Product Challenge at Two Scrapbook Friends...

Two Scrapbook Friends has this great challenge every month. You purchase a product challenge kit and have to use the product to make a layout, upload it before the end of the month and you have a chance to win a prize. This really has helped me get at least one layout completed a month which for me is an accoplishment with everything that I try to get done in one month. Tks guys!! Enjoy!!

CPS Sketch 140

CPS is a great sketch challenge blog that I have wanted to participate in for many months but have been so busy. I committed myself this weekend but alas I was a little late. But that is OK; I got a great card done, nonetheless. Enjoy!!

Spooky...

Ain't he cute...This was last Halloween but it just fit with the paper perfectly!!! He was trying to be a 1980`s disco man but in my opinion he was just cute!!! This was a Product Challenge over at Two Scrapbook Friends. Enjoyed the challenge so much. ENJOY!!!

Pumpkin Patch...

Now that I have some time I thought I would share some pics with a recent visit to the Pumpkin Patch. It was a bright sunny Sundeay afternoon and the patch was very busy with everyone getting the best pumpkin they can find. It is such fun looking for that perfect pumpkin!!!

More Cards....

Had to share some more of the wonderful cards that I created using Graphic 4 papers. Really enjoyed working with this product.

World Card Making Day...

Hello all scrappy friends...Today is World Card Making Day. I was so excited today because I have found a new line of papers that I have just fallen in love with!!!! GRAPHIC 45!!! What a wonderful company and what whimsical, traditional papers. For my cards today I used the Botanicabella and Communique collections. Such fabulous paper. It inspired me greatly. The first card is for Two Scrapbook Friends Card Making Contest that they are having today. It is based on the following sketch from Page Maps. They offered 3 sketches and I choose the one below.

Lovin my mojo lately!!!!

I have finally been creating some of my own pages lately and so pleased with how they are turning out!!! This picture was given to me by my friend Christie. She had said that she loved this picture so much but did not know how to scrapbook it. So I offered to take it for her. That was a long time ago and I was ready to do it and the layout just came to me. The pciture was initially in color so I changed it to Sepia and then the ideas flowed. I sure hope she likes it!!


JUDY

Class for Peterborough...

Hello everyone...I am so excited to share with you a great class I am going to be teaching at the Go Scrapping Peterborough Retreat in October.

They are back....

I can hardly believe that I have 2 sons that are in Grade 6 and Grade 9. They are off this morning, very and excited and a little nervous. may you both have a great first day. You both make me very proud all the time and I know you will be successful in the forthcoming year. Just stop growing so fast please!!!

JARED

SIMON

THEY WILL NOT TAKE A NICE PICTURE TOGETHER!!!

LOVE MOM

Football...

What a great day today!!! We did not win but it was a great game!!! Lots of lessons learned. Coach JT is able to find the good in any game and told the kids that there is lots of work to be done but complimented them on a good job today!!! Thanks JT. As Jared was warming up today, myself, Rich and Simon went to Williams and had a great lunch. Chicken Pesto Panini's, Italian Wedding Soups, and of course we all had dessert. Chocolate truffle cake and Oreo Cheescake. What a fabulous afternoon. Wonderful way to spend Labour Day and the day before school starts.

COACH JT

PEP TALK POST GAME

GETTING READY FOR A KICK OFF
GOOFY GUYS OUTSIDE WILLIAMS COFFEE PUB

We Have A Winner...

I am so happy about this giveaway. I have had 98 comments and 94 followers who have visited my blog from around the world. So exciting to me to meet these wonderful ladies from around the world.

Our winner is:

The Imperfect Housewife

Beth, please email me at scrappindiva@gmail.com and we will set up to get your blog candy off to you. Thanks everyone for making this such a success. I really have had a lot of fun doing this. Thanks to all who entered!!!

Judy

Blogoversary Giveaway...

It is only one day away!!! Is everyone excited? I sure am. I am delighted with how many people have visited my blog through this whole process and it has been a treat to visit all of yours. There are many talented, vibrant women who I have had the opprotunity to meet through blogland.

OKAY, I LOVE ADDING MORE GOODIES TO THE POT SO KEEP VISITING AND I WILL KEEP ADDING MORE. I AM SO DELIGHTED THAT SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE VISITED. i HAVE VISITED AMNY OF YOUR BLOGS AND IT NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME AT HOW MANY TALENTED WOMEN THERE ARE. YOU ALL PROVIDE ME WITH GREAT INSPIRATION.

I now have 61 followers and some of them are coming back on occasion to visit me again and comment on things I have done or created. It is such a wonderful feeling that this World Wide Web can link so many people from so far away. So as promised, for every ten people who sign up I would add more goodies . The picture below is of some American Crafts Glitter Letter "Thickers". The more that join the bigger the goodie pile gets.

So I have added some new candy to the pot as promised. Now what I will do is add something to the pot for every ten people that follow my blog. Very cool. Only 5 more followers then and I will be putting a picture of something very yummy on the blog. Remember that there are only 15 more days to sign up before the fun is all over!!!

OKAY, I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE HOW MANY FOLLOWERS I HAVE. JUST WAITING FOR A FEW MORE AND I HAVE SOME GREAT GOODIES TO ADD TO THE POT!!! I WILL POST A SNEEK PEEK OF THEM IN THE MORNING, KEEP LOOKING FOR IT!!!

This post will remain at the top until the drawing on August25th. For new posts, please scroll down past this post! Enjoy!

My Blogoversary is in 17 days and I thought I would offer some blog candy to go with that! Here is a list of items that I have included in my blog candy thus far!

Fiskars 12" Trimmer

Autumn Leaves Mindy's Alphas

Making Memories "Show and Tell"

Close To My Heart "My Reflections" Paper Packet

2 Danielle Johnson Rubber Stamps

Scenic Route Paper and Sticker Sheet

American Crafts Glitter Letter "Thickers"

Cosmo Cricket "GET HAPPY" 8x8 Paper Pack and Cardstock Stickers

All you have to do to win is join my blog as a follower and link this post in the sidebar of your own blog if you have one! If my follower list hits 50 before August 25th, I'll add more goodies to the pot! The blog candy drawing will be on August 25th!! *AND as an added bonus, for every 10 followers that join by August 25th, beyond the original 50, I will add even more goodies!!* So tell your friends, and come back to visit often!

Dear Susan,

On Wednesday night a very sad and tragic occurence took place. A friend from my work lost her life in a senseless and unexplainable accident. Susan Kerling, a fellow Newfoundlander, lost her life while riding home from a friends house on her motorcycle.

I remember riding to work on Thursday morning and hearing that a 32 year old Waterloo woman had died following a motorcycle accident 11:00 the night before. Immediately I thought of Susan! Why, I don't know. But as soon as I thought of it, I dismissed it because I knew how safe Susan is on her bike. And when I got to work and saw what I thought was her bike in the parking lot, I thought of it again. But I said to myself that I was being silly. Little did I know what had really happened. We do not really know how it happened other than she lost control and was unable to manage the curve in the road.

Susan, I just don't know what to say. You loved your life. You adored and loved your husband. You loved your garden. You and I shared a fascination for purses. You loved traveling and you were looking forward to a fabulous European vacation next month. I am so sorry this happened to you; such a vibrant, loving, caring person. It is so hard to grasp. I continue to find it hard to believe that I will never see you again. I cannot even imagine what your husband Trevor and your closest family and friends are going through at this time. All I can say is I will miss you at work and I know that in heaven God has a very special angel working side by side with him. I know that if you have found it unorganized that God has a very talented organizer in heaven now. And I also know that heaven is a little brighter with such a wonderful soul filling the heavens.
I miss you and I will pray for your Family and Friends as they try to recover from a terrible loss.
God Bless Susan!!
Judy

Finally Scrapbooking!!!

Well I was so delighted to finally scrapbook a page for myself this week. It felt so GOOD!!! And I love this page. It is shameful how many pictures I need to get done. I was inspired by a Product Challenge from Two Scrapbook Friends. This was the perfect product for Jared's surfing picture.



ENJOY!!!

JUDY

Great Saturday!!!

Great Souvlaki Dinner

Fabulous Greek Salad and Saganaki

On Friday I called my husband at work because I missed him. Simple fact is we have not done a lot of fun stuff this summer. So when I called him I just "Can we do some fun stuff on Saturday?"

I furthur stated that I don't want to cook, clean, go to a football game, shop or scrapbook. I just want to leave the city and go somewhere else and have some fun. He said "OK". No questions asked. So Saturday morning, we get up have the laziest morning imaginable, pack the kids up in the van and head into Toronto for one of the best baseball games that I have seen in a long time. The Blue Jays won in fine style in overtime no less. And then we said, OK, what are we going to do for dinner. So off we hop onto the subway and hightail it over to the Greek Festival on the Danforth. It was so much fun despite the rain. We ate the Astoria Restaurant and the food was SOOOO..... good. It was a fabulous day and despite all the people, noise, and rain we came home refreshed and rejuvinated from having plain simple fun and enjoying each others company on a great Saturday with family.

New Blog...

What do you think??? I have tried a couple of templates of the last week or so and have finally decided on this look. It reflects me so much better than the ones I have tried recently. I enjoy the plaid so much!!! Just LOVE plaid!! Anyway, now that I have the look taken care of I need to do some blogging...Stay Tuned!
Judy

Friends...

Look who I spent the day with yesterday! My friend Karen has a Scrapbook Studio and she is on holidays. So Sheri was working for her yesterday and myself and Janet joined her for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Girl time is so powerful. There is just something about chatting with your girlfriends that no one else or nothing else can provide you. It is powerful to spend time together and provides me with strength. It makes you realize that you are not alone and you can share things that go no where else. Thanks so much to my friends...I cherish you both very much. Thanks for a great afternoon.

Happy Birthday to a Blog Friend....

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday to a new blog friend, Nikki!!! She is having a Party on her blog...Go take a look. This card is for her. If she likes it, I just might win a prize!! Now how cool is that...It`s her birthday and she is giving away a gift!!! Anyway, enjoy the card!!!

Proud Mom and Dad...

My 13 year old, Simon graduated lask week from Grade 8. I can hardly believe how fast time has gone. It feels as though just yesterday I was coddling him and feeding him and changing him and playing with him and the lsit goes on and on and on!!! But now he is a great young man with many hopes and dreams and some of them came to fuition on Graduation Night. He got an Athletic Award for Sports this year. he is so proud of himself and you can not teach that sort of feeeling to a child they can only feel it! He feels great. he also did fabulous on his report card this semester as well. he was struggling so much at Christmas time and his overall average increased by 15 marks with at total average of 80% at the end of the year. Way to go Simon!!! Your family is very proud of you!!!

Picture from the backyard before the ceremony...

Simon receiving his Athletic Award for Sports

After the Ceremony with his Diploma and Athletic Award

My Flowers...

I am really pleased with my flowers this summer. I was out one day cleaning the garden and sprucing it up for a few visitors I was having and my sweet son Simon was helping me. I asked him if he would get the camera and take pictures of each flower that I have growing. he quite enjoys taking pictures and I thought it turned out real well. I am delighted with what he did!!!

Backyard Sprucing...

For many years I have wondered what to do with my little patio. When we first moved in and had it built we thought that we would only want a small one so that we had more green space. But as the years have passed; I think we should have made it larger. Yes, we could get it made larger now, but there are so many other things that are going to take priority. We did have a small patio table and chairs there initially but we only ate out there a couple times a summer. So this year we decided to make it more cozy and intimate for reading or having a drink on the warm summer evenings. Our backyard has lovely mature trees now and it is very private in our backyard, so this is what we came up with.

BEFORE

AFTER

I planted a small herb garden; Italian Parsley, Oregano, and Basil. It smells so good when you are sitting reading. It is so nice out there now. I love spending time out there. The sun goes around to the front of our house in the evenings, so it is cool and pretty and we are just loving our backyard. Soon I will have some pictures of all the flowers we have growing this year.

The Best Carrot Cake Ever..

Just this past week, I and my family were in the mood for something homemade, decadent and creamy. Well of course I had to think of my Grandma's Carrot Cake. Here's the recipe:

CARROT CAKE

Sift: 1 1/3 cup flour
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
Combine: 1 cup brown sugar
½ cup oil
3 eggs – beat in one at a time
Stir in sifted ingredients. Blend in 2 cups grated carrots and 1 cup chopped walnuts. Turn into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1-11/4 hours or until cake springs back when lightly touched.

CREAM CHEESE ICING
Cream 1 pkg. (4oz. or ½ cup) cream cheese and 1 ½ tb. of butter. Gradually blend in 2 cups icing sugar.

House Of Night Novels!!!

You know that if you read my blog, I had a bed shoulder about 6 weeks ago. It was a lengthy recovery. Three visits a week to physio, many exercises and when I was able to go back to work I have had to use a system of graduated hours. Still only working 4 hour shifts but soon will be going to 8 hour shifts; Thanks goodness!!! Because I was unable to do much I went off to Chapters about 5 weeks ago and picked up some books that would be an easy read. I was just coming off reading the Twilight series AGAIN, and decided that another vampire book would be fun. The one I chose had a much different twist than the Twilight series and it was enjoyable. Just thought I would share in case you were looking for something simple to bring on that family vacation!!! ENJOY!! Just to let you know the succesion of the books is Marked, Betrayed, Chosen, Untamed, and then Hunted. The new book in the series is going to be available in October called Tempted!!!

Camera Straps...

Just had to share my new favourite thing. I have always thoought that most camera straps are anoyingly harsh. Well now Michelle McCorkell has a new company call "Sweet Straps". They are beautiful and so lovely against my neck other than my Canon camera strap. Please visit her website and look at all the wonderful colors available. I hope Michelle does not mind me borrowing a picture from her blog to showcase her wonderful new product. CONGRATS Michelle and much luck with your new venture.

JUDY

I Hurt...

I have a terrible pain in my shoulder!!!! I have had it for a week now and I am getting a little bored with it already. Went to the doctor on Friday and they say I probably have acute tendonitis in my left shoulder. It hurts BAD!!!! Pain in my neck so that I can barely turn my head and pain down into the muscle in my left arm. It hurts to wash or brush my hair. Doc told me I shoud not lift anything greater than 5 pounds and not to have any repetitive motion of my neck!!! OUCH OUCH!!!!! So therefore I am away from work until the Doc clears me to go back to work. It truly is funny how when life slows you down on purpose you start to look at things a little differently. Some things don't look as important any more.
Sheri and Janet went to the Go Scrapping Barrie event yesterday because I normally would have worked yesterday and it made me so sad when they came by my house yesterday morning to get the stuff, I felt horrible. I could not go with them, I could not go to work and I felt like I did not know what to do with myself. It was not a great day at all. Stayed in my PJ's all day and lazed around. Because of doing nothing all day, I could not get to sleep at all last night. And when I did get to be a little comfortable, my neck went into spasm. Not a great day or night.
BUT, on another note I am going to try to have a different view today. There is nothing wrong with my legs so, despite the rainy day I am going to go for a long walk today and try to get the fuzzies out of my head.
Wish me luck!!!

Scrapfest...

I can hardly wait this year for Scrapfest!!!! I have been so busy getting kits together and playing wiht lots of new designs. Our booth this year is going to be so great using multimedia and a new system for cashing our customers out. So excited about all the new changes for In A Pinch Designs. This has been a lot of hard work but it has been a wild ride!!! Just thought I would share a sneak peak of a new kit that I just finished!!! ENJOY!!!

Happy St Paddy's Day....

As a native Newfoundlander, I do believe I have an affinity for anything Irish and today is certainly no different. I remember as a Nursing Student in St John's many moons ago, skipping down to George St. on the St Paddy's in the evening and having quite the time. Dressing in green, drinking green beer and for one evening feeling very Irish. It was a fabulous time and to anyone you celebrates today have a fabulous time and be safe!!!

So Proud...

Words can hardly describe how proud I am of my Dad!!! At the bright young age of 73, he has started skiing for the first time in his life. Never before has he donned a pair of skis!!! But my brother Terry and Sister-In-Law, Brenda got him out to try and he loves it so much. Today he actually starts lessons with the head instructor of the ski school and he could not be more excited than a 5 year old on Christmas morning!!! Kudos to you Dad!!
Now one might ask where my Mom might be. How come she is not skiing as well. I mean she is younger than my Dad. I think she would look good in all the ski clothing!! And she really should be in this picture. Alas, my Mom has decided to be the "CHALET BUNNY" and official picture taker!!! Just put it this way. I am glad I have parents that still get out and do this kind of stuff. Isn't it great!!!!

I Missed HIm...

The day has come...DH has arrived home. Thank God!!! He was at a buying conference in Tuscon, Arizona this past week. He left on Saturday last weekend and arrived home last night around 10 P.M. I have always beleived that I was (and I still believe) one of the strong independent women who could tackle the world (given the right circumstances; HAHAHA). Well I have learned many valuable lessons this past week.
1. When my husband is not around, part of me doesn't work right. Call it what you will, my heart, my soul, my equilibrium is just off. I didn't like it too much. I work so much better when he is close. I love him so much!!!
2. My kids are great kids. I think they were very intuitive and saw that I was hurting a little for Richard and they were so good this week. They helped around the house, they did the things that needed to be done. I got hugs and kisses without batting an eyelash!!!
3. I have great parents. I asked them to come and no questions asked they did. When I was at work they were at home watching the boys when they got home from school. My Mom is so good; she cooked, cleaned and kept my house managable. It was such a lovely feeling coming home to a clean home. I just can't thank Dad enough for helping me with the garbage. I hate that job so much!!!
4. And last but certainly not least. I have great friends in Sheri and Darren. I hardly had the question out of my mouth for help on last Saturday when I had to go to a Scrapbooking retreat to sell my wares and also to watch the kids yesterday after school, and Darren said "NO Problem". Thanks guys. I trust and appreciate you both so much!!!
5. What comes out of all of this is the fact that I have been blessed in my life. I know this probably sounds corny but I am so thankful for all of the above and more!!!

Judy

My Family

I thought this was so cute. Just had to post!!!
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