New Cards to Share

My card organizer was getting a little low, so I thought I'd spend some time at my scrapbook table this evening and make a few cards. I have plenty of scraps that need to be used, plus I just got the Paisley cartridge for my Cricut and wanted to play around with it some. Here's what I ended up with. Click on the pictures to see a larger version.

In this batch of cards, I used my Paisley cartridge. I used the Floral Fantasy Cuttlebug embossing folder for the cat card on the far left. I also used Stickles on that one, as well as the ladybug card. The ladybug card was cut using the card function on the Paisley cartridge. The flower is actually a negative cut. The stamps on the "Friend" card are from a Stampin' Up set called "Simple Friendship." The large yellow flower on that card is actually what was left on the mat from cutting the ladybug card.

For this set of cards, I was trying to use up some scraps I had from a Marcella by K paper pad. I used both Stampin' Up (the hearts & label) and Close to My Heart Stamps (the sentiments) on all three cards. I used the coordinating label punch from Stampin' Up to punch out the sentiments on the first two.

Anyway, none of these are anything fancy, but I thought I'd share something crafty since I haven't posted anything of that nature (well not much of anything at all, for that matter) in quite some time. Thanks for looking!

Family Visit, Etc.

Thursday evening, my cousins from Texas came over for dinner. We don't get to see them often and really enjoyed their company. Brandon grilled burgers & hot dogs, we looked at Rachel's heritage scrapbook, and we took a field trip down to my neighbor's house - formerly our grandparents' home - to reminisce about old times. It was a really great visit. I'm glad they got to spend some time with us while they were in town last week.

I've had a pretty good weekend so far. Friday night I relaxed and watched a movie after Brandon left for work. Yesterday morning, I went out in service for a couple of hours, which was great. When I got home, I had a little lunch and then worked on a scrapbook project I've been hired to do until about 10:00. I've been seriously stressing over that project because it's so overwhelming! It was nice to make some progress. I hope to do more on it after the meeting today.

Water Fun

Sunday we went out on the boat with Matt & Kayla and a couple of their friends. We met them at the boat launch around 2:00 and stayed out until nearly 6:00. We had a great time! I even tried knee-boarding for the first time ever and was actually able to do it on my 3rd try. I was so proud, and it was a lot of fun. I can't wait to do it again!

Blogging Failure!

Can I just say that I feel like a total blogging FAILURE?? I used to love to blog and was great about updating daily or at least several times a week. Lately, though, I just can't seem to get into that writing mood...I actually think it's because I've gotten so far behind and my semi-OCD self wants to back up and record every single thing I've missed instead of just picking up and going forward from today. So I get overwhelmed and just don't do either one!

But I miss blogging, and so as much as it pains me to skip all the stuff from the last month or so that I've missed, I'm going to attempt to pick up and go like I never quit. SO...here goes!

Recent Trip to Seattle - Part 5

On Friday, we decided to spend some time together down at the waterfront. Brandon, Abby, and I loaded up in Dennis's car and followed Bruce, Deborah, Kelley, and Shellby to Seattle. We parked under the interstate and then walked along the piers, just stopping wherever we thought would be interesting.

With Brandon & Abby

Brandon & his dad tried on crazy hats in the sports store.

We had lunch at Ivar's. My clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl was awesome!

There was a sign at the end of the walk that encouraged you to feed the sea gulls but not to feed the pigeons. Poor pigeons!

Later, we had snacks and drinks at Pike Brewery.

I love all the fresh fruits and veggies at Pike Place Market!

The guys at Pike Place Fish let Abby come behind the counter and try to catch a fish.

She caught it!!

That evening, we went back to Grandpa & Grandma's house. Brandon had picked up some fresh oysters at the fish market, so he made Grandpa some oyster stew, as promised. He and Bruce also picked up some fresh sockeye salmon at Fred Meyer. Bruce filleted it and Brandon cooked it on cedar planks in the oven. It was amazingly delicious!! Everyone that hadn't headed to Montana for Devin's graduation came over to eat with us. It was a nice evening with family before we had to leave the next day. I even caught this sweet pic of Brandon's grandparents when they weren't looking. :)

Saturday morning Abby had to go home, and that afternoon it was our turn. Bruce took us to the airport around noon, and we spent the next couple of hours hanging out at a restaurant right in front of our gate. The flight out of Seattle gave us some pretty amazing scenery, including this awesome shot of Mt. Rainier right outside the window. After a short layover in Denver, we were back in Nashville around 10:30, where Abby - bless her heart - met us at the airport and took us back to her house for the night. We were exhausted, but we had had such a great visit!