Shadow

Last week we met up with some friends at the Zoo... I just love this picture of Shadow. She came right over to where we were (we were up high, she was in her enclosure below... I wasn't having a tea party with a Grizzly Bear :) and just plunked herself down and stayed for a chat. I have been that close to her while she was swimming before, but never while she actually paid any attention to us... it was very cool!

Shoes.....

Yesterday, Steve took the boys out tubing when he went with his friend. The boys had a hoot. (I'll post pics another time, and I am sure that Steve will be posting them in the next few days, too). As a consolation prize, I took Elise on a date and we bought her some Summer clothes and SHOES! I had to take a pic of all her new little shoes. So cute!!

Decor Elements

Stampin' Up! has just announced a very excting addition to their product line. It is called Decor Elements, and it is a collection of Vinyl wall coverings that will add variety and class to your home decorating.

Here are a few details...

v Makes decorating easy
v Allows us to decorate on a budget and as often as we would like
v Easy to use
v Gives you the same ahha of stamping
v Uses SU’s artwork
v Can be removed easily
v Can use SU artwork in a BIG format
v Self-adhesive vinyl can be used on walls, windows, furniture, around door frames, tiles, etc
v Easier to use than rub-ons
v Very forgiving product, can pull up and then put back down
v 100 images in chocolate and white, 1 in Kraft
v Alphabet and phrases and art images
v Different styles
v Separate from the main catalogue

To view the catalogue click HERE.

Super Simple Thank you card

I needed something quick... and I needed 6 - here's what I came up with! Short and Sweet stamp set and the Priceless dry embossing template.

Family Bowling

Last weekend was Father's Day, and Steve went to a car show with his friend John. Then John and Karen and the fam came over for a BBQ. Steve posted the cars on his blog... you can check it out HERE if you are into cars!!

We actually had Father's Weekend! On Saturday, we were invited to go bowling with our friends John and Melanie. This was the kids' first time bowling and they all loved it and asked when we could go again! Even Elise got into it, but she didn't last 10 rounds. Steve and I each finished off a couple of her turns! After bowling we went for Sundaes at McD's.

Here are some pics...




There were no size 7 shoes...

It was like they were on a first date... so cute! Todd even got kissed, but it was from her younger sister :)

Todd loved it! I love the little bowling shoes they had for the boys!!!

Choosing the perfect ball....

My dad will notice that John is wearing a JD shirt! Steve might come around yet, dad!

Sundaes were a hit at McD's

Todd got right into the play area, and was just sweating afterwards!... and did you notice that he is sitting like Ronald? He was very proud of that!

The big play area was a bit much for E so we went over the the smaller one with the little girls. This size was perfect for her, she had gotten stuck in the other one when she was afraid to come back down... you know what that means - daddy to the rescue!

Heat and Stick ideas

Recently I was asked how to use Stampin' Up!'s Heat and Stick powder... so I thought I would share some tips. These are compiled from a thread on Splitcoaststampers. The link to the entire thread is HERE. And some highlights are below.

Heat and Stick Powder
... notes on how to use it!!

With heat and stick powder you stamp with versa mark or craft ink, heat just until it is melting, then quickly sprinkle the glitter on, tap off and zap with the heat gun quickly again. That should work.
I find it's cleaner than glue. When I use glue I end up with sticky fingers, a glue fingerprint on the cs, glue in kitty's fur, you name it.
It works wonderfully to adhere flocking and PearlEx, too!

Love Heat-n-Stick! Works for glitter, Pearl Ex, foil, sand, microbeads, flocking and metallic leaf. The secret is to not heat it very long -- melts faster than embossing powder, then resist the urge to touch it. Trust that it is very sticky but it won't be where you touch it!

I love heat & stick powder! Stamp your image with versamark or craft ink and sprinkle heat & stick powder on it (just like you would do with embossing powder). Then use your heat tool but don't overheat (very important). Heat it just until it starts to melt and then sprinkle glitter, pearl ex, etc. on it. I also usually run the heat tool over it very briefly after adding the glitter (or whatever) to set it. Again, do not overdo it. Overheating tends to dry it out and decrease the stickiness.

Using craft ink (instead of versamark) with heat & stick powder and dazzling diamonds gives the image color, like you used colored glitter or stamped with color and glittered over it.

This makes the most beautiful snowflakes, among other things. It works really well with solid and line art stamps. Glitter tends to obscure the details in very detailed stamps so it's not always the best for that. This is a really fun technique and has a high "wow" factor. Try it with chipboard. This works well with 2-step stamping. Stamp the base image with dye ink and then use a stamp-a-majig (my fave tool) to line up and stamp the highlight image with versamark or craft and use heat & stick with glitter so only part of the image is highlighted with glitter.

I like it for unusual scratch & sniff scents like cinamon for hearts or cocoa powder for chocolate because you can apply powders or spices directly to the H & S and not dilute them with EP.

Also, there is a fabulous tutorial by Veronica's Kreations, showing a couple uses for Heat and Stick.

View it HERE.

Retiring Stamp Sets...

The list has been published, the countdown is on.....

Here are all the retiring sets:

28 Forever in My Heart
28 Sealed with a Kiss/Scellé par un baiser
30 Never-Ending Joy/Un bonheur sans fin
31 Give Thanks
31 Peace to the World
32 Block Party
34 Snow Flurries
35 Festive Favorites
35 The Snowflake Spot/Flocons piquetis
36 Peaceful Wishes/Souhaits de paix
40 Eat Cake/Du Gâteau !
48 Be Happy/Être heureux
50 Dilly-Dally
52 Dare to Be Darling
52 Greetings Galore/Voeux en abondance
56 Artfully Asian/Artistiquement Asiatique
56 Perennial Favorites/Favoris éternels
56 Tagger´s Dozen/À la douzaine
59 All Through the Year
60 Year after Year
61 Unfrogettable/Ingrenoubliable
62 Whale Wishes
64 Here, Kitty Kitty
64 Yappy Day
68 Sweet Thing
74 Elementary Essentials
86 Polka Dots & Paisley/Petis pois et cachemire
87 Polka Dots & Petals
88 Wild Rose
92 Bud Basics
92 Just Like You/Tu es unique
93 Two Cute
97 So Much/Beaucoup
99 Blossoms Abound
100 Noble Deer
100 Wildlife Reserve
101 Happy Camper
104 Touch of Nature/Au naturel
110 Background Basics
114 All in a Row
114 So Happy
116 Big Pieces
116 Little Pieces
117 Sweet Shapes/Formes sympas
118 Carte Postale
119 Trimtastic
124 Office Accoutrement/Notes de bureau
127 Labelicious
128 Create a Coupon
129 Stamp of Authenticity
130 Check It Out
130 Property Lines
134 French Flair
134 Weathered
135 Dotted
135 Flannel Plaid
135 Print Pattern
136 Flower Friend
136 Word Search
138 Amazing to Zany
139 A to Z Accents
141 It´s Your Birthday/C’est ton anniversaire
143 Circle of Friendship/Cercle d’amitie
144 Much Appreciated/Grandement apprécié
154 All Monogram Lower stamps from A to Z
159 Best Friends Alphabet Lower
159 Best Friends Alphabet Upper
159 Best Friends Numbers
159 Rough Edges Mini Alphabets

To see the list Alphabetically, and to check out the other current SU! promotions... please click HERE to head over to my Business Website and the Promotions page.

Stamping Classes Updated!!

I just want to let you know that I have added new classes to the side of my blog. If you want full descriptions of the classes, please head over to my Business Website and click on the Calendar! Thanks for looking!!

Our New Trampoline!

We bought a trampoline a couple days ago, and it was finally set up last night. The kids got to go on it for about 5 minutes before bed last night, but today Todd and Elise spent the entire day on it (and Hunter loved it too... our little buddy from Victoria!). Scott would have gone on it more but he got grounded from it after only an hour or so.... he kept going underneath while people were on top of it, and I warned him several times and then said that if he did it again he wouldn't be allowed on it for the rest of the day... well, you guessed it! But tomorrow is a new day, and I am pretty sure he won't do that again :)

Friends!

Here is Elise and my friend - who the kids affectionately call "Auntie Karen"... they are good friends now, but Elise used to snub Karen when E was younger... now she can't get enough of her!!!

Weeeee! That was fun!

My little girl just found something that she loves! Going down the slide. No fear. None at all. That's scary for me! She is so much like her big brother, Todd. He would jump from the top of the slide if I let him.

We were at a Care Group BBQ a couple weeks ago, and after the kids had been playing for a bit, I saw Elise making her way up the slide ladder... oh boy! Then she said "Mommy help me." So I caught her at the bottom... after that - "I do it, I do it... Mommy MOVE!" She loved it!


Here I go!!!

And you were worried, mom!

Hmmm... I saw the bigger kids doing it this way!

And when I didn't catch her at the bottom... she did a couple of these:

Time for a break after all her hard work...

But Dad's cake looks better than my watermelon!