Summer Day Trip

 

 Hello! I just love all the watercolor in the July 'Refresh' kit! I love to use my gelatos and to get cards that just go with my creative style is a treat. I said this last month and it's true again, this kit is full of goodies! This is the first of multiple pages I'll be sharing with you this month. I'm getting a lot out of the 'Refresh' pocket kit and glam bag.

In July of 2011, we took a trip to PA to visit family. While we were there, we took a day trip to Lititz for some family time and to give our hosts a break. Lititz is a cute little town with shops and this great park to explore. There's a man-made creek that crosses the park and it was full of mama and baby duckies. We spent the day playing and watching the ducks swim!

This month I was determined to use my stamps better. I love the stamps we've been getting in the kits this summer but I still wasn't using them. It does take a little more effort to pull out ink and do the stamping thing. So before I started embellishing, I stamped all the shapes I thought would be useful on these pages on a white paper with black ink and cut them out. I put them in a tray with my other embellies. This way they're in front of me and I can just add them to my already colorful cards or use my gelatos to add color. My favorite is the heart stamp! So cute!

What's your favorite part of this month's kit? I can't wait to see what you do with it!

Summer Time Page

Hello! I have another great page to share with you using the Breathe kit! I am just loving this kit! Between the Pocket kit and the Glam bag, I've been able to create almost 4 pages for my album. Now that's an amazing deal for $10! The June kit is full of so many cute cards and fun embellishments. 

This page documents more of the pool time we had with family on our summer vacation in 2011. What can I say, I just loved all these shots and couldn't leave out a single one. So yes, I have about 3 pages of swimming pictures. Sometimes you just get those perfectly cute and awesomely lit photos that you can't live without! :) I used cards and embellishments from the Breathe kit and even a card from a past kit that I hadn't found a home for yet. I really enjoyed the addition of the cut apart labels in the June kit and love the added touch they can lend to a picture or card. And I also added a splash of gelato mist the 'summer time' card to give it some extra dimension. I hope you've enjoyed creating cute projects and pages with your Breathe kit this month!

Did you get any goodies from the 4th of July flash sale?? And don't forget the July kit will be for sale on the 15th. Sneaks are already popping up on the Facebook group. Get your July kit 10% off with the code 'take10'.

Summer Snapshots

 Hello! I have another fun summer layout to share with you on this happy Friday! This month's Breathe kit is so full of goodies. :) Aren't the pineapples and popsicles just adorable!? Those velum cards are going to pop up on my next page that's still in the works.

This page captures a few more of my favorite shots of my daughter splashing with her great uncle on our family vacation in 2011. I used cards, stickers and stamps from the Breathe kit. Plus a couple things from the Citrus Bliss add-on and 2 Dear Lizzy cards from my stash. I love how each page from this trip is turning out so colorful. It's the perfect feel for these memories.

I've added some journaling about these events and also left some space knowing I'll fill in more details as I look back through my notes from 2011. As I mentioned before, I like to journal in order so I don't miss anything. So while I am jumping around to make pages that fit with my Take 10 kits, I'm still journaling in order. I want to record our story and not just caption the pictures.

How do you do your journaling? Do you have a short story about your summer events? Do your pictures speak for themselves? I hope you're enjoying the June kit as much as I am!

Why I do love PA

We went to PA the beginning of May to visit Justin's family again. And like always we had a great time! ...

1. I love the landscape in that area. The open gently rolling hills dotted with trees and farmhouses are so picturesque. I would love to have a Pennsylvania inspired home in Nebraska! These pictures are of the battlefields of Gettysburg but this really is what it looks like in the Lancaster area where we visited.

2. I love the food! Grandma Fisher makes the best food for us! - ham loaf with stewed tomatoes, crab legs, stuffing, the creamy-est mashed potatoes ever, ham salad sandwiches, potato rolls - I'd eat anything she makes! That must be a grandma thing because I feel the same way about Granny's food. Grandpa Fisher loves anything peanut butter and so do I. We enjoyed peanut butter ice cream and peanut butter donuts daily. Again, these are the best peanut butter donuts I've had in my life! We even had ice cream fresh from the cows. You could see the cows as you walked in. Of course we had more than one of Joe's steak sandwiches. And we brought home a box of pretzels right off the line.

3. I enjoy all the time we spend with Grandpa and Grandma Fisher. We are blessed to be able to stay with them. We drive all over the countryside talking and hearing stories. And almost every night we stay up late playing Hand & Foot. It's a very fun card game! We always play in teams and the boys usually beat Grandma Fisher and I. I think it's my fault because I'm still learning. And the guys are merciless!

4. This year I loved watching everyone get to know Olivia...

Here's Olivia with Aunt Donna, Uncle Scott & Aunt Robin, Uncle John, and Aunt Miki.

I was actually sad to leave this time. I'm usually the type who is happy to go home at the end of vacation. I really have fallen in love with Justin's grandparents and think of them as my own. I'm sad to say good bye for at least another year. But in spite of the 20 hour drive I'm looking forward to our next trip east! 

I Love PA

We went to PA to visit family over Thanksgiving. Here are some highlights...

1. Family.

We get to see J's extended family from PA every couple of years. They are a lively bunch and a joy to spend time with. We enjoy some great games of Hand and Foot with his grandparents. We stayed up nearly every night playing cards! If you have never played hand and foot, you're missing out and should definitely try it sometime!

2. Food.

We ate soo much!! Roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy, ham salad sandwiches, the stewed tomato special, cheese steaks (this was J's), sweet potato fries, turkey, GM's stuffing, red beet eggs (not good but better deviled), pickles at every meal, cherry pie, local pretzels, chocolate coffee cheesecake, peanut butter swirl ice cream and the best was a peanut butter filled donut with chocolate frosting! If you are ever offered a peanut butter filled donut, do not turn it down. It should be on your bucket list to try one! :) As you can tell we ate a lot and it was all wonderful. And my Pilates videos will be well used this winter working it all off.

3. King of Prussia Mall.

We went to the biggest mall (well second to Mall of America) I've ever been too. I count this as my biggest because I'm now old enough to truly appreciate it for the shopping. Sorry the only picture I have is on my cell phone. See the directory here.There are 2 buildings and 2 levels in each building.

Let me explain how it is that I was privileged enough to visit this mall while on vacation since we all know J does not view mall visiting as a vacation worthy experience. :) Before we went to PA, J was making plans to go mountain biking with his uncle Junior nearly every day while we were there. They did lots of biking and had a blast and no broken bones, see...

I questioned what I would be doing during that time. He suggested that I go Christmas shopping at a mall with his cousin B. He was referring to a mall closer to his grandparent's house that we had been to last time. I was satisfied with this idea and B was also up for it. Then my mom started telling me about the King of Prussia mall that she wanted to visit when she was out east with sister A. So after finding out that this mall wasn't that far from where we would be and that B would be pumped to go there, I decided we would try to make that work. J and Junior were slightly skeptical of my driving skills and B's navigation skills so they decided to take us to the mall. I assumed that this meant they would drive us and leave us to the shopping. Sadly it ended up being a group shopping trip. I do not shop well in groups, especially when my husband or men in general are part of the group. Needless to say, my frustration got the best of me and the trip wasn't all I hoped it would be. But we accomplished some Christmas shopping and had cheesecake so it all turned out fine! :)

4. Overall cuteness of PA.
I know I've said it before, but all the houses and barns are very cute in PA. I don't know if it's the paint or the rolling hills or that the barns are made of wood and not metal, but I think they're cute. Another thing I enjoyed was the Mennonite grocery store that Grandma F shops at. It was fun to hear the girl at the check out tell how she would be gone after Christmas because she was getting married. I wish we had small grocery stores with home-grown produce and shops with local products and privately owned family bakeries. Oh well, I guess I'll have to keep visiting! :)