Fourteen Years...

of marriage and counting today!

A recent photo of the two of us from our family trip to the pumpkin patch :)

 

I know I shared this layout back in April, but the title pretty much sums up how I feel about him :)
Happy Anniversary, Mike!

Two More Scrapgal Projects

Why is it always so hard to get back to routine and catch up after a trip, no matter how small?! But here I am. Back to normal :) And glad to be back with the kids! So I am going to share my last two official projects for the month of October for Scrapgal.

The first is a layout. I find myself making more 8 1/2x11 layouts lately just for fun or personal to me topics! And this one was just for fun! All of the product is Little Yellow Bicycle from their Frightful line. Except for the Martha Stewart candy wrapper embellishment, the Making Memories letter stickers and the American Crafts Thickers.

And I don't typically make cards, but have decided to try to get in the habit again of making cards with my scraps after working on layouts. These two are definitely using my scraps. Especially those cool fabric border strips. I love those!
So there you have it for the month of October. I did three layouts and two cards in all. Plus a little matchbook mini that will be coming up in the next few weeks. But I'm not supposed to share that yet! :)

Canada - The Anniversary Edition!

Technically, our anniversary isn't until October the 18th. Fourteen years :) But in Canada, this Monday was their Thanksgiving holiday. So Mike thought it would be a great idea for us to celebrate this past weekend instead since he had an extra day off work. Since he's been working on this project in Canada, I will admit it has been tough. We miss seeing him every night and are grateful for computer cameras :) I felt a little guilty about leaving the kids for two days to go up to see him. And he felt guilty about not coming home for the weekend. But we decided that this was something we both needed. Some time with each other!

So I caught a flight to Canada on Saturday morning. The first time I have EVER flown alone :)

He was waiting for me at the airport with a big smile. And then we got in the car and started driving. I caught on pretty quickly that something was up and we weren't just going back to his apartment to spend the weekend when the GPS said our destination was a little over two hours away.

What a beautiful drive! And we had beautiful weather all weekend!

And what a surprise to end up here at a resort on the lake in Muskoka, Canada!

The view was amazing! And there was so much to do and great food at the restaurants! We went to dinner the first night and then were able to go a one hour presentation on the night sky. It was so amazing to look through that giant telescope and see Jupiter, four of it's moons and the actual moon itself. We were at the perfect spot. The next day I took a yoga class while Mike went biking. Then we hiked, went kayaking and just relaxed! I really felt so relaxed and peaceful all day.

And here is a lake view of the resort from our kayak! Sunday we hiked some more and then it was time to head back to the Toronto airport. It was such a great weekend. One I will never forget! :)

Today is My Day...

to post on the Scrapgal blog. I did a little post on the benefits of scraplifting.

This is the page I created using mostly the Little Yellow Bicycle Frightful line, alphabet letters by American Crafts and the kraft journal spot is by Making Memories.

Erin loves to swing so much! Ever since she was a tiny, little girl :) She can definitely pump her legs now, but still likes to be pushed every now and then. And the higher, the better! I used to joke and tell her she was going to end up on the moon :)
I didn't want to do just Halloween themed layouts this month despite having Halloween product. And when I was flipping through my October photos and saw this older one, my title jumped into my head. Along with that chipboard moon. Then I remembered a tutorial I read in one of the magazines about cutting striped paper diagonally and everything kind of fell into place from there thanks to Sara Winnick :)

How often do you "scraplift" layouts?

You & Me

I was actually able to complete one of the challenge's this weekend at the Scrapgal Fall Fun crop :) This layout was for Steffanie's 6x6 patterned paper pad challenge. You could only use patterned paper 6x6 or smaller. I was also inspired by Marcie's September photo challenge to scrap using only one photo 3x4 or smaller.
This photo is of me and my dad. And all the product is October Afternoon's new Sidewalks line!

I am really, really lucky when it comes to dads! I know that :) And I have a lot of good memories from my childhood because of him. So I just wanted to share that for him and Evan and Erin as well!

October!

Can you believe it is October already?!! But it's time for me to start sharing my October design team projects from Scrapgal. I've decided to change things up a bit by sharing my projects throughout the month instead of all on the first.

My first project this month is my monthly challenge. I have the technique/product challenge this month. I worked mostly with the Little Yellow Bicycle Frightful Collection this month so most of my projects have a Halloween/Fall theme. But not all :) I love the look of tape on layouts and washi tape seems to be a big trend right now! I didn't have any on hand. But I did have these...

Fabric borders :) I decided to cut them apart and use them like tape as you can see on my layout above. So my challenge to you is - Use tape on your project!  Whether it's actual washi, masking, or fabrips.
And I also used older photos from seven years ago! So for a bonus challenge, try using older photos :)
In my last post, I mentioned my goal of giving up soda and drinking more water for my monthly "healthier living" goal.

 For October, I am going to focus on sleep! I am terrible at getting to bed at a decent hour when Mike is out of town. And with this project he is working on in Canada and only being able to come home on weekends, you can imagine how much sleep I am losing out on. But I know that I feel better when I get a good night's rest. I am less cranky and have more energy. And I don't get as run down. I almost fight myself to go to bed though. So my goal for October, is to be in bed by 11pm every night that I am home. 11pm may not sound early to a lot of people, but for someone who is staying up until 12:30 or 1am, it will make a big difference. And it's all in baby steps, right? Which is what I intended when I started my monthly goal series :)
So soda - a success! Sleep will hopefully be as well!

And don't forget! The Fall Fun Crop is going on at Scrapgal right now. Each of our Guest Design Team members posted a challenge on the crop board. And I have one started right now - Steffanie's 6x6 patterned paper pad challenge :)
Have a great weekend!

On My Mind...

Just a few things after taking a week off blogging. I need a blog break every once in awhile so I don't get burned out. Not that I am a daily poster by any means, but I do try to post a few times a week :)

I decided at the beginning of September to make monthly goals for myself regarding my health. I find if I give myself a short term goal where I try it for a few weeks and don't tell myself "never again!, I am more successful. The first goal - no soda and drink more water! And now that September is almost over, I have done it! One sip of soda that tasted horrible to me when I made the kids root beer floats. It was icky, sweet. Haven't had a drink of it since! It's not like I was a big soda drinker to begin with. Maybe just one every few days. But I noticed I was drinking it more and more for a sugar rush. Not sure what my next goal is for October, but I have a few thoughts in mind!

The next few photos are taken on my camera phone. I really love having a camera phone!

  Dance class! She is loving it :)

Naps are a thing of the past. Except the occasional one in the car :)

 

And I have been scrapbooking, but mostly Scrapgal assignments. So I won't be able to start posting those until this Saturday (Oct. 1) Also this upcoming weekend though, the Guest Design Team is hosting a crop at Scrapgal. It will be kind of nice to just sit back on this one and participate :) If you are looking for some challenges and a chance to win prizes, Scrapgal is your place to go this weekend!

Product Showcase at Scrapgal

For the month of September's product showcase, the design team was given a manilla tag and...

this pretty trim from Prima. I am really loving mist right now and decided to use the trim as a mask for my tag.
You may remember the Mini-apple album I did on this post. Whenever I create a mini, I usually do at least one layout for the family album to go with it. I used most of the same product that I used in the album so that made it super easy to come together :)
If you would like to see how the rest of the design team used their tag and trim, you will be able to find their projects in the "Product Showcase" board here. They should all be going up today and tomorrow!