Taking a Break.....

from applesauce making to post a couple of pictures. This is what my kitchen currently looks like :


And the HUGE pan of applesauce that is awaiting freezer bags:


Yum, my house smells so good today - good even though it's blah, dreary and raining today & there's going to be a LARGE mess to clean up later!

Gotta get back at it - Have a great day!

One Minute.....

to remember that freedom isn't free.

My prayers and thoughts are with those families whose loved ones will not be coming home and those who are missing family members who are posted overseas.

Thank you to all those who stand in the line of duty for me.

I am grateful.

Ok seriously.....

I need to get my act together!! Bad blogger, bad blogger!! I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted last!! But honestly, there really hasn't been too much to blog about.

My family has all been through the first colds (or was it a flu??) of the season. We're all on the mend, thanks to Vitamin C, echinacea and lots of extra rest.

It's done nothing but rain off and on here for weeks. I'm sick of it.

My husband and I have lost another grandparent - this time it was his Grandma. We knew her better than my Beppe. We are sad. I am realizing that life is short and time with family should be precious, so I am trying to make the best of every minute of every day.

This past weekend the kids and I drove up to visit my sister and her family in Timmins. By myself. That's right, just me - the only driver - and three kids. It's about 8 hours and 700 km north of where I am. This also includes driving on Highway 400 - something that I've never been comfortable with. I hate merging onto a high speed highway. But, I did it!!!!! So super proud of myself for sure, plus now that I know I can do it, I can do it more. While we were there I did a bit of scrappy shopping - bought some cute stamps and a new boarder punch....... hmmmm perhaps a card making day should be in the order??

Speaking of scrappy stuff, not too much of that has been going on in this house lately. And I'm ok with that. It's good to have a break once in awhile. But, I'll leave you with a couple of LO's recently done for 52 Sketches..52 Weeks.

Have a great day!

A little bit of.....

scrappy goodness today.

Since Sweet Pea Scraps stopped making new kits, I haven't been creating as much lately. It's a good thing really, as I'm now working again since school started, and I have less time to be creative anyways. But, as promised a few posts ago, I'll share what I have been doing!

I bought this stamp at my LSS a few weeks ago, but since we don't really make a big deal out of Hallowe'en in our house, I thought I'd experiment and try to make a fall tree! So, I pulled out my eyeshadow foam brushes (yep the cheap ones from the dollar store. I use them for getting into small spaces that my inks won't reach) and tried my hand at blending 4 different colours. I liked the first one I tried on a scrap piece of paper, so I created these three :

a little "plaque" with a really great quote for fall :

a fall "Joy" card

and a little thank - you card.

Also, I made this page for a new mom in my congregation. It's meant to be a shower gift, so I framed it, and she can add her favorite picture of her little guy. I used sketch #14 from 52 Weeks...52 Sketches for it.

Otherwise, things here never slow down; really it's starting to become normal! I'm more than halfway through Echo in the Bone, and I'm hoping there will be a #8 in the series!!! It's very good.

That's it for now - have a great day!

So, this guy and I.....

are celebrating 12 years of marriage today.

This is us exactly 1 year ago.

My fave photographer, Stacy, snapped this at Ricky & Alissa's wedding for us.

And we haven't changed much.

And our marriage gets better and better every year that goes by.

And yes, we still argue. But we're better at making up now.

Still so very happy to be married to each other.