Happy Birthday Brian

Keeping it up again tonight. Tomorrow we're going out for supper to celebrate my step-brother-in-laws 15th birthday. Yup, he's getting up there! We're going to the Keg, and I already know I'm having prime rib; I can't wait for that meat to melt in my mouth, and the buttery potatoes to be eaten like soup! I've been thinking about it all day, and can hardly stand it!

So, I thought I had better get to making a card for Brian, since it's the only time before tomorrows supper to be able to make it. I think every card I've made him has involved some sort of game animal on it. I've made lots with just cut out deer heads, glued to the paper. So, this one I wanted to be a little bit different. I looked through my scraps, and found that usual sheet, but veered away from it. I found a brown base, a stripped paper with brown and blues in it, and a textured cream paper. Then I looked through my new (read recently purchaed, lots of these papers were in the clearance section at my local store) patterened paper and found a travel themed page with signs on it. Deer, check; fishing, check; added bonus, cow; perfect. And I started putting it all together.

I actually really like how this card came together and find it interesting to look at. I still find it more difficult making "man" cards than soft, pretty, girly cards, but I'm working through it. It's sure helpful that theres lots of manufacturers out there making manly products now, even if that's not the use they were intended for!

I Think The Curse Is Over

Guess what I did when I got home from work this evening? I scrapbooked. Plus, I completed the layout, and really like the page I created! It's the first time in a while where I didn't agonize over every little detail, I accepted my ideas, and saw them though. I'm kind of proud of myself actually.

Somehow getting out camping this weekend with my family kick started my desire to scrapbook. I was planning how I was going to do that page while taking the photos. The juices were flowing through my brain, and it was addictive! I didn't really want to stop at Walmart tonight to print off those pictures (it was raining out), so I scrapped the photo that's been on my desk for a couple months now.

On your next layout: create a page based off of a sketch. (And to save even more time use a sketch you saw on a website).

While browsing blogs this afternoon, I found a sketch that I really liked on the Studio Calico website. I really liked the clean "white space" area on the left side of the layout. Because of the white space (or maybe the other way around), everything is justaposed to the right. I never make a page that is right-aligned. I prefer doing it on the left.

I looked at my list of layouts to be completed, and couldn't think of any that had the three vertical photos, like the sketch suggests, so I thought I'd just use one 5x7 in there place. Sketches are meant to be interpreted, altered and changed to fit what products, photos and items you want and have at hand to use.

For the journalling, I used a section of the Studio Calico fab rips. I was a little concerned at how it would handle my pen ink, but it worked wonderfully, and nicely held my writting.

Although I really like the "white space" that comes from everything being on the right side of the page, I felt it wasn't really me, and added a little something to the space.

I'm also really liking the collage technique still, and tried that again, of course on the left side. This is still something I'm working at getting better at, any hints or tips?

I wanted to keep the flower the same on my layout from the sketch, and used it to help hide part of Justin's shirt logo. (It was red lettering that I found distracting.)

Journalling says: With temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees we couldn't have asked for better camping weather. Justin and I enjoyed the sunshine and spent most of the time outside on our lawnchairs (we both ended up burnt). We spent both nights talking around the campfire and Sunday we celebrated Brent's birthday (even Grandma Bea came out). It was great to get away just the two of us!

There we go, the first Monday Challenge in quite some time. Don't forget to leave a link to your layout using the challenge.

July "Long" Weekend

We're back from our family camping weekend. Basically the "campout" of the year; technically we're not having one because our wedding lands in summer (the first of family wedding that's been in the summer time - the others have been in November and October), and nobody wanted to have two major trips just to spend time with family.

Everyone really wished the weather would have been nicer. I made a frozen vodka slush that I thought would cool us off when we were sunbathing in our lawn chairs; that's not exactly how that picture ended up! Oh well, we did enjoy them, in our hoodies and jackets! (The cups are from our first trip to Las Vegas, they work really well for camping!)

For Grandpa Pearse's funeral, there was a slide show put together of his children, and grandchildren. Justin and I went to Walmart to print some photos off the card of him, and a couple of us. Well, trying to find a picture of him was a little difficult. I made him promise to not complain anymore when I make him smile for the camera - that's exactly the reason I take photos, scrapbook and document our life; for others to see what we did, what we looked like, and how we were. I did have to remind him of that when I tried to take this picture, but look how good it turned out!

What is our camping trips without some yummy deep-fried food. We had deep fried turkey, french fries, and homemade onion rings.

Saturday afternoon, we got everything ready for the surprise birthday celebrations. There was a picnic shelter, that we decorated with a "Who's Got Birthday" banner (how my dad wrote it on a sign a couple years ago for my mum and I, and he's never going to live it down) and ballons, then ussured the 50 year olds, and have them sit down for the party to start. My dad and Thom were really

When Brittany and Kas were down last weekend, they talked about some skits that we were going to preform, little mockeries of my dad's and Thom's lives. Little memories of funny events that we all remember, that we talk about still, and always make us laugh. Kas was the only one that brought the script along, so Brittany was having me read the lines of "Steph," a female that had her car into my dad's shop, and she'd write them on a paper to use as her new script. After reading her a few lines, she asked if I wanted do that skit; she liked how I acted the part. So, I got promoted to a new part!

That skit was about Steph, a naive female that had her car in to be worked on. My dad was trying to be sly, and try and up-sell a whole bunch of services that were not needed, aren't real, and could never happen. (I'd like to say he never prays on women, he'd never do this because he's an honest man). For instance, the halogen fluid needed to be replaced in her headlights; the left side tires somehow got on the right side of the car, and vice versa; and while she was parked somewhere, the transmission disappeared, and she needed not just one, but two! What made it even funnier - the fact that I'm a parts technician, but I played the part pretty convincinly - you could say I have a lot of material to draw upon!

The second skit was about a pile of funny moments that happened to the both of them: my mum betting Thom that he couldn't eat a whole one pound burger; my dad being afraid of a mouse, and my mum video taping the instance when he tried to open a cupboard to see if the mouse was inside; Thom killing a gopher on a campout two years ago in Drumheller (also the same campout that my appendix was removed); my dad making the "Who's Got Birthday" sign; my dad commenting that a certain potato looked like a seal (arr, arr, arr), a granade, and a perky lady; Thom warming his bum on the campfire, falling and forgetting the sequence of "Stop, Drop and Roll"; then they just sat around the fire, Thom saying how his garage was having to get moved in order to fit their new trailer in their yard, and my dad falling asleep, but Thom just telling the story just as if he was awake! Both my dad and Thom were laughing so hard they were crying from the skits! I think they were both actually surprised, so we'll call it a successful birthday celebration.

Then came present time. This moose sang a song, moved his mouth and wagged his ears along to the rhythm.

This hat came along with a bag of goodies for camping.

My mum got them both rubber oven mitts that have the index finger separate from the "mitt" part. Apparently 50 is not too old for horsing around. They both took the boxes and were hitting each other over the head with them.

Then just random goofiness.

Even with the weather not co-operating, we still had a fantastic time. Spending time with family can not be over-rated. It's when memories are made, giving more material for more skits!

I Want One Of These

Yesterday was Canada Day, so we headed out camping Wednesday night. My mum reserved a group site about an hour outside of town, and rounded up family to come camp with us. She also made it more exciting by combining two brithdays into the weekend also, and surprise birthdays at that! Oneof my uncles, Thom, and my dad both turned 50 earlier this year (Thom in March and my dad's birthday was just on June 13). Saturday night is when the birthday events will take place: there's going to be a skit, deepfried turkey, french fries, salads, and even a BBQ'd cake!

I had to work today, so Justin and I came back into town last night, and spent the night at home. It's a little unusual to camp one night, then come home, then camping for another couple nights. On Wednesday I coined the term "first Friday." Today is the second Friday, I guess the real Friday. I can't wait to get back out, into the fresh air tonight, and see more of my family!

So, my cousin's son, Tyson, is simply the cutest little boy EVER! I was at the hospital shortly after he was born, and saw him in NICU, when he was hooked up to the machines, and fell in love with him. He's the first grandchild on my side of the family, and is a wee bit spoiled, but rightfully so!

My aunt and uncle, Tyson's grandparents always buy him new toys; this time they bought him an inflatable pool. It was a bit cool out and a little overcast yesterday, so my mum got out her Coleman water heater, to heat up the water to bath temperature for him to swim in. Amanda tried to get him to change into his swim suit, but Tyson was having no part of that. There he was splashing away in his pool, with warm water, in his clothes.

Amanda's pregnant again, (she's the cutest little preggo!) due at the begining of August, but is having a schedualed C-section at the end of July (she had a few complications with Tyson). I'm really hoping that this baby is a girl, although I would not complain with another little boy in the family! Amanda and Aaron have no ideas for names for the new baby, so there was a paper going around yesterday.

I can't wait until Justin and I have children of our own. I'll be dressing them up in cute clothes, making them look cute, and snapping a million photos. It's a couple years away for us, but something we're both really looking forward too!

Chelsey - Avert Your Eyes!

All I can say, is this is a step in the right direction. That direction is headed straight to creativity and scrapbooking once again. I always write the date I completed a layout on the back side of the paper, and it turns out it's been since May 17 - that's almost 2 months now! Wow, I really need to get back on track, my ever-running list of pages is getting a bit overwhelming!

Okay, so this past Friday was my stagette, and Saturday was my bridal shower (photos to come in the next few days). I cannot believe how much those three girls (not to mention a couple cousins and aunts) did for me! The planning, time, creativity, money - they blew me away! Immediately after Brittany and Kas left for home late Saturday night, I told Justin I needed to find a nice way to thank them - right away. Tonight I started working on that plan - I made cards for my maid of honor and two bridesmaids. (Tomorrow night I plan on making thank you cards for my shower guests, and I'll do a post about those too!)

Inspiration for these cards came from this card by Cindy Lee. I was snooping through her blog earlier today, and really loved the shape that came by rounding the edges of two opposite corners. I knew exactly how I wanted my cards to look, and they came together perfectly.

Before I started on those cards, I assembled our wedding invitations. Inevitably something will go wrong, when we started working on how we wanted our invitations to look (with a local printing company), we were told once we decided and okay'd the final design, they'd take about 2-3 days to print. Well, turns out it took a day less than two weeks. Our RSVP reply-by-date was July 1st. Well, seeing as how we didn't get the invitations back until June 25, that didn't leave us much time. Justin complained about the problem, and they re-printed the RSVP card for us. Now they say July 15th - making me much happier (and less stressed).

I was very much a little factory tonight. It took me a bit to determine what the best steps were to glue a pocket on the inside of the invitations, but once I figured that out, I was on a roll! Once completed, the invitations were lined up on the table, making them easier to count. After I was all done, it was a little bit eery looking at all of them lined up:

Tomorrow I need to find some clear circle stickers to hold the flap closed, then they can get off the table, get mailed out, and stop creeping me out!

The Last Two Weeks

Let me start with the weekend of the 11, 12, 13 - also known as Justin's stag/camping adventure. Leading up to that weekend, he was the busiest person around, packing this, finding that. I barely saw him that week at all. Him and a friend (Lincoln) had an idea for awhile to make a toilet to go into the reciever of the trailer hitch; Justin decided he needed this invention for his stag, and got at making it (have I mentioned he's a jouneymen welder); aptly named the "Hitch n Shit:"

Then, they (Justin, his cousin/best man, two groomsmen, and Sheldon) were all off to the mountains to enjoy and celebrate manhood, and his freedom. They headed off into the wilderness, packing their guns, bow and arrows, a block of peat moss, a cooler of beer, and some food.

I couldn't believe when I saw this picture, the snow that's still on the mountains is pretty unreal. Justin did say they were up really high though.

I have learned something about the oposite sex with this batch of pictures that came back: picture taking is not a top priority of theres. My stagette is this Friday, and I just know there'll be some pretty crazy pictures, mostly of people (you know the point the camera at arms length and huddle together photos), and the crazy shinanigans that come with being a bride-to-be. Gauranteed I'll have more pictures than Justin came home with of his stag!

So, Sheldon cannot be explained. He is just someone that needs to be experienced to understand him! Seriously! He just bought a brand new lawn chair for that weekend, and he ended up ripping the arm fabric, and then it ended up in the fire.

Then last week happened. Justin and I got a call on Tuesday around noon that his Grandpa had a heart attack, and was in ICU. We both left work, to be with him, and find out what exactly happened. Long story short, it was a bit of a rollercoaster of a week, waiting to find out test results, waiting by the phone - hoping it wouldn't ring with bad news. Then Thursday came. Grandpa Pearse lost his battle. We had family back over to our house after they left the hospital, which was really nice; reminiscing and remembering was exactly what we all needed.

Fast forward to yesterday. My work is participating in the Dragon Boat Festival held this weekend at a local lake. They've practiced a couple times now, and are improving drastically. Because my stagette/bridal shower are happening this weekend also, I'm a drylander (aka cheerleader/photo/video taker). So, last night I sat watching my co-workers practice with my General Managers dog in tow.

So, as you can see, blogging and scrapbooking - not so much a priority right now.