Decor Elements Applications

I'm really enjoying these Decor Elements (vinyl clings) from Stampin' Up!

The first 2 I received I put up on my wall over my stamp room window.

I used one of the Manhattan Flowers and then cut up the Create Definition to apply it in a straight line rather than the way it came.


I just got this one (Flower Finesse) as a Hostess Reward and I applied (cut it into 2 first) on my unmounted stamp binders.

What's New?

August 12, 2008

You might be wondering why the old blog has been kind of quiet lately.

I have to tell you that I just got back from our annual family vacation in Parksville on Vancouver Island BC.

We had a fantastic time and the weather was wonderful!

The kids ran around like wild things in their bare feet and bathingsuits and I had no idea where they were half the time. The other half of the time they were in and around our unit with a gangload of kids from other units raiding our fridge and just "hanging out".

My hubby had a chance to golf 3 times, took our boy twice with him and me and the girl shopped Coombs Market for "stuff". The guys also went fishing with my brother-in-law and nephews who live over there.

I had the opportunity to check out 2 craft stores while I was there and both times ALONE!! I can't tell you what a treat that was!

The first place I went to was Crafty Capers in Lantzville. I was so excited to be going to Lantzville and I'm sure everyone thought I was nuts - I couldn't help mentioning that on Tuesday I'd be going to Lantzville whenever I mentioned our plans to anyone.

Victoria was so sweet and showed me around her tiny store which was jammed packed with all kinds of goodies! TONS of stamps, inks, glitter, stencils and IDEAS!!! She generously explained how some of her cards were made and we talked about dogs - a lot.

She was expecting me because I had called her a week or so before to find out if she could get something for me. I was over the moon when she told me she could and it arrived just before we got to the Island!

I was "Jones-ing" for a specific Dreamweaver stencil that I could not find anywhere - except in the US and the one site I found would not ship to Canada!

I bought a TON of stuff from her (stamps, stencils, and Spellbinders!) which I'll be sharing with you at some point in the future.

I don't post photos of my purchases anymore - would you like to see photos of stuff like that? Let me know...

The other store I went to was Scrapbookin' Adventures in Parksville. I snuck out to this one while I was supposedly "grocery shopping". Good thing it's right near the Thrifty's!

Scrapbookin' Adventures is a small store (or so I thought) and completely different from Crafty Capers (mostly scrapbooking hence the name - duh!).

Jennifer showed me around the retail space and then into another area of the store where the classroom space is. WOW - what a space they have there - with all the latest tools! It's very deceiving because it's a house converted into a store.

She has a great selection of patterned papers and was unloading a shipment of Halloween and Christmas stuff that I'm sure will be snatched up long before those holidays! I bought some felt die cuts, a punch and some Thickers for my girl who loves them!

If you ever find yourself on Vancouver Island and have time to kill be sure to check out these 2 fabulous stores!

Puppy News...

The puppies were born last Wednesday and our new "boy" will be arriving sometime at the end of September.

We can hardly wait!!

But now comes the hardest part for us....

Agreeing on what to name him?

Both dogs are Irish Soft Coated Wheaton Terriers and our older dog is named Sam.

My husband is set on Max, I like Rory, my daughter likes River (so they'd be Sam & River - sounds like Salmon River!) and my son likes Piper.

Other names we're considering - Guiness, Mac, Flynn, Kona, Finlay, Quincy, Rufus and Brody.

Any suggestions from you all out in Blogland?

Exciting News!!!

I'm so excited - we're waiting for our new Wheaton puppy to be born this week!!

We won't actually have him in the house for a while yet and you can be sure I'll post photos as soon as he arrives!

The new puppy is coming from the same breeder that we got our dog from 8 years ago, they are the same breed and the dad is the same as our dog's.

So they'll be STEPBROTHERS just like Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly!!

Now we just have to break it gently to our 8 year old puppy that he has a little brother coming...

Any tips or advice from anyone who's introduced a puppy into a household with another dog before?

I know I HATE it too!

I haven't been posting much - I've been soooo busy with the kids' activities lately but I have a few more posts for today.

So please stayed tuned!

I really hate my blog layout right now but don't have the time to change it. Hopefully over the next few days, after I get all my photos uploaded, I can play with it and change the layout again.

Please bear with me...

How many bears???

We are now back from our weekend away at Whistler. It was mix of sun and rain (at times heavy) and very cold up there.

The cabin we stayed in was very lovely and comfortable. We had the furnace turned on and the fireplace going - it even had floor heating in the tiled areas!



We ate out a lot (even tried Fondue one night),



shopped (I got a new bathingsuit),



hiked (got lost in the pouring rain!) below is a photo of us after we took off our rain jackets,

soaked in the backyard hot tub,

and had a really nice home cooked Turkey dinner on the Sunday. Home cooked by my hubby that is!



But I have to say that the highlight of the trip was seeing the BEARS!! We thought there might be some bears around because we kept seeing little piles like this:

Another big clue was all the WARNING SIGNS!

But we did NOT expect to see any up close - But OH YES - we saw 3 bears on 3 separate occasions.



This first bear was eating berries in a tree at the corner of a busy street. Directly below him is a walkway and people were just walking by nonchalantly - that is until they noticed the bear!

The second bear we saw was right in the backyard! My daughter and I were sitting by the glass sliders when I saw the bear meandering by the backyard so I yelled BEAR! My daughter screamed in shock and wouldn't you know the bear turned around and looked at us!

The third bear was just strolling through the backyard again checking out what the last bear left. Yes there were lots of bear droppings - in the backyard!

The amazing thing is that there are paved walkways right beside where these bears were just strolling by. A lot of cars stopped to look at the bears but most of the hikers and especially those with dogs turned around and just avoided the bears.









And for those of who who have been reading my blog for a while I just want to say that I did NOT bring home any baby bears!









All in all it was a very relaxing weekend - No time for stamping but I've got a few classes coming up and I'll be stamping some samples up this week.

Going Away....

I'm working today and then we're off for a long weekend getaway so I won't be posting anything over the next few days.

Have a great weekend and if you're Canadian - Happy Thanksgiving!