Starting young

I took this photo the other day and found it amusing.
The store is the LCBO, which stands for Liquor Control Board of Ontario.
So it is a liquor store, we can't buy alcohol at corner stores (thankfully, but they are trying to change that, lets hope it doesn't go through). So we have to go to a liquor or a beer store if we want to purchase alcohol.
What I find funny about this photo is the "Caution Children" sign beside it.
I don't know about you, but don't all children play in the liquor store parking lot, lol.

Onto My Day:
I worked on my DT project, which I will be sharing bright and early tomorrow morning.
Heather and I did a lot of running around...and some shopping ;) Which I will share with you on another day :)
I did about 4 loads of laundry and hung them on the outside line to dry. Which didn't take long at all as it was pretty hot today.
Went to pick up my invoice pads and envelopes that I ordered at the beginning of the beginning of the month and both stores said they weren't ready yet. Now I have to go out tomorrow and get them. I was planning on staying home and working all day. Guess I'll be taking a break.

I have to run out and take the last load off the line now, so I hope you all had a creative Tuesday :)

Tracy :)

Colouring Fail, and a bit of Magic ;)

They say you learn something everyday.
Today I learned that I can't print up a digi image and then try to water colour the image.
It smears :(
I was working on a card for my DT project and this is the results. As you can see I didn't go any further then the flesh colour and the ink started to bleed :(
Guess I will be working on something else tomorrow.

Onto My Day:
I did book work most of the day. Month end is a day away and we are going to the cottage and we have a long weekend, so thought I better get everything ready as I am probably going to be bringing it to the cottage with me.

Kristy and I went to see Magic Mike. She wanted to take me for my birthday, but it didn't pan out.
The story is very predictable...but honestly who goes to this movie for the storyline, teehee.
Can you believe a girl brought her toddler to it. And the kid cried...alot.
Seriously you don't take your toddler that type of a movie. I covered Kristy's eyes during certain parts and she is 17.
And if your kid cries during ANY movie...take them out of the theater.

Oh yes and we had the entertainment of seeing an older man drinking whiskey from the bottle, outside of the building. Poor guy looks like he was beat up recently as he was banged up.

That was my entertainment for the evening.
Hope you all had a creative Monday :)

Tracy :)

Blogger award

I received this award from Katie last week and am just now getting to posting it.
Thank you Katie :)
I love Katie's blog, her photography is awesome. She is getting married next year and is sharing all the preparations on her blog :)

So, as we all know, bloggy awards have rules! Here are the rules for this award:
Thank the blogger who nominated me for the award. (Thank you Katie)
Include a link to their blog in your post, as well as the award image. Katie Stories
Give 7 random facts about yourself
Nominate 15 other deserving bloggers for the award
Include links to the nominate bloggers' sites
Let the other bloggers know that they have been nominated for the award.

Here are the 7 Random Facts about me:
1. I love to create. I always have to bring something with me to do where ever we go. Let it be something as small as some crocheting or bigger like all my Copics and some images to colour.

2. Right now I am working on re-documenting our weekends at our cottage in a journal, with photos. I have completed 2007(when we purchased the cottage), 2008, 2009 and 2010. I am now on 2011. But found some from 2004, 2005 and 2006 (from when my FIL and MIL owned it. I am hoping to get it completed by the end of the summer as I only work on it when we are at the cottage.

3. I am working on becoming healthier. I have always been active, but now I am working on the eating part of it. I think so far I have done well. Cut down to 2 cans of pop, only on the weekend, cut out my salted munchies and replaced them with crunchy sugar snap peas and cutting down on the Take out foods.

4. I don't really care to cook, hence the take out, lol. I am not a bad cook, I just don't care to do it.

5. I love to organize. I get excited just thinking of it. I think that may be the reason why I let things go, just so I can re-organize. Its a sick cycle I tell ya.

6. I would love to know more about my family history, but my grandparents and other family members had passed away at such a young age, no one remembers dates or names.

7. I have so many creative ideas going around in my head, that I would have to live twice my lifetimes to complete half my ideas :)

Now I am a stickler for rules and really get perturbed when someone doesn't follow them, but I am going to have to break this last rule.
I went to a couple of blogs and they don't accept blog awards, and the others have already been given this.
So I would like to give this award to whom ever visits this blog post and hasn't received it yet :)

Onto My Day:

We packed up to head home from the cottage just in time. As the rain was just about to come down.
I heard that we were suppose to have thunder storms. We did get a bit of a down pour just after we got home. Luckily it was after we unpacked.
Hubby and I are sitting here watching a pretty crappy movie waiting for it to get better....but I don't think its going to happen.

Hope you all had a creative Sunday :)

Tracy :)

Dollar Store Fun

How much fun can you have at the dollar store?
Plenty, teehee.
I had to go to the dollar store to pick up something...I can't even remember what it was now. But when I was there I noticed this package of airplanes that you flew by an elastic.
They were a hit.

Funny thing was (and I knew this was going to happen) Kristy had said to me, why did you get these?
I knew she was going to say that. But hey we all need to have a bit of silly fun in our lives...right ;)
Here is Blake.
He was trying to hit Kristy with it after a while (typical boy, lol)
Then Kristy said..."It says do not shoot at people".
Funny thing was...it did say that, lol.

They also enjoyed the kayaks today.
It is beautiful again.
I am now on year 2011 on rewriting my camp journal....yeah me ;)
















Hope you all are having a creative Saturday :)

Tracy :)

Pretty nails no more

I just thought I would share with you the new nail polish I bought. I have been working most of the day up here at the cottage, plus a couple of swims, and they don't look this nice anymore.

How it works is once you put your polish on, while it is still wet, you place this magnet above your nail. I am guessing there are different  colour magnetic particles in it and they separate when the magnet is held above it.
Pretty neat eh.
Short post for me as it is close to supper time, and I need to get my evening walk in.
I did a post yesterday if you want to check it out.

Hope you all had a creative Friday :)

Tracy :)

Nothing like a good pair of runners

Guess where I am :)
Yup we snuck off to the cottage early again :)
This time Kristy and her boyfriend Blake came out with us.
I did my 3 mile walk tonight. It was the first time I actually had to wear something warmer than my t-shirt.
Wayne bought me new runners (remember the blister I got every stinkin' weekend).
He customized them on the New Balance site, and I love them. They are light weight, comfy, and no blisters. Lets hope this lasts for the rest of the weekend :)
(Wayne took this photo with his iPhone)

Onto My Day:
I was hanging up laundry outside at 7:30 am. Crazy I tell ya.
But it looked like it might rain, so had to get them out to dry. Luckily it didn't rain all day, so all was good :)
Spend the rest of the day getting ready for camp and doing some book work.

Hope you had a creative Thursday :)

Tracy :)

Whats on my Desk.

First I want to thank you all for all the sweet Birthday Wishes you sent me. I feel so loved:)

I am going to share my desk with you all today...scary I know, lol.
I am linking it up to Julia's blog where you will find a lot of creative desks.
I haven't been doing any creating lately, but my Kristy has :)
It is her and her boyfriend Blake's 2yr anniversary of dating and she wanted to add to the scrapbook she made for him last year.
So most of this mess is hers...yes, I said most.

Here is one of her double page layouts she had done.
She is so good at this. I love her pages.

This is what happens when I leave my camera unattended, lol.
Usually I find funny pictures of Ashley on it. So I was surprised when I saw this one of Kristy, teehee.

Onto My Day:
Drove Kristy to work for 7:00am. It rained all day and I love the sound of rain, it is so soothing, so I decided to go to bed when I came home.
I had to run to Michael's to pick up some 8x8 page protectors for Kristy's album. I had some but they were a tad to small when put in the book.
Went to my follow up doctors appointment. My iron is good....well its good for me, at least it now registers on the graph, lol.  I lost 1lb...1 freaking pound!  Since April!!!!!!
I am hoping it was because this week we celebrated 3 birthdays, 3 cakes and 2 dinners out.

1. I quit drinking my Coca-Cola during the week, and only drink 2 cans on the weekend.
2.  I have been eating sugar snap peas on the weekend instead of salty munchies.
3.  I have been walking up to 7 miles 5 days a week. 
4. What do I have to do now, quite eating my chocolate bar that I enjoy during the weekend as well :(

That I am not going to do.....I may have to switch to a regular sized bar instead of the large, family sized one though, teehee.

I hope you all had a creative Wednesday :)

Tracy :)

45 and still Alive ;)

Guess what day it is.....Its my birthday :)
My 45th Birthday to be exact :)
Actually it is not only my birthday, but one of my best friends birthday as well, she is the same age as me.
Here is a photo of my friend Kelly (happy birthday Kelly) and I...oh ya and my brother Calum stealing my thunder, lol.
I think we were in grade 5 or 6 here.
If your wondering, I'm the one on the right, haven't changed a bit have I, lol.

 The girls asked what I wanted for my birthday and for the life of me, I could not come up with a darn thing.
So I asked them to make me Blueberry cheese cake.
This is so good and light, I don't think it has any calories to it, lol.
Kristy and Heather made this for me today.
Those are blueberries that Hubby and I picked last year :)

Funny Story:
My Heather is a perfectionist. She also has a certain way she likes to do things....yes she has my personality :)
As Kristy was putting in the sugar, she didn't fill the measuring cup level, so she just added a bit more by guessing.
Heather couldn't believe she did this. Then she looks as me and say "I can't work with her!"
I laughed so hard.
I have to tell you, they did great. I even grabbed a second piece.

Onto My Day:
After bringing Kristy to work I went by my friend Debbie's work to finally bring her, her very be-lated birthday gift.
I gave her my Spring Mini Album.
Did a bit of running around.
Came home and did some book work. We have been to the cottage so much I was falling a bit behind on my book work. I hate when that happens.
We went (the whole family) to Montana's for my birthday dinner. Very loud, forgot it was kids day on Tuesdays.
Came home and opened my gifts.
Oh is that what your waiting to hear about ;)
My daughters bought me 3 of the OPI nail polishs to do french manicures. Also a special brush to get it just perfect.
Hubby bought me a gift card to Michael's Craft store for a unbelievable amount. But you know I will still be using my coupons, teehee.
My SIL bought me different sized envelopes, chipboard characters, 2 sets of Recollections stamps "Baby" and "Fairy Princess", a tape refill for my ATG and a wonderful smelling candle.
Yes I was spoiled yet again this year :)

Thank you for all the birthday wishes you have sent me on yesterday's post and on my Facebook page :)
 I hope you all had a very creative Tuesday :)

Tracy :)

Happy surprises

When we were out tonight, I came home to this on my door step :)
My girlfriend, Debbie, came by to give me my birthday present as she is going to be busy tomorrow.
Not only did she give me this beautiful gift, but look at her card!!
I love it, it is so adorable. I love all the layers and this image is so cute...and beautifully coloured.
Yup I got her on the Copic band wagon, teehee. Bad influence I am ;)
I think I get the bad friend award, as her birthday was on the 4th, and I still haven't given her, her gift. I made it months ago....yup bad friend award.

Where were we when my friend came by. We were celebrating Ray's (Wayne's dad) 81st birthday :)
I love this man. He is such a sweet FIL, I couldn't have asked for anyone better.
He loved his birthday card I made him. You can see it here in this post .

This seems to be Joy's (Ray's wife) tradition.
Not having the correct numbered candles, we have to do our math skills, lol.

Onto My Day:
I drove Kristy to work for 7:00am.
Ran to get some gas for the jeep as I was running on fumes..yup I still procrastinate.
Came home for breakfast.
Ran to get my blood work done....got to relax and read a bit of my book while I was there.
I worked on and off for most of the day as I waited for the repairs guys to come to replace the outside tap, then an hour later the other repair guy came to replace the air conditioner pump.
So everything is in working order now.
I finally watered our dead grass and pulled a few weeds in the front yard.
Chatted with a couple of my friends.
Picked Kristy up from work, and grabbed some groceries.
Came home, made supper, then went out and had a great visit with family at my FIL's home.
So that was my day in a nut shell, how was yours :)

Hope you all had a creative Monday :)

Tracy :)

Happy 23rd Birthday Ashley :)

Today is my oldest daughter Ashley's 23rd Birthday.
I have no idea where the years have gone. How did my baby get to be 23?!

I could not have asked for a more caring, independent, loving, smart and beautiful daughter.
She has become the person I wish I could be.
Love you birthday girl :)

We have a family tradition, that when its your birthday, you get to choose where to go out for your Birthday dinner.
This year Ashley picked Wasabi. It is a sushi restaurant.
We have never been to one. We had a blast.

First there was a lesson in how to use the chopsticks ;)
I already knew how, but apparently I use them the wrong way. I say, if the food goes in your mouth, then its good enough for me.
Ashley and Heather are practicing.

 Success :)
Look at the pride on her face, teehee.
This my middle daughter Heather, another one of my treasures :)

And of course the real baby of the family, my youngest treasure, my daughter Kristy :)

We also invite the boyfriends to join in on the celebration. This is Ashley's boyfriend Tyler.

And of course none of this could be possible without my awesome Hubby Wayne.
Love this picture.















After supper it was back home to share some birthday cake with family.
My SIL and her hubby came by and she brought my birthday gift. And she let me open it early :)
But I will share that on my birthday :)

Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful weekend and a creative Sunday:)

Tracy :)

Just a typical day at the lake

Today was another gorgeous day.
A bit hot for Hubby's taste, but perfect for mine.
I started out with my 3 mile morning walk. Hubby followed me on the quad....yes the bear thing.
When I was on my way back I noticed this flower in my shoe.
It brought a smile to my face.
My birthday is in a few days and my dad had always sent me flowers on it. So I would like to think this was a little present from him :)

Hubby and I went for a great quad ride.
Yes I am operating a motorized vehicle while taking my photo ;)
We hit a new trail. Well new to me, I think Wayne knows all the trails around here.
It was a blast. I love riding and I love the rough trails.

 Our mission for today was to check out the blue berry patches.
We love to pick. I find it very calming.
We drove to the place that we have been going to the last couple of years. It has been awesome there.
But this is what we found this year :(  Guess this patch is off limits.... for like 10 yrs :)

We went to our older blue berry patch and we were lucky to see one berry per plant....actually that is being very generous.

Question:
I have been getting a lot of spam (I think that is what it is called) on yesterday's post. A lot meaning over 40! It is "anonymous" so I can't see who it is coming from.
There is no links to click, the comments are long and full of jibberish, plus they are taking some content from my blog and also from the comments you leave.
I would think most people have better things to do with their time....but I guess I am wrong.
I put word verification on here, and am still getting it.
Is there another way to fix this problem or a way to notify blogger to report them?
I am going to try and see if I can get it set up to modify my messages.

Hope you all are having a creative Saturday....it is Saturday right? LOL.

Tracy :)

Cottage work...oh so worth it

Hello from our beautiful place on the lake.
How could you ever get tired of this view.

 As much as I love it here, there is always something to do.
It is like having two homes.
Every weekend we make a list of the things we need to get done for the next weekend.
We also make lists of materials we need and supplies that we are running out of.
Not only that, there is also the upkeep and repairs to do.
I am not complaining, believe me.

Here is Wayne's dad working on the dock, well I should say he is working under his dock, lol.
It is going to be Ray's (Wayne's dad) 81st birthday on Monday. You would never know it, as there is nothing that keeps this man down. Even when we think he is doing to much.
Not only does Wayne take care of our cottage, he also helps his dad out with the chores around his cottage as well.

Onto My Day:
Today was a pretty hot one.
I went for my morning walk. I used a pair of runners that Kristy has here as I keep getting blisters on my heels from mine. Then last night I got one on my middle toe. And of course I couldn't leave it alone and peeled the skin off.....hope your not eating any thing right now, lol.
So I knew I couldn't wear my shoes for my morning walk.
Funny thing is, Kristy's shoes are skater shoes, they are so different then my runners.

It was pretty warm so I took it slow most of the day, Wayne didn't, but I did.
I touched up the sign, as the antique white paint had flaked off in places because of weathering.
We went for a nice swim/raft out in the lake to cool down.
Now Hubby is cooking me dinner while I am here writing up my blog post.
Another reason why I love it out here, Wayne cooks almost every meal ;)
What a sweetie he is to me :)

Hope you all had a creative Friday.
Wayne and I were getting our days mixed up. I told him, he could use that as an excuse as for not going into work on Monday, teehee.

Tracy :)

My Alice your Gorjuss

Remember this image I coloured...ohhh about 2 weeks ago?
Well I finally put her on a card.
This card did not turn out the way I had it planned in my head.
Oh well that happens more times then not.
I would have had to make one huge card to fit it in the way I wanted it.
I made this card at camp, so I have limited supplies which is always a fun challenge.
Even though I have a ton of supplies, I think I am more creative with less.
These playing cards are actual photo's of playing cards I took.
I have my photo printer here as I am still working on my camp/cottage journal.

Here is the inside of the card.
I don't have my recipe/index cards here, but I did have these tags.
The sentiment is another photo I took.
I went into the girls room and found their Boggle game and made the works out of the dice and then photographed it ;)

Onto My Day:
We came up to camp last night.
The girls are all working so its just Hubby and I.
When we got here, the one neighbour was burning brush. He had a pretty big fire going. He isn't from around here, but he should still know that we shouldn't be having fires because it is so dry here. I think I heard that Northwestern Ontario has 25 ongoing fires and a total of over 700 fires for this year.
Yup shouldn't be burning. We haven't even had a fire in our fire pit and its contained.

I have been taking quite a few walks today and last night. The weather is so beautiful. Not to hot, not to cold...just right ;)
Saturday is suppose to be crazy hot though.

Well I should be getting off. My laptop battery is low and I am using the motels internet.
I am so committed to my blog. The owners of the hotel are not here right now so I am outside on my laptop, having trouble seeing the screen as my scary face is reflecting back on me because of the sun, lol.

Hope you all have a creative Thursday :)

Tracy :)

Trendy Teen card

Today is Design Team day for Redonkulous Designs :)
Today I am using the digi image Trendy Teen Boy
I am pretty pleased with how this card turned out, considering masculine cards are not my strong point.
I used my coffee/hot chocolate sleeves I talked about in yesterdays post.
Some metal embellishments...metal is as manly as you can get ;)
And of course a skull and cross bones, he had to be a bit on the tough side.

 Isn't this how most teens look today, phone in hand, head phones for their music, baggy pants, teehee, I think Sheryl has this image down pat.

A look at the gears I made with the sleeves.

Here is the inside of the my card. 

Check out what the other Design Team ladies have cooked up for you, just click on their names and I will take you to their blogs :)
Sharon
Kate
Kim


Onto My Day:
As you know I am still in bed as this post goes up. Well maybe not, as I drive Kristy to work before 7:00am. But I may have gone back to bed though, it looks so inviting when I get back home ;)

I hope you all enjoy a creative day today :)

Tracy :)

So many uses for coffee/hot chocolate sleeves.

Aren't these little gears so cute.
Can you believe I made them with those coffee/hot chocolate sleeves?
Added a brad to the centers and they make a great embellishment.

There are so many uses for these coffee/hot chocolate sleeves that you get when you order a take out drink.
Here are some of the ones I have found...well actually my SIL Sharon collects them for me ;)
I really like the plain ones as you don't have to worry about either covering up the writing or work around it.
The ones I found most interesting are these black ones. They are made with a type of foam.

This is what I made these gears out of.
These ones are shown with the back smooth side of the foam sleeve. The ones in the top photo are made with the corrugated side of the foam sleeve.

Not only have I used these sleeves to cut shapes out of, I have also used the full sleeve to make a flip page.
The left side of this book has the sleeve closed up.

I used a thin magnet to keep it closed, but when you open it up, you have a place for photos or journaling.
This was a mini album that Becky won in one of my give aways :)
To see the whole mini album click on "Becky's Mini"
To see how I made this flip page, click on "Christmas Ornament Tutorial" go to 11:05 on the time to see just that part.

I have also just decorated a sleeve for a special treat for some of my friends :)
I actually got this idea from Paperdrama on YouTube.















I have also seen whole mini albums made with these coffee/hot chocolate sleeves.

So next time take a second look at something before you toss it or put it in the recycle bin, you may come up with a creative and interesting way to re-purpose it.

Hope you all had a creative Tuesday :)

Tracy :)

Creative Hog

I am a creative hog, yup I am.
I take over every space that I create in.
This is our table at camp.
I think there is plenty of room left.

 Wayne disagrees, lol.
I haven't even started on using the chairs as side tables yet, lol.
This is Wayne's phone and pop can. If you look closely I think he is reading my blog, teehee.

When we were at the cottage we went to Ignace for lunch and to fill up the propane tank.
I noticed this statue of Spider-man in front of this motel. Not sure of the significance of this? But there looks to be a spot for another one :)
I am sure the kids love this.

  

Onto My Day:
Pretty slow day today. It rained on and off most of the day.
I woke up way to early. Don't you hate when you wake up and still have an hour or so of sleep left.
I did make up for it with a nap later on ;)
Heather and I had a bit of running around to do and treated ourselves with lunch :)

Hope you all had a creative Monday :)

Tracy :)

Vintage/Grunge photos

Ohhh the pleasure of having a fast Internet.
I went crazy and posted all the photos of my mini album.
If you want to see the video check out my Friday Post :)
It took my 1/2 the time to upload all of these photos as it would take me to load up one photo at the motel at the cottage :)

Okay on to the mini album.
I used 3 different paper packs for this mini. Two are from Tim Holtz and the other one is from My Minds Eye.
There may be some other random paper in here as well. As I never can stick to one paper line...or in this case 3, teehee.
I made the flower on the front. It is one of those lollipop flowers that were so popular last year. I made it then, and think it works nicely for this mini.















I made the pocket for the tag to fit in. I stamped the dress form and the ruler on the front of this.

I thought the "Play" charm was fitting to put beside this BINGO ticket.
I attached the charm to a zipper pull and then that to the key chain holder. Then clipped it to the tiny paper clip holder.
All the tabs you see sticking out are all tags that I added pull tabs to.















I made the bottle cap. Well actually I bought the empty bottle cap, punched a circle out of the pattern paper and then adhered it in the bottle cap. Lastly I added some diamond glaze to the center to fill it in.
I really like how the black elastic binding looks with the colours of this paper.
 




  The little butterfly book is an actual mini book in itself. The pages are blank so photo (very tiny photos) can be added to it.
That tiny picture frame I had purchased at the dollar store a few years ago. I cut a tiny butterfly out of the paper and then used diamond glaze to make it look like a glass frame.















I really like this page as it reminds me of the old sewing patterns. Isn't that little hanger the cutest thing :)
The paper buttons were from the paper and I popped them up with foam dots.
Another cute little miniature, the pin :)















I attached this "explore" charm with some tiny paper clips.
I just love miniatures...maybe because I'm tiny myself, lol.
I backed everything with black cardstock. I like that it makes the other colours pop.















Just some of the papers that I cut out and attached with this clip.















I added this "story" tag as I thought it went well with this paper. It reminds me of a page from a child's nursery rhymes story.

I used a pen nib on this page. I just love these pen nibs. Maybe because I also do calligraphy.















I added the letter "N" as this album is going to Natalie.
Also used one of my daughters (from when they were little) paint brushes.
I had to cut off the bottom of the handle to make is smaller, then I painted the raw wood black. I also used alcohol ink to colour the ferrule. I didn't like it the bright silver that it was.















I have been itching to use these thick cardboard tickets. They are shiny so I couldn't ink them, but I did ink the edges to make them blend more with the other parts of the book.















I made a pocket on this last page as I did on the first page.
You know I like my balance ;)















I know a lot of people don't like to watch or have the time to watch a video, so I thought I would share my whole mini album today.

Onto My Day:
I forgot we had a retirement/birthday dinner to go to tonight, so we had to leave camp with enough time to get ready and for me to figure out what I was going to wear.
This is the first time I had met this gentleman, but Wayne knew him as they are in the same type of work.
The dinner was wonderful. I don't think I need to eat for the rest of the week ;)

I hope you all had a creative Sunday :)

Tracy :)