Valentine's giveaway & more..

I just finished up doing some cards for the American Crafts blog , and the theme for February was of course, Valentine's Day. My hubby and I don't really celebrate it, save for a card ( mine is made, his bought, although sometimes he does try his hand at scrapping one) and maybe dinner made by him ( he is a chef, after all) and a good bottle of wine. I love to make cards, and using this line of Valentine themed stuff was really fun. :) So please check it out if you have a second, there's some super cute stuff posted there, if you need a jumpstart for making your own!

I'll have some more Valentine's stuff to share here in the next while, as I do enjoy making cute crafty things for the kids.

Anyhoo, I have some yummy American Crafts goodies to give away today, because seriously folks, I just can't use all of it. So I'm sharing the love. :) Nice, no?

I'm willing to ship it to anywhere in the world, but I can't promise you that it will make it there in time for the 14th! Just leave me a comment here, and tell me what gift you would love to receive from you beloved this year- fantasy or real. My 'fantasy' gift , if I could choose one, would be my own laptop, ( it gets very tiring having to fight for computer time between 4 people, let me tell ya) and not just any laptop, but a MacBook Air. That's my kind of candy. Actually, it's a toss up between that and a dishwasher.. ;p Not sure if I've mentioned it here before or not, but I don't own one, and I know I'm probably the last person on earth who doesn't. I dream about it, I really do.

Here's a few things I've been doing the past while. I haven't been scrapping all that much but more than usual, so it's a start, right? This is a layout I did for a 2Peas challenge to lift a layout from a past issue of Simple Scrapbooks. It's actually a lift of Elizabeth Dillow, from her awesome book, 'the Scrapbooker's Almanac'. If you don't have this book, you need it. It's lovely.

My layout totally pales in comparison to her beautiful page ,and I'm not too thrilled with the outcome, but I'm moving on and calling it done. I'm going to re-do this challenge with something from the magazine, and hope I'll be more satisfied with the results.

A few cards, done for AC...

and a simple layout about the dog, who I don't scrap about very often, but I couldn't resist this woe-is-me face...

Don't forget to leave a comment if you'd like some AC goodness. I'll pick a winner sometime next week. Good luck!

PS.- Stupid blogger. I keep trying to edit the post to make it look less 'scrunched up' and nothing... anyone know how to fix that?? And the fact that you have to scroll forever to leave a comment? Sorry! It drives me nutso.

eta: thank you Ruth! I never knew what that 'compose' button was for. ;p

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The Lake, lovely no matter what the weather

So, we did end up going to my friend's cottage last week, and alas, the weatherman wasn't wrong. It did indeed rain for the 3 days we were there, but it was ok. It's a perfectly lovely place, no matter what the weather. My kids are troopers, and I love that they're not easily put off by a little ( or in this case, a hell of a lot) of rain. They swam, they fished, they played, caught toads, picked blueberries, and Bobby learned how to drive the boat- an amazing 3 days of adventure for 2 active boys. Someone needs to figure out a way to bottle that mountain fresh air too. My boys are very hard to get to bed most nights, but up here, they're almost begging to sleep by about 8pm. It always amazes me. I've already scrapped about the lake in this layout, but here's a few photos I took to show you how beautiful it is, even in crap weather. My friend Norah and I had so much fun together, and I'm always so grateful that she invites us up here to spend part of her vacation with here every year. Love her!

Here's a particularly ominous looking shot taken shortly after we arrived Wednesday afternoon.

Then a sunbeam gave us some false hope...

The kids didn't care about the rain. They wanted to fish and swim...

We ran out of dry clothes. Not so fun.

Here's Lily enjoying the scenery. Her fur is almost normal again. And soft from the lakewater.

Ahhhh, the good life. We didn't want to leave.

I went to work on Saturday, and came home with some new American Crafts rub-ons and more papers. I just couldn't resist, I'm so weak. It's foolish of me, since I should be getting my AC box any day now... pretty please?! This collection is N I C E. Really, really, really nice. I'd say it comes close to being my fave.

I had to sit down and scrap with it Saturday night, even though I was exhausted, and should have gone to bed. I made these note cards... easy, cute, and very quick. I think these kinds of little cards are going to be perfect for those teachers gifts I always seem to be scrambling to make on December 21st or so, so I'l be whipping sets of these up every week or so until I have enough. Famous last words. ;p

I'm particularly fond of this awesome, funky flower paper. Yum!!

Ok. That was the longest post ever for me.

I'm off to watch the rest of '21'... hope it's worth staying up for!

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