My GHL Retreat layouts

Greenhill Lake Retreat

I was so lucky to get a chance to attend the fabulous scrap retreat put on by A Pile of Scrap. We had a wonderful time. When someone else cooks your food, cleans the dishes, and lets you scrap all day long- it is pretty much heaven!! I met some of my APOS forum friends in person and met a few other new ones. I learned new techniques and managed to get 16 pages done and decorated a hat box. FUN!

Boston and the Jonas Brothers

We traveled to Portland by car and took the train to Boston. We arrived there on Thursday and had a wonderful time and weather. The concert was Saturday and was really very impressive. I am making a circle tin scrapbook for the girls and including a DVD with all the videos and pictures I took at the concert along with the accordion scrapbook. I am really excited to get them done. I put a collage of pics on the outside bottom and the JB insignia on the top. Will post pics soon!

Scrapbuilders

This was a scrapbuilder challenge from APOS for May 2009. A scrapbuilder is like the game GOSSIP or TELEPHONE where you pass on the message and compare the last message to the first and see how much it changed. I used some older pics of my girl.

This is the scrapbuilders for June 2009.

She left for camp...

on Sunday. Dh took me shopping in Maine and out to supper. I will miss her so very much but hope to get lots of scrapbooking done!

The resilience of children!!!

So dd woke up Friday/Saturday morning at 1 am sick to her stomach. She was up at 6 am pumped to go to the Swim Meet since her events were not until the third set of swims and she would be better by then. So we went and she was far from herself but still managed to get second place in her butterfly and IM and in two relays.

Happy Birthday Canada!

Our awesome community had tons and tons of kid friendly activities and the rain held off for most of it.

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Chemgirl over at APOS issued a challenge...

and I went for it!
Create a layout that has...
* 3 photos
* one circle element
* three different patterned papers
* You must use the colors red, orange and turquoise.
* three brads or three buttons.
* one piece of ribbon (I know you all have it! But how many of you use it???)

The drought

Ok, so I had all this time- vacation, dd at a sleepover -and nothing. No mojo for scrapping. I had pics, sketches, challenges, new papers- and I just looked at them and shuffled them and walked away....SIGH!
This morning I was adamant I was doing a layout and.... I DID! Simple and plain but done!!!

My partner in crime!!!

My dd had a sleepover at a friend's house today at 3 pm and she was packed, dressed and ready at 7:30!!! LOL! So we decided to work on her purple scrapbook that she won at an auction at my parents' church. She was cutting and using the cricut like a pro! I love seeing her create and be so proud! It was great!

Miss her already BUT dh and I have plans for a movie, wine and munchies!

Another Cricut Lover in the House!

My darling daughter who is 9- got the cricut bug. She had a blast designing Father's Day cards for her dad, and two grandfathers! She is a pro now. So great to watch!

She had a wonderful first day of summer vacation. Great fun with the sitter, swim team practice and playing!

Tomorrow is the last day with the kids.....

...I will miss the 8s moving on to the high school. I am really excited to see the 6s and 7s again next year. My girl had a great grade 3 and is growing up too fast!

Sunshine and splashing....

That is what tonight was about with my girl. Tomorrow our students are doing it all day long for our summer celebration- BBQ, tennis, volleyball, swimming, floor hockey and softball! Can't wait!

I can see the finish line....

...this is it. THE LAST WEEK OF CLASSES! The kids are wired- especially the grade 8s! We are finishing up our projects and trying to keep them focussed. Easier said than done. Thank goodness it is sunny so they can get out at lunch and burn off some of the energy. Last week with inside recesses was PAINFUL!
I am frantically finishing up my marking and chasing students who keep "forgetting" their things.

CARTRIDGE MANIA

Stretch Your Imagination
Storybook
Lyrical Letters
Doodlecharms
Hellow Kitty Greetings

And no time to play! DD had her last swimming lesson, a gymnastic show and we had a good friend's 40th birthday all on Saturday. Sunday my folks came for a visit and we had a lot of cleaning to do before they arrived late afternoon. DD helped a ton! She is quite the little lady!!

My Cricut Expression

My wonderful DH convinced me to add a new member to our family- A CRICUT EXPRESSION!!! I have not had a lot of time to play with it but I love what I have had a chance to do with it so far. I am really learning a lot from THE PINK STAMPER. She is amazing and is a great teacher. I recommend checking it out if you have a cricut or just want to see what the Cricut can do.

Thanks Ice!

Well, I have been petrified to cross over to the blog side- as much as I love reading them! I feel too untalented or insignificant to warrant one....HOWEVER- I have decided to take the plunge with the help of my friend icecheeks- designer extraordinaire- who I have to thank for this great background!

I went to a super card class put on by Jodi of Stampin Up on Saturday. Seven cards and tons of new ideas later I am so excited to get into stamping . Amazing how little things can make something stand out so much- stickles, folding the card a new way, etc....