The Flame in My Heart

We are so excited to have our niece, Jada visiting us and her dad for the summer!! We have been doing so many fun things with her, and this weekend we took her camping as a summer treat and also a special belated birthday present! We did so much stuff that now I can barely keep my eyes open and my fingers moving to post this little update because I am SO tired from all the FUN we had this weekend!

Friday Jada and I spent all day getting ready and packing up all the camping equipment (including a few special animal friends that HAD to join us!) We filled the car up to the top with all the goodies!!!


(Here is Jada entertaining herself with her sticker book as we drove to the camp!)

Once we got there, we unpacked the car and starting setting up our "home" for the weekend. Jada just had to help her Uncle Reon set up the tent!!!




After the tent was all set up it was time to start the fire so that we could cook dinner. Unfortunately we had a little trouble getting the campfire started and recruited several other campers to help. It took four guys (including Reon) and their expertise to get that fire started but once it was started boy was it great!!!!



(Uncle Reon and Jada enjoying our fire-cooked dinner!)

The first night Jada met a friend two campsites over named Max! They were inseparable all weekend! They had so much fun....




After a long day, it was time to stay up late and snuggle by the campfire while eating s'mores and making scary faces in the tent:


(Campfire cuddles with Jada!)


(Family Hug)


(AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! Scary Jada face!)


(Jada in her butterfly sleeping bag complete with flashlight and water bottle!)

Friday proved be a great day so we knew that Saturday was going to be even better! We woke SO early Saturday morning (5 a.m. to be exact!!!) and decided that it would be a ton of fun to make morning marshmallows. I mean, When else do you get to eat marshmallows first thing in the morning- why not during a special camping weekend!!!

After we took a small rest back in the tent we got back up and ate donuts for breakfast... later Jada also went to the Host Tent with Max for some complimentary hot chocolate and an extra donut hole!



If all of that wasn't fun enough, we surprised Jada with a canoe ride!!! Unfortunately, we had a HUGE rain storm for about 30 minutes before we could go. So we had to hide out in the tent!!!



It eventually cleared up and we were out of the tent and ready for a relaxing canoe ride (at least for Jada and I. Reon ended up doing ALL of the rowing, with a little bit of "help" from Jada sticking the ore in the water to "catch" fish for her restaurant!)



We really enjoyed the campsite that we were staying at. They organized ALL these different activities for the kids to keep them entertained and to also learn about nature so that they wouldn't be as scared during the night. Saturday night, it was "Batty Up!" time. It was a nighttime hike into the woods to learn, play and look for Bats. Jada got all ready; bug spray, comfy shoes, flashlight, comfortable nature-friendly-clothes, and a smile! She was ready to go!!



There's Jada with her Bat Buddy, Max. It was pretty dark but if you look closely you can see them.)

She made it about 20 minutes into the hike before she got a little too scared of how dark it was! So, we made some more S'mores and played a dice game and then headed off to sleep!!!

Overall, We think that the weekend went great!!! We had a blast with all the activities and can't wait to go back. Now, it is time for a little Finding Nemo, popcorn and relaxation!!!

Combining coupons, Gift certificates and some generous gifts of money... I was able to treat myself to this....

Happy Birthday Day to me!!!!

I had an absolute blast creating this mini album!!! I wanted to create this book for a while and had the perfect opportunity with The Gauntlet Round 5 challenge. I specifically chose "simple" aspects of my life that I love and try to not take for granted. Each time I have experiences with this items it makes me blessed that I appreciate the simpler things in life, along with the complicated things.

I chose to create four different categories: Places, Music, Smells, and Objects. This is what I created!!!

I can't believe how much fun I am having with The Gauntlet contest at Scrapperie. I have been so lucky to make it into Round 5 (of 7) with some AMAZING scrappers! The challenges have been fun, and challenging. Many have taken me FAR out of my comfort zone but I enjoyed pushing myself to create unique LOs that I normally would not have created.

Round 1 We were asked to create a layout about ourselves. So this is my layout title "LiFe." It is a layout all about my deepest feelings and emotions of my life right now. You can read the detailed journaling here.



Round 2 pushed us to create a card in a unique shape (not a common square, rectangle, or circle). I found this harder than I had thought! I made a Happy Birthday flower!




On to Round 3 I had the most fun with this challenge! We needed to create a layout about an inanimate object. I chose to scrap about the Chocolate Torte I made for Mother's Day... it was delicious and I feel the same way as I look at this LO title, Le Chocolat.



Round 4... a HUGE challenge!! This pushed me right out of my comfort zone. YIKES!! It was scary creating this one! LOL... We had to choose a piece of art and mimic it in a scrapbook layout. I chose the painting Astro Art by Lisa Kowalski and created this layout about how I feel about our married life after 2 years!





Thankfully, I am onto Round 5 where we get to make a mini book! Yeah! I can't wait to get all my supplies out and get scrappin'! I'm grateful we have 2 weeks on this challenge!

This weekend was filled with activity! I trained, cleaned, grocery shopped, organized and scrapped (FINALLY!!!) Here are some creations I finished...



This is a two page LO of my nephew, Evan's, 1st birthday party. I have had it sitting out, shamelessly collecting dust, for almot 2 months!!! I am happy that I was able to set some time aside to show this celebration. He really liked his cake!

product list: Bazzil Cardstock, American Crafts pp, MM stitches yarn, American Crafts sticker letters (simply chic), K.I. Memories fuzzy felt sticker letters (surprise), YMBD.etsy.com journaling tags, misc Cherry Arte punch outs


A LO of my other nephew, Eli. He's so darn cute I could hug him all the time!



Just a card I made for my friend's birthday!

product list: Bazzil cardstock, Cherry Arte pp and punch outs, Michaels misc ribbon, Close to My Heart paper flowers, YMBD.etsy.com frosted flower brads

and that's just what they'll do!

Here's an update on my progress:

I have been working hard on my Breast Cancer 3 Day goal as I am sure you can imagine. I just recently went to the "Get Started Meeting" in Novi and it got me pumped up! I even became a team captain and created our team entitled, Quest for the Chest. My team is already starting to grow and I am hoping to add even more teammates soon!

Also, I have been working on my pre-training to-dos. I now know why they have such a vigorous training schedule! My full training began this week and I am starting to log in those miles!

I bought my first pair of running shoes (we will need 2 pairs for the event) and checked out some of my options for clothing. I also bought a pink hat that I will wear on the walk!

As for my fundraising, I have been blessed to receive a total of $710! I still have my goal set at $6,000 and am also looking into some fundraising events to raise even more money to fund a cure.

Thanks for all your support!

This weekend I was lucky enough to attend the Suite Retreat again! The same scrapbooking weekend I participated in, in September. However, the best part of this retreat weekend was that my mom came with me! We had a true girls weekend since Friday afternoon. We cropped, chatted, ate, got massages, and just hung out! It was wonderful. I am thankful that we were able to spend such quality time together (we don't get THAT many opportunities to have uninterrupted mother/daughter bonding time).

I was able to accomplish MOST of my to-do's over the course of the three days. I finished two LOs. One of my cutie pie, Reon:



Also, I created my first LO for the YMBD Design Team using her chipboard letters. I am so pumped to continue creating with Cat's wonderful products!



I finished the 2 Daises Designs Word Bloom book that I received in my January DT kit for Scrapwords (I was slacking a bit on finishing this... I admit that the knife word around the letters had intimidated me at first, but actually it wasn't as bad as I thought and I truly enjoyed creating this!) I still have to add the pictures and journaling...

I have been dreaming of a project to do about our wedding for almost two years now! I really didn't want to scrapbook an entire album devoted to our wedding because we are blessed with a beautiful, professional photo album. So, I saw the photo cubes my K.i. Memories and knew that I wanted to create an altered project with love as the theme. I was giving a DT challenge for February to create an altered item with the theme love, so I was given a push to tackle this project. I'm glad I did... I love it!



And last but not least... I was able to finish ONE card before we headed home to give hugs and kisses to our hubbies.



This scrapbooking retreat was the perfect end to a wonderful week vacation from work. I'm not sure I'll be fully energized tomorrow morning when the alarm goes off! TFL!

I have come across my new big "WANT"!! I was just peacefully "googling" around on cutting systems (still trying to figure out what would be the best one for me) and I came across this wonderful comparison chart with every cutting system available! Each system is analyzed fully with additional info and facts.

Anyway...I found the Klic-n-Kut Element! It does everything from cutting cardstock to cutting metal and BEYOND! I was reading a few reviews and saw that the software that comes with it has the option of importing a real image into the computer and then the Klic-n-Kut will actually make a cutout of that image! AMAZING!

I think I'll have to save up for a bit!

On Friday, I was offered a wonderful opportunity! I still can't believe that it actually happened. I was hand-picked to create for a new and rising scrapbook company; Your Memories By Design I am so thankful to owner, Cat for giving myself and two other wonderfully talented women this opportunity and honor to design using her products. I always here speeches on award shows where the winner refers to how honored they feel to have just been nominated with such incredible talent, and that is exacty how I feel for both being asked to create with Cat's incredible products and also to be on the DT with Meg and Donna. Just being included in the creative trio makes me feel blessed!

I give all of us a little TOOT TOOT! What a great experience! Woohoo!!!