Be happy & more

Some recent layouts.

I found this round polka dot paper when I was at Archivers over the 4th of July and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Not sure who makes it though.

I adhered two pieces of patterned Cosmo Cricket paper back-to-back and then created the pinwheels.

PRODUCT:Making Memories puffy alpha, American Crafts Thickers, Cosmo Cricket Hello Sunshine,Felt ribbon,Buttons,Creative Imaginations journaling spot

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Photo from the 4th of July. My friend Casie gave me some of the Maya Rd. sequin trim last week at our monthly crop and I couldn't wait to use it!

I took one sheet of die cut paper and trimmed it in two. The right hand side I covered with patterned paper.

Both were completed for challenges over at ScrapFreak.

Our weekend

We had a nice, mellow weekend at home. After being gone the last 2 weekends it was nice to relax in town. Friday night we went out for a traditional Friday Night Fish Fry at the Hiawatha. Darn good fish!
Bennet has a thing for kiddie cocktails. She likes to order them herself. Something about a 3 1/2 yr. old ordering a cocktail. We should have called them Shirley Temples. Too late now!

Saturday we went to the Farmers Market. Nick spent all day Saturday building the girls a park in the backyard. He mapped out the space, layed the brick, ground cover and put mulch on the top. The sandbox is new and they love it!! He put alot of time into it. Thank you Nick!! The girls are so excited!!



Sunday we relaxed at home and took in a Wausau Woodchucks game at night. The weather was perfect for a ballgame, cold beer and hot dogs at the ball park.

We're getting good at the self-portraits :)

Paper Popsicles Blog Hop

Paper Popsicles is having it's first ever blog hop, so you'll be asked to hop from blog to blog featuring yummy eye candy with a summer theme...and of course what's eye candy without a little blog candy...so just leave a comment before you hop along to the next blog and you just might pick up a prize!!!

Each blog will feature a secret word...these words needs to be collected and then put together to form a phrase. This phrase will then need to be emailed to paperpopsicles@gmail.com by Sunday night, July 12 at midnight Central time to be eligible for our grand prize.

So......lets get started!!!

If you are joining me from Tricia's blog great...you are hopping right along...if you just stumbled upon my blog...you won't want to miss a thing, so hop on over to the Paper Popsicles blog to get you started.

This is a quick, inexpensive alternative to a live bouquet. It could serve as a centerpiece or get-well gift. I gave my creation to the nursing staff at St. Clare's as a thank you when I had Scout. You could use stars instead for a patriotic 4th of July display.

Supplies-

Wooden pencil holder box

Styrofoam floral insert

Wooden Skewers

Paper & Embellies

Instructions-

1. I covered the wooden box with paper but you could paint or decoupage it as well.

2. I inserted the floral foam into the box and covered it with paper. You could use marbles, rocks or candy instead of the floral foam.

3. Cut your flowers. I think Paper Popsicles June Mini Kit- Skipping Along (20% off) or Paper Popsicles May Kit- Vanilla would be perfect for this. I cut my flowers by hand but you could use your Cricut/Wishblade/Silhouette.

4. Attach the skewers to the back of the flower. I used transparent tape but you could stitch them together too.

5. Insert the skewers into the foam as you want the arranged.

6. Give your gift and wait for the oooh's & aaahhhh's!

• Did you know that the Paper Popsicles blog features a new card challenge every Wednesday? Did you know that every month we have weekly theme challenges hosted on our message board?



• Did you know that we have a monthly sketch challenge?



• Did you know that we hold auditions each month for our next guest designer....details can be found on our message board!!!



• Have you seen the kits in the store?



• Did you see there is one main kit, two mini-kits, and a card kit each month?



• Have you been over to see the design team and guest designer's galleries to see their amazing work done with the fabulous products offered in the Paper Popsicles store?

now...for my secret word...it is THROUGH before you hop on over there...be sure to leave me a comment here so you are entered into the drawing here on my blog....

next...be sure to keep on hopping and collecting words for your secret phrase by checking out Jen's blog next...

don't forget to send an email with the secret phrase to paperpopsicles@gmail.com at the end of the blog hop....and good luck!

Home is where the Heart Is

Here are some recent layouts I made about houses. I would like to do this for the 2 houses in Elk River too. Someday. :)

Our current house. When we were looking for houses we thought we wanted a 2 story. We pulled up to this house and Nick didn't even want to look at it. I'm glad we did. We went from engaged with 1 cat to married with 2 cats to bringing one baby home to bringing another baby home. This house has been good to us in 6 years.
One day this past spring I was in Eau Claire for work. I spent 4 incredible, memory filled years at UWEC (Univ. of Wisconsin- Eau Claire). I drove around town and took photos of the 6 dorms/houses I lived in during my 4 years there. I lived in some places as short as 1 month (Rented Melissa's room at 110 Broadway) and others a full year. Did some machine stitching around the edges and in between the paper strips. The addresses are listed above each photo.

Friday Fill Ins

1. When I heard that Michael Jackson's funeral cost LA taxpayers $1.4M I remembered why I don't live there (among other reasons).

2. Laughter & chick flicks are the best medicine.

3. It's late, but huh? I don't do late.

4. A camera is in my purse, always.

5. My eyes have seen the production lines of Oscar Mayer and I still eat hot dogs and bologna.

6. I strongly suggest you check out the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich. So funny.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to going to the Hot Air Balloon Glow, tomorrow my plans include working in the yard and perhaps setting up the tent for a Campout and Sunday, I want to well I don't want to, but I should do laundry/clean!

WooHoo Wednesday (July 8, 2009)

This week for WooHoo Wednesday we went to Marathon Junction to ride the train. Bennet gets a kick out of it. I notice she usually looks over the side instead of ahead of her.

Need to edit this photo since it's a little dark but I'm too lazy today :)

This is such a classic Scout look. "Huh? What am I seeing? Where are we going? Let me see!!"

After the train ride we played at the park. I was reminded of an awesome post my friend Mary made about "Park Mom's" on her blog. My kids are by no means perfect but they are far from bratty. There was a little girl there yesterday who was a text book brat. Bossy, prissy, pushy and spoiled rotten. Did Mom/Grandma do anything? Of course not! Did I? You betcha!

And a photo of me wearing my Leinenkugel's hat. I looked at this photo last night and noticed some more laugh/smile lines around my eyes. I'm embracing them. They are a sign that I've had a fun, laughter filled life so far. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Random side note. Earlier today I was thinking to myself, "Someday I'll be able to go to the bathroom by myself. Someday I won't have baby gates everywhere. Someday I won't have to change a diaper blowout. Someday I won't have to spend 1/2 hour explaining to a 3 year old the response to her "why mom?". Then as we were walking to the car from the park yesterday I was holding hands with both girls. One on each side. That's when I thought to myself, someday I am going to miss all those things. And with every day-to-day thing that drives me a little bonkers there is an equally awesome thing that makes me happy. Walking to the car holding hands with my girls.

4th of July in Elk River

Happy 4th of July. The 4th is one of my favorite holidays. Every year we celebrate with my family in Elk River.

This year we had the chance to go to MarketFest in White Bear Lake. Every Thursday in the summer they block off the streets downtown and have vendors/food and music. The whole family was able to make it. Even Megan was in town from Albuquerque Bennet had her first pony ride. She was so excited. She kept saying, "Mom- that's a pony!! I'm going to ride it. I'm so excited". I love her holding her hand to her mouth/cheeks in anticipation. Her pony even had a glittery heart on it's bum which she got a giggle out of.

We spent Friday hanging out at Mom & Dad's, riding the pontoon, getting pedicures.

This is my adorable niece Molly Jo. Her Dad took this amazing photo of her. Don't you just want to eat her up?
Now onto the big day.

Making homemade ice cream.

Mom & Dad
This is my Dad lighting sparklers with a blow torch. As my sister Katie said, "If you've met him you get it" :)

I can't wait for next year!!