A pretty neat treehouse

Last time I was in Watertown I stopped by my youngest son Travis' s house and got to spend a little time with my grandson Alex. He was so proud of the tree house his dad had made him and was eager to show it to us.............he even has all the colors picked out that he wants to paint it.

As you can see it has a shingled roof, windows and a door. When you go inside there is a bench attached to the wall he can sit or sleep on or fold it up for more room. I took a few pictures so his great grandmother in Arizona could see it too. Can't wait to see it when it is all painted. A great family project!

He also wanted his dog to be in on some pictures.

Hard to believe Alex will be 8 in August.....that time has surely flown and look how big he is getting! He is also smart as a whip (think he gets that from me LOL) and likes to draw pictures. He sent me home with a couple that I proudly have hanging on my refrigerator.

Hope everyone has a good week-end! I just finished mowing the lawn and need a break!

Fiskars 360th birthday

Hard to believe any company can be that old huh? Yesterday they had a HUGE birthday party at the happiest place on earth.........DisneyWorld in Orlando. Wish I could have been there as it looked like everyone had an awesome time. Instead Fiskars had a 2 day online crop for all of us that couldn't be there so I spent ALL day scrapping yesterday and actually completed all the challenges. Today hasn't been as productive but thought I would show you a few of the layouts that I did yesterday and today.

This was a layout that I scraplifted from someone else..........meaning they made one very similar that I liked so I copied it. I made the flowers with one of my punches in 2 different colors and just put a blue brad in the center of it. Embellishments can be made easily with things we have on hand in our scrap supplies. Fun to see my grandchildren playing with the Fisher Price toys that my sons played with when they were that age too.

This layout of my grandson Alex was to use different pieces of pattern papers and nuthing bigger then 8 inches. I love the scalloped hearts that I made with my Fiskar punches. The stamped saying on the bottom "You have a very special place in my heart" is also one of my favorite stamps to use.

Sometimes it takes a day like this when you actually pull out old pictures and scrap them......like this layout from an outdoor concert Kevin & I went to. Rockfest was back in 1999 and I got some good pictures of Ted Nugent.............ooh those were the days!

This paper and the transparencies that I used had to be some of the prettiest stuff that Fiskars ever made! The challenge was to use a key in the layout and I love the way it turned out!

In 6 weeks it will be

Our 10 year anniversary! Where has that time gone? Seems like just a few years ago we were hopping on a plane and flying out to Laughlin, Nevada to get married on a riverboat at twilite. It was so romantic and I am glad that I have a video tape of it as it went so fast. September 2, 1999.

Trying to keep my mind occupied today I made this 2 page layout for the upcoming event. I cut allot of different strips of papers for both these pages as I wanted everything to stand out. I used glitter chipboard in green & red and then mixed in black too! On the 2nd page I journaled 10 reasons that make our love strong and our life wonderful. Hopefully you can click on the pictures and actually get to read some of them. I had a good time making this today and it brought back some lovely memories. Not sure what our plans are yet for our anniversary but I'm sure we will come up with something special.

Family layouts

This is a BIG week for me and a scarey one too! Family has been on my mind for the past few weeks and even more so now. I did these 2 layouts and absolutely love how they turned out.

I had 4 sons in a little over 5 years and felt they were so lucky to have each other to play with (and yes fight with sometimes). We lived out in the country on a dairy farm so they not only played together but worked together too. When 1 grew out of his clothes it just went in the next boys closet since they were all just 1 head shorter then the next. They had more mini farm equipment then you could even imagine! I named them all starting with the letter T.....Troy, Tory, Todd and Travis. Lots of fond memories and lots of love during those years but times change and I think their memories of those good ole days are long gone. Scrapping pictures like this bring many smiles and warm fuzzies to my heart!

This 2 page layout I used Scenic Route papers and it is all done in black & white (except for the pictures). Both my grandmothers are up in Heaven now but I was glad to have pictures of them with my sons when they were born. It seemed quite common at the time to have 4 generations in one picture but as time goes on that isn't always that easy. We used to call one Grandma Close and the other Grandma Faraway because when we lived in Milwaukee one was only a few blocks away and the other was way across town. My grandchildren call me Grandma Weze. On Thursday I will be going to court for my grandparent rights and hope to win back time with my granddaughter Allayah. Say a prayer for us! I know I am doing allot of that every day!

A Rusty Pickle kit

I was lucky enuf to get some kits from various clubs and I've been pulling them out lately. I like that with limited time indoors I can pull out a kit and mostly everything is included except for the pictures! So this kit was for a 2 page Celebration layout. A couple of interesting things were done and one was that I cut a frame into pieces to make the pink corners that framed the pictures. Also liked threading a thin strip thru the tabs on the bottom of the picture frame. Another interesting thing done was making a "belt buckle" out of mini frame and then rounding the paper strip to make it look like the belt winded thru it. None of these were very hard things to do but just made you think out of the box when using ordinary items (like frames) in your layout!

I also made a couple more cards with the new Cuttlebug folders. The green one is using the Harlequin folder and the pink one is using the Moroccan Screen. Just some simple cards that were fast and easy to make but wanted to try them all out. I am accumulating a nice drawer full of cards so now all I need to do is personalize it before I send them out.

Well after 2 very chilly days in Wisconsin........temps at night in the 40's and the high barely being over 60.........today we are supposed to get back in the 70's. Hard to believe it is the middle of July and that Texas (where my brother Tony is) and Arizona (where my mom is) both are having heat waves with temps near 115!

Have a great day all!

A Purse book I made

I do have a passion for purses and shoes so not sure why I have never made a purse album before but I think it turned out pretty cute! I think the title captured me perfectly as I was born to shop (and boy do I know how to find a bargain LOL).

Here's a few of the pages but haven't decided on pictures yet. I did use some pretty bright paper, ribbons, brads & flowers. I was very surprised to see how sturdy the book was too. I wasn't sure with all the opening and closing how it would hold up. I did make a cardboard copy of the shape and used that to cut all my papers.

As long as we are looking at pretty colors I will end this with a picture of my garden. Thanks for looking!

My new Cuttlebug Folders came............

YUP I got all 11 of the new ones off of HSN last week and the man in brown dropped them off around 5:30. Now that was kinda funny cuz I'm talking to the UPS driver while his truck is parked in the road and in pulls my husband just home from work. So the 2 UPS guys never seem to see each other at work as they work in different cities and this gave them a chance to catch up on stuff. I obviously didn't get any time to play with them last night but I did this morning and here are a few cards I made with them. The first cards are made with the owl flourish folder. I chalked some of the image and then used a little green smooch to make his eyes pop and the question mark too!

I made this masculine card with the Fleur-di-lis folder. I then stamped & colored the deer head and added it to it. I also ran just the top of the card thru the folder and thought that was a stunning look.

These 2 cards were both made with the Flourished frame folder. The pink one I distressed it abit and then added a flower to the center. The blue one I actually cut the frame out and then stamped Happy Birthday in the middle of it. I also outlined it with a gold glitter pen.

This card was made with the new Victorian folder.

This card was made with the folder called Moroccan Screen.

So that's 5 of the new folders and I still have 6 more to use and show you maybe tomorrow! I can see lots of possibilities with these and I'm sure glad I ordered them last week.

Some fun filled days

Well the past few days have been very interesting around our house. My youngest son Travis came up with his friend on Thursday night and stayed until Saturday afternoon. They made allot of trips to Iola for the big car show hoping to find some parts for the 1948 Chevy business coupe that he is restoring. He didn't find anything there but did get one phone call yesterday so hoping that might lead to something!

We went out Friday night for a fish fry to Sentry golfcourse and we just had a very nice visit. I wish I would have taken a picture of his truck which was a 1993 lowrider truck. It had air shocks or something like that ............and when you pushed them it could lift the front end of the truck up and the back end down or all kinds of possibilities. Funny thing is while it was sitting in the driveway some kids walked by and were checking it out and were amazed that there were no door handles on it and wondered how did he get in (that would be using a remote control)!

Not sure why I didn't take any pictures while they were here but allot had to do with him not feeling well. He is only 23 but has had 3 back surgeries after a beam was dropped on his back while at work almost 3 years ago. He just recently had the pain pump inserted into his back and has to wear a fanny pack to hold the equipment but it still isn't working to control the pain but we are hoping in time that it might. After walking a few hours at the car show he would come home and have to rest as he was hurting so bad. It is so hard to see your child in pain no matter what age he is and nobody at his age should hurt that bad and have his life so rudely interrupted.

No sooner did they leave on Saturday when some friends called up and asked to come over and swim so we played volleyball in the pool for hours and then entertained them all by letting them try out our new Wii! I wish I could have video taped the guys trying to do the hula hoop.....just hilarious!

On Sunday instead of just laying around the house and catching our breath we took a drive up to Minocqua to see my in-laws who had rented a cabin on Squirrel Lake. It was too windy to fish when we got there so the 4 of us headed to the casino for a few hours and then came back to fish. I played some neat new games there including one called Jaws and somehow got an instant bonus game that paid $100! That was exciting! Course what I won..........Kevin lost so we came out even but had fun doing it.

Today I spent a few hours in one of my gardens and it looks so much better. I did make something for my garden that I thought I would show you. I had 2 old milk cans that my dad gave me many years ago & I recenty gave one to my daughter in law who was looking for one. She sent me this picture to show what she did with hers.

Not sure where she got that wonderful sticker for hers but it was awesome so I thought well I could make something like that with my Cricut. So I worked hard on some letters and flowers but found that they just had a hard time sticking to the rough metal of the can so instead I used the negative leftovers from the words to create a stencil and then I painted mine. I thought the secret garden can would be nice at the entrance to our back gardens since they catch people by surprise as you can't see them from the front. I will have to get a better picture tomorrow in the garden.

A GREAT mail day!

My mystery box came today from Scrap Attack and it was just awesome. I took some pictures so you could see what all came in it. There wasn't much if anything that I did not like and I really think it was worth the price. There are 3 packages of felt items, 1 pkge of Prima leaves, a box of xyron photo mount tape, Heidi swapp pink gel blossoms, 1 pkge of softie charms and not sure about those last 2 pieces of possibly grunge board?

There was 6 more packages of embellishment stickers etc. I have never seen the Halloween studs one and thought that was pretty unique!

There were 6 packages of different chipboard. I really liked the Maya Road tin ....it was the heart and home collection. So this box was so much better then the Maya Road mystery box and it only took 4 days to get it too! So if you are thinking of it go to.......

http://scrapattackscrapbooking.blogspot.com/2009/07/its-mystery-box-time.html

One picture is ribbons, brads and bling and I luv it all! Then there were 8 packages of rub ons.

So what do you think of my goodies? Plus I got a package today from my secret sister filled with some wonderful things too...............paid to wait for the mailman who was 2 hours late today!

a stunning flower

Last year my husband picked out a perennial called Globe Centaurea and it didn't do much that year. This summer it grew and it grew (it's probably 3 feet tall now) and then came the buds. Well everyday he would go out there to see if it finally did something and today was the day. As you can see it is TALL and it has something like a brown honeycomb type of bud and then from the center of that comes this yellow flower.

I took a closeup of one that is just starting too. I imagine with all the buds on this that it will be a show stopper in time. I will take a picture when the full thing is in bloom. You just never know with all this cool dry weather we have been having when anything will bloom. Normally my morning glories are open by now but not this year. My clematis are doing very well tho! What I really need to do is a garden journal so I can keep track every year what is where, what the name is and when it will bloom................hmm good intentions but will I get around to it?

A few 2 page layouts that I've recently made

Since the weather has been nice with temps only in the 70's I've spent most of my time out in the gardens. Happy to say I have all the gardens done on the south side so after my back takes a break I will finish the gardens on the north side. I wanted to show a few of the layouts I have made this past week. Nuthing elaborate.........just ribbon, buttons, brads and tags but I like the mix of papers.

I do have a question for all you scrappers out there.........I bought a 3 ring binder album at Kohls and I love it but I have found that a 12 inch paper just doesn't fit in the plastic sleeves just right so I always have to take some off. It's not much but if I forget about it and add ribbons etc across the page it's a job to remove it and trim the paper. Am I the only one that has this problem or do others have to trim paper to fit the album??

cards I made at the Make n Take

Not too long ago I went to a scrapbook convention in a nearby town with my friend Jen. We were a little disappointed in the amount of vendors but we did do a few Make N Takes and these are the 3 cards that I made. The first one is just a birthday card that turned out cute. The second one was using a cuttlebug folder that featured what looked like a dandelion to me. I colored it somewhat after I got home and that really help make it pop. The other card used the neatest outdoor paper with a cottage on the lake theme. On that we used a sizzix to cut open the pop out center of the card. It's nice cuz it also has a male theme for all those guy cards you have no clue as to what to make.

I also picked up a little project kit that the funds went to some good cause and it was a cute little mini folder card with mini tags in it. I had fun making this one. Not sure what I will use it for but sometimes these mini kits where everything is together just give you that little motivational push to keep on scrapping. I actually did 6 pages this afternoon while my husband was off golfing but soon we will be heading down to the park to hear Otis & the Alligators, watch the boat parade and our fireworks are tonite. We did go to a friends house last nite where he put on quite an amazing show of fireworks so we are lucky enuf to have 2 nights in a row as I do love fireworks! Hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th!

My free hours are in my gardens

Do you remember how I told you that we got a bunch of mystery bulbs at a garage sale from someone who was going to throw them out? Well this beautiful orange one at the base of our waterfall is the first one of them to flower. It is so pretty! I'm glad we took the chance and planted them all...........now just have to wait for the rest of them to flower.

I've lost track of how many truck loads of compost I have put on my gardens after weeding them this past week plus on my new gardens but flowers are blooming everywhere so I want to share a few pictures to show you how much they have changed since I posted last month. I love my yellow primroses they add such beauty to the garden and just multiply so fast too!

We finally got past those temps in the 90's and went down to the high being 61.....can you imagine that? Had to pull out the sweatshirts and jeans again! We got a little rain but not enuf so I need to water all my gardens plus that umm "new grass" that the city graciously planted in our ditch with no instructions. Trying to find something to water 20 feet across and on both our lots was near impossible. Today I finally hit the jackpot when I thought about using a long sprinkler head attached to the hose.......well it didn't work as I thought (putting it down and walking away) but by holding it in my hand I could actually cover all that area. YEAH!!! I even took it thru my gardens and found it work nicely covering large areas at one time so saving me some big time out there. Some days it actually took me over 2 hours to get it all watered. These are pictures of the 2 lawn areas with the grass seed sprayed on last week. Cute huh? The city park across the street has not been watered one time in the week since it was sprayed on and when I finally called the landscaper who did it he said we were supposed to keep it moist and water it like 2x a day. So many homes on this street have no clue that they are supposed to be watering it. Our mayor told me personally that the city would help water and we should do our part too well guess they forgot that. Funny thing is they came to water the flowers in the park across the street yesterday but didn't bother with the swails. I've tried calling the mayor (he is on vacation), the city street dept and the engineer dept and they all said "well there is rain in the forecast". Gonna be some high water bills on this street for sure this summer.

Have a happy 4th of July everyone! I love fireworks!!!