Cards with patterned paper and very little stamping

Still working on those simple thank yous. Yesterday, I pulled out some of my mini-paper packs from SEI and DCWV. The papers were busy and fun, so I tried not to add too much in the way of embellishing. This was outside my box, one because I mostly use CTMH, and two these were patterns and colors that aren't in my typical palette. Overall, I'm happy with how they turned out. They're a little brighter IRL than these photos. I need to stop taking my pictures at night or finally create a light box.

Stamps used: Thank You, Card Chatter Thank You, and Angel Whispers (the circles in the center of the flowers).

Last night we went to a Hawks baseball game. It rained some, but we had a good time anyway. The boys loved that they got to run the bases afterward, and they especially loved the fireworks show. Today we might head over to the park for Rec Fest, and later a neighborhood potluck.

I'm hoping to sneak in some creative time, too. I haven't worked on a project for the H2H Challenge yet.

Summer Adventures

Today the boys and I decided to take a drive up to Idaho City. It's a little mining town about an hour up the mountain. It's a beautiful drive up past Lucky Peak Lake and Dam, and along the river. The town is a cute little town of about 450 people. In it's heyday in the 1860's there were over 6,000 living there, so there's a lot of history.

Our first stop was for food. We were starving and decided to eat at a little place called the Goldmine. It was a little spendy, but man what a lot of food! Brendan ordered a huge root beer float, and his burger was bigger than his face--lol!

Then we walked around town, and we indulged with ice cream.

Finally, we drove up to the Pioneer Cemetery. This cemetery was way back in the forest--literally. There were all these paths through the woods. The headstones went back as far as the 1800's. The boys were fascinated.

Update on our birds. A couple weeks ago, I said we had eggs in our hanging basket on the front porch. There are now 4 baby birds. We've had a great time watching out our window as Mommy and Daddy bird take turn feeding the babies. I haven't had much luck getting photos, but here's a couple:

Mamma

Babies:


Last week, I took the boys to the Discovery Center to preview a new exhibit. They had tons of fun, and afterward, we went over to the pond. So pretty--one of the reasons I love living in Idaho.

More Simple Thank You Cards

Here's three more cards I made last night. The lighting isn't great, but you get the idea. The first two cards, I added a little glitter to give them a little something extra.

I used more Twitterpated scraps for all three cards. For the first card, I used Butterfly Wings and Flower Pot (thanks) stamps. The second card used Card Chatter--Thank You and Treasures of the Heart (note that was one I got FREE as part of Jackpot June!). The third card used Flower Pot. I'm not sure I'm loving the checks. Maybe the flower pot was a bit much.

No creating today. I took the boys on adventure I'll soon be posting. I'm hoping to get the scrap room cleaned and maybe play a little tonight. We'll see.

Been Busy, But I Have Lots to Share

Whew what a week! Friday, Mike came home from a week-long training, Saturday was his birthday, Sunday was Father's Day, and yesterday was my mom's birthday. I do have a few things to share.

First up are a few of the cards that I made today. I was so blessed with all the fabulous gifts I received from students at the end of the year. Now I need to send out around 35 thank yous. I'm trying to go for simple because a) I have to make so many, b) I don't want them all to be the same, c) I don't want them to be bulky and have to pay extra postage, and d) it will be a fun challenge to go easy on the embellishing. Simple can be hard for me. I don't like a lot of white space in my cards, even though I LOVE when I see others.

For these three cards, I used scraps from Twitterpated, the Twitterpated WOTG stamp set, Thank You stamps, and Card Chatter--Thank You stamps. The flower came from the Flower Pot set.

This year was Mike's 40th, so I wanted to do something special for him. The boys and I are celebrating 40 days of Daddy. Each day, we're giving him a gift, special treat, or fun outing. I started him a scrapbook to record everything. I used the Stardust paper pack and Stickease with a few stamp sets.

Title page:

Each of us shared what we love about Mike:

Day 1:

The boys wanted to get Daddy a Build a Bear. It was cute, they each got to put a heart in it and pick out an outfit.

I'll be back tomorrow with more cards to share. I think I've got 10 done so far.

Shoes--buy one, give one

I love these shoes and this company. I just ordered my first pair of TOMS shoes. I heard about them a while ago, but our budget at the time didn't allow for new shoes. If you've never heard of this company, for every pair of shoes you buy, they give a pair to a child in need. One for one. What a fabulous concept! Now those that know me, know that I rarely buy clothes or shoes that cost more than 20-30 bucks. Yes, these shoes are more, but the idea of giving a pair to someone in need sold me. Plus, I love the red one. In addition to being perfect for summer, we wear red on spirit days at school, so these will be fun year round!

Here's a video about the company. There's more on their website, http://www.toms.com/

And finally, here's the ones I really want, but can't justify this month :)

H2H Challenge--Get Scrappy

The challenge this week on the H2H Challenge Blog was to use scraps to make Father's Day projects. I have lots of scraps left over from the scrapbook project I did with my students. I have bags of strips and small pieces to put to use.



The first card used Back Country scraps. I used Backwoods and Say It in Style stamps.


The rest of the cards use papers from the Passages paper pack. Ironically, I've never created any other projects with these papers. I really love the colors. I'm going to have to order a pack for my own projects. I used my Cricut (Opposites Attract), Vintage Father's Day stamps, and various accessories.


That takes care of the cards I need to mail out. I still have a few more to make. Right now, we need to get out and go shopping and to the post office.

Unplugged

With the nice cool weather today, we decided to go hiking in the foothills. We had a ton of fun, and the views were incredible. I'm not sure exactly how far we hiked, but I'm guessing close to 5 miles. Austin was ready to hike more, but Brendan and I were getting tired. We looked for wildlife, but mostly saw just bugs and birds (I'm just thankful no snakes). Both boys told me they can't wait to go again soon. I have to agree because it was nice to spend a few hours out in nature with no arguing, fighting, or video games!

What makes me happy today

Yesterday, the boys and I decided today would be a perfect day to go hiking in the foothills. It's supposed to be hot, so we'd have to go early. Oops...I overslept. By the time I got out of the shower, it was already 9:30, and the boys were whining that they didn't want to put on pants. We elected to put it off until Thursday, when it's supposed to be 75 instead of 85. We'll be lazy instead today. Here it is after noon and they aren't even dressed yet--yikes!

I went out to water the trees and plants and snapped a few pictures. This is what I love about this time of year:

We have fresh fruit ripening on the trees and bushes: cherries, plums, apples, blueberries and strawberries. We have apricots and raspberries, but they aren't bearing any fruit yet.

This strawberry is actually the third one to ripen, but Dexter, our border collie/lab mix, snagged the first two. That dog loves strawberries. We'll probably have to cover the berries somehow.

The cherries look ready to go any day! We must have 40 or 50 out there on the tree.

Beautiful, colorful flowers:

And finally--mama bird. She built a nest in one of our hanging baskets on the front porch. Last year there were eggs, but the boys and I kept pulling the basket down to look at them, and mama bird caught us and abandoned the eggs. This year, we've been careful to leave them alone, so no pics of the eggs.

Hanging basket

Mama bird sitting on her eggs. I took this with a telephoto lens from the front door. She's out of focus, but if you look carefully, you can see her eye and her head right in the middle of the photo, under the white flower.

Mama bird is on the fence next door watching me water the flowers and take pictures.

We're hoping to hear little baby birds soon!

Taking a break from creating this afternoon. I'm going to see if I can get the boys motivated to get out and do SOMETHING! I want to enjoy this beautiful sunshine before the rain comes in again.

H2H Challenge--Scrapbook Pages

These are coming in just under the wire. Hopefully, I can work on next week's challenge before the last day. This week's challenge was to create scrapbook pages. I've been wanting to scrap the pictures from our Spring Break Disney trip forever, and I've had them sitting on my desk for the last week. FINALLY I got around to scrapping them :) I used Zippidee papers and Stickease. I actually stole the layout off the back of the Stickease. I thought it worked perfectly. I did switch up the papers and added extra pics.






Close up of journaling block.





Be sure to visit the H2H CHallenge blog for all the wonderful pages!



Edit: I finished one more set of Disney pages tonight. I'll just add them rather than start a brand new post. Still Zippidee papers and Stickease. I also used the Cricut Mickey Font for all the lettering and the mouse ears.