Connect 4

We got this travel version of Connect 4 at Christmas from Hugh and Elena.  Breanna is always challenging us to games.  It is so fun!  The kids brought it with us when we went to Pillar Lake in July and it sat on the camp table all weekend.  I think everyone there played a few games over the two days.

I haven't used Mulberry paper on a layout in forever, but I was cruising around different artsy blogs and love how some of the artists paint diluted inks or paints in soft swathes across their pages and I thought 'hmmmm, that looks kinda like mulberry paper. I think I should try that'. So I did.

I splattered different colours of ink on the background and used all kinds of bits and pieces from my stash.  Rub-ons, Prima leaves, Bella Blvd cutouts, Tim Holtz grunge number, Jenni Bowlin buttons...

A two page layout of our trip to Pillar Lake

We spent two days at Pillar Lake with Papa, Grandma, Uncle Ken and a couple of his care workers.  Pillar Lake is an hour out of Vernon, just past Falklands.  It was a pretty little lake but none of us was swimming in it after spotting a HUGE leach lurking around our dock.

We had 3 cabins between us; ours is shown up in the trees in the far left photo.  The dock was shared by our cabin and Uncle Ken's cabin.  Duncan had talked Papa into renting an aluminum boat and a kayak by the time we got there.  The following day we had to return the aluminum boat so we got a canoe instead. 

The photo second from the right is the naturally formed pillar that the lake is named after.  It pokes up above the tree line in the bushes above the lake. The boys did some fishing, but didn't have any luck.

On the 'field notes' card I've jotted down info on the huge snake we saw beside the path down to the dock.  Green with yellow stripes and a red design. It was bigger than any garter snake I'd ever seen, but after researching it we discovered that was what it was.

More camping photos

Here's one of Duncan putting us around Pillar Lake in a little aluminum boat we had rented from the resort we stayed at. 

Two 2 page layouts

Sunday was a quiet day at home.  I made a big mess on my dining room table and turned out two layouts; both of them two pagers.
The first one is of Turbo stalking the goldfish in the pond.  He has gone swimming a couple times when he's leaned too far over.  I know he'd love to catch one, but unlike the mice and birds in the yard so far our goldfish are safe.

This second layout is Tikanii and Turbo playing.  They are so funny the way they attack each other in fun.

Both of these layouts will be at Unforgettable Memories later this week.

Camping and a layout

Thursday afternoon we packed up and went camping in the rain.  Of course, by the time we found our campsite on an island halfway between Lynx Creek and the Halfway the sun had come out.  It is never miserable on the river.  It was almost 7pm by the time we got camp set up so we had some dinner, sat around the campfire for a while and then headed to bed when it got dark just after 10.

The next morning Rick boated me back to his truck.  We had forgotten Tikanii's pills :(  Rick was going to be back at the boat launch at 1pm to pick up me and Dunc's friends' parents who were going to bring dinner out for us and spend some time boating/fishing with the boys.  So I had a few hours to fill once I'd put together the list of forgotten items.  I managed to scrap a page of Paddle for the Peace last month.  I used this months Prima sketch though the papers are Bella Blvd.

While I was enjoying some quiet time the boys and Rick were fishing.  They caught a HUGE bull trout and took a picture before throwing it back. The boys were pretty excited.

We camped out Friday night and came home late Saturday evening.  I love being on the river, but it's sure nice to be clean and in my own bed at night. 

Playing hookie and a 2 page layout

It was so gorgeous today. Too nice to be sitting in an office ~ even if it does have a window. So when Rick phoned me at work to say he was gasing up the boat I said 'what for me!' I took the afternoon off and then went back and said I was taking the rest of the week for vacation time. Yippee.  5 days off!

We went up the river with Duncan and a friend of his.  It was hot and sunny and oh, so much more pleasant than sitting in a cubicle in front of a computer. We saw 8 bears.  Yes, you read that right; EIGHT.  I've never seen more than two in one day so that was amazing.  They were everywhere.  Three of them we saw in the middle of the afternoon as we were heading upriver. One was trying to swim across when we came along.  Duncan's friend got this photo as we were going by.

And here's another layout I finished last weekend.  Daniel took the photos of me during Paddle for the Peace last month. That's Rick coming up behind me in the river boat.  He thinks it's soooo funny to get people wet :( 

Breanna and her friend were sitting on the bow enjoying the ride.

The patterned papers are all MME which is Unforgettable Memories feature manufacturer this month.

Tikanii and Turbo looking for a meal

Another layout from this past weekend.  These two are always looking to be fed. 

The background paper is Fancy Pants 'family' line. The matting pp is MME.

Some Prima blooms and black jewels, and 7Gypsies brads embellish my page.

The rest of the embellishments are bits and pieces from my stash.

It rained this weekend

and I'm minus 2 kids.  Only Duncan is home with me.  Breanna flew to Edmonton all by herself to visit a friend and Daniel is visiting Grandma and Grandad in Victoria.  Rick worked so I made a mess of my dining room table and scrapbooked. 
Last time Breanna and I were in Victoria we visited Ted Harrison's studio/shop.  Her teacher had done an Art unit on Ted Harrison's style of painting. Unfortunately he wasn't in at the time of our visit. Here she is standing outside his shop.

The paper is by Harmonie.
I used loads of Prima ~ blooms, bling and that printed burlap which adds great texture.
The arrow under the title and the journal spot are by Little Yellow Bicycle.