Just Scrap It

Just For Sue

She loved to travel, and sip a martini, with extra olives, the blue-cheese stuffed ones.

She was a mother, a wife, an auntie, a sister and a friend.

She loved panda bears, and poetry, and mixing a cappachino with an espresso, in a tall glass.

She never stopped sitting on Santa's lap for a picture every year at Christmas.

She  was head-strong, indepedent, spontaneous

and she fought with the courage of a lion, doing her best to keep smiling along the way.

She will be dearly misssed.

And as we accompany her to her final resting place this morning,  carrying a heavy sadness, and looking through eyes fogged with tears,

She wanted us to remember this,

 

My soul is full of whispered song;
My blindness is my sight;
The shadows that I feared so long
Are all alive with light.
~Alice Cary, Dying Hymn

Talk to you soon, my friends.  Love you, and a hug. 

Just Sneak Peeks and other stuff

Its that time, and I 'm so excited to share peeks of Flair's Summer CHA releases....

Love the purple and blue here.....and those fun trees!

And the purple and orange here.......

And these?  Well these,  are wicked cool!!!

I haven't played with the fantastic plastic yet, but the trims are really fun. 

Here, I scrunched up  a small piece and pinned it to the chipboard frame as well as stuck a small piece at the top of the photo - so many fun ways to use this stuff.   

Also played with some Rusty Pickle Island Summer that I stumbled upon in my scraproom the other night.

Thank you to Odd Bird Planet for so generously providing all of those awesome rubber stamps.  I'll be sharing more fun projects with those over the next couple of weeks.  I loved the dot and circle stamps I used on this layout.

On the other stuff front, I've been spending even more  time by the pool,

 

(the little guy took a hit in the eye from a hockey stick earlier in the week  -  "thith hurt really, really bad Auntie, but I didn't cry." - he's such a boy).

B and I did the mani/pedi thing again on Thursday.

(she's such a girl).

And my  best summer read so far,

tore through these 388 pages in a day and a half. 

And today were off to spend the next few  days here, where I'm not only looking forward to seeing the new place, but to indulging myself with that ol' favorite of mine, room service!!

Make it a great day!

Love you, and a hug.

Just July

So here we are a mere eight days into the month and I've already fallen into my summer routine...... the one where I spend most of my time outside, either by the pool, on the deck reading, or at mom's house in her pool, or at the beach,  or at an outside table at some cute lunch place (adorable little place with yummy roast beef sandwiches in Smithfield today).......the one where lots of other things get put aside and everything takes me longer......because I'd rather be outside

(unless its cloudy, and I dive into a new Poppy Ink kit.   Love, love, loved the orange American Crafts flocking).

The days are longer......and warmer,

and little boys can pretend they can fly........

and eat hot dogs by the pool.

 

Sunglasses are a must,

and so are those goggles,

and learning how to dive........ 

And of course, there's summer CHA.......I won't be going to Chicago this year, but am loving all of the buzz that is staring and am thrilled with some of the new products I've seen so far.  I can't wait to peek those Flair  surprises.............

So here, thats pretty much whats been going on, except in between the pool, reading, mom's house and the beach, we've been house shopping, and all of the flowers in the yards are in bloom, the sprinklers are on, the windows are sometimes open (cross those houses off our list, that polar bear I live with isn't interested unless there is central air) and everything is just, well, summery.........

Its  just July, its perfect, and its my favorite month of all.

Love you, and a hug.

Just Here and There

this week.

 I had a date with the little guy for some minature golf and go karts on Monday, but the rainy afternoon was better instead,  for taking in a movie.   My vote was for "Get Smart", but he wasn't having anything to do with it, so we saw this, the only one to see as far as he was concerned. 

I loved it.  He loved it, and every time  I've talked to him since, he's reminded me how much he loved it. 

And of course we stopped at McDonald's on the way home for Kung Fu Panda Happy Meals.  Check this out...... too cute.

http://www.happymeal.com/en_US/index.html#

We each got a Master Mantis....well actually, now he has two of them.


The mornings have been great for lazing by the pool, but every afternoon its been clouding up and thunderstorming, so I've been taking in lots of time doing scrappy stuff.

Once in a while, I'll challenge myself to try to create something with things on and around my desk.  Usually, I've cleaned up between projects and there isn't too much to put together, but sometimes, it works out.  Since CHA projects, our vacation, boxes arriving in the mail, and the fact that the contents of my scrap room closet have been EVERYWHERE for the last week and a half  (they installed radon detectors in the building and had to put this pipe in the closet.  Installation of the pipe was quick and easy, but somewhere along the line they forgot to hurry back and insulate the pipe), Tuesday I did just that and here's a peek at what I came up with - quite the mix of colorful things going on around me right now..... Chatterbox, Karen Russell, Sasafrass Lass, Scenic Route, Magic Scraps, HS  bling and a bit more.   Can't show it all......... just think CHA summer and a fun new Flair addition........ will peek that as soon as I can!

This can be a  really fun way to challenge yourself, but really, I can't wait until next Tuesday when I'm told the insulation will be completed and I can put my room back together.

Been playing  with Flair's Seaside again.

Such pretty colors............

And  I had yet another one of those 6:00 AM scrappiing moments........some really yummy stuff in this month's Poppy Ink kit.

Loved the clear buttons (which look like the SEI paper behind them now).

Baseball and spin yesterday, and that brings me to today - not sure which way this day will go, but I'm yet again listening  to music from the CD the lovely Miss April made for those of us who attended the MV retreat (you may be listening to one of the songs right now).   Thanks April!

And on a really personal note, hug your friends today, tell them you love them, and please send up prayers for my friend Sue, who is so very close to losing her battle against cancer.   Her  grace and courage throughout this ordeal has been truly, unbelievable.  

TTYS my friends - a virtual hug to you, and I love you.

Just Seaside......

I'm so excited to share a couple of projects I recently created with Flair's newest collection.

Its soft and summery.

And its shipping now.

Its just "Seaside"

This was a fun card to make.

I'm loving putting photos on cards now.  This one has Seaside Stripe and Sunset Sandals papers with Seaside Clear Cut Quotes Stickers and At the Ocean Cardstock Stickers

And these acrylic frames are always cool.  I did some of these with the kids last Christmas Eve for our group Christmas craft and had almost forgotten how fun they were to play with.  I used Sail Away paper, Seaside Clear Cut Quote Stickers and At the Beach Cardstock Stickers with this one.

Grab those summer photos!  These papers are perfect for them. 

More to come!!

Happy Sunday!