Friday Rewind.

SCHOOL STARTS IN 6 DAYS! WHOOOHOOO!!!! #WHOSCOUNTING

Nothing exciting going on here. Just laying low getting ready for the madness to start next week when school starts. We will have baseball and school starting right about the same time. Then something else I will be starting in a couple weeks.... I will start watching my nephews 2 days a week. I guess you can say I will have a "job" now. They are ages 1 and 3 so it will make things really interesting around here, especially when it's time to pick up Cameron and Easton from school. 

Over weekend we took a little trip to Barrett Lake Jeep Trail to do some four wheeling and camping. We planned this little trip a few weeks ago so I was ready and prepared to go. This was out first trip with the kids as a family. 
This trail has been closed for the past 3 years or so there was lots of action and camping going on. The kids had a blast and we did to. It's very exhausting camping with the kids and never a time to relax, it would have been better if we didn't get to camp so late. Setting up in the dark is less than fun {10PM...we ran into a little troubles on the trail} and then packing up and leaving at 10am. That's what happens when Ryan has split days off and it will remain that way forever. And not to mention our packing space is very limited so we need to be careful with what we pack. 

I was very thankful that we met a couple awesome families at the beginning of the trail. They also were taking their first trip as family with the kids. All the kids got along great and payed good together. They had all girls so it was perfect:)  This trail was harder than what I thought and there was a couple spots Ryan needed help and those families weren't there he would have made me drive while he directs me where to go. 

Ryan was kind enough last night and took the boys to the driving range for a couple hours. I don't think he really got to hit any balls because he was too busy dealing the kids but I appreciated him taking them because I over the last few days of being with them all day long with no breaks has been kinda rough...no problem if your children are angels and listen and don't wrestle or rough house or are as quiet as mice. That 2 hours of silence with no one in the house did wonders. Now if I could only get more than 2 hours....I didn't know what to do. I cleaned the kitchen and put away laundry and then just sat here trying to think of what to do....and then they back! 

Bentley decided he needed to pick the little watermelon we had growing in our garden. It only took like 2 months to get to the size of a softball and the little turd picked it. The garden isn't doing to great right now. I need some fertilizer. Once my tomatoes start turning red I will be happy but my bell peppers are not doing good at all:(

Pretty Thankful SWAP Card.

Today I am sharing the SWAP card I created for a card swap I am participating in with a wonderful awesome group I am a part of. Early next week I should be receiving 20 cards all designed with different stamp sets, I cannot wait to see what everyone has created! 
I will be sharing those cards here on my blog and on my Facebook Group so make sure you join my group!!! I love this stamp set and I am thinking it will be my first Online Class To Go. I really love the way this card turned out and hope all the participants of the swap like it as well. 

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Here are the items I used: 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Make it Monday.

Today's Make it Monday was inspired by the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge. We had a long exhausting weekend and in the middle of my 5 loads of laundry this morning I manage to come up with this card. This layout would make a great card for class. It's easy and simple. I absolutely love the black/white with an accent color and I LOVE LOVE the jute ribbon!!! I hope you all love this color combo as much as I do:)

Here are the items I used: 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

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Love You FRIEND.

I LOVE the way this card turned out. This was inspired by Retro Sketches. These sketches really challenge you to make do with what you have. I am not a "big time" Demonstrator and my customer base is super small so I do not have a whole lot of stamp sets. These sketches really get me to think outside the box and improvise with what I do have. I saw the idea of cutting out the letters in the word on Pinterest {sorry I do not know the source}. I wanted to add the word "friend" to this sentiment and stamping it wasn't working out so that's when I decided to cut each letter out and pop it up with a dimensional. 

I love the way this turned out so much, I will for sure be using this sketch again. I already used it to design another card and I might even use it for an upcoming swap I will be participating in. I hope you like this card as much as I do:) 

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Here are the items used: 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

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Make it Monday.

Once again this is not the original design I had in mind for this challenge. My first design was such a dud, it totally did not turn out how I visioned it {nothing ever does}. I am very happy with the way this card came out. I made a card very similar to this for card class a few months ago. This inspiration came from the Fab Friday Challenge Blog. This week they have a color challenge. I hope you like the card I created:)

Here are the items I used: 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

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Friday Rewind.

Three weeks and counting!!!! 20 days left until school starts!!! Cameron has been rather lazy the last few weeks when it comes to doing anything school related. I cannot get him to read or write or do any math without complaining or not giving it 100%. So the last 3 weeks of summer break will be bootcamp for him. He totally needs it! I don't expect him to spend all summer doing school work BUT he needs to get back into the habit and since he's been a slacker and not listening when it comes to that stuff I am gonna get tough with him and he can either do it the correct way or go to his room until he's ready....he really needs to work on his reading.

The boys had their last swim lesson yesterday. They wanted to signup for more but since we are getting close to school starting I would like a little calm before the storm and not have to worry about leaving the house Monday thru Thursday every morning PLUS there are a few things we have planned and getting out of the house early around here when it's going to100 degrees is a must. 

 This time it was Easton crying over not getting a certain flavored lollipop. 

Last week we went to State Fair, we met my Mom and some good friends out there. The kids of course had a blast and wanted to do everything. They got to watch their favorite show...which was the Motor Bikes {that's what the kids call them}. They love watching the bikes jump and do crazy stuff. 

A couple weekends ago we took Bentley to see his first movie at the Theaters, the Minion Movie. All three loved it and thought it was so funny. Bentley did great and only had to go to the bathroom twice. That's something else I needs to talk about. The potty training is going GREAT and he is I would say 100% trained. He's never really had an accident out and about and finally is going poop in he toilet and not in his underwear. I am so happy we are over that. Grandma is going to take him shopping for a new toy because of his accomplishment:)

I was trying to get a decent picture but I had to keep backing up and Ryan was like OKAY enough pictures. I love my 50mm lens but sometimes when I am close I have to back up to fit everyone. So therefore he is looking at whatever and Cameron is out of focus. 

I had card class on Sunday and the New Catalog Kick-Off Party. No new customers but that is OK....my loyal ones were here and that meant a lot. They keep me going and motivated to not give up. I appreciate them so much for always coming to card class and supporting me...I {heart} them so much. 

Last weekend we went to my BIL and SIL house to help break in their brand new pool. It took a couple weeks longer than expected to finish but it's finally done. The backyard is just about done. Once all the plants and flowers are in it's going to look so nice. I have a feeling we will be spending a lot of time over there in the next 3 weeks...we will end up there on the weekends when school starts. The kids are loving it, especially since they are like super swimmers now. Both Cameron and Easton have improved a lot just in a month BUT Easton I would have to say has improved the most. I am so proud of him and he's not afraid to try new things. Cameron on the other hand is complete opposite of Easton. He struggles with new things but still did great and is a much swimmer now than 4 weeks ago. 

They both wear these goggles anytime they are swimming. You should see the tan line....not cool.

The other day we decided to go out to the lake. Since we are in a drought here in California our local lake is very very low BUT it does make going out to the lake a little nicer. There are way more "spots" to pick from...you just have to drive a little farther. It is pretty sad how low it is:(

 Mattie was in dog heaven.....swimming and rolling around in the sand....good times. She could barely move the next day and even a little slow today. 

We think the chopper must have been doing some training for all the wildfires. The chopper filled and dumped the bucket of water for about an hour. It was pretty cool to see and the kids of course loved it. 

Sweet Sunday Sketch.

I almost forgot I had made this card the other day and hadn't posted it yet. I ended up making 2 versions of this card. I couldn't decide which I liked better so I made both. 

Today I was able to view the new Holiday Catalog online.....AND so many cute new products! It seemed like more than half was Christmas, lot's of bundles with framelits, super cute kits, and lots more. I cannot wait to get my copy in the mail...which will hopefully be in a week or so. I will be able to order them for all my wonderful customers in a couple weeks. 

I hope you like the cards I created using from Sweet Sunday Sketch. 

Here is the sketch

Here are the items I used: 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Fab Friday Sketch Challenge.

I am really enjoying these challenges, I wish I would have started participating in them sooner!  This isn't the original card I had designed for this challenge, the original one was yesterday's Make it Monday but I liked that card as it is with no embellishment in the corner. This card would have been easier to create if I had the square framelits {those are on my wish-list and have been for awhile}.

I hope you like my Fab Friday Challenge. I love this sketch, it's nice and simple and would make for a great class card.

Here is the sketch

Here are the items I used: 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Make it Monday.

Today started out super muggy and yucky and ended up being a hot one. There were no complaints at swim lessons this morning. Only 3 more days of swimming lessons and we are on count down mode until school starts.....24 days!!! WHOOOHOOO!!!

I am loving the new Watercolor Wings stamp set. There are so many different color combos you can try and almost everything looks so pretty together. I think I need to try out the smaller butterfly. I have yet to make anything using the smaller one in this set. 

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Here are the items I used to make this card: 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Make it Monday.

Happy Monday!!!! I was able to sneak in a little creating today before we headed off to swim lessons. Today the boys started their second session of swim lessons and 2 out of the 3 did great....more on that will be posted on this week's Friday Rewind. 

I love the black and browns together. I used to never pair the two, especially with clothing and matching up outfits and such. But nowadays I love it. So I thought I would give this card a try using the clear embossing powder with the Swallowtail stamp and then sponge/ink over it. I love the way it turned out. I can't wait to try it out on some other DSP patterns. I originally was going to use the new Watercolor Wings stamp set for this card but decided on the Swallowtail instead, just like most of the time when I have a vision or idea I end up coming up with something totally different. 
I hope you can get some inspiration from the card I created:)

Here are the items I used: 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog