I Moved... again...

I disappeared for a while and then decided I like blogger best so I started another blog here.

Tania's Studio. 

So if you still want to continue to follow me that's where I am, and I'm staying there, promise. :)

xo

I've moved!

I'm trying out wordpress here https://asimplyunclutteredlife.wordpress.com/ . I'm finally back to scrapbooking but was running out of room for images here. So if you still want to visit me that's where I'll be! :)

XO

Summer is in full swing!!!

ok, well... almost! The girls have two more days of school and it will be for sure then. We have been acting like it's summer holidays for the last week anyway. :) The kids have been out in the warm weather catching caterpillars and putting them into containers and were very excited to watch one make a cocoon! The caterpillars actually pull all their hair out to make it and end up looking like little worms! We are waiting the two weeks so we can watch it emerge and then we'll set it free. :)

The girls also had their 'after dance performance' hair cuts. Chastity decided on side bangs, layers and highlights. She hasn't had bangs since 1st grade so it was fun. She looks so mature with her new haircut.

She likes this photo the most but I like how the one below shows her cut better.

Emma decided to get her hair chopped off and lightened slightly. She also wanted them to show her how to work her curls since she usually gets them to straighten it.

And Mikhail just wanted to be in front of the camera again. :p

Chastity was still being asked at school to make sock monkeys so we decided on one more batch and swore we would not make anymore. We made 26 more of them which sold right away. She had a few teachers ask her to make some more over the weekend just because she was out again. She told me she couldn't say no so some how I was talked into helping make 7 more over the weekend. I told her we are now done, no more. lol

Here's the group photo...

Did a little playing with distress inks.

Made a card for a special teacher...

And a journal that Emma and I loved so much we almost kept it. :)

I used distress inks and UTEE over grunge board. I attached the metal elephants afterwards. I also distressed the pages (in the dryer :)) and bound the book myself. The paper in the book is watercolour paper.

They are also doing some sort of restaurant type thing in Emma's class so she wanted to make some mini cupcakes for it. They are delicious, here's the recipe.

YUM!

That's it for now, thanks for peeking :)

Ready to perform..

Look at what I won!!! I participated in the celebrations over at two peas during National Scrapbooking Day and won these KI goodies! I love getting scrap goodies in the mail, even better when it's a surprise :). And look, I've already used a friendship sticker in a layout! :) I have recently put together kits using the supplies I have on hand. I selected a few papers and matched up everything that would go with the papers. I can tell you it makes scraping a lot faster, easier and more fun.

The girls, as well as Mikhail, are getting ready to perform their year end again as well. We are ready for it! and excited for it. :) I think it's the best part of dance. All their hard work during the year pays off and they get to show off what they have accomplished.

Chastity's last batch of sock monkeys she made for her school entrepreneur fair sold in ten minutes, so we made 15 more. She put up posters at school and the day after putting up the posters sold these sock monkeys from her locker!! They sold just as quickly! I think she has started her own business, we sure didn't expect that. Even the squidward looking one sold, the kid who bought it called it that too! heehee

We put in our garden again this year. Last year I couldn't keep up with freezing the veggies that grew thanks to my flare-up. I am having a positive outlook for this year. The girls (and even Mikhail to some degree) did SSOO much work to help me get it weeded and planted. I'm so thankful and proud of them. My husband has been in camp for three weeks so far, wouldn't you know, right at planting time. But my kids worked with their broken Mom, we worked as a team and got 'er done. I told them one day we should put bricks or rocks around the garden so we could control the weeds better, it was only a thought. But guess what? They went to work placing the bricks around the garden with the bricks we had laying around!

Looking good so far...

a few of the seeds have sprouted already!

some were already small plants. We wanted to have a head start on it all.

It has been raining a lot round these parts. I love the sun, don't get me wrong, but we don't have to worry about watering the garden!

thanks for peeking

xo

We're back!

Hello! We are back and have been settled in for about a week from our trip off the Island. The girls went to the dance festival over there. They took three pieces over and won silver for each. We also went to the zoo while we were there. Here are some of the photos...

The girls and their metals...

I also made a mini album of some of my favourite quotes. I sprayed paint and mists on the tags and bound it using my bind-it-all. All the quotes I used are ones I either live by, need inspiration from or have lived. :) Here are the list of quotes I used:

You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind. -Author Unknown

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. -Albert Einstein

The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be. -Horace Bushnell

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. -Helen Keller

After the game,the king and the pawn go into the same box. -Italian Proverb

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

No man is happy who does not think himself so. -Publilius Syrus

There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.... -Martin Luther

It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. -Chinese Proverb

You will never "find" time for anything. If you want time, you must make it. -Charles Bruxton

A loving heart is truest wisdom. -Charles Dickens

Life's a voyage homeward bound. -Herman Melville

The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live. -Elbert Hubbard

Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them. -Leo Tolstoy

I have finally heard from my doctor about the surgery I need. The MRI confirmed what he suspected. Although there is not yet a date set up, that's how the waiting lists are here, it will be happening sometime during the summer or possibly right after the summer. I'm just glad I don't have to wait two years like a lot of people end up doing. I'm still scared of the surgery but I think I will be in a happier place afterwards, so I'm looking forward to getting my life back again.

We took our little guy in to get his first haircut!!! Check out the before and after!

Cute, huh?

Thanks for peeking :)

xo

Happy belated....

National Scrapbooking Day! I managed to get these few things done for the challenges over at two peas. Did you get to any scrapping over the weekend?

I had my MRI done a couple of weeks ago. The results say basically the same as my CAT scan. For those of you who don't know it's 3 ruptured discs in the neck one severely with infringement on the nerve and a spur from the broken neck I had. Still waiting for the go ahead from the surgeon on how we will go about this. I'm pretty ready now I think. Want to carry on. :)

While we were there I did get a few photos...

Day and...

night of same building.

And another day and....

night :)

We ate here, fabulous food!

I'm getting ready for another dance festival/competition for my girls. I think it will be pretty fun! :)

How are things for you? What adventures have you been up too?

thanks for peeking

xo