Brittany's Birthday Party

Brittany had three friends over this past Sunday for her birthday! Jessica, Shelby and Marissa along with Brittany enjoyed Shrek The Third (and some popcorn too). Then we came home for Strawberry Blizzard Ice Cream Cake(Britt's favourite) and presents. Brittany liked all the gifts her friends picked her and modelled the two 'B' necklaces she got!

Scrapbook Tour

I went on my second scrapbook tour this past Saturday! For a small fee we went to each of the six stores, and received special discounts, special projects and free make and takes. So Tammy and I left around noon,hit all the stores and shopped up a storm! I planned enough pages to keep me busy for awhile! Then Saturday night we cropped from 6 to almost midnight! The three ladies sitting with me all won a door prize too!

Movie Reviews!

Well, now that the race is over I have had time to watch some movies.......

Recently I've watched:



I took Brittany and 3 friends to Shrek The Third as part of her birthday celebration.
It was very cute, maybe not as good as the first two, but the 12 year olds sure liked it! One thumb up!



I've always had a thing for the royal family and so I loved this movie! Helen Mirren was awesome as the Queen. Two thumbs up!



Yep, Jennifer Hudson was way better than Beyonce in this movie! She had a far meatier role and she can sing! I loved this movie too! Two thumbs up!



I watched this one with my girls and I'm a sucker for movies about friends. It stays true to the book which is nice and may make you grab a kleenex! One thumb up!



Steve and the girls watched this one and said I should watch it. I did and I liked it, it was very cute! One thumb up!

The Race is Over

and I didn't win!


Here is the last race layout I did.



It was to base a layout on the following sketch:



The left 4x6 photo had to be a picture taken at the START (or a before shot) of something.. the right 4x6 photo had to be the END (or the after shot) of your layout topic..... The 3x2 photos in this layout had to phtos taken to show a sequential order(the process between the start and finish photos.....)

So, I had to take pictures and get them developed before I could finish. And so I was last on this challenge and it wasn't a non-elimination round!

I was 5th last out (started with 20) so I did hang in for awhile! The race ended two days after I went out with two challenges being posted on the same day! If I hadn't been out already, I would have been on that day! But the race was a lot of fun, I was challenged to do layouts that I wouldn't normally and the ladies produced excellent pages. I learned and got new ideas from everyone!

Heidelberg Garage Sale

I meant to post these photos sooner......

On the first Saturday in May, the village of Heidelberg holds its annual garage sale. Again this year, John and Dana asked if we would like to take some stuff up to sell. So we ruthlessly cleaned out the basement and took a bunch of stuff up to sell. And again this year it was a lot of fun with tons of laughs! We sold till about 2pm, then cleaned up, hit the St.Jacobs market for crocs, then had a BBQ dinner and bonfire! Boy, it did get cold that night, even the bonfire wasn't keeping us warm. It was still fun though! Oh, and we made about $300. The items left were given to Mike to sell in a garage sale where the proceeds were being directed to Autism.

My New Vase!!

Isn't it cute!

Shopping Again!

But this time it was at local stores with my Mom, sister and Grandmother. We hit some of my favourite stores in Cambridge, and Waterloo as well as Elmira and Conestogo.
First up was Blair House Gifts. They always have an eclectic mix of stuff. Then Heartstrings. They have beautiful home and gift items as well as gorgeous dried flower arrangements. We spent a fair bit of time browsing and Mom bought a really neat pineapple shaped tealight lantern.

We then headed up to Crossroads in Elmira. Little did I know they have been renovating all winter and have redesigned the restaurant and store. We had a great lunch with yummy pie for dessert. Then we browsed the expansive gift store. Sherry got a couple of early birthday gifts, some gorgeous sounding wind chimes and an unusual iron and wicker planter. Then we went to the Conestogo Mercantile where they have an eclectic mix of items including more funky pieces.

Then into Waterloo to check out Lilies White where I got a cute little cubic vase, and on to Blessings. Blessings always has some interesting gift items and is one of stores where I can always find a gift for someone!

We had a great day of browsing with a bit of buying!

The Race Continues

I was second to complete challenge 13 tonight. After this challenge its down to five of us!

This challenge was to create a layout based on what superpower we'd like to have. I decided that I would like to teleport myself and anyone else I want to all the great beaches in the world!

Shopping and Scrapbooking

Are definitely two of my favourite things to do! And last weekend I was able to do both!


Last Friday, Agnes, Charlene and I shopped in Buffalo for the day. We hit all of our favourite stores and spent a fair bit of time shoe shopping! I was able to buy Brittany's birthday clothes at JC Penney(love their selection and they fit!) Also picked up Brianne a top from Hollister and two pair of sandals for me. We had a great lunch on the patio at Panera Bread and enjoyed the warm sunshine. Unfortunately we did have to pay tax on our purchases on the way back into Canada! But with the lower prices and selection in the US, we decided a bit of extra tax was worth it!

Then on Saturday, after Britt finished piano, I scrapbooked in Cambridge with Go Scrapping. It wasn't an overly productive scrap day for me but fun! Kathryn, Brenda, Pat and I shared a lot of laughs. Kathryn became a Groupie(you getthis status after attending 4 day crops or retreats) and won a $25 gift Certificate. And I was selected to play Go Scrapping's version of Deal or No Deal and won a Fiskars Scrapboss.

Ric Rac Swap

A while back I posted about a ribbon swap I participated in! I received such great ribbon that I decided to participate in a ric rac swap.

And so here's the ric rac I recently received. Isn't it fun? I'll put it all to good use on cards and scrapbook pages!

High Demand

Here I am on the computer at 8:30 on a holiday Monday!?
There is now extremely high demand for the computer by each member of our family with much jockeying for computer time.

Why you might ask?

Steve has been loading songs to his new Ipod and has learned how to burn documents to CD and so is using it much more than usual.

Brittany received SIMS 2 for her birthday along with a Webkinz and also likes to play on Runescape so she is using it more than usual.

Brianne is using it for homework as well as MSN and Habbo Hotel so is using it as much as usual.

But this morning, Steve is golfing, Brianne is at work and Britt is sleeping, so what better thing to do than to enjoy a cup of coffee and update my blog! Oh and do a load of laundry or two!!

Victoria Weekend Birthdays!

We celebrated Steve's birthday and Britt's 12th birthday yesterday. Everyone was able to make it to our place including Mom and Dad, Sherry and family and Grandma and Grandpa.

We had a wonderful day enjoying the lovely weather on our deck( I took some pictures of our deck and yard that actually do show off its best side!). We set up the volleyball and badminton net on the lawn for the kids to enjoy and they did (so did Sherry :) )! We also had lots of great food and drink throughout the afternoon. Grandma made a hot asiago artichoke dip that is to die for! Brittany particularly enjoyed the watermelon. I tried strawberries in balsamic vinegar which were really good. The boys quite enjoyed the red velvet cupcakes that I baked and Brianne iced then decorated with sprinkles or dried edible flowers.

Then for dinner Steve barbequed chicken, mini-ham burgers, sausage and hotdogs on his new BBQ. It works wonderfully and can no longer be called a 'virgin' bbq! Then with the meat we had some great salads, potato, greek, tomato pesto with bocconcini and 7 cup! For dessert Sherry made a butter pecan cake with maple icing that was really good too! We were all definitely well fed! We finished up with a yummy dessert wine from Konzelman, a Riesling Traminer that is sweet and fruity but lighter than ice wine!

Then came the presents! Britt got lots of awesome pink clothes, a webkinz,a couple of CD's, books and SIMS 2! She was pretty happy with all of her gifts and the clothes fit great! Steve hauled in 3 seasons of Mash, a bottle of Australian red wine, a liquor store gift card and an IPOD nano and accessories(along with the BBQ!). He was pretty happy too!


So with the beautiful weather and good company it was a great day!

It was close

but I'm still in the race! We're down to 7 of us and tonight before I could do my layout I had to take Brianne to soccer. So by the time I got home 4 people were already done and I ended up sixth, a minute behind 5th!
The challenge was to create a layout using our favourite picture and the journalling we previously wrote to go along with it. But we had to embellish the journalling in some manner. I used a cool font and made some words large than others.

Today's Challenge

Was actually two.

The first was to find answers to various questions based on the Go Scrapping Site.

Then we had to post a favourite pic. As I was working from home this afternoon, I was able to use my lunch to complete this challenge and was third to complete it.

Then tonight I just happened to check and another challenge was posted. We're down to seven now and I was fourth to submit. It was to journal about our favourite pic with a minimum of 200 words! Journalling is not my favourite thing but it got easier as I wrote.

Here's the pic and journalling:



This picture of Brianne and Brittany was taken at the Rockton Worlds Fair in October 2006. It is one of my favourite pictures because it is a great shot of both girls! And it was taken at one of our favourite activities, a fall fair. Who can resist the ferris wheel( on which this pic was taken), fun houses, demolition derby, agricultural displays, games and all the yummy food( think elephant ears and candy apples!)! This was our first trip to the Rockton Fair and it happened to be on a beautiful sunny day when the leaves were changing to colours of red, orange, gold and yellow! They looked awesome against the clear blue sky.
When I look at them in this picture its hard to believe how quickly 15 years have passed since Brianne was born! And the last 11 have flew by even more quickly since Brittany arrived! They both are maturing into beautiful, confident young women.
Over the years we usually have gone to at least one fall fair a year. The Paris fair is a favourite as is the Simcoe Fair and the Western fair. You might say it is a fall tradition for our family. I wonder if it will become a fall tradition when the girls have their own families? I sure hope so!

My Visual DNA

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

This was fun! To get your visual DNA click on get your own visual DNA above!

Its not easy being Green

Except when you're scrapbooking a monochromatic layout in green!

Yep challenge 9 was to create a monochromatic layout including ribbon in the title, a quote and a flower.



The challenges have been posted later in the day so I was the fourth of nine to submit my layout!

Storm Watch

Well tonight the girls were scheduled to play soccer. But as predicted we were hit with thunderstorms around the dinner hour and although they do play in the rain, they do not play if there is lightning.
It was raining when it was time to leave but no lightning and there was no call from either coach so we decided to go see if they would be playing.

As we were heading up the expressway into Waterloo just before the Bridgeport exit we drove in to a storm like I don't think I ever driven in before. It was practically dark and the rain was coming down sideways in sheets! Yes sheets of rain! Not drops, sheets!! Then the lightning started. Not just a strike here and there but continual lightning that lit up the whole sky! And yes I was looking for funnel clouds it was that intense. We decided that there would be no soccer tonight! We got off the expressway at King St and I decided to take the city streets home. The streets were covered with up to 4-6 inches of water in some spots. Stoplights were out randomly. And there were lots of tree branches down too! And when we got home there was a message from Brianne's coach, soccer was cancelled!

Challenge 8!

After a weekend break the race has resumed!
The challenge this time was to use scraps of paper, swirls,stamps, journaling with a mix of rub-ons and handwriting as well as ribbon. And just after I was saying that I didn't like painting on my layouts, I used a stencil and paint to create the swirls!

A Mother's Day Tradition

Every year on Mothers day, I get flowers for our planters. So early this morning we headed out and got some great flowers at two of my favourite greenhouses, Belgian Nurseries and Greenway Blooming Centre.I got some of my favourite annuals including fushia, marguerite daisy, million bells and ivy geranium. Also picked up some perenial english daisies and foxglove. And while were outside today Steve and I took a few pictures of our lilacs just coming into bloom, the crabapple tree and Brittany planting some Hollyhocks.

The girls also surprised me with a mug I had admired as well as the Joy of Cooking cookbook. Can't wait to try out some recipes. Britt made me a cute card that says Mom on the front and opens to say Moms Make Children Blossom. Brianne got me a cute card with a vacuum cleaner on the front and on the inside says don't even think about it. I was very spoiled!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Challenge 7

Well, after a great day shopping in Buffalo with a couple of friends, I got home to find that challenge number 7 had been posted and that 8 of 11 people had completed it! With my family's encouragement, I raced around getting this challenge done. It was to create a layout or card that has someone else's writing on it!

This layout features my husband Steve's writing(he's the one feeling up the other woman LOL!). I was 9th to complete the challenge!

I'm still in it!

The last leg of the race was a non-elimination round!

Today's challenge(number 6) was to create a card that doesn't use patterned paper. So I got home from work, and made my card! Steve had taken the girls to soccer so supper was already done. In today's leg I was 9th out of 12!

Chicken Swap!

I participated in another scrapbooking swap. This one was a 6 by 6 layout featuring a chicken recipe. I put in my favourite, 'Yummy Chicken' and got 9 awesome layouts and recipes back! Have a look below!

I could be out!

Yes, I may be out of the race. I went straight from work to a dinner out with some ladies I used to work with. So by the time I got home(9:51), I was the last person to participate in the 5th challenge(posted my pic at 10:04). It was a scavenger hunt and we had to take a picture including:
A plant
A Stapler
An Ink Pad
An album
A Shoe
A Picture of You (can have others in the pic as well)
Your favourite tool (scrapping or otherwise), I chose a corner rounder
Scissors
A Fork
A Scrappy Mag or Idea Book


But maybe its a non-elimination round!I could still be in it!

Challenge 4

Today's challenge was to complete a layout using another competitor's sketch from yesterday.

Here's the sketch I chose




And here's my layout




I came in seventh this time. I wonder if I( along with some others) are at a disadvantage beacuse we work outside the home during the day? I guess it will depend on when the challenges are posted. So I'm not sure how I'll place overall but I am being challenged to put those scrapbooking skills to the test!

Roadblock and Challenge 3

Well today we had our first roadblock! Before we could get our third challenge we had to complete a roadblock! We had to design and sketch our own layout and then we would each receive the next challenge at different times.




Then our challenge was to create layout based on our sketch but no adhesive could be used to complete it! I used staples and brads! And I get hungry just looking at the layout. I love soup! These are pictures of two of our favourites, Hamburger Soup and Potato Cheese Chowder!



I was the seventh to complete the sketch(had to wait till I got home from work)then fourth to complete the layout!

Amazing Race All Star Finale

Ok, so is it only me, or was this finale a bit of a let down? I really didn't feel anything when Eric and Danielle won. Of the last three teams, I don't think I was really hoping for one team over the other. I liked Danny and Oswald so once they were out the race was done for me. Hopefully the next race will have some good and interesting teams I can root for! I've included a pic of Phil cause I do find him interesting!

Amazing Race Challenge 2

I completed my second race leg today!A Mother's Day card using scrapbooking in the sentiment. I'm just posting the inside of the card as the cover will give away who I'm sending it to. I'm off to watch the finale of Amazing Race All Stars!

German Name

to honour Steve's heritage!

Your German Name is:

Stella Isabella

What's Your German Name?

Go Scrapping's Amazing Race

I decided to participate in a scrapping'Amazing Race'! There are 20 of us in it and it started today with a challenge to create a layout showing 'why I scrapbook'. I was the 9th submission which isn't too bad considering the challenge came out at noon, I worked until 5, had dinner, watched a bit of news, went to Curves then made my layout. Of course once the layout was done I had to kick my husband off the computer so I could post my layout, its a race after all! So far there are 11 entries in. Once all are in the last person to submit is out of the race and the next 'leg' or challenge will begin. We may even face detours! I think the race may go on for about a month with the prize being a guest designer for Go Scrapping for a month! That would be cool! Anyway, I'll post my 'leg results' here as I run the race!