January is a Wrap!

The new month is almost upon us!
And that means the big trip is just 10 days away!  Am I just a little bit freaked out?  Oh, yes!!!  It is a long way away.  The flight we have to undertake to get there seems mind boggling.  I am flying from MT to Denver, then to San Francisco and the big trek to Australia.  But still not done after that!  We have a little jaunt to Auckland, New Zealand- where we start our exciting adventure.  Most of our tours are booked, so we can just sit back and enjoy!  And the craziest thing-  my high school girl friend back in Ontario, Canada and her husband will be travelling there at the same time! We should have lots of stories to compare.
Thinking about what I have to pack.  Have a few things set aside.  Talking to my sister about every other day and sometimes every day!  She has a cold now after working her marathon last weekend!

We will travel the south east side of New Zealand, cross the Tasman Sea to Sydney, Australia.  Visit the southern cities of Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.  Spend a couple of days there and then fly to Brisbane.  Here I hope to meet up with my blogging friend, Tracey of Trace-Elementz!  Then we head north to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.  And will be gone almost 5 weeks.

I got to scrap this photo one last time so each of the grandkids will have one for their albums.  It is such a cute photo!

Papers from Scrapworks, Pink Paislee, Kaiser Craft and a couple of scraps.

I misted on the doily

The red snowflakes are from Fancy Pants.  They were a long piece and I cut them apart.

Heidi Swapp Dec. die

The tree and brad are from Teresa Collins Candy Cane Lane

Washi tape

One More Happy Birthday!

Today is daughter, Kirsten's birthday! Anymore we celebrate the two birthdays together!
When Kirsten had Harlee and they were talking about induction, Kirsten chose the 29th, so they would each have their own day to celebrate.
Kirsten had to work today. I hope she had a super, duper day!












One little layout
From Nic's Christmas concert. I managed to delete my photos off the camera before I down loaded them! Thankfully Curtis had a couple on his camera


Papers from Fancy Pants
Hot
Chocolate collection.

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Happy Birthday!

To our sweet princess! She turned 9 today! She is growing up wAy too fast for this nana! She is sweet! She is spunky! She is so tender hearted! She is kind of a picky eater- like her auntie! She can hardly move in her bed for all her stuffed animals. She likes to draw and colour! She gets good grades- and getting a B+ just about put her over the edge! And we are so blessed to have her in our lives! She holds a very special place in this nanas heart!





















So, it was an afternoon of celebration! Everyone was here for a yummy ham dinner! How Kirsten's crew loves ham!

One little layout!


Papers: Kaiser Craft, Pink paislee,
Bo Bunny, echo park
Title and glowers were cut on the Silhouette
Enamel dots- MME, echo psrk

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Whhhoooooossshhhh....

The wind is really blowing out there today. And I just found my living room window slightly ajar thanks to Mr. Cooper. But with the crazy wind comes warmer temperatures and today we are well into the 50's!

Watched Cooper for a bit this morning! Kirsten's phone decided it should spazz out so she needed to go and see what's up! A new one will be arriving on Monday! Cooper was fascinated with the washing machine. Mine has a clear lid so he can see what is going on in it. Kirsten asked if I could do Harlee's laundry? Plus my own! The washer has been going most of the day!

Kirsten took him outside for a while when she got back!



He had to serve tea, you know!!! Kirsten took these snap shots!


A couple of layouts!
Harlee helped me decorate the tree this year even though we were both sick!


Papers used
SEI- Kris Kringle
MME- The Merry Days of Christmas
Title sticker- Simple Stories(Cozy Christmas), Shimelle's Christmas Magic
Embellishments from SEI, Pink Paislee and Shimelle's Christmas magic

This next layout of my Caitlin when we last had family photos done! This was during Christmas break of 2010, right before she headed to Austria for a semester during college! Little did we know she had mono at the time!


Papers used
Bo Bunny
The strips all came out of my scrap pile
The card with the camera is from Amy Tangerine
And the two chipboard hearts are Crate Paper
Title
cut with Quickutz Sunshine font

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How to Pack??

for an extended holiday???   That is what is on my mind these days!!!  What to do when you are going to be gone almost 5 weeks!  I know I am packing for summer.  I know I have to have something dressy, for the cruise ship!!!  Can't do my own laundry on the boat.  This is the dilemma these days!!  What would you do????  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. 

The one thing I do have clear is that I am taking 2 camera bodies and 3 lens.  And my IPad and external hard drive. 

Keeping busy.  I was cancelled from work yesterday, as the NICU census is back down.  I went grocery shopping with Kirsten and Cooper.  His nana had to spoil him with an obligatory bag of Doritos.  That boy!!!  Maybe a little better than a bag of M&M's!!!  

We had Harlee for while after school until her dad picked her up.  She worked on some homework and played on the IPAD.  And had Salsa and chips.

In the midst of making Valentine cards.  It will be sneaking right up here and I leave before, so need to get things in order.  

Still working on a challenge for January doing a layout a day and seem to be keeping up and the month is almost a wrap!

This first layout is of Nic when he was a little guy and we went riding the Polar express.
The background is completely filled with Washi, as was the challenge.
Thank goodness I had a b/w photo to use.

 This second layout is from this Christmas and different photos of the 3 grandkids.

It's Friday, once again!

And while the east coast is battling a huge snow storm, we have been enjoying our January thaw with temps into the 50's today!  Crazy, right???  Hope all are keeping safe and warm, including my sister who is stuck at the hospital for the next 3 days working away. 

Today is my friend Robyn's birthday.  She was booked today, so we get to enjoy breakfast with her tomorrow.  Was looking for a photo of us together from Hawaii last year and found a fun one of her on the streets of Lahaina with a burger sitting out on the street.  And yes, we did eventually eat at that restaurant.  But I am not really going to show you that photo without her permission!!!  So here we are on the beach at sunset. 

Got my house cleaned up today.  Vacuumed and mopped.  All set to go for another week.  Harlee had an early out today at 1:15, so she spent the afternoon here.  Her dad didn't forget to pick her up today!  I went and picked up my money for my down under trip.  I stopped to check on my new glasses I ordered 3 weeks ago and they had actually just arrived today.

Did a little scrapping and card making and now the day is almost done!!!

Just a little layout of Harlee and I from family photo day.  

Papers from Teresa Collins Urban Market and Basic Grey Indian summer
Prima flowers that were misted with Color Shine
Decorative Brads- Teresa Colins
Crate Paper- Maggie Holmes ephemera
Title done with American Craft Thickers

Middle of The Week Musings

Life around here is pretty ho hum lately.  Except that I have worked full time hours this last week and the old body is feeling it.  Since I really haven't worked much in the last six weeks.
Yesterday was a much nicer day at work, thankfully.  Now, I am done until next week. 

We had more snow most of the morning, although it didn't amount to much.  And they are saying highs near 50 by the weekend. 

Have just stayed home today.  Getting laundry done.  Scrapbooking a little.  Lounging in the sweat pants. Quite happy to just putz around. 

Taking care of getting new tags for the rig.  And a phone plan for my big trip. 

Heading "DownUnder" in 3 weeks with my sister.  We have been chatting back and forth getting things in order.  This will be a trip of a lifetime!!  It has been on my bucket list for a long, long time.  I need to do it now!  We start in Auckland, NZ . 
The camera is already to go.  Actually taking 2 camera bodies with 3 lens. 
Making a list and checking it twice. 

And a couple of layouts.
This is one of the turkeys Harlee and I made at Thanksgiving. 
I used modeling paste and a stencil for the first time.

Papers used Echo Park(Reflection)
                    Photo Play- Autumn Day)
                    Lots of scraps to make the strips
                    Fancy Pants flair
                    Glitz Mini letters
                    Ranger Texture paste and Heidi Swapp stencil
                    Tim Holtz distress ink
                    Heidi Swapp ColorShine in Navy, tea and gold
                    Hero Arts stamp and embossing powder

This second layout is Cooper on Christmas morning.  A whirlwind,he is!
Papers used- Bazzill cardstock
                    Echo Park(Little Boy)
                    AdornIt (Construction)
                    Bella Blvd (Halloween magic)
                    Letter stickers from Basic Grey and Webster's Pages
                    Ali Edwards stamps

A Little Sunday Drive!

I am pooped after working a 12 hour shift yesterday, plus other hours this week.  Most I have worked since the end of Nov.  It is catching up with me.

It is quite cold out, but Curtis and I ventured out down to the river.  Part of it is frozen.  And it is a pretty day out.  See how nice it is?

 Look at this goose down on the river.  It is not a Canadian goose, but I sure don't know what it is.

 Ducks all in a row.

 And of coarse a layout.  This is how our visit with Santa went this past Christmas!

paper are from Simple Stories(Cozy Christmas), Pink Paislee(Yuletide)
Gold Stickers are from Teresa Collins (Tinsel & Company)
Letter stickers are from Doodlebug, Simple Stories
Wooden Buttons- Shimelle(American Crafts)
American Craft Thickers
Star Rubons- Chic Tags

Hard Week for Cait

as  a couple of her childhood icons have passed away.  At the beginning of the week it was David Bowie.  She told me she had to mop in bed an extra an hour it was so terrible.  And today it has been Alan Rickman who played Snape in the Harry Potter movies.  They are some of her favorites.  She told me Paul Simon better hang on and not be leaving this world. 
She does keep me entertained.  And she is an old sole enjoying alot of the oldies, but goodies!

We are back to winter today with it snowing.  And the streets are a mess.  And my rig is so, so dirty. 

You can tell how big the flakes were!!!

It has pretty much been an inside day.  Although I did make a quick run to Target this morning and then came home and cleaned house. 
I did some pick up in my scrap space so I could create a couple of layouts.

Here are some I made lately.
They are two layouts from when we had family photos done.

 I love this photo of Harlee and Cooper.
Background paper is from Bo Bunny - Barefoot & Bliss
I used a Memory Box Mesh stencil and some Colorbox Chalk ink
Title is a SSS die
MME enamel dots
Authentique mini phrases

Papers - We R Memory Keepers, Crate Paper, Teresa Collins and Blue card stock
Pink Paislee tag, which I covered and then made a 2nd tag
Fancy Pants sequins
Bella Blvd ephemera
XO die- SSS
Mr. Huey green mists

Cooking up a Storm!

Today Kirsten and I cooked the morning away.
She and Tim have some friends that just had their first baby last Friday.  We had hoped to prepare some freezer meals this week for them before the baby arrived.  But, Isla had different ideas when she wanted to arrived.  It was a couple of weeks early.  So, today we hit the grocery store for a few items and then we went to work.  We made chicken parmigian casserole, chicken pot pie,  chicken fajitas, meatloaf, taco fixins and turkey noodle soup.  Cooper was here with us and had toys strewn all through the house.  We delivered all the goodies and took Harlee with us after school to see the new baby.  She was very smitten.
I am pooped tonight.
I worked a few hours yesterday afternoon and head back for some more this weekend.
It finally has been melting out these past couple of days.  Won't be fun in the morning when it has refrozen with new snow on the ground.  Today it was 42, they said the last time Great Falls had reached the 40's was Dec.13.  So the last month we have had pretty cold temps and that is why the snow has stayed.  Usually we have those chinook winds blowing melting the snow away.

Have a couple of layouts to leave with you.  This is the same photo scrapped two different ways.  Still have to do one more so they each have one for their photo albums.

 Papers used -  Echo Parke(Merry Christmas)
                        Heidi Swapp(Believe)
                        Making Memories(Fa La La)
                        Bo Bunny (Sleigh Ride)
Decorative brads- MME, Teresa Collins, Echo Park
Savy Stamp Joy Die
Simple Stories emphemera
Shimelle stickers

Papers - Pink Paislee(Merry and Bright)
              Carta Bella (Christmas)
Title and tree cut on Silhouette
Simple stories ephemera
Stars, Washi?

New Shoes!

I got me some new athletic shoes on sale after Christmas. Curtis calls them my "Frozen"shoes! I really like them because there are no laces to tie up and fall over!!! That's a bonus for me! They are super light and very comfortable.



I have been wearing them around the house to break them in for my upcoming trip. But today I bit the bullet and went walking! Already 3 times as warm as yesterday snd is only 30F. All the people that shovel get gold stars because their sidewalks are bare and dry! I curse those that don't!
 Spent a while on the phone the last two days, as my sister and I start to finalize our big trip.  I leave a month from today- Feb. 10.  Starting to make my antsy. 
A gal called from work to see if I would pick up some hours on Tues.  I need some spending $$$ for so called trip.  I willingly said yes.  Work hours have been few and far between this last month.  
Need to stop here and get on the desk top to include a couple of layouts.

 Papers used- Bunny (Little Miss), Prima(Flights of Fancy)
  Butterflies- Kaiser Craft, Bo Bunny
Tickets-MME
Tim Holtz flourish die, the die cuts were misted with Colorshine
Pearls
Title cut with Quickutz Zoe Font

 Papers from Authentique(Original collection) , Chatterbox(dark blue)
Fiskars punch
Ribbon
paper scraps
Raised stickers- MME
Title cut with Quickutz Zoe font



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My Visitors.

Today Cooper came to spend a little time with his nana, while his mum ran some errands and didn't have to keep putting him in and out of his car seat.  Pain in the butt when it is cold and snowy like today. 
So, I took some photos.

 He always has a snack in my mums old tin measuring cup

 How happy is he attacking nana with a wrapping paper tube

 Oh, how this kid loves trains. 

My other visitors are all the birds in the back yard and a rabbit too.  Don't see the rabbit every day, but I did see him today.  We have a family of flickers that visit daily.  I can have up to 6 of them flying around and eating the suet out back.  Along with downy woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees and red breasted finches.  

Today the cold air from the north has plunged south and it is very cold and snowy.  

Here is a little layout I worked on. 

                                                                from our family photo day back in August. 
Paper from Echo Park and We R Memory Keeprs
Title is American Craft Thickers
Big star is Bella Blvd
Wood Veneer is Studio Calico
mini letters Authentique

Putting Christmas Away!

I always think it is sad to put all the Christmas decorations away.  The tree went down on Saturday with Cait's help.  And because I went into work on Sunday morning, I waited until Monday to put the rest away.  And of coarse, like clockwork, I found one little wall hanging that got missed.  My little snowman village is still up until the end of the month.  After all, it is still winter here.  Cooper and Harlee were here after dinner last evening, while Nic was at Boy Scouts.  It was a mystery to Cooper where that big tree went.  He had some ice cream with lots of sprinkles and then crashed when he actually sat still with his nana. 
So, today Mama Clean went into action.  The furniture got dusted as the stuff went away, so now there were floor to clean.  Both the wood and the tile floors got mopped down.  And the laundry got done.  Now I am almost set for the week.  Just the bathrooms to do and they don't take too long. 
That means I can play in my scrap space.  Until something or someone interrupts me.
I did do a couple of layouts today and I have one more in the works.  Most productive I have been in weeks. 
Here are a couple I created. 
A page of Harlee and Cait from our family photos. 

Papers were from Bella Blvd, Authentique, Amy Tangerine, Dear Lizzy

Ephemera -Kaiser craft

Mini Letters-Authentique

Aerican Craft Thickers

Flair-?

 Old K&Co papers

The title and girl with the books were cut on the Silhouette

Ticket- MME

Flair-Two Peas in a Bucket