Catching up...Heavy on the pix!!

Things sure have been busy around here lately!

We got back from the cabin over a week ago & it's been non-stop since!

Here's a little re-cap (in pix) of the cabin week:

Maggie got pulled down trying to walk Tula (the dog) on our first afternoon - scrapes from head to toe!!

Our niece & nephew wanted to go rock climbing one day...

Carolyn (our niece)

Mike (our nephew)

The road & jeep while rock climbing - pretty, huh?

Maggie, atop her own rock (aka boulder!)

It was pretty wet & soggy while we were up there, but we did manage to take Maggie on her very first mountain hike! We trekked along the valley towards a beautiful lake called Lyle, but unfortunately there was still too much snow to get to the actual lake!! What a crazy year Colorado has had!!

Dad & Mags on the trail

Looking up valley towards the lake area

Mom & Mags - I'm so proud of her!!

We headed home late in the week while Nick's brother & his kids stayed another week. Mike is starting school in the fall at CSU, so he brought his sister down to Denver (she was heading out to her moms for the rest of the summer vaca before returning to Chicago where she lives with her dad) with him on his way to check out apartments in Ft. Collins. The poor kids - Mike's car had a major malfunction that couldn't be repaired even after 3 hours of waiting in Glenwood Springs! So, his 1-2 night stay with us turned into about 5! But the good news is that he found a great roommate & his car's all better now! He just left this morning. It's going to be great having him so close by now!!

While all that was going on, I went to my first ever Super Diamond concert with a gal pal from high school! What a blast!! (Drank WAY too much, but still remember it all!!)

Me & Sally

Kinda looks like Neil!!

A few days later, Maggie & I went to our first painting session at Canvas & Cocktails!! Such fun!! I hope to go again soon with my adult friends to enjoy the vino while painting!

mid-way thru

Maggie did an awesome job! I only had to help her blend a few things here & there! And yes, SHE did the whole tree! I only added a branch! I forgot to take a pic of mine - It's hanging in Maggie's room (hers is to go to daddy's office!), so I will try to take one  & post it too.

All Done!!

In between all that, I've been crafting my tail off trying to meet some deadlines!

I did this fun box for Creative Cuts & More:

http://die-cut-diva.blogspot.com/2011/07/butterflies-fly-free-lots-of-picts-text.html

And I also finished a fun little mini for myself & to show in a joint blog hop we're doing with CC&M & SOUS designs on the 29th (so check back here next Friday!). Here's a little sneak...can't show it all yet!! (I have to say, I've forgotten how to scrapbook with photos!! I've done so many other project without them for the shop that I really struggled with this one!!)

Can you guess the subject?

(Kim was working on hers too but I don't have any pix yet.) And while we were doing those mini's Mom was putting the finishing touches on this INCREDIBLE Garden Book that will be up in the Etsy shop this Friday afternoon!! 24 pages of pure charm!!!

A Whimsical Garden Book by MOM

And, just today, I finished this fun little altered Altoid tin for the shop & a July challenge for Altered Pages (an online digital collage & scrapbook/ATC supply store). I had a blast doing it & think that I NEED to do more!!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/78208188/victorian-altered-altoid-tin-box-sewing

I think that's it! Tomorrow I am getting together with mom & Kim to try a few new techniques together as well as brainstorm on possibly a new direction for the biz. Maggie's been in camp all week & I just signed her up for 2 more weeks! So that gives me lots of time to play as well as do some stuff around the house that I've been avoiding - like move curtain rods & patch holes for the new bedroom curtains!! UGH! Maybe tomorrow...

Wow! Has it been that long since I wrote?!!

I can't believe it's been a month since I gave you a "life" update??!! SO SORRY FOR THE LACK OF INFO LATELY!

I hope to jump on here in the next few days, but I am up at our family cabin with a satellite internet connection which can totally suck!

So, I leave you with these picts & to tell you to hop on over to The Scrap-a-Teeny Girls blog to see what I've been doing creatively (mostly business oriented!) & I promise to catch up soon!  Hugs & Happy Independence Day!!!

Hope ya'll had a wonderful 4th of July!!

Catching Up...

Finally! A minute to catch up on things here! I now have a chance to catch y'all up on what Maggie's been up to these past few weeks...

First we had Graduation from ECE! We watched our little grads come down the aisle at the school auditorium to the typical commencement march! Then they all sang a bunch of fun songs for us. Afterward we enjoyed some yummy cake with her classmates & teachers!

With her proud Grandparents!

Miss Lisa - Maggie's Para all year & all the kids adored her!

Miss Lisa - her incredible teacher! We will miss her a lot!

The weekend after Graduation, she had her first big dance recital! They performed a tap dance for us as well as a little show of ballet positions. (We weren't allowed to take pictures at the actual recital, so all of these are from dress rehearsal.)

Ready?

Tap dancing to "3 Little Fishes"

Boob-booping...

 This was her most favorite part of the dance! She love to feel the tutu bouncing around with her! And then of course, the "Choo" part afterwards brought smiles too!

 For the ballet portion of their recital, they showed us the first 5 positions. I apologize to all the ballet afficianados out there - I don't know the positions myself so I didn't label them accordingly! Ha!

 

If you look closely, my little ballerina is yawning!!

 The recital was absolutely adorable, albeit a little long! (All the students of the studio performed - including the adults!!)

The following week was Maggie's last week of school & she got to experience her first Field Day at school! Now, I had always hated field day when I was little because I was on crutches almost every year & couldn't play along! (I would either sprain my ankle or her my achilles in soccer every spring!)She had a blast!

 She did really great on the Egg Walk - almost all the way back without dropping it!

 She's a natural in the Sack Races too! Didn't fall until the very end!

 Trike Racing was everyone's fave!

Tossing the Whiffle Ball around!

So, that's the big stuff over the past few weeks...Everything in between has been pretty low key except that Maggie lost her FIRST tooth!!! She got so excited when we discovered that her tooth was loose & everyday we checked it. It finally popped out Saturday afternoon! So, I leave you with one more set of picts...

She's got 2 more wiggly ones, so expect to see some funny face pictures soon!!

TTFN!

Fab Friday Giveaway from WWC!

The very lovely Tracy Porter is the guest blogger on Where Women Create today (Friday 5/27) & she is giving away an amazing prize!!! You'd be a fool not to enter this one!!!

here's a couple of my faves:

I'm not really a cross wearer, but this just appeals to me!

Always wanted a pair of C'boy boots! These are nice & broken in!

I have absolutely NO place in my house for these two pieces, but I LOVE them!!

And, finally, from the sale section:

So, other than a little blog surfing this morning, I am hoping to finish cleaning house in prep for the Holiday weekend full of BBQ's by noon today! 

One of my bestie's b-day is today & I got totally inspired yesterday to make her something fabulous! (Luckily I have all weekend to get it done before her BBQ on Monday!!) My goal is to spend the entire afternoon in my room crafting - which I haven't done in SOOOOO long! An hour here or there just doesn't cut it! LOL!

I promise to post pix of all of Maggie's shenanigans over the last week & more of this project when it's all said & done. (Since my girlfriend reads this occasionally, you will all have to wait until Monday afternoon to see the finished product so I don't spoil the surprise!!)

Have a wonderful Holiday Weekend!!!

Thanks to all our men & women who serve this country to keep us all safe from the crazy people! :)

Thanks to Maggie's wonderful Teachers!

Maggie has had a wonderful year at the local elementary school & will be "graduating" from preschool in today! I can't believe she will be in Kindergarten next year! Where does the time go???

First day, 8/20/10

 

Ms. Lisa

Ms. Kim

She had two wonderful teachers this year, Ms. Lisa & her aide, Ms. Kim. I wanted to get them something special for the end of the year because they really just do so much for our little ones!

 

So, I discovered that Ms. Lisa loves to cook, but I couldn't really gather what kind of cooking was her favorite. So, I opted for one of Rachel Ray's cookbooks because her food IS yummy & fairly simple to pull together!

For Ms. Kim, I know that she LOVES to be creative & crafty! So, I thought this "Delight in the Details" would be a great inspiration for her.

And, of course, I HAD to make cards to go along with their gifts, right?!

I had seen a stamp at Michaels that would have been perfect for their cards, but I forgot to actually buy it when I left there the other day!! Silly me!

So, I used my own stash to copy the idea of the stamp...It was a cute birdie with the saying "time flies when you're having fun."

I started with a premade card from one of those boxes by DCWV, (I know! I could have just made one from cardstock, but I never have the right sized envelopes!).

I stamped the front of the card with my Burlap stamp (Ippity - from my friend Noelle's shop!) in a Timber Brown StazOn ink.

Then I Glimmer Misted a small paper doillie with a sand tone & stamped a faint image of a clock in the middle (Tim Holtz). (In case you're wondering how I got ALL the edges to adhere? I used a spray adhesive to attach the doillie to the card.)

Earlier in the day, I scanned a picture that Maggie had painted of a bird, shrunk it down & printed a couple out for the cards. I attached that to the front of the card & then added the saying, with my dymo. 

 All inspired from a simple stamp with the same idea! I made each of the teachers the same card, but the insides are different.

Here's Ms. Lisa's:

I don't have any picts of Maggie & Ms. Kim, so her's is much simpler:

(These stamps inside are also Ippity/Unity from the "Moment in Time" collection & the paper is from a DCWV Garden Party matstack.)

I think they turned out very cute & I love that they have a little creativity from both of us!

So, the next time I post, I will put up some more pix of Maggie at "graduation," her first Field Day at school AND her first dance recital this weekend!!!

Maggie's ECE Class 2011

TTFN!