Another birthday card.

July is full of birthdays and so many fun opportunities to make Birthday cards!!
I made this one for my friend Debbie.
I have a few birthday cards on hand...but sometimes we need to make a special card for a special person.

I had this image that I had coloured earlier and I just love this image from MFT's Pure Innocence line...I think it is called  Happy Mail, I have used her a lot, she is just so darn cute and that bird on the mail box 💗
I created this card up at our cottage, so I used the papers (Cut & Paste by MME) and supplies that I keep up here (which is quite a bit actually) to create this card.

I did bring this Stamping Up stamp set called "Happy Birthday, Everyone" especially for this card and then decided to leave it up here.
Can you believe this is the first time I have used this set!!
I think it was a Hostess set from when I hosted a SU party a couple of years ago.

Yes I really do make this much mess creating one card, teehee.
Here is my work area up at our cottage.
I am so so so overly excited that I have my own little room dedicated for my crafts in our new cottage.
Well it is for my crafts and there is a futon in here as well for guests.
My husband keeps teasing me when I say its my craft room...he says its the spare room or the guest room.....or even his fishing room.
But I have caught him more than once referring to it as my craft room....brain washing really does work, teehee.
I will share more on this area in another post.

But seriously, how can you beat this view.
I can open the window and chat with anyone on the deck.
And I can admire our little lake and listen to the loons while creating.
Now you all know why I love it here so much.

I hope you all have a very creative day today and enjoy your view.

Tracy💗💗💗

Cottage Work and Fun

I love retirement and I love that my husband is retired as well.....it means we get to spend so much more of our time HERE!!!!
But what many don't know is owning a cottage is like owning another house....or in our case 3 houses as we have 2 cottages at the moment.

So one of our big jobs we wanted to do was pressure wash the decks.
I kind of rolled my eyes when Wayne wanted to buy a pressure washer...I just thought, oh another toy for him to play with.
Plus I thought the decks looked fine...he treats our deck every 2 years.

Well I have to admit I was wrong!!
Look at the difference here!!!
I was so impressed with how it looks, it looks like a new deck.


So he did the camp walls...and again such a big difference.


And the patio blocks as well...look at the difference!


We (when I say we, I mean Wayne..well Kristy helped) had to make a new top for our septic and we found this little guy in it.
Every time we tried to move him, he kept hopping back in. Finally we moved him far enough away that by the time he came back we were finished and he got to go back into his home.


Now onto deck #2.
This deck hasn't been treated as many times as our deck, so the difference was even more dramatic.
The pain was doing each side of those pickets....that took a lot of time.


We had trouble getting the water going at the second cottage.
Wayne tried everything...1st by changing the less expensive parts, then we changed the sand point.
And lastly we needed a new pump.
This is the first year that both camps had water trouble...so nice that they decided to give us problems in the same year, lol.


We enjoyed our Canada Day weekend.
The whole family was out and 2 of my daughters brought out treats.
Kristy brought out these cupcakes and Ashley brought out a cake...but that was gone before I was able to get a photo, lol.


Early one morning I heard a loud motor and was scared it was our pump.
So I went on the deck to check where the noise was coming from....it was on the lake by the pipelines.
I see these lights and at first think someone is on the pipeline having a party.


Then see a firetruck driving down our private road.
They were getting water from the lake for their pumper trucks.
They came by about 5 times.
I later found out a transport was on fire on the side of the highway.
So glad it wasn't someone's home or cottage.

Sawyer loves it at camp...especially since grandma and grandpa let him have treats, teehee.
Don't mind my camp hair...I actually was so frustrated with how frizzy it was, I got wayne to cut it, lol.
Don't worry though, I just went to the hairdresser for a professional cut and I have to say, it looks so much better now.


Look how happy this little guy is.
First time he came up this summer he went straight to the water...in the rain, lol.
The second time when Ashley and Tyler came to camp, Sawyer was so happy to see me..but then he looked over my shoulder at the lake and actually Gasped!!!
Then he ohhhed and awwwed that I took him down at to the water....he loves playing in the water and in the sand.


Sawyer also likes to throw the tubes into the lake.
He does not like to go on or in them though, lol.


After a hard day of working and swimming these two beauties (Kristy and Heather) took in some rays.


Yes more photos of Sawyer.
But he is just so cute...and he sure has my heart.


Ok back to work.
A couple of winters ago while wayne was plowing our driveway he hit my bird bath and broke the base in about 4 pieces.
He welded them up and you can't even tell.
But it has seen better days, so I suggested we just paint it.


Now look at the difference!!!
What a bit of paint can do...now to re-plant it...as I use this as a planter, not a bird bath.


I am so shocked at the blueberries this year.
If you follow my blog for the last 8 years (wow), then you know I love to pick blueberries.
It is something we look forward to every year.
But this year they are so early.
I can't believe how many and how big they are already.
I never eat when I pick, but knowing it was to early, I had to try these.
The first week they were kind of sour, the second week they were a bit tasteless, last week and this week they taste better, but not at their peak yet.
Next weekend they should be tasty....lets just hope the critters don't get to these ones in our yard before I do.


Enjoyed an early fire.


Didn't enjoy these wasp nests though.
I am the wasp/hornet terminator of the family.
Wayne has a high sensitivity to them...he doesn't need an epi pen, but he does swell up majorly and needs to take something for it.
So I am the one that takes care of them...funny thing is, I don't mind.
I have yet to be stung well taking care of any nests...even though one got in my hair during this one.
See that hole in the wall..that is where they were coming in.  There was a lawn chair hanging up there and the nests were behind it.
We have taken care of 8 nests so far this year.

I'm not sure why this isn't in Celsius, but this was the temperature one day here at camp.
It has been so hot here and I am loving it.....way better than snow and cold.
I have even been in the lake swimming a few time....and it takes a real hot day or me working up a sweat to get me in the lake, lol.

Well that is all from me at the lake so far.
The whole family is coming up this weekend again and I love that we are lucky enough to live in such a beautiful country and so lucky to have these cottages for out family to enjoy our time together and to make so many wonderful memories together.

I will be sharing some crafty projects very soon.

Tracy 💗💗💗 

Where have I been.

It has been 10 days since my last post...and here I used to post every day!!!
Yet again, I am playing catch up.
With Wayne retired now, we are able to spend more time at our camp/cottage.
Which is so nice as our summers are so short.

These Lady Slippers or Moccasin flowers are a bit rare in our area, so we get very excited (ok, I get very excited) when we see them in our yard.
Wayne makes sure that when he mows the lawn that he avoids them.

This is the view from our deck.
The dock extension hasn't been put in yet.
Wayne had to weld the wheel on it this past weekend.


We are so happy to see that the loons are back at our little lake this year.

Here is the view of our camp/cottage from the lake.

We needed a new sand point.
We actually needed it last year, but with Wayne's carpal tunnel, we waited until he had the operations.
It is so nice to have full water pressure again!!
The pipe was 18 ft in the ground, so it was so nice to have this machine to do the hard work.

Because we were on a downhill, and both men needed to be working on the sand point, I got in the loader to make sure it didn't go anywhere.

Last year my daughter's and I all painted rocks and then placed them around the trails we walk at camp.
I went looking for them.
I found Ashley's the first weekend we were up, and last weekend I found Kristy's.
I have yet to find Heather's or mine...I would love if I saw them in someone's flower bed.

We have been looking after this little cute boy a lot.
Yes, Sawyer was wearing a warm jacket with a toque as it was pretty cold out that day.

He loved this day as I took him for a wagon ride to see the loader and dump trucks at the bottom of our street as someone was getting a load of gravel.
Then we walked down the side street as they are paving it, so he got to see lots of machinery.
I said he has this in his blood as his grandpa, great grandpa, great great grandpa and uncles have all owned a gravel business and ran big equipment.

We had Sawyer for the weekend as his mommy and daddy went to Toronto for a wedding.
Looks like Sawyer thinks grandma Tracy's scrapbook room needs a re-vamp too, lol.
I love this little guy to bits....but there is a reason we have children when we are young....I needed a long nap once he went home, lol.

How cute it this!!
The other day when Wayne and I went to his favourite store (Canadian Tire) I saw this van and it put such a smile on my face!!
I love this!!

So there we are all caught up...at least I think so, lol.
I will be sharing some fun creative projects that I did while I was up at camp.
I have a bit of a problem though, as my laptop needs an upgrade and won't upload my iphone photos to it, until I do this upgrade.
I don't like this upgrade as I don't like the video editing program it has.
I tried it on Wayne's laptop and it is kind of hard to operate and has less or different features than mine has.
But it needs to be done, so I can post photos to my blog.

I have used the app on my phone to post to my blog...but I don't like to do it from my phone as it is harder to type than on a keyboard...as least for me it is.

Okay, enough of my rambling and I hope to keep up to date on here.

Thank you all for visiting and I hope you all have a very Creative day.

Tracy 💗💗💗

Opening up the Cottage

I love our weekends at the cottage.
And even though we don't usually go up there in the winter anymore, when we go back up in the spring, its like we have never left.

I know how truly lucky and blessed we are to live in such a beautiful country and to have a place like this to escape the every day.

Last year my daughter's and I painted some rocks and decided to place them along our walking trails.
Now our walking trails are not cleared or managed, they are just there from us and a few others either walking on them or driving quads on them.
I decided to go for a walk last weekend to see if I could find them after the cold snow covered winter.

The only one I had seen was this one my daughter Ashley had painted.
I did notice that someone had done a bit of chainsawing along the trail, as there were some fallen trees from over the winter.
So maybe they are under the underbrush or fallen leaves...or maybe someone saw them and liked them so much that they took them home for their own garden...I hope it's the later.


Isn't this the cutest pillow?!?
My daughter purchased it for her bed at the cottage....I may need to make one for myself, teehee.

Last year on my birthday week out at camp, my daughter and I decided to make a flower garden out of this eye sore, lol.
It looks a little worse for wear as nothing has really come up yet.
But look at all of the fallen leaves I raked out of here.
Pretty bad when you have more debris in your flower garden than plants, teehee.

It was actually really hot at the cottage last weekend.
Getting the cottage up and ready for the season and getting the water running is a lot of work, and we like to do it all in one weekend if not all in one day.
So it was nice to soak my feet in the cool water for a bit while Wayne dropped the legs of the smaller part of the dock into the lake.

I received this fairy door from my daughter's last year for my birthday and started to make a fairy garden.
I am excited to add to it this year!!

We get a family of loons in our little lake every year and every year we are waiting in anticipation on if they will have babies or if the eagle will get them :(
Last year was the first year in a long time that their babies survived and they had 2 of them!!
So I was very shocked to see a swan on our lake when we got up there!!!
It was just enjoying the lake and stayed out there all day and night.
I was also happy to see the loon out on the lake as well.

But with the joys of the lake also comes the mosquitoes, lol
Look this is my 1st one of the year...many more to come I'm sure.

What is your favourite activity to do in the summer?
I love to craft as always, but also love to trail ride on my quad at the cottage.

Tracy 💗💗💗

Happy 150 Canada!!!!

July 1st is Canada's 150th Birthday!!!
I always thought I was special being born on a Centennial year  ;)
What better way to celebrate Canada's birthday then spending it out doors in this beautiful country I am lucky enough to call home.
So off to the cottage we went with plenty of food, family and fun.

We will start with the food :)
Ashley came up with the idea that each of us was to bring a food for Canada Day that was red and white (as those are our Canadian colours)
I brought potato salad, Tyler made brochette and Wayne made hamburgers (we added a Canadian flag to the burgers as they really aren't red and white)

We had many desserts ;)
Ashley make angle food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Heather made Oreo bark with red and white chocolate. Blake made peanut butter and jam cheese cake. And Kristy made red velvet cookies with chocolate chips as well as red velvet chocolate balls.
Lets just say there was no calorie counting this weekend, teehee.

The best part of the weekend was being able to spend so much time with my family.
I love when we are all able to get together...I am one lucky mom and grandma.

Here is Heather and her daddy :)
They both don't like to get their photos taken, but they were game this weekend.

Kristy and her boyfriend (of 7 years) Blake.

Ashley and her husband Tyler and baby Sawyer...and of course Oscar their doggy.

And we also had some fun!!
Heather and Kristy enjoying the water.
The water is still way to cold for me.

I picked up some bubble solution as I thought Sawyer would like to watch them...but it seemed like Oscar had way more fun playing with them :)

But like any weekend up at camp....there is a bit of work to do.
Sawyer was able to sit with Grandpa in the little loader.
I was surprised, I thought Sawyer might get scared as it is very loud.
But like his grandpa and great-grandpa, he loves his machines :)

Wayne was going to trim some branches off of a tree down by the lake, but (as I predicted) he ended up cutting the whole tree down.
So everyone helped bring the branches and cut tree, up to the fire, and then the girls wanted to clean it up, so they raked up all of the old pine needles.

Ashley wanted some slabs for decor for her table, so Wayne used the chainsaw to cut them.
Then Blake used a hand saw and cut some coasters for Ashley.

And of course what is a weekend at camp if Wayne and I don't get to take our toys out for a ride.
This is an odd sight....Wayne is in front of me, lol.
We checked out one of my favourite riding trails and there was a huge tree across the trail and the brush was so thick that we couldn't drive around it (believe me I tried).
So we had to turn around.
We were then stopped by the conservation officer.
He just wanted to know if we were fishing and check to make sure we had the proper papers for our machines and that we were wearing helmets.
All was good and in order, so we ended up just chatting with him for about 20 minutes.

So much more happened this weekend that I had better write it down in my camp journal before it fades from my memory.
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and if you are a Canadian, I hope you celebrated our country's birthday with your family and friends :)

Tracy :)