it has been awhile

since my last post and I don't know why.

Finally had the new carpet installed today and now I can get Becca all moved into her new room. I need to get everything moved and cleaned before Friday. My brother and his family are coming to visit all weekend. It should be a fun weekend...my niece and nephew have never seen the ocean before! We'll be going to the beach, hitting the boardwalk, and swimming in the pool. Loads of good times ahead.

So this is the week of CHA have you seen anything you like??? I certainly have and have been taking notes hoping to get J to load up some future kits with some awesome stuff.

I found this today...



It's a picture of one of the pages of a photo journal. This class is being offered at CHA by Creative Cafe. I would love to be able to take the class. I love the Creative Cafe line and am so sorry I don't have an LSS that carries it. Anyway I have a chance of winning it (at least a kit to put it together) if I can get enough people to go over to the their blog and say that I refered you. Can you please go over and post for me????

So besides redecorating not much going on here. Had a good friend from college stop for a visit on Saturday while she was in the area on vacation. The kids are going to team camps at night for soccer (tonights was postponed due to thunderstorms) I have all my projects done and can't wait to share with you on the 1st!

Happy Monday!

a bit disappointing

Hoping to come home today to new carpet, but the installation was cancelled. Got a call back later today...to be installed on Monday. (fingers crossed) Then the Phillies lost this afternoon ending their 10 game winning streak.

On to other news...

CHA begins soon...I've been looking at so many sneak peeks they are all beginning to jumble together. I will say I have seen some really great products from many of my favorite companies...glad to see that everyone is still releasing fun new product. I have a feeling I will be helping the scrapbooking economy very soon.

{stitched up}

Last night while watching the ballgame I used my "rusty" embroidery skills on one of my DT projects for August. I can't wait to show you the project, but for now here's a little peek...



I used a blanket stitch & some french knots. The french knots made great little flowers/berries on that stamped image made using the stamp from Daisy Bucket Designs found in the "Alphabet Soup" kit available for preorder over at Coordinates Collections. I love the texture the stitching gave to my project!

We went blueberry picking yesterday (using some of those pics in a project for this month) and have just been doing odds and ends around the house and relaxing by the pool.

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend too.

So CHA is just around the corner...

and sneak peeks will be popping up soon all over the net. I've already found 2 that I absolutely MUST HAVE! You all know that I (along with Lisa,Jamie & Susie) fell in love with Jillibean Soup when we saw them at CHA-W09 and I soon after became very addicted to the journaling sprouts. Well lookey here...




Number Sprouts available in 4 colors...



and then, when you thought it couldn't get any better...


Calendar sprouts available in 4 colors.

Imagine the possibilities!!!!

The holiday is over

We really didn't do anything special. We mainly hung out at home enjoying the pool and lovely weather here on the East Coast. We left the house on the 4th to go to the Township Fireworks display. While waiting for fireworks to start the kids had a good pickup game of soccer with friends and teammates...they played until it got dark, then we sat and enjoyed the display.

On the 5th we headed up to PA for a family picnic another fabulous day to sit outside and enjoy each others company. The kids had a great time playing with the cousins.

I did play with my camera a bit this weekend...I really want to learn to use it better. Here's a few shots I took with the camera set on aperture priority mode. (Someday I'll actually find the time to take a class :wink:)



Okay a flower...it stands still while I focus!
Love these purple flowers that grow in our koi pond.



My baby girl...I see a lot of me in this one.



The boy enjoying a freezer pop.



Playing by the pool.

Today it was back to reality, the island is packed full of people, work was crazy busy...which actually made the day go by super fast.

When I arrived home this was waiting for me....



So much goodness in this kit! Even better than I remembered from putting it together in January at CHA. ( I also got some of the new Fancy Pants Kraft Kuts paper in this box!)
Back to the kit... I already have a layout planned and a home decor item in mind(for my new scrapbook room)!

Speaking of the decorating... Becca's room is now all painted (still one final coat of trim to do), windows washed, and new carpet is ordered. We also ordered new carpet for the upstairs hall and I picked out an engineered hardwood flooring for my room.

Here's what I picked...



It's a nice dark walnut color. Hopefully it will be installed by the end of the month.

Okay now I think I'll sit back and finish watching the ball game...it's currently 16-1 Phillies (top of the 7th) Go Phils!

We are half way thru the year...

can you believe it? Speaking of halfway...Jamie is running a half-off sale over at Coordinates Collections today and tomorrow. In the store there is a special half off section---some fun stuff!
I just placed an order to get shipped with my August kit. Can't wait for it to get here.

So yes it is the 1st of the month so that means I can finally reveal my projects. I've posted them all in my gallery over at CC but here's a look at 2 of them.

First the 2 pager:



A laoyout I did about how the kids love the pool at Disney's Boardwalk Resort.Fancy Pants Summer Soiree papers & journaling sheet, Cosmo Cricket Snorkel papers & chipboard accent (submarine), KI Memories "glitter letters" & border stickers, and some Jillibean Soup alphas.

And now here's another fun one:



DS climbing a rock wall for the first time. A nice mix of papers from the kit and of course I had to add in a few journaling sprouts from Jillibean Soup:wink:

Speaking of the "soup" have you checked out their blog??? They are beginning to show sneeks of the summer releases at CHA. So sad I will not be there, but seriously Orlando at the end of July??? (The heat & humidity can be bad enough here in NJ) I'll stick with Anaheim in January. I've been keeping my eyes open for new stuff for upcoming kits...it will be hard trying to do it over the computer instead of being there with Lisa's great story boards hanging in our room.

Well that's about all I've got for now.

P.S. Nora if you are reading this it was my "me" layout and a Fancy Pants layout (mainly pink in color with pictures of DD on it) I did it from a class I took at CHA 2 years ago...let me know if they turn up.