Levi's Art Class

On Tuesday mornings Levi has Art class. The past 2 weeks I have gone to help the teacher. The first week the kids practiced mixing colors and made a color wheel. (I didn't get a picture of the color wheel)

The second week they painted Kandinsky. Levi did so well! He listened to his teacher and his painting turned out so good!

Good job Levi!

2012 Artisan Design Team Projects For September - Part 4

Awhile ago I made this card below for a Stampin' Up! digital contest. I came across it the other day and really wanted to use the layout of it to design another card.

This time I made a paper crafted card instead of digital and made it a bit more girly than a boy card. I used the Howlstooth & Scaringbone Designer Series paper, First Edition designer Series Paper and In Color Designer Series paper. 

The edges are distressed with Pool Party Ink and I used Border Banter and Perfectly Preserved stamp sets. I really love these colors together and seem to be using them a lot lately. 

Stamps: Border Banter, Perfectly Preserved
Ink: Pool Party, Tangerine Tango
Paper: Pool Party, Very Vanilla & Tangerine Tango card stock, Howlstooth & Scaringbone Designer Series paper, First Edition designer Series Paper and In Color Designer Series paper
Tools & Accessories: Small Oval Punch, Large Oval Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, 1" Circle Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, 3/16" Corner Punch, Basic Glimmer Brads, Vintage Faceted Buttons, 1/8 Mini Brads, Floral Frames Framelits, Cannery Set Framelits, Basic Grey 1/4 Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, Silver Foil Smooch Spritz

Thanks so much for checking out all my Artisan Design Team projects! Next week Friday the Design Team will be doing a blog hop with all of our facebook projects, be sure to come back to check it out.

2012 Artisan Design Team Projects For September - Part 3

Today I'm sharing a project I created using My Digital Studio. I find it so easy and so fast when creating digital scrapbook pages. I do both traditional scrapbooking and digital, then mix them up in my scrapbooks. I really like the variety it brings to my books.

This page was again inspired by the Howlstooth & Scaringbone Designer Series paper. It has so many cute designs.

My boys love carving pumpkins, it is one of their favorite fall activities!

All MDS:
Stamps: Vintage Overlays - texture 12, Ink Splatter 3 & 4
Ink: Basic Grey, Basic Black & Tangerine Tango
Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Grey, Howlstooth & Scaringbone
Tools & Embellishments: Vintage Faceted Buttons, Simple Stitches corner 1, Tasteful Trim Shape 1, 1.25 Circle Punch 

Thanks for checking out my Artisan Design Team projects! Stop by tomorrow for a bonus project:)        

2012 Artisan Design Team Projects For September - Part 2

I couldn't decide which card to use for today's project, so I'm showing you both!

Both cards use my favorite stamp from the Perfectly Preserved stamp set. I just love the little bunch of flowers! Every time I went to use this set, I automatically reached for this image. It's so fun!

For the first card the image is stamped onto First Edition Designer Series paper. The plaid background paper is from the Orchard Harvest Designer Series paper. I also stamped the cotton ribbon with the Border Banter set. I love polka dots and thought it would be cute to add a few dots to the ribbon. 

The second card is also using that same stamp from the Perfectly Preserved stamp set. This time I stamped it in More Mustard, Island Indigo and Raspberry Ripple to make my own custom designer paper! I left the cotton ribbon in its original color and also tied a bronze button to it. This stamp set is so fun and can be used in so many ways!

Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, Border Banter
Ink: Early Espresso, More Mustard, Island Indigo, Raspberry Ripple & Lucky Limeade
Paper: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla & Raspberry Ripple, Orchard Harvest Designer Series Paper, 
First Edition Designer Series Paper
Tools & Accessories: 7/8 Natural Cotton Ribbon, Brushed Bronze Designer Buttons, Linen Thread, Small Oval punch, Scallop Edge Border Punch, Bitty Banners Framelits

Thanks for stopping by! Come by tomorrow for another project.

2012 Artisan Design Team Projects For September - Part 1

Today's project is a scrapbook page using a picture of the boys that I love! Every year I take the boys somewhere in the city, with pretty scenery and do a fall photo shoot. This picture is from last year that I have been meaning to scrapbook for awhile now. When I saw the Howlstooth & Scaringbone Designer Series paper, I knew that it would be the perfect paper for this page.

I love chevron and herringbone, so I combined the two for a fun look. The arrow stamp from Border Banter was perfect for this look too. I added a few glimmer brads, some striped satin ribbon and spritzed the silver foil Smooch Spritz along with some Tangerine Tango ink. 

Stamps: Border Banter

Ink: Basic Grey Classic Stampin' Pad, Basic Grey Stampin' Write Marker, Tangerine Tango Stampin' Write Marker

Paper: Sahara Sand 12x12 Card Stock, Very Vanilla & Tangerine Tango Card Stock, 

Howlstooth & Scaringbone Designer Series Paper

Tools & Accessories: Basic Glimmer Brads, Basic Grey 1/2 Striped Satin Ribbon, Silver Foil Smooch Spritz, Color Spritzer

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to come back tomorrow for Part 2.

The Best Dads...

We celebrated my Dad's birthday last month and I took the cutest picture of him with his  grandboys. I've been playing with My Digital Studio lots lately and I knew I wanted to use this picture with this saying. I love the way it turned out!

Colors: Pool Party, Basic Grey, Tangerine Tango & Lucky Limeade

Paper: Howlstooth & Scaringbone DSP, Orchard Harvest DSP, Delight in the Day DSP,  Spring Break II DSP,  Basic Gray Stripe DSP,  Day in the Life DSP 

Embellishments: Baker's Twine - Basic Gray bow

Punches: 1.25 Square Punch, Petite Pennant Punch, Flag Punch, Labels & Tags, Lots of Tags

Fonts: Things We Said, Jellyka Delicious Cake          

Walk in the Park

We went for a really nice walk last week with the kids and my parents to Hawrelak park. We haven't been there in years and we thought it would be fun to check it out again. The weather was amazing, super hot and sunny!

There was a beautiful trail along the river:

We stopped for ice cream on the bridge:

Zack taking a break on Daddy's shoulders:

The boys climbed a big tree and then I made them pose for a picture :)

Jake is such a monkey!

A beautiful afternoon!!

Fine Motor Skills

Zack is really loving having all day alone with his mommy! We have been very busy. Zack loves doing puzzles, colouring & crafts. His newest thing is these little beads. I was amazed at how good he was at them. I thought when he pulled them out that it was going to be a disaster, but it turned out really well. He carefully put each bead in its place and he is quite patient.

I pulled out all the colours he asked for and then Zack made all of these by himself, except the purple one.

Birthday Card for a Friend

I have a friend who loves grey and yellow together as much as I do, so I made this card specifically with her in mind.

I really love the way Basic Grey, Pool Party & Summer Starfruit look together! All the flowers are made using the Floral Frames Framelits dies, with paper daisies in the middle. I sprayed all the flowers and the envelope with Silver Foil smooch spritz.

To go with the card I made this cute embellished envelope. 

Waiting for the Bus

This year the boys are occasionally taking the bus home. Zack and I were waiting for them to get home and I wanted to take a picture of them getting off the bus. Zack was playing around outside and wanted me to take pictures of him while we were waiting.

I got a few really cute ones of him:

It's only been a week, but the boys are enjoying taking the bus home.

The boys getting off the bus:

2012 Artisan Design Team Facebook Project for August

Every month in addition to our Artisan Design Team projects that are posted on our blog, we are creating one project a month that will be showcased on Stampin' Up's Facebook page. To see the rest of the teams projects, click here.

This is my Facebook project for Stampin' Up's Artisan Design Team for August:

I really love chevron and wanted to make a page with some sort of chevron pattern. This pattern was so easy! I cut 1" x 2" striped of the new In Color Designer Series paper and then laid them out in the chevron pattern. I really like how these 4 colors look together, they are the perfect combo of colors. The title I created using My Digital Studio and printed it directly on the paper. The ribbon and the dahlias added a softer touch to the whole layout.

Don't forget to check back regularly to see all the new projects created for the Design Team!

Stamps: 12070 Layered Labels - Wood

Paper: 124302  Whisper White 12x12 Card stock

126910  2012-14 In Color Designer Series Paper

Ink: 126861  Gumball Green Classic Stampin' Pad

126856  Gumball Green Stampin' Write Marker & Summer Starfruit Stampin' Write Marker

Accessories & Tools:

127556 In Color Dahlias

126848 Gumball Green 3/8 Satin Stitched Ribbon

126846 Summer Starfruit 3/8 Satin Stitched Ribbon

126845 Raspberry Ripple 3/8 Satin Stitched Ribbon

126847 Midnight Muse 3/8 Satin Stitched Ribbon

Paper Piercing Tool

1 1/4 Square Punch

1 Circle Punch

MDS:

129927 EPIC OVERLAYS STAMP BRUSH SET

Back to School

Hooray! Jakob and Levi were so excited to go back to school! Zack thought he was going to school too, he even pulled out an old backpack and filled it with "supplies" for the day.

Off we go:

Jakob is going into grade 4! Such a big boy already: 

Levi's first day of grade 1! Is it possible that he is going to be a school all day this year?!

Jakob in his new classroom:

A German tradition is to give the kids a "schultute" on the first day of Grade one. It's filled with candy, toys and school supplies. Here is Levi and some of his classmates from grade one with their schultute.

Levi in his new classroom:

Meanwhile... Zack enjoyed a day playing. He spent the morning with his Oma & Opa, visited his Omi & Opapa and then played outside in the afternoon with his mommy. He enjoyed having us all to himself:)

Week with Grandma & Grandpa

Grandma & Grandpa arrived from Winnipeg and the next day we went straight to the beach! It was a beautiful, hot day. The kids played and swam with their Grandparents for hours.

Testing out the water:

Playing in the sand:

Grandpa built sand castles and Zack knocked them down!

Swimming with Grandma!

The 2 older boys went to the water park with their Grandpa & Dad.

Plus all the other things that we didn't get pictures of: bike rides, golfing, McDonald's play land, lots & lots of lego, games & puzzles.

And of course, the reason Grandma & Grandpa came for the week - Jakob's birthday!

With the boys on Jake's birthday:

The boys always enjoy the time they get to spend with their grandparents!

Pool Day!

We only got in one pool day this summer! With living by the beach, it's so much easier to just go to the beach instead. The boys love to swim and I wanted to go to the pool more than once this summer, but it just didn't work out. The day we did spend at the pool was amazing. The weather was fantastic and we went with great friends!!

Zack really enjoyed the kiddie pool. It was the perfect place for him to hang out and splash around.

Jakob is such a fish! He has improved so much this past year, he swam all over the deep end with ease! He also LOVED the high diving board. I think he went on it 20 times.

Levi wasn't old enough to go on the high diving board, so he stuck to the lower one. I think if he was allowed, he would have went on the high too. Levi did all kinds of tricks and moves off the low diving board!