Snow Day

I didn't go to work ... SNOW DAY!  That's right ... it snowed and snowed ... and then, it kept right on snowing.  I took the pups out in the yard and took some pictures of them during the storm.

They were feeling FRISKY!

you want a piece of me!

catch me if you can ...

Na Na Na

BAM didn't see that coming SUCKAH

so, wanna try again

Awww, come on, she started it

The whole time that Syd and Alf were romping, Tucker ran around barking ... and barking ... until I grabbed the deflated, ripped, nasty basket ball ...

Give it back, give it back, give it back

I mean, look at those eyes!

And then, when I tossed it, Alfie got it first, poor Tuck!




HA   I have the toy ... as usual

  and finally, well it's just too funny!

WHITE OUT

And then, it snowed some more.  I took the pups inside.  It was my turn to play at the scrapbooking table!

Great Scrapbook Weekend!

It didn't start out that way, but it sure ended up that way .... I never take anything for granted.

On Jan 28th, a friend from Newfoundland that I have not seen for 6 years reported to work for a 2 month assignment with me!  We were on shift together, we we started talking about the natural beauty on the Rock.  So, I wanted to scrap a page from my 2005 Newfoundland vacation ... that I still have not finished!

Truth be told, I have a tough time scrapping my best pictures of the greatest places ... because I want them to be spectacular, and nothing is ever good enough ... but when I do scrap them, my passion and love for those places really shine through!  But I also have a tough time with my awful pictures of the greatest places, because whatever I do, it just won't cut it.  Well, happily I was able to turn some really crappy pictures into a layout I really like!

We were visiting Bay Bull's, taking a puffin and whale watching boat out to the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve.  Come on, you just have to give it up to whoever named some of the places in Newfoundland!  Anyway, the little boat pitched and rolled ... and even though we were viewing stunning seascapes, puffins and bald eagles ... the pictures SUCK!

I found a sketch from the 6X6 Paper Sketch Class by Alison Davis that I downloaded last year ... using just small pictures ... I substituted a 12X6 picture of a puffin in flight (which I printed onto cardstock) for the 2 6X6 papers in the sketch.  I like how the textured cardstock made the picture look like a canvas painting.  I'm so happy with this layout!

Witless Bay

Puffin Detail

So, way back, I was working on a layout for Sketch Support using 2 page sketch 28 ... and I lost the pictures!  I hate that ... I had the paper and the embellishments ready to go ... but the pictures just disappeared.  Yesterday I was looking through my "idea" bin for my tickets for the puffin boat tour (which I kept!), and what should I find ... THOSE pictures ... never did find my ticket though. 

I pounced on the pictures and finished the layout.  These are pictures from 2006 ... my nephew Chris, just 5 years old, and a total Natural on skates!  Even then he was being scouted for triple A teams.

he's a Natural

Star Detail

OK, another long story.  During the summer of 2011 my nephew James was into spray-paint art.  I was so impressed with his work, he gave me the piece he was working on.  I brought it home and put it into a "safe place" ... and then totally forgot where that place was!  Well, it turned up ... and I decided to scrap it and put it into an album ... that should be safe enough!  The problem was ... he just painted on any old thing ,,, in this case a chunk on cardboard ... the thing wasn't even close to square ... so I evened up the sides and decided to matte it.  I used a 1 page sketch from the Winter Bundle by Allison Davis for the left page.

U R outta this world

I made little planets from cardboard circles and stitched "orbits" to guide them.  I used a gel pen to carry the "stars" from his painting to my layout and then I used a border stamp of stars to tie it all together.

And finally ... my friend from work had her second child ... a boy, a big boy (10lbs, 11 oz).  I wanted to continue with the theme that I used for her first child.  I made a 1 page layout, and included the baby's card (signed by all her friends) as an embellishment on the layout.  So I made the baby card this weekend.  I needed to go back to my tutorial for accordian hearts ... I really love the finished card.  I sewed in 4 little heart shaped pages for everyone to sign ... adorable!  I know she'll love it!

extra pages

PLUS I see that Sketch Support is back!  Yep, Allison has had to move the sketch support site because some leech is trying to extort $8,000 from her ... but it's all at  sketchsupport.blogspot.com now so go check it out, it's all there to inspire us!

Thanks for looking!

Waiting for Spring

So, last week I went downtown to look for some swimming goggles, 'cause I swim now ... at the Y.  And right down the street ... the Ontario Seed Company, well I just couldn't help myself.  I bought some really cool tomato seeds ... Old German Heirlooms, along with some lettuce and pepper seeds ... and seeds for white birch ... I've got an idea for those!  Anyway, I realize that I never finished posting summer pictures of my garden ... despite the constant reminders ... sooooooooooo

My Garden Part 2.  July to frost.

The tomatoes and peppers really thrived under the hot summer sun.

Lots of flowers

Yellow Pear tomatoes

Just a few more days!

 One night, the moon was bright and full, we invited friends to join us around the fire.  I decided to try something ...

Full Moon

 ... taking pictures of my garden at night, using a flash.  I really liked the resulting pictures.  I planted bunching onion seeds in rows in a window box ... they don't need much space anyway and I just loved how they looked ... I am doing it again this year!

bunching onions

Beautiful

Here's a picture of Jean playing with all the pups:  Loki, Tucker, Sydney and Alf.

Summer fun with the gang!

Isn't this picture of an Iceland Poppy great.

Eye-Poppin Poppy

And then ... our garden produced huge bountiful harvests ... we ate peppers, tomatoes, cucs ... and still there was more.  I canned tomatoes and I made pickles ... and I gave some to neighbours.

Sweet Red Bell Pepper

Tomatoes and Cucs

And more tomatoes

Eggplant!

Jeans Veg Garden

More of Jean's Garden

and ... still more

Cucumber

and ... back to my garden

What a haul!

Last spring I picked a package of mixed heirloom tomato seeds, and I planted 2 ... that's all the room I had left.  One turned out to be a brandywine ... nice big juicy tomatoes ... and I just couldn't figure out the other.  I watched the little peach coloured fruit as it matured ... but not to red.  One day, I gave it a little squeeze, and almost put my thumb through the delicate flesh ... it was ripe.  What could this be ... so much like a peach, with rosy shoulders and even covered with peach-like fuzz?

What is it?

I looked it up on Goggle ... it's a Garden Peach tomato ... go figure.  It was sweet, with less acid than red tomatoes, and a little fruitier ... so many people loved this little gem ... I didn't get many of them, but I gave most away to other tomato fanciers.

Meanwhile ... Alfie went to school, and graduated TOP Dog in his class.

Taking the final exam!

Congratulations Alfie ... you're the BEST!

Oh, and while I'm on the dogs ... a funny thing happened while we we busy in the gardens.  Sydney and Alfie turned out to be huge fans of tomatoes ... and then huge thieves of tomatoes.  Take a look ...

We like tomatoes!

Gimme some tomatoes!

It's OK, I'm just looking! (for now)

The tomatoes inside the cages were safe ... and I thought that I put them there to stop the bunnies from stealing the veggies!  However, the tomatoes in the pots near the house had to be constantly watched ... eventually, I put a fence around them too! 

And I have to include something about Tucker, who really enjoyed every second on the summer ... just look at him playing ball, just so handsome!

I've got this!

and then it happened ... a killing frost ...

The end of summer ... sniff

I've been working!

Well, ain't that the truth!  I've been putting a lot of overtime ... really pushing myself!  Steve and I joined the YMCA at Christmas, so the few spare hours that I've had, I've been at the gym ... but so far I have not lost a single pound ... that just sucks!

I've also been scrapping.  Sometimes just a few minutes at a time.  Today, I'm posting 3.

Well, today is the 2nd anniversary of Ruffian's passing ... I'll always miss him.  I started this layout the day after he died ... I put it aside, there's just something about this picture of him ... it's great, isn't it.  Sometimes when I look at it, I feel like ... it's so weird ... but I feel like he's looking at me, and it makes me sad.  Well today, I finished it.



Yesterday




Snowflake detail

 Next, on the return leg of our cross-Canada vacation in 2008, we stopped in Winnipeg to visit some long lost relatives, and to visit the Forks.  The park is really beautiful, we spend an entire day wandering the trails and relaxing under lovely shade trees.

at the FORKS, Winnipeg

Shade Tree detail

Sun detail

and finally, in 2009 we vacationed in Manitoba, and we heard about Narcisse Snake Dens.  Huge numbers of Garter Snakes come here to den-up for the winter.  When they emerge in the spring they're ready to mate.  They say that you can actually hear the 'hum' from their scales as they form large knots which could contain hundreds of snakes.  Well, it was the wrong time of year, so while we saw the dens, we saw the beautiful displays of wildflowers in the meadows, we even saw the special snake fencing along the roadways ... we saw it all, but no snakes!



... but no Snakes



S is for snake

I'm expecting that I'll be working alot of OT for the next 2 months ... big project, lots of STRESS ... but I really hope to get more scrapping done. 

Thanks for looking, take care!

Sweet Memories

One of my earliest memories, one I've always held dear, is of my Grandma ... baking cookies for us.  I remember that she'd spend hours baking with us ... and then 'sell' her cookies to us.  We'd spend our money buying those cookies ... oh, so sweet.  She died when we were very little ... and when my mother went through her things, we discovered that every penny we had spent buying her cookies was put into savings accounts for each of us.  She was a special lady!

Christmas brings out the baker in me ... so when it's cold outside, and the snow flies, I think about baking ... and I think about her.  This year, I made one of her favorite treats ... good old fashioned Chinese Chews!

Chinese Chews - Figgy Goodness

 I had some fun arranging the cookies infront of our tree ... that's right, this year we put up our tree!  I'll post some pictures of the tree and all my favorite ornaments ... most of them hand-made.  But today is all about baking for Christmas.

My husband's favorite cookies are Texas Rangers ... just crammed full of oats, chocolate chips and rice krispys ... so I made up a batch ... I have not made them in a few years!

Texas Rangers and Hot Cocoa ... what a treat!

I love chocolate ... and I found a great cookie receipe on Veronica's Cornucopia for peppermint chocolate cookies ... I used mint chocolate, bittersweet, semisweet and milk chocolates ... and dark chocolate cocoa ... they are ooooh so good!  I love the little green flecks of mint peeking out from that dark chocolate cookie!

Peppermint Chocolate Cookies

And let's face it, peanut butter cookies are a classic!  I just had to bake up a batch.  I used all natural peanut butter and salted dry roasted peanuts ... they pack a great big peanutty punch ..... yum!



Giant Peanut Butter Cookies

And finally, again from Veronica's Cornucopia, these lemony-melt-in-your-mouth, pretty and bright lemon cookies ... just as advertised, they're like sunshine on a cold wintery day!

Lemon Krinkles

Actually, I did make up a few more batches ... both Steve and I took some to work, where they were set upon with frenzy ... and I've given a selection to Jean and Joe.  Still, I've got several dozens in my freezer!

Cookies for Christmas ... and sweet memories with Grandma ... I love this time of year (except for the cold, and the snow ... and the winter part)