first Happy Friday off!

Not sure yet what I am going to do but sure is nice to be able to have a day for myself. I think I'll stay home for the morning (kids want to come home for lunch) and then get a manicure and pedicure in the afternoon. Sounds like a plan to me.

Spring cleaning

In my old job we did a lot of cleaning with bleach and try as I might I could not keep the bleach off my clothes. For my new job I replaced the majority of my wardrobe so in order to hang my new things I had to get rid of my old things. A couple of bags for the garbage, several bags of things I haven't worn in years. Now the closet door closes. Feels good.

Got a computer problem? Call Aaron

His cousins may a think he is a bit of a geek but when they have computer problems, who do they call.

Aaron of course: Little do they know he is actually being coached by mom. Let them think he knows all the answers.

Last night it was, I moved the computer to my bedroom and now the keyboard doesn't work. I have tried 4, What do I do.

Aaron: Try the connections. Make sure they are tight.

then he asked me "Mom could it be the driver?"

Mom said "probably not if it just worked a little while ago."

Mom told Aaron to suggest turning the computer off and then turning it back on after 10 minutes or so.

An hour later his cousin called back and said it works. How did you get so smart?

Easter treats for work

While at Shoppers Drug Mart a while ago I received a $10 bonus coupon so when I saw this container of mini eggs I just had to have it. It would look perfect on my desk at work. What a perfect way to show people I am a stamper and possibly generate some interest. When I put green mints on my desk for St. Patrick's Day, I was surprised how many people stopped to talk.

Maybe this will have the same effect. Can't hurt to spread some Easter cheer anyway!

Just took off the label and added a new one using the new punches and a favourite Easter image coloured with my almost forgotten chalks.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Have a great March Break

Its March Break and we won't be going too far. Aaron and Jenna are going to spend the week with Granny and their cousins. We'll take the opportunity next month to get away for a long weekend or so.
Hope you all have a wonderful March Break

Daylight savings time

Could this mean its really spring. Can't wait to wear my new spring work wardrobe.

Starting to get used to the new schedule

I'm starting to get used to the new schedule. Picked up dinner on the way home, took Aaron to Scouts, did groceries and shopped for a new spring jacket for Jenna, put groceries away, made Lasagna for dinner tomorrow, mended the pocket on my spring jacket, picked up Aaron and still had time to surf the net before bed. Jenna and I also listed 35 reasons I like my new job.

Love my new job so far

Love my new job so far. Even have my own office space, computer, cell phone and work to do already.

Today's going to be a good good day!

That is an understatement. Today is an awesome, awesome day. I am so excited! I have accepted a new employment opportunity that will free me from shift work and start next week.

Computers Ughh!

My husband is a Star Trek fan and all I can think of is Captain Picard saying "Make it so". Easier said than done.
The intention was simple. Update our compter that runs our wireless network (it was way to slow) by replacing it with an off lease computer. 3 hours on the phone with a tech to get the wireless network working properly (Ive done this before so know how to do it. Things just didn't work the way they were supposed to.
I had to have Windows XP on the computer to run the software for my digital cutter. (By helping a blog reader get the file she needed to have her software run the old Blue Wishblade, I discovered that the new software Ibought will run on Windows Vista too.)
Then Aaron bought the compuer game "Battlefield 2" with a gift card he had received. Problem, the video card did not support the game. Solution: new video card. Simple right? not. The video card we bought used too much power so the computer could not run the card and the computer at the same time. Solution: take the card back. Simple right" not! They did not have another one so I could get a store credit (although they sold me the card saying it would work in the computer in the first place. Their mistake right?). I left the computer there and asked them to either get a power source that would work or a video card that would work.
Aaron and I picked up the computer today (driving through the snow through rush hour traffic) only to find that the comptuer would not power up. We changed the power cord. No luck. Called the service tech and he suggested we bring the computer back in because it was working before we picked it up. That would be trip #4 into London and back but if that's what it took, it would have to be. One last try. Use a different outlet on our surge protector. Now Aaron is riveted to the computer screen.
Computer $149.00
Monitor 89.00
Video card 89.95
Installation 29.99
Gas and Mileage ???????????
Hug and "Thank You Mom" priceless!

You have my heart tied up in strings

This layout is one of Cheri Parker's I did a few years ago but didn't get photos on it. My brother in law took family photos at Christmas and I thought they were appropriate for this layout, Love the hanging hearts.

Olympic fever

I took this photo when we were watching the opening ceremony of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Aaron is sporting his official Olympic wear. He has worn at least once piece every day of the Olympics. Now I have to come up with a scrapbook pade for it. Maybe on Thursday at my friend Lizz's or Saturday at Rachel's. Can't wait to do some creating.

Summer layout

We again are in the middle of a snow storm so I thought it would be appropriate to post a summer layout I just completed. I started it when Rachel, Carolyn and Shannon and I scrapbooked for the the day at Rachel's and completed it with a title cut with my digital cutter.

Can't believe how easy it is now to make a matted or layered title with the new software.

Love My girls

My friend Lizz has a layout class once a month and t his is one of the layouts. I love going to her classes because I take my envelopes of photos with me and voila the layout is almost done. Then I cut the title and the look is complete.

Beautiful Sunday

Wow! Sun 2 days in a row. Makes me think of the song Beautiful Sunday. I know I am showing my age but who cares. Hope you have a beautiful Sunday.

Happy Family Day

It's Family Day in Ontario and in some other provinces in Canada. I'm working overnights and got up after 4 hours of sleep to spend some time with my family. Will catch the rest of my 8 hours sleep after dinner.
If you are off enjoy your day and if not have a wonderful day anyway.

Oh my, its been a while

Oh my, its been a while. I've been working nights and Arthur is using the laptop when I am up so I had limited access to a computer. Well today I fixed that problem, I purchased an off lease computer and set it up to replace my original network hub because that computer was too slow.
This one is much faster so I may be able to post more often again.

Got my Funtime Scrapbooking software to work

I should be going to bed right now but I wanted to post that I finally got my Funtime Scrapbooking software to work with my blue Wishblade. It was so easy to weld letters and to add a shape all in one program. No more creating the file in Inkscape, saving it as a svg to open it in Inkscape, saving it as a dxf to import it into Robocraft, save it in Robocraft so that it can be opened up in Wishblade. Sound complicated, well it was? It was also complicated to install the Funtime Pro and to get it to work. I had to copy a .dll file from Wishblade and save it in Funtime scrapbooking folder. Somehow I lost the .dll file I was trying to copy so had to do a System Restore to get the file back I lost. I'll post the title I did later. Can't wait to have more time to play with Funtime, but if I start to play now I will have to work all night without any sleep and that wouldn't do

Kally likes parties

For Kally the best part of a birthday party is the tissue.

Happy Birthday Jenna

Happy birthday sweetie. Hope you had a great day!

Free digital cutting files including .gsd & .svg

What an incredible find! I keep saying I want to use my Wishblade more often but since I have the older blue one, I can't use the newer .gsd files. I need files in other formats that I can convert using the software I have.
In my blog hop this morning I found this site
http://digifree-cuts.blogspot.com/. It is a search engine for digital cutter files in various formats.
I downloaded a few .svd files and will try to convert them to .dxf using Inkscape and then import them to Robocraft and save them as .gsd files to use with my Wishblade software.

I haven't had a chance yet to try out my new Funtime Scrapbooking Software to try a hand at creating my own designs but hopefully will have some time to try soon. In the meantime I am eternally grateful to those designers who share their files.

One last post for today

I know I am running a little behind. I bought the Happy New Year stamp from Stamping Up and had intended to make New Year's cards to send to a few close friends. That didn't happen yet so I wanted to share the collapsible calendar template that I was going to put inside of the card, similar to the Sizzix POP Up Ball.

Funtime Scrapbooking software

I have had my Blue Wishblade for a couple of years and want to use it more for titles and embellishments. I had been using Inkscape and then Robocraft to transfer the files into the right format and then cutting using the Wishblade software. The blue Wishblade will only work with Windows XP and earlier. I finally ordered Funtime Scrapbooking software that should allow me to design and cut using only one program, thus saving time and aggrivation when other programs freeze in the middle of a project and won't let you save them. The software arrived a couple of days ago and I can't wait to use it but have other things I need to do first. That may be a weekend project.

Trifold Shutter Album

In my blog hop I saw Andrea's Tri-fold shutter album and knew that was what I had to do to hold our annual family Christmas photo. I found some instructions here but decided just to make 2 tri fold cards and attach them together. My finished album is 6X8" and holds a lot of photos.

{sorry about the glare in the cover photo. I have acetate over the photo to protect it.}

Christmas Scrapping

Thanks to a dear friend, Lizz, and her monthly scrapbook class I have 2 layouts almost finished of this year's Christmas. I do have one of my own partially completed on my craft table. Will share when finished.

No more working evenings and weekends

I just accepted an overnight position at work so no more 3-11's and no more weekends! That's the upside. My family is excited because they will see more of me. I will sleep while they are at school.

With a more regular schedule I hope to be able to schedule time to get healthier with our new Y membership and more time for friends and creative . In fact I have a box from Stamping Up sitting here just waiting to be opened.

Stamping Up Occassions Mini is available now.

The Occasions Mini Catalogue!
This is Stampin' Up!'s spring preview. You'll see tons of new and fabulous products listed in here including:

•Clear acrylic blocks
•Clear stamps
•Chipboard albums
•Great new stamp sets

•Fabulous Brads
•New Big Shot dies
•AND BRAND NEW PUNCH DESIGNS!!!!
You can start ordering from this catalogue today. You can place orders with me or online through my store. Any orders placed will qualify for the SAB bonuses listed above.

Sale-a-bration! What a time to save!

The Sale-a-Bration Mini Catalogue!

It's the greatest time of year to buy and save during Stamping Up's Sale-a-Bration

Spend $65 on any current Stampin' Up items and get a choice of 6 new products for free OR your choice from over 45 current stamp sets. {Email me and I will send you a copy of the stamps from the current sets} One free item with every $65 purchase and the sky is the limit. Shop with me on line @ http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/gerrierollins/promotions or email me.

Why not host a Stampin' Up workshop (or catalogue party) with me and get a free item from the Sale-a-bration mini for every $395 in orders collected (in addition to any you earn through your own purchase)- why not grab a few friends, place an order and you reap the rewards? Free stamping/scrapbooking items + time with friends = priceless

Great ideas for those sizzix pop up dies

In my blog hopping I stumbled on to Karen's blog. She has done amazing things with the pop up dies that Stampin up carries and other Sizzix pop up dies. Take a look and it will be time to dust the dies off.
http://www.karenburniston.typepad.com/

Happy New Year

We spent New Year's Day in Niagara Falls at the Fallsview Waterpark thoroughly enjoyed the change of pace. Finished the tripoff with a lovely dinner overlooking the Falls and a drive by the light display. Glad we drove home last night while the going was good. Today however is a different story

Wrapping help

Just finishing off the last minute touches for our family Christmas today and Kally decided the packages needed some adjustment. Hopefully she didn't leave teeth marks in the celophane

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas

These photos were taken by my Mom when she was over with my Dad on Christmas Eve. Dad helped Arthur install my Christmas present. A gorgeous glass insert with a Calla Lily on it for my front door. It sure lets the light shine in to the room.

I hope your Christmas was filled with bright moments spent with special people.

Olympic torch relay

My sister-in -law, April carried the Olympic torch in Chatham last night. We were there to cheer her on. It was so much fun. We even got to touch and hold the torch. On the way home the kids couldn't stop talking about how much fun it was and played with the thunder sticks, tamborine from RBC and the coke bottle lights that changed colours. Aaron took video with Oma's camera and I look forward to seeing that too. It was fun being a part of Olympic history!

Its a Wrap!

The shopping is all done and now all that's left to do with the Christmas gifts is to wrap them to get them ready for giving. Over the next few days I hope to show you some of the different gift wrapping ideas we have used.

Jenna wanted to give her teachers a little treat so we put some hot chocolates, one regular and one dark chocolate with a candy cane and some Hershey kisses in a mug. She wanted a pretty package so we made 3X3" box bottom and lid (Like she learned at a kid's class at Heather Summers) and used a copier overhead acetate sheet scored at just under 3" (this left an opening for the handle of the mug to come out of the package. We added ribbon, a gift tag and a fun large bell to finish it off. She made one for each of her teachers and an extra one for Aaron's teacher.

Thanks so much Jenna!

Had a tough day at work today and when I got home my not so little girl was waiting on the porch for me with a friendly "Hi mom". (I called earlier to let them know I was later than I expected.) That mean't the world to me and I want to let her know how much I appreciate her.

Thanks so much sweetie. Love Mom.

We miss you Braedon, Calum and MacKenzie

Our gingerbread house decorating was not the same without you guys. We decorated with our cousins Scott and Colin at Granny's house yesterday. Hope to be able to get together before Christmas. Love Aaron and Jenna

Look what's under the Christmas tree?

We put up our Christmas tree on the floor this year instead of on a coffee table and Kally has found an renewed interest in being under the tree and playing with the ornaments on the lower branches. She particularly likes the snowflake one with the bell on the bottom.