A Walk To Work.....

On Tuesday, I had to walk to work. You see, Amanda's car was leaking some fluid so I gave her my car to drive to school. She needed to get to co-op after lunch and because I was at the store alone, I was unable to drive her. It just worked out better for her to have the car.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and it was warming up. I was only minutes into my walk and I thought it would be fun to take some photos on my way.

This is the field at the school all three of my kids went to until they graduated grade 6. I haven't walked across it in a very long time. I used to be over there every day....sometimes 3 times a day.



In front of the school they have a garden that the students and some parent volunteers maintain. There were lots of spring flowers in full bloom.

A long walkway, between some houses, takes me out of my neighbourhood and into the next.

For a short bit I have to walk down Lexington Rd. It is a very busy street and there are no sidewalks. First I came across a rabbit that had been hit by a car (I didn't take a photo of that)....poor bunny and then I stumbled upon this beautiful tree in full bloom. I couldn't resist taking a photo of it.

After walking for a bit more, I have to go down another path that takes you to a green space with a little creek and a beautiful walking trail.

This little creek winds itself all through the green space and is home to lots of creatures.




As I rounded the corner I spotted mom and her babies floating along. How cute are they! I got as close as I could without making mom too mad to get these photos.

Nearing the end of the path there is a very big tree. In the summer there are hardly any leaves on it, but I think there are some of nature's finest living in it.....what do you think?

Here is one last shot of nature before we emerge back into the city. It is really amazing that this little bit of paradise is right in the middle of my neighbourhood.

It takes me about 15 minutes to walk from my driveway to the parking lot at the store. I don't know why I don't do this more often. Maybe it is time to set a goal for myself......I could do this once or twice a week. I will keep you posted and let you know how I am doing.

Busy Weekend!

Actually it was a very busy week! I haven't done that much scrapbooking....ever. It was fabulous. I tried to participate in as many challenges as I could. In all, I did 24 of the challenges. Here is a summary.....

Monday Challenges:
My Before & After Organizing Challenge
Karan's Product Challenge - Handsome Bunch
Laura's Orange Challenge - Handsome Bunch
Patti's Numbers Challenge - Handsome Bunch
Cheryl's Oh Canada Challenge - Mmmm Syrup

Tuesday Challenges
My Circle Challenge - Bloom
Patti's Stitching Challenge - Bloom
Laura's Sketch for the Card Challenge - Mom Card
Karan's Sketch Challenge - MVP

Wednesday's Challenges
Joanne's Spring Bling Challenge - Flower Pots
Laura's Sketch Challenge - Time Flies

Thursday's Challenges
Joanne's Pinwheel Challenge - Life is Good
Cheryl's What You Love Challenge - MVP
Karen's Clock Challenge - Time Flies

Friday's Challenges
Laura's Glitter Challenge - Mom Card
Karan's Chipboard Challenge - Life is Good
My Favourite Colour Challenge - Life is Good
Patti's Stars, Circles, Rings Challenge - MVP
Cheryl's No Pattern Paper Challenge - Flower Pots

Saturday's Challenges
Karan's Distress Challenge - Bloom
Patti's Metal Challenge - Flower Pots
Cheryl's Lots of Photos Challenge - Mmmm Syrup
Karan's Scraplift From The Gallery Challenge - Mmmm Syrup
Patti's Use Your Stash Challenge - Time Flies

And here are images of all my creations (some are repeats, but I love them so much, who cares!):

The World Blooms When You Smile! This is my niece, Payton. I spent the day with her on Thursday and we went to see the Hannah Montana movie.


Life is Good! This is the layout that I used to demonstrate how to make pinwheels on our store blog. My daughter, Amanda, was trying to decide which sunflower we should buy for our garden.



Handsome Bunch! This is a photo of us last summer. We took a couple of days and went to explore the area that we had rented a cottage later that year. Family time is so special, especially as the kids get older.


MVP! This is a hockey layout I created for a photo from Jason's last tournament of 2009. I am so proud of him and his accomplishments in hockey.

Mom Card! I have a couple of mom's that deserve a card this coming weekend. I was happy to get one done in advance.


Flower Pots! Aren't these adorable? I love them. We gave them away at our NSD crops on the weekend.


Before & After Photos! These were for my organizing challenge. It is so much easier to find things now.



Mmmm... Syrup! I scraplifted this layout from Cheryl (on our design team). As soon as I saw it, I knew I needed to add it to my album.


Time Flies! This is a photo my sister gave to me. Every Thanksgiving we go for a family walk in the woods near her house. Monty's knee does not allow him to join us on the walk, so it is just me and the kids. Wow, how time flies. I remember when they were all little.


Hopefully you had a chance to participate in some of the challenges on our forum. If not, you should try it sometime.....it is really fun and motivating. I didn't get them all done, but I am going to work on finishing them up this week.

Another challenge off the list

Here is my entry for Joanne's Wednesday challenge on our forum. I had so much fun doing these.

The inspiration came from a gift that Joanne and I received at our recent Fall Retreat.

The challenge was to use flowers, butterflies, bling etc. I used the flowers and I changed the butterflies to ladybugs and dragonflies.

I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch holes in the buckets and put brads through to add some detail.

I better get ready for work, or my boss is going to kill me. Big sale today....better not be late!

Check This Out!

I definitely do not consider myself a 'techie' person. I can figure out basic stuff on my computer, but if it gets too tricky I usually end up getting my hubby involved.

Over the last year I have learned alot about blogging, uploading to gallery's, using Photobucket, and navigating forums. I was pretty impressed with myself......and then I found out about Google Reader!

A scrapbook friend of mine told me about this fabulous tool that is available for free! If you visit various blogs then this is the tool for you.

Until yesterday, I had all the 'favourite' places I visit bookmarked under 'my favourites'. Each time I wanted to visit them I would simply click and I would arrive at their blog. Sometimes there were new things to read, and sometimes there weren't. With Google Reader you can subscribe to your favourites. Yes, it is so easy to do. They are all listed nicely for viewing and when there is a new post, it tells you! You don't need to go to many different blogs and check, Google Reader does it for you.

The web address is www.google.com/reader

It is very simple to set up. I did a bunch of my favourites yesterday, and when I checked today I was able to visit all the blogs that had posts in about 1/2 the time. I love it!

If you need some help setting it up, there are tutorials available on utube. I really encourage you try it out. You will love it too.

A BIG HUG to my scrapbook friend that passed this along to me! Her blog was one of the first ones that I subscribed to......and there was a post waiting for me this morning.

More Challenge Creations

I got behind on the challenges from yesterday, so when I came home for my dinner break today, I whipped up this card for Laura's Tuesday Sketch Challenge.

Here is the sketch that she posted. It is from the PageMaps site. I love it.

This is my take on it. Ya, I know mine is going the wrong way and it doesn't have the flourishes on it. That is the beauty of a sketch. It is a great starting point and once you start creating, it becomes your own.


I used papers from Bella Blvd. and Bo Bunny, more letters from Jillibean and flowers from my stash. I used foam adhesive to raise up the hearts and accented them with Stickles.