Our weekend at the beach

We just got back from a fabulous few days at the beach.  For Mom's last few days here, we decided to go to Negril to chill out on the beach.  We stayed at the Westender Inn, which was outside of town but was so relaxing and just plain awesome.  The service there is second to none and we highly recommend it to anyone thinking of coming to Jamaica and not wanting the cookie-cutter all-inclusive resort experience.

There is a small, rocky beach at the Westender and right beside it is this very cool sea pool.  K loved it there!

Our first night in Negril, we had supper by the sea at our hotel.  Mom and D enjoyed lobster with garlic butter - this is the place for seafood in Jamaica!   Here's our first sunset:

The next day, we went to Cosmo's, a restaurant on the 7-Mile Beach and hung out there for the day.  The turquoise water here is just absolutely stunning.  Here are D, K and A enjoying the warm water.

The next evening, we went to the Push Cart restaurant, which is right on the sea and you get the pretty sunset over the water.  Everyone was very happy with the food, especially K with her multi-coloured  pasta.  Here's D's Conch Curry:

After we watched the sun set at Push Cart, we went back to the Westender for their Sunday night bonfire, which was fantastic!  Here's a picture of the full moon:

And D got some fantastic bonfire pictures:

 K and A dancing by the bonfire:

The next day, we took a glass-bottom boat ride out to the reef.  Here are pics of the Sargeant-Major fish when K and A were feeding them some bread crumbs.  They came up to the surface in droves!

You can head over to our family blog to see a slideshow of the whole weekend.

More First Food Layouts

After doing the layout of A's first taste of avocado last week, I just had to finish up the rest of the pictures of him eating.

This layout is actually for K's scrapbook.  She absolutely had to help feed him so we got some shots of that.  The patterned paper is from a stack (of course I can't remember which one since I separated them long ago) and the solids are from DCWV stacks.  Since the background looked a bit grungy, I sanded each of the strips of cardstock, as well as the journalling spot, and I love the look.  I used my new border punch for the big scallops - love that punch!

I was looking through the gallery at Club CK the other day.  You can do a search by number of photos and I love that!  It helps me so much to be able to look through the layouts that have the same number of pictures that I have to work with.  I found a layout that I loved and I used it as inspiration.  This is what I came up with:

These are my two favourite pictures of A when he had solids for the first time.  I just think they're too cute!  I wanted to record the details on one of the layouts and this design allowed for that.  I never write directly on my layout but I thought I'd give it a try.  I'm not sure that I like it so I still may put down a block of solid cardstock and journal on to it.

Here's my friend, Devra's, layout that I scraplifted:

I love this kit from My Mind's Eye.  It's the Abbey Road "Stomp" kit and it is just too cute!

I love all the pictures, of course, but the top left one is a favourite because I love seeing A's chubby little foot and his toes all curled up!  So, I had to direct attention to that pic.  :)

I put the small circles in the top right corner and did a tiny bit of stitching.  I wanted something there, but I wanted it to be subtle so this worked for what I wanted to accomplish.

I hadn't yet included the date on any of the layouts, so I added this little tag with the exact date A had his first solids.

Monday Minis

Good morning everyone!  I hope that you had a great weekend.  :)  Thanks to everyone who stopped by my blog for the blog hop - it was great to see so many people participating.  The yarn flowers seemed to be quite the hit so I'm glad that I shared that with you.  A big thank you to Kirsten for sharing that with me.  :)

So, it's time to review the goals that I set for myself last week.

Nutrition:  Well, I was lazy and didn't get my meal-planning done.  However, we did eat quite well.  I made sure to eat lots of veggies last week and I did my new portion control technique.  I used a smaller plate and filled 1/2 the plate with veggies, 1/4 with carbs (potatoes, rice or pasta) and 1/4 with meat.  And it worked quite well.  When Mom took us out to TGI Friday's I did splurge and had a burger and fries but the rest of the week has been healthy eating.  So my goal this week is to actually plan out the meals!  I've got my calendar right beside me now so there are no excuses!
Exercise:  Last week, I did manage to do some mornings of my walking DVD so I was happy with that.  I just sucked it up and got started and did the 2-mile walk most mornings.  However, my yoga fell to the wayside.  So, this week, I want to walk four mornings and do yoga four mornings also.
Relationships:  This week will be a continuation of last week's goal.  I did have some special one-on-one time with my family, including my mom who's visiting, and it was great.  So, I have to do more of it.
Creativity:  I did lots of scrapping this week, which was great, and it was all paper scrapping.  I actually didn't do any digi this week at all.  I got one layout done for the weekly challenge over at Club CK and then I've been working on three others with photos from that same time.  This coming week, I want to get our January monthly collage done.  I've got the photos chosen but just haven't taken the time to write up the journalling.  I'm almost done the three layouts I was working on before so I want to finish those up also.  Then it's time to clean up my scrapping space.  I need to put unused papers back, sort the scraps of what I used this past week and a tidy-up of my desk.  It shouldn't take too long but it needs to get done!
Me-time:  I failed miserably at this goal last week.  Instead of sitting down to do my classes, I just felt like scrapping.  With Mom here, I was able to still do some scrapbooking and visit but when I do the classes, I need to be able to focus.  So, in hindsight, that wasn't a great goal for me to set when we have a visitor.  Instead, my goal in this category is work-related.  I need to sit down every morning for at least an hour and work on preparing my French lessons.  I'm going to be starting a new session with my class in the beginning of May and I need to get them prepared.  I have worked on them but it's been a while so I need to sit down and get them finished.

Happy Monday everyone!

Spring Blog Hop

Welcome to our Spring Blog Hop!  You will be seeing some beautiful projects along the way that should help you get  excited for spring.  :)

If you didn't arrive from Adele's blog, please go back to the start www.lovejoypaper.com 

(Amanda's blog) and go through the hop!

Spring has sprung and it's glorious!  Spring is my favourite season of all.  I love the newness of everything after a long winter.  The fresh smell in the air, the new babies in the animal world arriving, the tree budding out and the flowers blossoming - all of it just makes me happy.  Honestly, spring is what I miss most with living in a tropical climate.  Don't get me wrong; I love having fabulous winter weather, but not getting that fresh spring feeling makes me a little bit sad.

Spring flowers are some of the most beautiful.  I love their vibrant colours and the happiness they add to the landscape.  When I was young, my favourite flower was the wild crocus that we could find in the hills just outside my hometown.  They didn't last very long but they were so pretty - a little bit of beautiful purple poking through the brown grass.

Other favourites are tulips and daffodils.  Their beautiful colours simply make me smile.

When we lived in Chile, I loved the cherry blossoms when they came out in the spring and I tried to get photos every year.  They are just so beautiful and make my heart happy when I see them.  So, the layout I'm going to share with you is of some of my favourite photos of those blossoms.  I used the kit "French Summer" by Lynn Grieveson and I lifted this layout from a very talented scrapper, Beth.  Here's my layout:

And here's the LO from Beth that I scraplifted.  Isn't it pretty?

Since I've been talking about flowers, I thought I'd share a technique that I learned from my scrappy friend, Kirsten, over at Skrap 'n Chat.  She showed us how she made the cutest yarn flowers.  

First, you cut out a circle the size of the flower you want and choose the colour of yarn you want to work with.  I've actually done it with two colours and it turned out great too!

Then you put glue all over the circle.  Make sure you get to the very edge.

Start laying down the yarn along the outside edge of the circle and continue until you get to the centre and can't lay down any more.  Make sure not to have any gaps.  You can see a little blue showing through on the left side of my flower - maybe I should have used purple paper!

Finish it off by adding a button in the middle.  And voilà!  You have a beautiful flower!

Here's a layout I did earlier using a couple of these flowers.

I hope you enjoyed your stop here.  Next on the hop is Mandi.

Here is the order of the blog hop:

Amanda (starts here)

Adele

Dana  (You're here!)

Mandi

Heather

Melissa

Shanon

Amanda

Briana

Cassie

Becky

Kathy

Laurie

Dee-lish

Last night I started this layout of A enjoying his first solid food, avocado.  I chose these photos to do Laurie's weekly challenge over at Club CK - to do a layout about food.

To finish off the layout, I added some turquoise and lime green Stickles around the title circle and a bit on the journalling block.

I love all these buttons so I was very happy to be able to use them all on the same layout!

Lots of paper layouts

Last night, I finished up a few paper layouts that I had been working on for a while.  For some reason, I hate using my Cricut for letters or diecuts for each individual layout.  It just takes up too much room to do it in among all my scrappy stuff.  So, what I do is I do the layout and then I set aside the paper I want to use for the title and the diecuts if there are any and put a sticky note on it with the title and the kind of font I want to use (cursive, chunky, thin, etc).  It means that I have a small pile of layouts to do at one but it works for me.

I love how this layout turned out.  The colours are so fun and I'm happy with how the stamped stars look.  I'm not a very good stamper so often, my attempts don't turn out wonderfully but this time, I'm happy.  The stamps and inks are from CTMH.  I used Fette Egyptienne as a font for my title and the red paper is textured and it's from long ago. I added the stitching and the ribbons for borders.

On this layout, I used an old, old, old piece of patterned paper with some new baby stickers that I got from my friend, Diana.  I tried out my new border punch that I got from Jennifer Larson as a RAK.  So pretty.  And I cut out that kitty using my "Create a Critter" cart.

I did this layout for Suzieq's March challenge at Skrap 'n Chat.  Her challenge was to do paper tearing.  I did it on the photo mat here.  I tore up a piece of patterned paper and then adhered it with liquid glue.  It gives a neat effect.  I also used a couple older stickers that I had.  I like to use up some of my older stash on my new layouts; I hate wasting anything!

I did this layout about K wanting to nurse her baby, just like Mommy nursed A.  She was such a sweet little mommy!  I lifted ideas from my fellow CKers for this layout.  Just like Ashley Horton did in her Bo Peep page, I used ric rac as a border for my page.  I love the look of it!  And like Cassie did on her "Three" page, I stitched lines of hearts.  I love the look of it and wanted to replicate it.

Ashley's layout:

You can go here to see this layout in her gallery (and all her other great layouts).  

Cassie's layout:

You can go here to visit her blog and see her other great work.

This layout was done for Suzieq's challenge for April to use a pennant or rosette flower.  I made a bigger one, per instructions on a blog, but it was far too big for my layout.  So, I did this one using a 1"x 12" strip of paper and scoring every 1/4".  I really like how it turned out.  The title ended up being much too big so I had to change up the design a bit.  (I was too lazy to recut the letters.)

And, there you go!  I should try to spread these out but I end up forgetting which ones I've posted and which I haven't so it's just easier this way.  :)

Life is Good

When A was born, we had to stay in the hospital for three days, a rule from the hospital.  So, there we had lots of time on our hands in the hospital room.  Here are some pics of K and D hanging out.  :)

The cardstock is from Close To My Heart and the patterned paper is from a DCWV stack (Summertime or something like that).  The cut out embellies are also from that stack.  I can't remember where I got the ribbon or eyelet.

Amoroso

I did this layout for our monthly colour challenge over at Club CK.  This month's colours are yellow, blue and black.  When I went through my pictures, I saw that K was wearing a blue and yellow dress so those were the pictures I decided to work with.  Though it's not a true blue but more of a teal, I think this came together quite well.

Most of the elements came from Julie Billingsley's "Bumble Blooms" digi kit but I got the stitching, black button and black cardstock from other kits.

Monday Minis

I got this idea from my friend Vanessa (check out her blog) and I think setting mini-goals is the perfect exercise for a Monday morning.  I used to set goals all the time but once I became a SAHM who was sleep deprived, my main focus was survival!  Now, though, I think it's time I get focused again and doing mini goals is the perfect way to do it.

Taking from Vanessa's list because I think it's awesome:

Nutrition:  We've been in birthday party mode the last few days, so eating has been whatever we can put together quickly.  This week, I want to plan out our meals again and eat well.  When I have my weekly menu, I stick to it and we eat so much better.
Exercise:  Since it's gotten so hot, I don't feel like exercising in the mornings.  So, my goal is to do my yoga every morning, no matter what.  If I can do that, I'm sure I'll feel like doing my walking routine too.
Relationships:  I want to make a point of having some special one-on-one time with each of my loved ones every week.  Whether it's snuggling with my hubby and watching a movie, going for "coffee" with my little sweet girl or doing some monster truck rumbling with my little man, it doesn't matter.  I want to make a conscious effort to include some of this more often.
Creativity:  My creativity is in the form of scrapbooking.  I used to do mosaics but they have taken a back-burner to scrapping for a while.  This week, I'd like to get at least one layout done for one of the many challenges that inspire me all the time at my favourite two scrappy hangouts.
Me-Time:  I signed up for three online classes back in January and haven't gotten started on any of them.  So, I want to sit down and start working on Digi in Deeper with Jessica Sprague.

Spring is in the Air

Erika's issue challenge for this week is to do a springy project.  It could be a layout or some other craft project.  Since I don't do much other than layouts, that's what I did.  When we were in Santiago, I took lots of photos of springtime flowers as I loved them.  These buttercup-like flowers were everywhere in the spring and I wanted to get some shots of them.  And well, the kids had clothes that went so well with the flowers so they had to get in the pictures too!  :)

The digi kit I used was "Spring Picnic" from the Scrapping Sisters (the papers and brads).  The tree is from Julie Billingsley's "Find Your Wings" kit and the flowers are from all over - Julie Billingsley, Just So Scrappy, Lliella Designs and Maelia.  I used a sketch from Allison Davis for this layout.

Busy week

It's been a busy week in our household.  The kids and I went up to Montego Bay to pick up my mom from the airport.  We stayed there overnight and we had fun at the pool and hanging out with Gramma.  Then Wednesday, my little guy had his first taste of preschool.  We just went for an hour so he could see what it was all about and then went again for half the morning on Friday.  He's going to go again next week for the whole morning to see how he does on his own.  Thursday was spent running around getting things ready for my little girl's birthday party.

Friday was also baking day so things would be ready for the big day.  We also had dance practice and tutoring so it was busy.  Saturday was the pool party and it was lots of fun!  It was great to have Gramma here for her birthday, the first time since Little Miss was born.

So, needless to say, not much scrapping happened this week!  I did do this layout for the Chinese Whispers game over at Club CK.  I did this based off a layout sent to me by my friend Carolyn.  Since I've done all the monthly collages for 2010, I thought I'd start doing random pictures from the year.  This was when DD learned how to blow bubbles with gum - it was just too cute!  I used Jessica Sprague's Strawberry Lemonade digi kit.