the simple things 6-26

Our new puppy Sara had no trouble becoming part of the family.  She is one loved little dog. 

JT and Sara after a very hard day of playing:

a coach's thank you

I had the pleasure of being tasked with making cards as a thank you to the coaches on JT's Little League team this year.  We really had such a great team of coaches, players and parents this year, we all bonded well and it was very sad to see the season end.  This was JT's first year and he cannot wait to play again next year...he truly fell in love with the sport.

I used up supplies from my stash (one of the benefits of loving paper!).  The image is from CTMH's All Star stamp set (retired) and the paper is CTMH's Independence Paper Packet (retired).  The sketch is Mojo Monday 196.  We had each of the players sign the inside of the card with a simple "Thank you for a great season" printed on the inside.

Here is the sketch:

and here is my take on it:

Have a great one - Tracy

Ten Tasks in Ten Days Challenge

I have decided to take the plunge and join Cha Cha's challenge of completing ten tasks in ten days.  I have a project list a mile long (seriously, it fills up every line...both sides...of a piece of notebook paper) and that is just scratching the surface (read only the things I want to do in 2011).  Although I have the best intentions, I haven't really buckled down and started in on the project list (although I may have added to it on more than one occasion)...guilty!

For this challenge I mixed up some items from the Project List and some items on my weekly goal list (things I really need to do...but weekly goals sounds so much better).  I picked ten that I was pretty confident I could actually do in 10 days, with the exception of #10...that won't be finished but continuing where I left off weeks ago would be nice.  It is the little things that I need to get out of the way in order to get to the big stuff.

So here is my Ten Tasks in Ten Days list:

Purge email

Pull together & print Project Life Pictures

Front porch - clean up...make welcoming

Weed flower beds & plant azalea's and hydrangeas

Back Patio - clean up and get summer ready  (warning:  below picture is SCARY!)

coupons - I really don't think I am saving money with them in a 2" (and growing) pile

put away miscellaneous crap-o-la (read...Christmas decor on top of dining room cabinet, hamster cages in bath tub...yikes!)

clean out mini van...vacuum, steam clean, and disinfect (maybe quarantine too!)

clean master bedroom (purge my closet & drawers and beg hubby to do the same)

continue working on kitchen...perhaps finish priming the trim?

I actually LOVE this idea which is why I am participating.  Focusing on 10 individual taks in 10 days doesn't feel like you have all that pressure on you to accomplish 5 bajillion things in one day (on top of all of your other responsibilities).  Breaking it down like this...I know I can do it and finally start crossing things off my list.  Who knows, maybe I will do this twice a month or so and focus on the larger, more time consuming projects in between!

Spring into Summer

Phew!  What a crazy few months it has been.  So many things I have wanted to share but finding time to sit down and blog wasn't happening.  So here is a quick recap...more on a few of these later:

• JT finished up his first year of Little League and to say he loved it is an understatement.  He really improved from the beginning of the season to the end and is looking forward to next year.  It was such a pleasure watching his progress and his true love of the game.  He was even interested in watching the Red Sox with Bob towards the end of the season and chipped in with commentary now and then.
• JT also finished up cub scouts for the season.  What a whirl wind year this was.  In 3 short months we joined cub scouts and earned both the Bobcat and Bear badges.  He crossed over to Webelo I at the beginning of June. 
• June also brought end of school year activities for Kelsey (and of course JT).  End of Elementary School years (sigh).  My thoughts on this in another post.  But we enjoyed band concerts, Fifth grade celebrations, special field trips, and so much more.
• We welcomed a new member into our family.  After losing our yellow lab to cancer over a year ago, we decided it was time for another furry friend. May I proudly introduce Sara Faye...more on her in a future post.

• Summer break officially started Monday at noon.  Jt had a friend over for the afternoon and Kelsey went to a pool party and then had 3 friends sleep over Monday night (yes, I am sane...honest). 
• This week is unwind and clean up week.  I have decided that I can not fully enjoy my 10 short weeks with my children if I don't get this house in shape...so I am purging, cleaning, organizing, catching up on filing, laundry, etc. etc.  I also plan on making a schedule for the summer (which will include lots of flexibility).  We need to fit in summer work (math packets and reading for both kids), a few projects for me, keeping the house orderly, and lots of fun and some restful periods of downtime.  I live by my schedule during the school year and need to have something to go by during the summer.
• I have been busy scrapping...I have some exciting news coming up but I can't share just yet...stay tuned for more on this later.  I also have a few other scrappy projects I have been working on that I would love to share.

While most bloggers wind down for the summer, I am going to attempt to be a bit more consistent.  While I won't be posting everyday (not that I ever did anyway) I am striving for 3 posts a week to catch you up on crafty stuff, house projects and summer fun.

Tracy

CTMH Product Spotlight...Inspirational Relay Race

Hello and happy middle of June to you!  Can you believe it is already the 15th of June?  Where oh where has the Spring (and the school year for that matter) gone?

I am so excited to be participating in this month's CTMH Product Spotlight.  This month we had some fun and put a little twist into the blog hop by doing an inspirational relay race.  The basic concept is easy...one person starts the hop with a layout, card or project and then passes it on to the next person in line who pulls their inspiration from the first piece and creates something new.  She then passes that project on to the next person who creates something that inspires them from the second project and so on...

I am 8th in the relay and had no clue what the original design looked like until the hop went live.  I worked off of what Jena created and sent me.  To get the full experience of this blog hop...make sure you go back and start with Nikka. 

So once again - here is what Jena created and sent to me:

and here is what I came up with:

 

I decided to run with the color combo and the butterflies.  I pulled the blues, browns, greens and pinks although in a different shade (and completely different paper) to create the layout and used the butterflies as accent pieces.  I love how I was able to just pull a few aspects from Jena's project and make something completely different.

Now hop on over to Vicki to see how my layout inspired her.  At the very end of the hop, you will be able to view a recap post of all the projects from beginning to end.

{Spaghetti Thief Supplies}

Cardstock:  CTMH Desert Sand, Crystal Blue, Colonial White

Patterned Paper:  CTMH Mayberry Paper Packet

Ink:  CTMH Desert Sand

Stamps:  Bevy of Butterflies - Unity Stamp Company; Comments - CTMH

Other:  Hemp - CTMH; Rhinestones - CTMH; Stickers - American Crafts