Loon Photos from Mink Lake

I'd thought I'd share a few photos of the loons I managed to photograph while at Mink Lake. Last summer I forgot my zoom lens at home - can you believe it?!? and was disappointed that I didn't get some shots of the loons.
This year, I remembered......

Dad took my sister, Grandma Joan and I on a boat tour of the lake - never mind fishing, this is what I came home with!

I managed to get the two together....

As well as the adult and babe...

The young one is eating a fish that the adult brought it. We witnessed the entire process, it was pretty amazing!

This is the last week of summer around here - school officially starts up again on Tuesdy the 7th, so one more week until I have to start packing lunches again....yuck! I am always looking for creative ideas for bag lunches - if you have any jems, feel free to share! I'd love to hear what you pack for your kiddos....always nice to have a few tricks up the sleeve to keep it interesting!

Cheers to a great week!

Shanna :)

Bling in the New Year! Sparkle's Challenge #39

Happy Sunday! This week's theme at Sparkle's Christmas Card challenge blog is "Sparkle & Shine" - use bling on your card. This should be an easy one for lots of you! There are so many fun blingy products out there!

This happens to be another card I made at camp - quick and simple, but does the trick. I have made a lot of cards in my day, but do you know that this is the first time I had ever made a "Happy New Year" card!?! Even funnier, I don't even own this stamp set! lol My sister had ordered some sets from CTMH and I had brought them for her when we met at camp. I brought very little in the way of supplies with me and so it was fun to play with some of her new sets - things Little Sis!

I had a brain-wave while making this - wouldn't these be perfect to have on hand for those that somehow get forgotten with the rush of the holidays, or the one that the post-office returns because you wrote down and old address? I think I'll make a few and have them on the ready just in case, either way, it would be nice to bring one along to the New Year's Party hostess right? Ok Sis, I guess I have to borrow that set now! (Have you used it yet? lol)

Hope you are all having a great weekend! I am attending a Bridal Shower today while Chester and Pickle Pants attend a Birthday Party at Danderella's! The "fall cleaning" mode continues around here, so I am having a hard time finding my mojo - hoping it will be back soon, perhaps once some more organizing gets done....

Cheers,
Shanna :)

What I used:
stamps: CTMH month set
paper: DCWV The Glitter Stack
ribbon: Fabricland

Hey, Thanks!

Happy Friday! TGIF! Good grief, what a week! It was called back to reality! Back to work after a fabulous vacation, back to the last week of summer camp for the boys (read - making lunches ick!), working on organizing and registering for all the after-school activities for the fall and trying to enjoy what we have left of summer! Whew! Let me tell you, it was good "practice" for getting into the groove in preparation for Back to School. We managed most of the nights to have the boys in bed close to the regular time, so that was good. This is why I haven't been blogging or visiting whatsoever but I'm looking forward to catching up!

I have one last week of not packing lunches next week since they are at daycare for a few days (rather than summer camp) and hubby and I each have a day home with them. We shall enjoy that while it lasts!

So, this is another one of the super simple cards I made while at camp. This is a flower from my garden and I love how the photo turned out, so thought it would be perfect on a card. I am on the lookout for some really bold rub-ons so that they will show up better on some of the darker colors. The other thing I'd like to try is to use Staz On Ink with a sentiment stamp, but rub-ons are so much quicker and less messy! I didn't have any Staz On with me at camp in any case!

Sorry the photo is so far away, my editing program seems to be on the fritz this morning, perhaps I will get back to fix it later. Below is the inside. I just love these colors together!

Hope you have a great Friday! I won't promise to be back before Sunday with Sparkle's newest Christmas Card challenge, but we shall see!

Cheers for now,

Shanna :)

Pebble Beach, Marathon

The first stop we made on our road trip was Pebble Beach - which is about 3.5 hours drive - the perfect pit-stop and break from driving. I learned about this beautiful spot only recently despite the fact that I've been travelling to Marathon, ON for work for more than ten years! So glad I found it as its a great spot to have some fun with my boys and take some photos!

It was a hot day, but Lake Superior is usually very COLD, so I didn't expect anyone to actually swim at this beach. The boys were simply drawn to the water, so I told them to go ahead and take their shoes and socks off - it wasn't long before they were starting to get wet - the water wasn't nearly as cold as we expected it would be! I managed to salvage the t-shirts and told them they could swim in their "wunderwear" - they were delighted and we had the whole beach to ourselves, so in they went! I got some great shots, especially because of the way the sun was shining on the water; however, I figured since they are only in their skivies, I'd better not post them! lol

I just love the look of the water when the sun is shining on it and check out the bubbles....

Hope you are having a great day!

Cheers,

Shanna :)

Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge Week #38

So how are those Christmas cards coming along? May as well get started, eh? (So glad I did!) This week's Challenge is Vintage/Retro. For this one, I had some fun with a new set from Close to My Heart's new Fall catty! (Just got them this week and couldn't wait to play!) The set is called "Father Christmas" and I think it worked well for the vintage feel - perfect timing! I just love it when it works out that way!

I also had some fun with my distresser tool and my Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist on this one! It is hard to see in this photo, but there is a bit of glimmer to it.

I tore around the "post mark" rather than cutting it out and used stickles on the Holly berries to make them the right color.

This is the card I will be "teaching" at our Annual Charity Pyjama Stamping Party on September 12th. Watch for an email coming soon and/or inquire about signing up at DAT'S.

I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend! I'll be back soon with some fun photos from our trip. Thanks for stopping by!

Shanna :)

What I used:

stamps: CTMH - Father Christmas - D1449 - NEW, Vintage Christmas - D1166

papers: CTMH - garnet, ponderosa pine, cocoa

embellishents: gingham ribbbon from DAT'S, Burgundy stickles, Irridescent gold glimmer mist

Bookmarks

Hello! I've been sorting and organizing like mad since the house is quiet and my boys will be back sometime tomorrow. I guess you could call it "fall cleaning" - the sort of thing that we all dread doing, but has to be done once in awhile. For example, I cleaned out Chester's closet - so much stuff gets shoved into the closet over time! I also cleaned out a couple of drawers, sorted through many stacks of papers and piles of junk, unpacked suticases, tidied my scrap area (not quite finished), caught up the laundry, etc....whew, maybe it's time to go back to work!!! lol

I have tons of photos to share from our holidays, but need to get a little more organized, so for now I am just going to share the bookmarks that "Grandma" Joan and I made while at camp. Joan joined us at camp for the week, which was fantastic as she is just like a Great Grandmother to my boys and she is so fun! I introduced her to stamping about a year ago when she visited us, so thought I'd bring along a few things so we could play while at camp. This is one of the projects we worked on. I used some "recycled/hand-made" paper I've had in my stash for awhile on mine as well as a fun quote.

I showed Grandma Joan how to stamp the background for this one. This thing I find most difficult for bookmarks is not adding embellishments - it is so hard for me!!!

We did lots of reading at camp - I finished Diana Gabaldon's "The Fiery Cross" - two more to go in the series - I thoroughly enjoyed this one! I also read "Dances With Wolves", (I know it's been around forever, but I'd never read it) and "The short Second Life of Bree Tanner" by Stephenie Meyer. I am now working on "The Half-Blood Prince", trying to catch up to Chester who is almost finished "The Deathly Hallows". It was fun to compare notes about what everyone was reading while at camp. Chester has Papa reading the Harry Potter series, he is just starting "The Prisoner of Azkaban". I got my sis hooked on The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, so now that she has read a bit, we can discuss the characters - I just had to be careful not to say too much! Grandma Joan is also a reader, so she had some recommendations as well. I am reading the Beverley Cleary books with Pickle Pants, we worked through "Henry and the Clubhouse" while away and we're ready for the next one.

So what are you reading?

I'll be back on Sunday with Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge.

Cheers,

Shanna :)

Fangs or Fur?

Happy Birthday Danderella!

Hello everyone! I am back from holidays and looking forward to catching up with all of you! Thanks for all your comments while I was away! We had a great vacation, but I'm happy to be back. I have a couple of days before my boys arrive home so am trying to work through a long list of "things to do" and find time to relax with hubby at the same time. It is so nice to be home together "sans children" for a few days - strange but very nice!

Anyhow, I have been dying to share this card with you ever since my little escape across the border! Monday was Danderella's Birthday and this was made especially for her, so it wouldn't have been nice to post it before I gave it to her!!! (I almost gave it to her early since I had so much fun making it!) Danderella and I managed to fit in a long walk last night to catch up since we hadn't chatted in a long time - it was so nice! So since I finally got to give her my card, I can share it with you!



There are lots of pics since I had lots to include in this card. The Twilight fans out there may remember this post - I just had to use it as inspiration for my card - all the back and forth banter gave us so many laughs!





I purchased the "For Bitten" set from "Our Craft Lounge" when at Arciver's in MN, so just had to play with it on this card. This is the inside. I did some closer shots in case you want to read the pros and cons....



So thanks Danderella for all the laughs - I had a blast making this card. And thanks to Donna for all the ideas she shared as we were scrappin together when I made this.

Hope you are all having a great week! Not sure if I'll be back tomorrow or not, we'll see how the list goes. I do have a few quickie cards to share that I made at camp, we'll see if I get around to post them. I do have some photos to share too, but I'm trying not to let blog land suck me in too much just yet or I'll never get through half of my list. Bear with me, I promise to visit soon!

Cheers,
Shanna :)


What I used:



stamps: Digital from the Greeting Farm, sentiment - "For bitten" from Our Craft Lounge
papers: Marah Johnson - Breathless (available at DAT'S)
copics: Skin - BV0000, Hair - E37, E39, E99, Clothes - T4, T5, T6
embellishments: Basic Grey Bling It, Kaiser Craft Bling

Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge - Border Punches

This week's Challenge at Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge is to use Boarder Punches. Here is my simple card. I love how it turned out and plan to make several.


Thanks Donna for suggesting adding the dots at the bottom as well as the corner punches. It was just what it needed.

Hope you can plan along this week!
Shanna :)


What I used:

stamps: Warm Winter Wishes - SU 2001
papers: CTMH - outdoor denim, colonial white
embellishments: SU ribbon
tools: EK success border punch, SU border punch

Trouble.....

I did get one layout completed during my time away and here it is....Pickle Pants at his finest! Oh the many faces of a little boy!

When I saw this fun paper at my LSS, DAT'S - I couldn't resist. It just screams Pickle Pants - actually, I think Donna probably ordered it in with Pickle Pants in mind as she knows him well - or am I being presumptuous? LoL

The bonus - this layout was pretty much ready-made thanks to the fun squares on the paper - I think it took me about 45 mins start to finish - most cards take me longer than that! The little punch I used to write the dates is from SU and the ribbon that I picked up while away just happened to match too! Can't wait to find time to work on some more layouts like this fun one!

So, have you been scrappin' lately?

Cheers,

Shanna :)

An Apple Thank you...

This card is very similar to one I did back in June for a teacher. When I cross the border, one of the places I love to go is Bath & Body. Check out the cool apple we found! It is filled with anitbacteial hand-sanitizer, and we thought it would be perfect for a teacher gift!

We also found really cute notepads with apples on them to put with the gift. So with this card and the one I made a couple weeks back for Paper Sundaes, I have two teacher gifts done for next year - woo hoo!

Don't forget, an apple a day keeps the doctor away! Hope your day is great!

Adventures in tubing.....

You may remember me mentioning tubing on the Civic Holiday weekend.....so I decided to share a few pics of Chester and I doing just that..... we managed to stay on and it really was a fun time!


I am thankful that I was on the double tube with Chester as I have a feeling the big boys wouldn't have been quite so "nice" if I'd been on the single tube alone!

I said that we managed to stay on the tube - hubby was not so lucky! He flipped off spectatularly twice - once flipping about three time and loosing his swimming trunks! I kid you not! I was on shore at the time, supervising Pickle pants as he swam (he wanted nothing to do with the tube, though he did go for a boat ride) so did not witness this spectacle up close, but apprently, it took him half an hour to retrieve them and get them back on!!!

So, a fun time was had by all until we headed home. After the boys stayed out on the lake fishing for too long (we requested they return by 7:30 to have dinner, but they showed up at 9:30 pm), we had dinner and headed out, but it was now 11:30 pm and very dark. After driving for a very short time, we came upon two vehicles pulled over in the distance, but before we even reached them came suddenly upon the moose they had just hit. Thank goodness we had slowed enough to stop before we hit it! Hubby checked things out and then pulled over on the other side and put on the four-ways, hoping to avoid others hitting the moose and causing more problems. With a little help from another person who had stopped, he pulled the moose off onto the shoulder. Thank goodness, because people just don't slow quickly enough to have avoided a mess!

We did arrive home safe and sound, but much later than anticpated and only after nearly hitting a dear, a fox and a skunk and having to navigate through pea-soup fog! I told hubby I would not do that again! Urgh, not a fun drive home! The only important thing though was that we did indeed arrive home safely.

Moral of the story - do not stay out on the lake so long that you have to drive home in the pitch dark towing the family along and risk hitting some large animal!!!

Sorry no project today, but I do have on scheduled to post tomorrow and Friday.

Cheers,

Shanna :)

Get Well

Just a super quick and simple card to share today. This one is for a dear friend and farmer who was seriously ill in hospital recently. He is home for now and we are hoping to see him while on vacation.

This is a photo I took on one of our "rides" - what he refers to as a horse-drawn wagon ride. I am from farm country and photos like this remind me of home. It was fun to use it to make a simple, yet meaningful card. I simply added a rub-on and stitched around the edges.

Hope you are having a great week so far!

Shanna :)

Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge - Color Challenge

This week's challenge at Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge is a Color Challenge. Let's see your creations using Black, Deep Red and Cream.

I had heard that you can use your Cuttlebug to cut felt and fabric, but had never tried until recently. That is what was so nice about my little getaway across the border - time to play around with things that I don't normally take the time to do. Donna had tried cutting fabric straight up with the Cuttlebug and it didn't work. At one of the quilt shops we shopped at during our trip, we asked for a recommendation for a bonding agent to stiffen the fabric. It is of the iron-on sort - I tried it and it worked! Hooray - so glad I know the Cuttlebug can do that!

This is also the first time I had tried out the Spica pens - so fun! I must have gold and silver for sure! And lastly, I tried out the Sharpie poster-paint marker - recommended by Krista over at A Teacher's Stress Relief. Thanks Krista for tipping us off to this! :) Oh, and do check out what her hubby got her for their Anniversary - a very smart man - and I hear he came up with the idea all by himself!!!

Cheers for now,

Shanna :)

What I used:

stamps: Magnolia, Amy R sentiments

papers: black Bazzill, CTMH colonial white, fabric

embellishments: Bella bling, SU ribbon, photo corners

coloring: R39, R89, E55, E57, E000, R000, spica gold, Sharpie Poster paint - extra-fine point on cheeks

Farewell

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend!

I wanted to let you know that last Sunday was my last official day as a Paper Sundaes girl. I am still so honored to have been invited to be part of the original team and had so much fun participating over the course of the last seven months. I decided that the time to depart was right since we had a call out for a few new DT members and WOW, do we ever have some wonderful new additions to the team! I thought I'd supply all their links here so that you can drop by and give them some love.

Fiona

France

Nana

Pattie

Wendy

All the best to the new gals and the remaining original members - enjoy! I will now be posting my cards for Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge on Sundays rather than Mondays. I actually cut fabric for tomorrow's card with my cuttlbug! I am so happy to know how to do this now!


Shanna :)

Travel Mugs

I've been meaning to share these for some time now. I really wanted to showcase some of my boy's artwork with this. Pickle Pants drew Super Mario Bros and Chester colored in the stamped images. Both of the boys love Super Mario - I found a t-shirt at Target for Pickle Pants while on my trip across the boarder - he loved it - "Just what I always wanted" was how it went. Score!

The one on the left was made several years ago, the one of the right more recently for Father's Day, but I figured I may as well photograph them both. I simpy kept forgetting to photograph them and whenever I thought about it, they were sitting dirty in the sink. (Yes indeed, there are dirty dishes in my sink - often!)

Truth be told, I actually use these a little more often than hubby, but neither of us are coffee drinkers so we don't do drive-thru on a regular basis. More often than not, you will find peppermint tea in mine - hubby, it will be strong green tea maybe mixed with a flavored tea bag like blueberry. He likes it strong - as in leave the bag in all day long, ick! I prefer my tea weak and a little sweet. How about you? Coffee or tea?

Enough rambling for now...but don't you think these make fantastic gifts? Especially if you have coffee drinkers on your list. One word of advice - do not do too many layers - they won't fit! I had to peel a layer off of my last one. Oh and in case you haven't seen these, I bought my most recent one at Starbuck's. The first was purchased at my LSS, but her wholesaler no longer carries them as far as I know. Am I right Donna?

Cheers to a fantastic weekend!

Shanna :)

World's Best Dad

Happy Thursday! Thanks for stopping by.

I know, Father's Day???!! I was looking for something on my desktop and found this card that I forgot to post awhile back, so thought I might as well share it now.
I kept it simple in order to showcase the fun papers.

The sentiment on the front is from Stampendous (2005).

Have a groovy day!

Shanna :)

George's wanderings....

Good morning....

I thought I'd share a couple more pictures of what George was up to across the boarder.....

George was star struck when we visited LegoLand and Mall of America because Woody was there!!
I have a post scheduled with a read card for tomorrow and another project I've been meaning to share for Friday.

Have a good one!

Shanna :)

Hello!

Hello!
Happy Tuesday! Although I am very much looking forward to vacation, the list of things to do before leaving is so very long - urgh, packing and un-packing is not so much fun! Although I will be away and will not have any internet services, I do have some posts scheduled. I will have to catch up with my visiting when I return.

Here is one of the cards I made during my getaway. Another quickie made with the panels my Ma picked up at a yard sale! Though you can't really see it, I stitched around the leaves with my sewing machine to give some detail.

I also played with Donna's Distrezz It All! What a fantastic little tool! I definitely recommend it if you are doing a lot of distressing. I also decided it would be great for relieving stress since it makes a bit of noise!

The rest is pretty self-explanatory.

I am also entering this card in the challenge over at Everything But the Kitchen Sink which is to use Buttons.

Cheers,
Shanna :)

Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge - Non-Christmas Image

Good morning and Happy Holiday Monday for those who are lucky enough to have it off!

We spent yesterday on the lake with some friends. It was fun, but we are exhausted! Stay tuned for "adventures at the lake "or maybe "adventures in tubing" and probably some photos as well! They even convinced me to get on the tube!!!

On to my card - the challenge this week at Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge is to use a non-traditional Christmas image on your card. I admit, this one had me stumped for a bit, but Donna happened to have Chloe along with her on our MN escape, and thought she would be well suited as non-Christmas but would work nicely, so voila!

The difficulty I had with this card was the large amount of white space. In retrospect, I probably should have cut her out, but since I didn't, I got out my spritzer tool from SU and added a little bit of a "snowstorm" to the white space to go with the flakes in the DP. I think it helped.

It was fun to use such a fun pallette of colours on this one and I thoroughly enjoyed putting stickles on the heart on the scooter and on her helmet! I took the close-up in hopes of being able to show the sparkle!

And here is the inside.

I am also going to enter my card over at Little Red Wagon where the challeng is "Christmas in July."

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and hope you can play along with us this week!

Cheers,

Shanna :)

What I used:

stamps: Chloe on Scooter (Sparkle Creations), sentiment - Amy R

papers: CTMH
embellishments: Bella Bling, embroidery floss, Xmas Red Stickles
copics: R83, R85, R24, R26, R46, YR23, YR31, BG18, BG72, E00, T3, T4, T5, C00

Enjoy Life - Paper Sundaes Stitching Challenge

This week's challenge at Paper Sundaes is Stitching! Our sponsor this week is Belles & Whistles. Stop by and check out their beautiful stamps! Their images are just fantastic!

I tried a little different ribbon treatment on this card, making my bow in two pieces and glue-dotting it together. I like it because it has a bit different look, but took some fussing to put together so I don't see me doing it this way often.

Sure hope you can join us this week - dust off those sewing machines or pull out your stitching stamps or embroidery floss - let's see your stitches!

Cheers,
Shanna :)


What I used:

stamp: Belles & Whistles, sentiment is from August SOM from CTMH - Something Splendid
papers: CTMH - Let's Get Together
embellishments: SU ribbon - the new stuff, CTMH button, embroidery floss
copics: YG63, E43, E44, E55, E04, E09, E57, E59, 0, B00, B21, C00, Y11, Y13, E00, YR0000