I'm outta here (just for a bit)

Heading out bright & early tomorrow morning...for sunny FLA. Just in time as our little heat wave is supposedly ending and more rain & seasonal temps are coming back. We are only going for a quick little trip...be back home on Sunday. However it is one of my favorite times to go down...I love the International Flower Show at Epcot. I am packing the laptop, so I'll pop in a few times and on Friday I'll share some of those DT projects I've been waiting to reveal.

A sunny/warm TGIF to you!

TGIF!!!!
Boy it's been a few busy weeks around here. Thankfully the sun is shining and the temperatures are rising. The forecast for the weekend is actually HOT & sunny. Just getting in from "picture day" for the upcoming dance recital in June. (2 costumes and numerous poses) Tomorrow is the last day for Rec. soccer afterwards I plan on trying to find stuff to do outside so we can enjoy the weather (it's also Dan's birthday...but he's teaching a class for most of the day) Sunday afternoon is an away soccer game...then the countdown can officially begin for our getaway. Wednesday we leave for a little mini vacation to WDW!!! As of right now our only planned vacation for the rest of the year( will have to think about that :wink:)

The June kits are up for preview over on the Coordinates Collections blog....I have chosen kit #2 (it doesnt have a name yet.) It should arrive shortly after my return from WDW (I'm sure I'll have a few pictures to scrap)


Some fun products from Jillibean Soup, American Crafts, Prima, and Sei for starters. I can't wait to play with it!

Now in just one more week I can reveal all of the fun stuff I created with the Lemonade kit...for now here's another peek to wet your whistle...



Well that's all I've got for now....happy weekend :)

Busy, busy....

That's what I've been. The rain did go away for a couple of days anyway (apparently it will be coming back tonight or tomorrow :( ) Yesterday was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L...just a perfect late spring day. This is what we did in the morning....



Then we came home and did stuff around the house. It was even nice enough to have lunch out on the deck. We also went out to a local wildlife/garden center....our koi were coming out of their winter hibernation and were HUNGRY, so we picked up some food for them.

Well the inspiration I'm getting from the May "Lemonade" kit over at Coordinates Collections seems to be almost unlimited. I've stayed up late the past 2 nights cranking out projects. As it stands right now I have 4 layouts, 3 cards, and 1 altered project. I'm sorry I didn't buy the cardstock addon this month. From my personal stash I added in 3 blue notecards and a piece of white, black and kraft cardstock. I think if you keep these 3 colors on hand you can really stretch any kit to the max. Talk about stretching...all but one paper in the kit and one in the pattern paper addon are double sided! ( I did pickup the pattern paper addon this month) Doulble-sided papers really do give you more bang for the buck. With all that I've created I still have plenty of pattern papers left...if only I had more free time.

Okay speaking of the pattern paper addon.... I was totally scared of this piece of paper....



...and do you know that I have almost completely used it up???? ( I am completely shocked, I only have a few small pieces left!) On my first layout I used that cool "graph type" paper (you can see in my 1st sneek I posted). Then I did another layout that uses a big piece of the front side. You never know where inspiration may lead you.

Anyway that's about it for now. I have to go jump in the shower before todays soccer games (Yes I said games...one scheduled & one makeup from a rainout a few weeks ago) The first is an away game and the second is at home. We won't be done soccer until about 6:30pm tonight.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Rain, rain , go AWAY!

It's been raining since Monday night and the wind is a blowing...today I had to venture out to go to work...it was nasty! The forecast is for sun to arrive sometime tomorrow and warm temps by Friday. (Fingers crossed this will happen)

Well here's another peek at something from the May "Lemonade" kit over at Coordinates Collections...



I had this cute little nest with the greens around it in a closet (it was bought last spring with the intentions of making something...it didn't happen :wink:). So when I saw that cute little bird stamp (Daisy Bucket) in the kit it was resurrected from the closet. I stamped the bird in brown on some white cardstock, colored with pencils, added a black rhinestone for the eye and placed her in the nest. Hmmmm....what could this project be???? Only 15 days until I can reveal it.

Stay tuned....

A day late...

but as I promised I have some things to share.

First for those of you with a sweet tooth...the cheesecake was delicious! I will definitely be making that one again. Next time I may tweek the filling layer...to have a bit more raspberry in the middle layer. The only thing that didn't work (totally not my fault) was that the fresh raspberries I bought to use as a garnish were totally moldy when I went to wash them...grrr!

Anyway Sunday was a beautifully glorious day....the sun was shining but a bit on the cool side. We drove up to PA to celebrate Easter with my family and to have the traditional egg hunt at my parents house. Each child was told that they could go out and collect 25 eggs and then there were another 20 saved for the 2 year old twins to find when they arrived. So everyone races out into the backyard and it's a whirlwind of children zipping around gathering eggs...



That's Fritz rounding a big planting area that always hides quite a few eggs. Everyone has their favorite spots to hit out in the yard.



Periodically when you think you've reached your limit you have to stop and count what you have in your basket.



Then when it's all said and done with you have quite the haul. It never fails that every year we come up short an egg or two. This year all but 1 egg was found...apparently the squirrels in the area look forward to Easter just as much as the kids. In a week or 2 my father will find the egg when he mows the grass and it usually is empty and in a location other than where it was normally hidden.

Now on to the scrappy stuff. Wow this kit is fun!!!
So far I have 2 layouts and an altered item done and still a few more things planned out.
Here's a little sneek of my 1st layout....



The kraft cardstock is from my stash, the cream/blue paper on the left is from the paper addon and you can just see a bit of a Jillibean Journaling sprout on the right. Jamie has the red ones listed as a kit addon, but I'm also recommending the brown. Like I said I have 3 projects done and 2 of them have brown journaling sprouts and one has red. This layout kinda has an "Ali-esque" type design to it. Not my usual but I had fun with it.

Stay tuned....I may share some more sneeks later in the week.

{creative}

It's weird how a word just keeps cropping up over and over. I read an article early this week on creativity and then I received my kit in the mail this week and inside was a canvas tag by Prima that said "create". Then while sorting thru some old pictures I found this painting I did in 1st grade (a very long time ago...you can even see by the curves in my bus. They use to be rounder in design...now the ones my kids ride are very boxy) This was my very 1st art show and I won 3rd place out of all the 1st graders.



Art was a very big part of my education ( I went to a high school which had an "Art Major" program...so in addition to taking my regular college prep classes I also had an Art period every day. This got me to thinking about how I have always led a creative life. However it's not just the painting & drawing and obviously now scrapbooking. There are other things in life that I enjoy that can be considered "creative". Take gardening....thru plant color/selection and hardscaping(pots, rocks, etc.) I am creating a work of art in my yard or patio/deck. Cooking is creating with food creating a work of art that can be both beautiful to the eye and appealing to the taste buds. Those are just a few of the things that have popped into my mind on this idea.

So with this in mind it has been a rather creative day around our home. (Perfect on a rainy Saturday) I hard boiled eggs and let the kids have fun coloring them.



Then I got creative in the kitchen. This years Easter dessert will be a "White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake.



It smells so good...it will be agonizing waiting until tomorrow afternoon for a taste. I also got busy preparing the ingredients for homemade fajitas tonight.

In addition to all this I have been playing with the scrumptious "Lemonade Kit" over at Coordinates Collections. My first layout is about what else but ....my creatvity.

Hope you all have a Happy Easter. Hopefully I'll have some pictures, a peek at my 1st layout and I will report on how the dessert tasted on Monday.

A chance to win a Kit!!!

Well actually there are 3 kits up for grabs! Just check out these blogs.
Kelly Goree has both of the April kits up for grabs on her blog (the "Puddles" & "Petals" kits).
Both of these fantastic kits feature some of the new Basic Grey papers. You have until 11:59pm tonight to leave a comment on her blog. Then over on the Pink Paislee blog they are giving away one of the "Puddles" kits (my favorite...it has all that great PP "fetching" goodness in it). They also posted one of my layouts on their blog as an example from the kit! Hop on over today...they'll pick a winner tomorrow.

Well I'm off to the grocery store. Besides the regular groceries I need to buy the ingredients for a dessert I'm making for Easter. More on that later!