My Love

Finally broke into my box of Adrianne Looman goodies she sent a couple of weeks ago.  I also received these cork flair buttons from {aflairforbuttons} last week.  I seriously love these buttons. I could use them over and over again on layout, after layout.

I have been dying to try out these quilt like squares I've seen around the scrappy world for a while now.  What I really wanted to do was cut each 2" square into 4 pieces and sew each one onto the cardstock.  But for the sake of time (which seems in short supply at this time of year around here), I decided to do it this way, by only cutting each square in half on the diagonal, and overlapping them onto colour coordinated papers.

I really like the way the white & cork combo grounds the multi-coloured themes of the patterned papers.  This layout makes me happy, it was a nice date night with the hubbs just last week, great food, good conversation, and a few laughs as always.  Makes me happy to document it with pretty papers and flair.

Thanks for popping in today friends! Pin It

My Weekend Away

Happy Wednesday friends.

I can't believe it's the middle of the week already.  I feel like I lost a day because Darwin and I were gone for a quick get away this past weekend.  We took off late Saturday night for Minneapolis, arriving very, very early on Saturday morning, and returning back late on Monday night.  We caught a few hours sleep after arriving at 2 AM on Saturday, and then headed to the stadium for some pre-game tailgating before the Vikings versus Browns football game that afternoon.    This was my very fist NFL experience.  Even though the Vikings are not my "home team" I got into the spirit by sporting a Peterson jersey (thanks to my buddy Johnny).  It was actually really cool to be a part of the sea of purple and yellow all around the stadium inside and out.  There was a super talented band with a small brass section playing cover songs outside, to which some dude was dancing his buns off in front of everyone (very entertaining).  The national anthem was sung by some trio I had never heard of so melodically, it was seriously the best singing of any national anthem that I have ever heard.  The Vikings even have their own drum line group called Skol Line.  If you know me at all you'll know how much I loved watching them.  I've included a link to a You Tube video of them.  It's quite lengthy, but if you're interested in checking them out you won't be disappointed.

Here are a few pix of our time away.

The couple next to us were BIG Browns fans, they were kind enough to take our pic.

After the game my friend Bronwyn and I headed to The Mall of America to do a little shopping.  I was so happy to run into the ever so bubbly, kindhearted, and oh so funny Aimee.  I was really hoping to see more peeps since it was the final day of Scrapfest, but because we got there so late most everyone was gone.  Of course we had to get a pic in front of our favourite tags in the industry, none other than Chic Tags of course.

Later that night (so sorry I don't have a photo) D and I headed to Maynard's sports bar to watch our "home" team the Chicago Bears take on the Pittsburg Steelers.  Great food, great game, and the best part ... they won.

On the way home, Monday afternoon, we took a small detour to a little place I like to call Scrappy Heaven on Earth.

This was my first ever visit to Crafts Direct, and let's just say I was not disappointed.  So many goodies, and almost everything I was hoping to find there was on sale.  Ka-ching!  I am most excited about having picked up this collection.

And this fabulously fun Amy Tan stencil....among other things.

Our time in Minneapolis was short and sweet, and exactly what the doctor ordered for this couple who have not seen much of one another since school began, with the way that Darwin has been travelling.  I love that football is something that will always bring us together.  I also love that he is a man who "gets" my scrapping and is happy to sit at a booth and work away in the Crafts Direct coffee shop while I peruse the isles in a leisurely fashion picking up scrappy supplies.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you enjoy sharing in my non-scrappy life too.  I'll be back later in the week to share another Moments in Between spread with you.  And don't forget you still have a couple of days to link up to Creative Scrappers Sketch #251.  We'll have a new reveal ready for you on Sunday.

Pin It

I'm Diving In

If you've been following me since last January you will remember that I tried my hand at Project Life, or The Moments In Between as I called it.  That lasted a mere 3 weeks.  Our local photo lab closed down for renos for 5 weeks, and I let that totally throw me off course.

Well I'm back at it.  Largely due to the fact that Scraptastic Kit Club has released a brand new, super fun Project Life collection of cards, stamps, flair, and other fabulous little bits.  I fell in love with the product, and was especially inspired by the way I saw others on the DT using the kit.  Here is what I did a couple of weeks ago (it's been so crazy around here I haven't had the tim to post it until today, sorry).

Because I only jumped on the bandwagon late in the game I have not used the June Kit from Scraptastic, which sold out before reveal day, by the way.  Instead I used an older Scraptastic kit that I loved, but had only bits and pieces left.  That's another great thing about PL, it allows you to use up a collection almost in it's entirety, as you don't require large pieces of paper or cardstock, and there is always room for bits and pieces of embellishments throughout the page.  This kit featured the gorgeous Pink Paislee Portfolie collection.

Left Side:

 The only "issue" I have with Project Life is photographing the layouts.  The pape protectors create such a glare when photographing and sometimes the image itself looks warped.  The only alternative that makes sense to avoid the glare would be to lay each piece out separately side by side to make it look like it was in the protector and photograph that way.  That system is far too much work in my opinion, and would be much less effective for me as I generally photograph my layouts outside on the front step for better light.  Can't you just see me running all over my front lawn chasing down little 3x4 pictures and journal spots, haha.  Plus I figure my readers are intelligent enough to know what the photo really looks like in real life.  Thanks in advance for letting me off the hook on this one.  As you can see I'm really liking the EK Success label maker for this project.

Right Side:

Lots of journaling here, it's the most important part in my opinion, with some stamping using the Scraptastic Stamps that came in the June kit.  Ranger's Archival Ink is THE BEST for stamping directly onto your photos by the way.  Some tags from Chic Tags (perfect for PL too), and some bits and pieces of other goodies, and I'm done.

So who else is on the Project Life bandwagon.  I'd love to pop by and see how you are doing with yours.  Leave me a link, and I'll leave you some love.

Pin It

And....we're back

Spring Break 2013 was one for the record books.  Our first family road trip was a huge success.  We made great time there 12 hours and 45 minutes from driveway to driveway.  

We hit the road bright and early, 6:20.  An hour later we were all awake and ready for the trip ahead.

We stopped only for gas and quick bathroom breaks.  

Received this photo on the road fem my girlfriend who took care of Wilson for us.  Five yr old Jack set up a b'fast table for two, lol.  When asked what was going on he replied "Don't worry Mom,  he didn't eat any, I just let him have 2 licks." 

Thought the 2 boxers looked hilarious in Regina,  keeping the front seats warm while their 'people' were away.

Finally arrive in Alberta...

And we're all starting to get a little excited about the mountains....that...or we're going a little crazy from the many, many hours in the car.

Major Just Dance 4 party session ensued shortly after we arrived

Of course I just had to hit up the nearest scrapbook store while in Calgary.  

Had dinner with these lovely ladies that same night.  L:Lee-Anne Middle: Carla both of whom I've met on scrappy DT's over the past year.

The amazing view on the way up to Banff

Théa and I, in the gondola ready to hit the slopes.

Breathtaking gondola view

The view from the top of The Great Divide

Taking in the task before us.  For the record I was petrified, it was the steepest hill I had ever tackled.  I did it twice, but will be happy if I never see it again.

The View from our balcony at the Stoneridge Mountain Resort

A little hot tubbing and swimming to relax the muscles at the end of a long day.

I took my SLR up to the top so we could catch a few family photos.

Jeff, Shannon, and little Nyah our gracious hosts and fabulous skiing buddies.

The mountain tops were simply glowing on the drive back to Calgary from Banff.

They were just glorious.  I must have about 50 photos of them.  Beautiful way to end our time in the mountains.

Spend the last day in Banff, first stop The Banff Hot Springs.  The girls all had so much energy after the springs that they all took their turns doing their splits on the railing.

I would never get tired of that view.  Banff is such a pretty little town. 

How great are these signs?  The Tin Box was a super cool store, so many neat and unique things all in one place.  

We hit the Banff Avenue Brewing Company for lunch before heading back to Calgary.

We made our way to the Calgary Tower on the last day in Calgary

Yes we were really up that many feet (99 stories)

The girls tried out the Hurricane Simulator, it was pretty amusing

Of course we had to step on the glass floor, some of us were a little more nervous than others, a-hem, Darwin

Then we walked 17Ave for a little window shopping.

And grabbed a yummy lunch at Earl's before heading to our friends place.

Chad and Nicole have been gracious hosts to us on a few occasions over the years.  They are such a sweet family, and always feed us like royalty when we're there.  Chad makes a mean barbecued pork shoulder.

Alex and Eden who are only one day apart in age, were like two peas in a pod.

And before we knew it, it was time to say good bye.

And just like that vacation was over, and it was time to head back to Manitoba

Now to get back into the groove.  Tomorrow we will hit the ground running, with a full day of school, and Dance class in the evening.

Thanks for peeking in on our time away.  I apologize for any grammar or typos in this post.  I'm tired, but wanted to give you all a taste of what we've been up to over the past week.  I'm excited to document all of this using Chic Tags Road Trip Collectoin, and a brand new Simple Stories Sn@p album. Pin It