SUMMER VACATION - WOO HOO!!

The Bugaboo Stamps/Catch The Bug Design Team will be enjoying a well deserved summer break August 5 - August 18.

We'll be back on August 19 with another Bug-a-licious challenge!

Can't get enough Bugaboo?  Join our current challenge here and SSS here !

Happy Summer Vacation!

Bugaboo Tropical Photo Challenge

So, today we have a photo challenge and THIS photo challenge says to me - VACATION and a TROPICAL DRINK in hand!  WOO HOO!

And Tropical Drink in hand is exactly what I created!  =)

Image - Bugaboo Stamps - Summer Drink

Papers - Papers from a 6x6 stack (my recent happy mail)

Coloring - Copics

Tools - EK Success Border Punch, Cuttlebug & Nesties

Extra STUFF - Studio G Sentiment, Stazon Jet Black Ink, Doodling, Dimensionals, Stickles & Crystal Glaze

Head over and see how the rest of the team was inspired by this AWESOME Vacation photo!!

Hugs & Happy Days!

Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge - W, 3E – No. 134 - Anything Goes

Delicious Doodles - W, 1E, SIO – No. 46 - Summer Time

Inspire Me Fridays– W - No. 113 - Anything Goes!

Kitty Bee Designs Aloha Friday Challenges - 2W, 2E, C10 - No. 4 - Week 2 - Summer

At The Beach

At our House we DIG the beach - and I LOVE taking beach photos!

This happens to be a photo I snapped this past summer when Glen and I were in the Dominican.

We got up SUPER early one morning to catch the sun rise.  The thing I love about this photo is our shadow in the sand.

So, since today is a "Show Us What You Got" challenge over at Shelly's Images and the New Release is a Seashell, making this mini-layout for my office was a perfect fit.

Image - Shelly's Images - Seashell

Papers - Little Yellow Bicycle, Bazzill & Miscellaneous Cardstock

Coloring - BG18 E51 E53 YG23 YR00 YR01 YR02

Tools - EK Success Punches

Extra STUFF - Stickles, Colorbox Frosty White Ink, Studio G "Beach Vacation" stamps & Dimensionals

You can come join us for this week's Show Us What You Got Challenge at Shelly's Images, check out the AMAZING beachy projects the Design Team created and if you LOVE this Seashell like I do, head on over to the SI Store and add this to your collection!

Hugs & Happy Days!

This layout has been entered into the following challenges - 

Show Us What You Got Challenge at Shelly's Images

Desert Island Crafters - M, 2W, P1/15 - choose 3 or more from the list  

I used - 2 or more patterned papers, sparkle/bling & kraft 

Mema's Crafts - M C3, P1 - Anything goes

Some Vacation Photos

Hey there - as promised - here are a few more photos from our vacation - I'm attempting to get a video or two downloaded that we took, but no such luck yet.  But photos, we got photos! =)

Of course, still rying to get caught up from being on vacation, so things are still kind of crazy at our house.

Maybe things will slow down this weekend??  HA!

WARNING - I did a TON of playing with our camera on vacation, so my aplogies if the photos look weird or odd in any way.  Yep, that's the disclaimer for the day.

Our Home away from Home in Punta Cana - FABULOUS colors!!!

My Hubby & I in our Tie Dye on the beach! =)

Evening view from under our umbrella in The Plaza listening to the band

 Panaramic view from our room (can I tell you how much I love the panaramic feature on the camera?!)

Elvis is ALIVE & WELL in Punta Cana (this was our Anniversary evening entertainment) =)

 Panaramic view of the Ocean Sunrise - it was AMAZING!

 Sunrise on the beach looking at our resort

Love this sunrise photo with the palm trees and the moon in the background

Sunrise on the beach (love the shadow of Glen and I together - kind of neat) =)

Sunrise on the beach

 Toes in the sand - an EVERY TRIP photo =)

 Dinner at Mercure - YUMMO! (yep, took photos of lots of food on this trip!) =)

Playing with the no flash, no tripod 'night vision' setting our first night.  =)

 Part of the lazy river pool

Evening ambiance while listening to a live band one evening (yep, more tinkering with the settings)

 Our every morning view while enjoying breakfast

So, those are some of the photos we snapped that I thought I'd share. 
I hope you enjoyed the little snippets of our vacation! =)
Hugs & Happy Days!

We're BACK......

Oh my goodness what an AMAZING time we had in Punta Cana!!!  It's been AGES since we've had time together to just SIT on the BEACH and RELAX. 

(We had to look that word up in the dictionary just to see what it meant and HOW to do it!) 

Our resort was just Incredible!

We had an couples massage - It was so EXTRAORDINARY that we were absolutely speechless and spent the rest of the day floating on the lazy river in the pool on rafts like silly putty.  We ATE our way through EVERY restaurant at both the Royal Beach AND Now Larimer (both FANTASTIC resorts).  We were partial to La Riviera for breakfast where Glen had his very own Omlette Artist, Jose; Spice, the Asian restaurant where they do the Tepanyaki cooking on the grill in front of you - this is where we celebrated our 8th Anniversary with dinner and Mercure, a French Restaurant where you could eat a terrific filet - the filets were magnificent there - I took photos one night so will be sure to share with you . . . .   DRANK an absurd amount of tropical beverages that included umbrellas and names that make you smile just hearing them.  The best part - the SAND between our toes and the CRASHING of the waves on the beach.  Walked MILES and MILES of White Sandy Beach - our toes loving EVERY step.  And we even watched the sun rise over the turquoise waters that went on forever a few mornings. 

Sigh....well, here we are back to reality--So of course, after relaxing, we've come home with two suitcases full of laundry that needs washing before heading back to work.  UGH!  However, our furbabies are pretty darn happy to have us home (but they DID have a great time with grams takin' care of them)!  We've had permenant shadows since we walked in the door.

I thought I'd share a quick photo (will be sure to share more when I have a chance to get them uploaded this week - I went a bit PHOTO crazy on this trip....and Video crazy too!!). 

This is a sunrise we caught one morning - just fabulous!!

THIS is why I ABSOLUTELY LOVE LOVE LOVE our new camera!  =)

Hugs & Happ Days!

Grab your Oldies...

and PLAY 'EM LOUD!!  

With living in Michigan, every summer, there is what is called the "Woodward Dream Cruise", made up of TONS of classic cars that cruise up and down Woodward Avenue between Detroit and where we live.  Of course, with the cruise just around the corner, there are LOTS of Classics that are out and about on the road.  The Aqua Blue & White 50's convertibles with big fins, the 50's Black and Yellow Vics (one of the classic cars my mom and dad have), Classic Ford, Chevy and GM of many years past.  They all make me smile and want to play Beach Boys Music REALLY LOUD as I cruise with the windows down (most days I do...sorry to be one of THOSE people).  

It makes me think of my dad and his love for the Oldies - both the Cars and the Music!  Much of my childhood, when driving with my dad involved singing the Oldies together.  Wonderful memories for me.

Okay, so how does this rambling about Classic cars and Oldies music have anything to do with anything?

Well, today is Thursday and you know what that means?  It's an Oldie But Goodie Day over at Bugaboo Stamps and Catch The Bug!  =)

If you haven't seen this cute Knobby Knees Oldies couple, you'll definitely want to give 'em a look - and if you're feelin' nostalgic, grab that oldies music and TURN IT UP LOUD! =) 

I KNOW I AM!

Image - Bugaboo Stamps "Knobby Knees" Collection "Boy Vacation" & "Girl Vacation"

Papers - Kraft, Multiple Prints from Paper stack from Hobby Lobby

Coloring - Copics

Tools - Cuttlebug & Sizzix Scallop Die

Extra STUFF - Sand & Surf Stamp from my stash, Stazon Jet Black Ink, Miscellaneous Bling from stash and Fish Net & Dimensionals

Thanks so much for stoppin' by today and checkin' out our Bugaboo Oldies.

Hugs & Happy Days!

Gettin' Back In The Groove

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  We certainly did.  We took a MUCH deserved trip with my mom and dad in the "Lake House" to Tawas Michigan.  It's been years since we've camped in an RV or 5th wheel trailer.  After dad's diagnosis, we've all been looking forward to this trip (and a trip to Aruba sometime soon).

While I don't have any projects to share with you today, I thought I'd share some photos that we took this weekend.  We took a bunch, but I'll just share a few with you.

These few are when we got to our campsite and were getting things set up. 

 My wonderful hubby, ducking before we put the awning up - yep, we're a bunch of shorties and my hubby is 6'5" or so.

This was the Tawas Point Lighthouse - just up the beach from where we stayed this weekend. Glen and I walked the beach on Friday afternoon once we got to the park and got set up.

A different angle of the light house

We just love the sunset photos we too (I must have snapped 30 photos and they're all just gorgeous).  It's hard to pick our favorite, but I think this one is pretty close to our favorite.  :)  This was one of my favorite from Saturday evening.  That spot on the beach - it's actually the sun reflecting - not a bon fire.  Gorgeous, huh?

We too more photos today, but on mom and dad's camera, so hopefully next weekend I'll have a few of those.  We walked the beach on the opposite side of the point, actually went up to the light house, took some photos and just had a nice morning wrapping up a terrific weekend.

I'll be back a bit later - there's lots of great things going on today that I don't want you to miss.

Happy Hauntin' n' Craftin' Too!

A Perfect Day

Today was a busy and cold day.  I had a class that I'd planned to teach at the scrapbook store today.  We were surprised to get a call from Amy & Andy this morning that the baby might be on the way.  We're Colin's 'handlers' when his momma and daddy go to have baby sister.  So, off we went to pick up Colin and wait for baby labor news.  We had so much fun - we painted some chocolate molds, played hide & seek, made some neat Cuttlebug cards Colin style, and even had Mickey D's for lunch. 

Turns out it was a false alarm, no baby sister yet.  We're VERY excited for her to arrive - she is definitely waiting for Aunt Susan and Uncle Kris to get home from vacation. 

So, this weekend (Tomorrow actually) wraps up the month of January - Sketch A-Thon at Scrap-Friendzy.  We've had an amazing month - Everyone has been SO productive - the gallery is bursting at the seams with amazing layouts and cards.

Today was the last of the sketches I was posting - today the sketch we used was one that I created - a little quickie, but I love the way the layout turned out.  We've had this great sunset photo printed out and in my studio since before Christmas.  Today was the perfect day to scrap it (it only made it up to 20* today - it was downright bone chilling cold this morning.  Even our 'kids' (2 cats) thought it was cold - which is why they ended up in bed with us this morning.

Anyway, enough blah blah blah from me.  Here's a little Aruban warmth - my hubby took this photo on our last evening in Aruba in 2008 when we went to celebrate our 5th Wedding Anniversary. 

Makes you want to get your toes in the sand and feel the salty air on your face, don't it??

This was definitely one of our PERFECT DAYS!

Paper - Cardstock - Coredinations.  Paradise & Sunset Cruise 'cards' from paper from my stash, striped paper - Daisy Bucket, tan cardstock from my stash

Cricut - Life's a Beach - Sanddollars & Title

Cuttlebug - Bamboo & D'vine Swirl embossing folders

Miscellaneous - Starfish, Fish & Shell Brads from my stash, Scrap Swirl font - computer generated for Journaling

I hope this warms you up a bit - it sure does me thinking about the 10 days we spent in Aruba. 

I hope you're having a productive weekend!  Hoping to have a few more projects to share with you tomorrow.  I'm working on a fabulous kit that Scrap-Friendzy is offering beginning on Monday.  Be sure to stop by and check out some of the sneaky picks!  What a lovely kit!

I also want to say thank you to everyone for your prayers for my dad.  We continue to pray - his appointment with the oncologist is scheduled for Wednesday morning.  Hopefully at that time we'll get a bit more infomation and a plan of action.  I think once we have something like that, we'll all feel a bit better.  So thank you all again - prayers are a powerful thing and for those, we are so thankful.

Happy Craftin'!

Min

A little bit of Summer

Like so many scrapbokers, I continue to try & get 'caught-up'. So, this morning I was able to work on one of my 'getting caught-up' layouts. This was from our Long Boat Key trip the summer of 2005 - it just so happened to be the summer Hurricane Dennis arrived in Florida. The large sunset photo was taken just before the hurricane came through the gulf. The additional photos were taken during our trip. The journaling along with the smaller photos are on a large pull-out behind the 8x10 photo.
The Journaling was typed & printed on my computer.
Papers: Peach & Deep Ocean Blue from my stash
Footprint embossed paper from my stash
Quote which reads: "Our memories of the Ocean will Linger long after our Footprints in the Sand have gone." Printed on vellum & matted on white & peach paper.
Cricut: Life's a Beach - Seagulls
Most everything is popped up on dots (Large photo, seagulls, Quote & a few of the smaller photos).
Enjoy your weekend!!
Happy Craftin'!
Min

Busy Week Here. . . How about You?

We've had a busy week around our house - we have 2 children's Halloween birthday parties this weekend and next weekend, both of which request the attendees to dress up. And of course, this year, neither party or costume has the same theme or one that can be adapted....hence, a total of 4 costumes for Glen and I.....

So, that's what we worked on this weekend. I'll be sure to post photos from each party.

Glen is going for the trifecta win this year at Colin's party - he's been challenged by Meemaw (Colin's Grandma Kay) and her husband Brian.

I did manage to get a few projects completed this past week, just didn't get a chance to upload them here.

This is the THINK PINK challenge from scrap-friendzy. I've never been much a fan of shoes (just ask my mom). Still even as an adult, I'd rather run around barefoot than have shoes on, NO MATTER NOW CUTE the shoes are. So, I thought this LO was fitting! :o)

These are some Aruban Happy Feet!

It says "Sometimes Shoes, No Matter How Cute Are OVERRATED!"

Supplies used: Cricut DS to do text

Cricut - StoryBook Font, George & Tear Drop

Fiskars Threading Water Punch

Shoe Ribbon - JoAnn

Paper - We R Memory Keepers - White Out Hoopla Line

The second project I worked on is a Halloween page, but I still need to print the photo.

Maybe I can get that done this week. I'll post once the photo is printed.

And last, but not least, now that this has been shipped to its new owner, this is a baby blanket I just finished. I think after Christmas I'm going to knit a sweater out of this yarn.

Soft and cuddly!!

Sure could have used something soft and cuddly on the drive this morning - 42 degrees was the temperature at O-Dark Thirty when I got in the car to go to work.

You know it's getting cold when ANY kind of socks and close toed shoes come out in our house!Happy crafting! Min

A Challenge and Some Inspiration!

So I came across this awesome site, Scrap Friendzy about a month ago and joined (it's free, fun, motivational & inspirational!) The ladies on the site are wonderful sweet & creatively supportive. Each day, they post a crafty challenge - One day it may be Using a specified sketch to create a layout, Using a quote, using a certain technique for a card, etc. The fun part is that you get to see everyone elses creations using the same 'challenge'.

So, one of the challenges was one that Ronda chose - it was to use a sketch to create a LO. Now, I'm not normally one to use other's sketches. I usually sketch a LO with my ideas and chicken scratch before I start cutting. But, I have to tell you, I REALLY enjoyed this challenge. And on top of that I LOVE the way it turned out!!!

This is Glen and I celebrating our 5th Anniversary in Aruba this past August.

Can you see why I love the way it turned out?? :o)

The quote says, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away".

So, if you need of some creative inspiration or a challenge, stop by and visit.

Happy Creating!!

Min