I Can't ask for anything better.

This morning we woke up to a Disney scene, lol.

We had chipmunks eating some bruised cherries I put out last night.

We had a squirrel feasting on some cherry pits I spit out.

We had birds swooping down to eat the sunflower seeds we put out.

And a rabbit nibbling on a corn cob we put by the deck.

It was a party for the tiny animals. They were right in front of the deck. We almost stepped on the chipmunks. Those guys are well at home here. If Hubby doesn't put out seed for them in the morning they are at the front door chipping for him to hurry up, lol.

 Now the rabbit and bunnies are more timid. I took this photo from inside the door.

But then I snuck out the side door and crawled around to this side of the deck to get some more photos, teehee.

I didn't know Jim was watching me from our guest trailer wondering what the heck I was doing crawling along the deck, lol.

 Again it is a beautiful, gorgeous day. Everyone was in the water.

Here Kristy is trying to flip Heather over off the air mattress. Wayne looks like he is just observing, but nope, he soon got in there and they flipped her :)

Here was my view of them playing in the water.

Look at my chicken white skin. Would you believe I even have a bit of a tan....yup I am that pale, lol.

I think this picture is funny, from this angle look how big my thighs look and my feet look so tiny compared to them, lol.

Good thing I shaved my legs, lol.

Not sure if I had shared this, but here in Canada it is a long weekend. So we don't have to go home til tomorrow. We do have to leave early though, as Heather has to grease the trucks. It is also month end, and I have to do the billing.

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend :)

Tracy

Chilaxing at the cottage

Can you see those tiny specks in the lake?

That is Heather and Kristy floating around on air mattress'.

Not long after this photo was taken Hubby and I were in there with them.

Another beautiful day.

 Kristy and Wayne were hard at work painting one of the picnic tables. It was originally brown, but I changed the colour and now they are a beautiful, happy burgundy/red.
Even my FIL came by to tell me how much he likes the new colour :)

 Heather wanted to take the bike for a spin.
She is using her feet as breaks because Wayne scared her by telling her that the back breaks are weak, and if you only use the front ones you will flip over the handle bars, lol.  Way to go dad.

Sharon and Jim came out last night.
We have spent most of the day just lounging around chatting.
Hubby, Jim, Heather and Kristy ran to Ignace to pick up some munchies. The girls are eating healthier and didn't want to bring any junk food up this weekend.
Well I guess they changed their minds, lol.

I think I will take the quad up to the rapids and see how the berries are this year. I hear the picking isn't going to be good this year because of the late frost and not much rain.
I am also wondering how washed out the road is. Well I guess it is more like a trail as no vehicle would make it up there anymore.

Hope you all had a creative day today.
I will visit you all when I get home. The Internet here is slow. It takes about 10 min's to load a photo. I am just thankful that I am able to use the internet here.

Tracy

Craft organizing at the Cottage

I am at the motel "English River Inn" using their Internet :)

They are so sweet to let me use it. As I sit here in their breakfast room (for their guests) I look out the window and watch a humming bird flutter to the feeder.

It is so relaxing at our cottage.

So last night I organized my stamped images :)

Here is how I stored them. Well actually they were crammed in a smaller container, but I left that one at home.

I like to stamp images then bring  them to camp, so I only have to bring my markers with me. Then I can leave paper, stamps and inks at home. But I stamp about 15-20 new ones each time, and only colour a few a weekend. So I have quite a few stamped images. I also had them stored by who shared images with me.

The first thing I do is to write (on the back of the stamped image) who made the stamps, type of paper it is stamped on and who (if anyone) gave it to me.

 I organized them by theme.
Greeting Farm, Magnolia, cute girls, boys, nature, this and that, and then coloured images and sentiments.

 After I had them in the piles I had to make dividers.
What better dividers then a Coke box, lol.
I will make nicer ones when I get home :)

 Here they are all nice and organized :)
I think I need to colour some of these up soon :)

 This container also has a locking lid, which is perfect.

Well today is a beautiful day.
I did lounge around in the water on the air mattress and dangled my feet into the water. That is until a horsefly kept busing around and landing on me, I hate those suckers. They take a big chunk out of you when they bite.
We painted both picnic tables...guess what colour :)

Good news I was notified that I did make it on time to be in the Greeting Farm's HeArt Journal challenge. This makes me so happy. I'm giddy.

So I am off to enjoy the rest of my day. I hope you enjoy yours :)

Tracy

HeArt Journal Challenge

I am trying my hand at an art journal challenge.

Greeting Farms is putting on a HeArt Journal challenge on their site.

Becky and Steph are both playing along, so I thought I would too.

The only problem is that I took forever to figure out their site and how to upload my projects. Then when I was finished uploading it didn't work.

I was so frustrated, I wanted to cry...Steph can vouch for that, lol.

So I am not really sure if I uploaded everything on time, but I will try to play along any way.

So here is my cover of my book

 I purchased this book years ago. I think it just had water paper inside it. And only about 12 or so pages.
Because it is a 32 week challenge, I had to take the book apart and add more papers.
I am video taping my progress and will share at the end of the challenge.  If I make to the end, lol.

 The challenge was a 2 page spread, anything with wings.
I love fairies and angels. So that is what I did my pages on.
I coloured both pages with a light blue ink with a sponge.
I used a stencil edge as a mask for the clouds. I am really happy with how they turned out.

 The first page I put up a quote.
I also coloured this Greeting Farms image with my copics
I also added a tiny envelope that I covered to put in what the challenge was about. I will do that on every page.

 Close up of my coloured image.

 Here is the second page of the 2 page spread.

 Told you that I was going to put the sister angel from Pea's mini on here :)

 A closer look at the clouds :)

I am so not a journal book person. But I am trying here, lol.
I like everything to be straight and symmetrical, so this is a reach for me.
But if you look I did put some elements on an angle, teehee.

Onto My Day:
We are off to camp. Wayne is taking tomorrow off :)
Actually we are leaving in about 27 minutes. Seriously that is how Hubby is, right down to the second.

Thankful Thursday
Kristy is back at home
That I am expanding my creativity
Going to our cottage on such a beautiful day

So what are you thankful for today?

Tracy

Butterfly Mini Album

I made this mini album for Pea.
We did a "pay it forward" and went a bit overboard, teehee.
Here is a video on the mini I made for her :)



I thought I would add some photos as well.
I enclosed the mini in a wrap around cover.
Most of the flowers are hand made, by my little hands :)
I embossed the paper. I also crackled the wings.
I mostly used Graphic 45 Once Upon a Springtime papers.
                        
 I forgot to put a photo of the front page.
But to late now, I have one at the end of the photos.
The tags are removable with journal spots.
I fussy or detail cut around the flowers on the paper.

 Here is my take on an art page, teehee.
I used 3 different dies for the butterfly lady:)  I like her so much I think her sister is going to make an appearance in my HeArt Journal.
There is a large tag behind the photo matt.

 I put an envelope flip book on this page.
I put magnets on the sides so it will stay closed.

 Another large tag to journal on.
Here is how I used the Window Envelope with tag that I hosted a swap for.

 Here are the last 2 pages.
The bird cage flips up for some more journal or for a photo.

 Here is the album open all the way from the inside.
I think Pea really liked it. I am so glad that she did.
Here is a video of Pea opening it. Here . Actually she had to make 4 video's, teehee.
                           
Onto my Day:
I cleaned my scrap/craft room. Yahoo. Well I still have some more to do. I have yet to find a place to put my new papers I purchased from my trip. Ya think I have to much paper, teehee.
I was in a frenzy looking for the registration for my jeep. As I was leaving to purchase a new one, I found it in a tiny cubby by the steering wheel. Whew, that made my day.

Hope you had a creative Wednesday.

Tracy

Inspiration its everywhere

 I thought I would share some inspiration with you.

I saw these fun pillows when we went on our girls vacation last week.

Every petal is sewed on separately.

I love this burgundy colour, how vibrant.

I thought that this might make a fun colour combination.

Onto My Day:

Most of my day consisted of working and replying to and watching YouTube. I like that I can multi task.

I went for lunch with my brother Darrell. We make a point of going for lunch on our birthday month.

He wasn't sure if he could make it as his job is pretty demanding. He is the business manager of his union. But he got things straightened out and then he phoned me and said "I'm comin' to get ya". Funny thing is he dialed the wrong number, lol. I bet the lady he phoned kept peeking out her window all day, lol.

Kristy went camping with her boyfriend and his family. I miss her humour around here.

She texted me when she got there :)

She will be coming home on Thursday and then we are leaving for camp.

Wayne and I went to Home Depot (bet you thought I was going to say Canadian Tire eh, lol). We picked up paint to repaint the picnic tables at our cottage. They need a new coat of paint and a new colour. Can you guess which colour I chose ;)

Then I got a wonderful phone call from my blogging friend, Claudia. This lady has a great sense of humour.

It was so nice to chat with her. She is so sweet. I felt like a celebrity talking to her. LOL.

Proud Tuesday:

I caught up on all my work, well, until tomorrow that is.

That I have a plan for tomorrow, to clean my scrap/craft room. It so needs it.

What have you done to make you feel proud?

Tracy

I hope I live to 80

Tonight we celebrated Wayne's dads 80th Birthday.

Here is the card I made him.

I have trouble with masculine cards. I can't add all the pretty embellishments in them.

 Here is the dimension shot ;)

 Inside of the card.

 Here is the Birthday Boy.
This man means so much to me. He really is like a father to me.
He has been in my life since I was 16 yrs old. And welcomed me into this family. And treats me like his own daughter.
I love this man.

 Here is the youngest member of the family :)
Isn't he a sweetie. That isn't really a question as we know he is ;)

 Ashley is going camping (ol' style) with Tyler and his friends.
They were going to purchase a new tent. I told them we have one that they can use.
Ashley wasn't sure of the quality of our tent, so the decided to put it up in our basement to make sure it didn't have any holes.
It was only used a few times. But Wayne did inform us that it is about 15 yrs old.
Looks fine to me. Mind you I won't be the one sleeping in it if it rains, teehee.
P.S. Don't look at Ashley's pants, she just put these on for the tent assembly. If she sees this she will want me to take this photo off, lol.

On To My Day:
First thing I did was get my licence sticker for the jeep. It wasn't a problem, even though it was overdue.
Picked up a gift card for the Birthday Boy.
Picked up Kristy's boyfriend, Blake.
Hand delivered a bill.
Then came home and worked most of the day.

Hope you all had a wonderful creative day:)
Thank you all so much for the Birthday wishes for both me and Ashley :)

Tracy

Another Year Older

Another birthday today.

Any guesses on who's?

Its MINE :)

 I received a new camera for my birthday.
My other camera would vibrate. I know, no one believes me when I tell them, but it does. It happened to Kristy when she tried to use as well.
So hubby bought my a new Sony Cyber-shot. I loved my old one, it was thin, tiny and red.
My new one is thin, tiny and black :(   They don't carry it in red anymore :(

Here are a few shots with my new camera.
Ashley and I. The birthday girls :)

 Heather and I.
See how she loves her mom, lol.
She also hates getting her picture taken. I think she hates it more than I do.

 Kristy and I :)

 Here are some cards I received.
This is from Hubby. I know that Kristy made this and coloured the image. But both Kristy and Hubby are trying to convince me that Hubby made it, lol.

 The girls whipped this one up.
Such slackers, lol. They took what I wrote in Ashley's card and changed it a bit.

 And this one is from Ashley's boyfriend Tyler.
He said that this is a drawing of him and I. lol.
Such talent :)

 Here is my old, beautiful camera. I loved it so.
I don't have a picture of my new one though.

Onto My Day:
Cleaned up the house, as we were having company over for BDay cake.
Hubby and I did a bit of running around.
We all went to Montana's for supper, and no I did not wear that big hat with the horns.
Came home to both Wayne and I not having any house keys. Ashley had a set, but both her and Kristy went to pick up Tyler as his car has a gas leak.
So as we waited for them to get home, I weeded the back yard.

Then my SIL Sharon, and her hubby Jim came by for cake and so did my FIL Ray and his wife Joy.
So we enjoyed a nice evening at home with the family for my birthday.

Now first thing tomorrow morning I have to get my licence sticker. I was suppose to get it before my birthday, oops I forgot.
The paper said it expired last Friday, double oops.

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend.

Tracy

Sweet Treats

I want of these so badly right now, its not even funny.

I found these at Walmart when we were away on our trip.

My brother Darrell and I used to have these when we were kids. I haven't seen these anywhere since then.

I have found them in our town, but they are filled with cream not icing.

I only like them with the sugary icing.

YUMMY.

 This sign has been on the mall's door for a few years now.
We always find this sign funny. Seriously now, how many Americans carry guns around with them? LOL.
I guess, us laid back Canadians don't mind if anyone totes their hand guns around with them when they shop.

 What I really find funny is the Mall that doesn't allow handguns is shaped like one, lol.

Hope you all had a wonderful Saturday.
I stayed at home. Wayne and Heather worked today.
I organized some of my craft supplies and returned some emails. The day goes by pretty fast when you get up after 11:00, teehee.
Wishing my wonderful FIL the best on his 80th Birthday today.
We are all getting together to celebrate his BDay on Monday as he is up at camp today :)

Tracy

My Baby turned 22

What happened?!?

When did time speed up? When did my oldest daughter stop wanting me to pick her up? When did she stop running into my arms every time she saw me?

When did she grow up, to be this beautiful,caring, thoughtful, loving young lady?

I am so proud of this girl. She is everything I wish I was, and more.

Love you Ashley, and Happy Birthday.

 Here is the card I made her. 

Ashley is my fashion girl. She loves everything to do with style.
She LOVES shoes, make  up, nail polish and scented lotions.
I thought this image was perfect for her.

 Her is a close up of the image.
I put some of my new Copics to use today :)
I added some tiny pearls as the buttons to her jacket.

 Here is the dimension shot.

Onto My Day:
I was so busy today.
The girls and I went shopping. Can you believe it!!!
We just spent our vacation at Mall of America and shopped the whole time. Then they needed to check out a couple of stores for some extras for Ashley's birthday gift.
We picked her up a Dairy Queen cake for dessert. She went out for dinner with her boyfriend Tyler, then she wanted to come back home for her Birthday Cake :)

We are staying home this weekend and not going to our camp/cottage. There are many forest fires and the smoke is pretty thick around there. Our camp neighbour says he can't see across the lake the smokey haze is pretty thick.
It is suppose to rain (which is good) so I figured we would just smell smoke and have to sit inside most of the weekend, and I have a lot I can do at home.

Hope you all had a great day, and have an excellent weekend.

Tracy