Cut 'n Paste

Back from our Holiday!

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” 

-Jawaharial Nehru

Last week saw Rick and I setting sail on an Alaskan cruise together with my parents and aunt and uncle.  We found an amazing deal on a last minute sailing and were thrilled when we were able to make it a family holiday. Almost 11 years ago exactly Rick and I went on an Alaskan cruise with his side of the family. It was, interestingly enough, on the same boat that we took for this cruise.  I can not recommend Celebrity cruises highly enough. They were such a pleasure to sail with, both the service and food was top-notch. We had the pleasure of stopping in Sitka, Juneau, Ketchikan and cruising around the Hubbard Glacier. While it was cool and often times misty/rainy, we were lucky in that the sun peaked out each time we were in port.

We made some wonderful memories with our family; laughed, relaxed, read, listened to music, walked, hot-tubbed, photographed, played games, ate, laughed some more and wouldn't trade the time we spent for anything. It was truly a fabulous, restful time.

If you sent me an email while I was gone, you should be receiving a reply soon as I am almost finished getting through them.

I hope you are each having a nice week.

Wee Duckie

(Supply List: Stamp: Amuse, Patterned paper: Making Memories, Cardstock: WorldWin, Bazzill and Stampin' Up!, Rhinestone: Melissa Frances, Markers: Copic, Metal rimmed tag: Avery, Ribbon: unknown)

Love this stamp and just had to whip up a little something with it.

I hope you're having a nice week!

For you

(Supply list: card base - Savvy Stamps, Patterned Paper: Melissa Frances, Stamp: Inkadinkado (flower) and Stampin' Up! (for you), Cardstock: WorldWin, Punch: Fiskars, Pearls: Melissa Frances, Markers: Copic, Tag: Avery)

A wee something to brighten your day *smile*

Quote for the week:

"Be of service. Whether you make yourself available to a friend or co-worker, or you make time every month to do volunteer work, there is nothing that harvests more of a feeling of empowerment than being of service to someone in need."

- Gillian Anderson

Thinking of You

I recently had the pleasure of working with the Country Living Summer Cookout Kit created by Stampin’ Up! The kit comes with everything you need to throw a simple and stylish summer bash with a handcrafted flare.

Included in the kit are unique invitations, fun food wrappers, food tents, customizable coasters, and much more. The Country Living Summer Cookout Kit retails for $24.95 (US) and is available June 15-August 31, 2009, or while supplies last. 

I enjoyed taking the contents of the kit and using them to do something a little different. I used one of the food wrappers to create a flower and used one of the place markers as a card base. Neat to see how you can take a kit and turn it into something different. 

I hope that each of you has a relaxing and peaceful Sunday.

Flickr Collage No. 8

 

1. Spring Pastels, 2. collections, 3. Untitled, 4. First Harvest, 5. Stash in a Muffin Tin, 6. beautiful bedrooms

Some bright, shabby filled photos from inspiring photographers on flickr. So thankful that they share their images with us.

Have a blessed day!

Live like you mean it...

(Supply list:Background - old ledger paper. Label: Melissa Frances. Butterfly and 'Live like you mean it: Stampin' Up!. Pears: Melissa Frances. Cardstock: World Win paper, Ribbon: May Arts. Other: sewing machine and white thread.)

My quote for the week:

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.” - Charles Swindoll

I just love you

Made for my sweetie, to celebrate our anniversary.

If I was doing it again, I would run the white cardstock (with the 'i just love you' stamped on it) all the way to the edges of the card. I think it kind of looks funny the way it is now :)

Jumieges, France

For the summer issue of the Canadian Scrapbooker, I wrote an article about scrapbooking vacation photos and this is one of the layouts from that feature. I honestly feel that sometimes we concentrate so much on adding stuff (embellishments) to layouts, that it can hinder the telling of a story. I had a lot to share about our visit to Jumieges Abbey, so the execution of the layout it more basic, with just a few special details.

As a side note, I first found out about the Abbey through a photo in the "Top 10 Normandy"  guidebook. After a bit of research, we decided that the Abbey was on our must-see list, and were able to plan a visit into our itinerary. Everyone thought it was an awesome and highly recommended place to visit. My dad and I (who are both into photography) really enjoyed taking artsy photos at the site. We stayed at a bed and breakfast about 3 minutes from the Abbey and virtually had it to ourselves in the morning. This layout only features a small portion of our images, but it gives a nice overview.

My favorites

Photo courtesy of Stampin' Up! 

Here's a short list of a few of the stamp sets from the new Stampin' Up!  catalog that I'm diggin':

• Lots of Bots: Item 115293 (below and finished samples above) 
• Framed with love: Item 114389 (below) 

 

• For all you do: Item 115360 (below)
• Woodgrain Background stamp: Item 117100 (below)

 

• Gallery: Item 113776
• Owl together now: Item 111534  

I am also really digging the following accessories and papers:

• INKS: the new IN-colors, especially Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay and Soft Suede.
• Moments & Milestones Simply Scrappin kit: Item 115694
• Razzelberry Lemonade Designer Series Paper: Item 115675  (pictured below)
• Photo corners Punch: Item 109042
• Finial Press Embossing folder: Item 115963     

( You may click on any image to open a larger version of it) 

 

Photo courtesy of Stampin' Up!

While I've been gone...

Image courtesy Stampin' Up! Samples feature the new in-colors

Thanks so much for your patience...life has been speeding by this summer and I took an unofficial break from the blog world for a bit. While I was gone so many things happened:

• Hubby and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary
• We enjoyed catching up with 2 different sets of out-of-town visitors 
• We researched and booked our summer holiday 
• The season began for our hometown football team - Go lions! 
• We almost burnt our house down (faulty wiring for our dryer - until it's fixed, I'm guessing I'll be knocking on my mom's door with laundry in hand!) 
• Rick's softball team went undefeated in their league year-end tournament.     

While it has been nice to sit back a bit from the blog and recharge, I've also missed the interaction with you all!

Creatively, I've been in a bit of a slow period. I've been trying to organize my craft room, and have been doing more thinking than doing these past few weeks. While I have completed a number of layouts, until they are published, I can't share them - sorry. As far as what's been driving my creative spirit this week, I definitely wanted to take a moment to let you know that Stampin' Up!  just released their 2009-2010 catalog yesterday. So excited about this! They have some great new stamps, and their new in-colors are fabulous. I'm especially partial to the Bermuda Bay and Melon Mambo! On Monday I'll share my favorite stamps from the catalog.

You can check out the new catalog here.