Another one of those "special" birthdays...

I know, every birthday is special as long as we're around to celebrate it.  But some birthdays are just more special than others.  You know, those milestone birthdays...
We recently celebrated my Dad's 65th birthday in style...the entire family spent it together on a Vacation Houseboat on Shuswap Lake in BC.

Since 65 is one of those "special" birthdays, I really wanted to make my Dad a great cake, but it would have been too hard to take it on the 3 day road trip we took just getting to the lake.  So I made him this special card instead:

Some of you may recall seeing others like this that I've made. 

I have made several of these Birthday Year cards books for family members. 

I have a full tutorial with pics for you on THIS POST.

Here are the inside pages,

click the pics to enlarge them if you're interested in reading the text.  Some of these trivia tidbits were really interesting to research:)

Thanks for not un-following me as I have been a very lazy blogger this summer!

Lorrinda

 

Recipe:

(All product CTMH unless noted)

X7137B Lucky Level 2 Paper Pack

Cardstock in Cocoa, Outdoor Denim, Desert Sand

Inks in Cocoa, Outdoor Denim, Desert Sand

Stamps: C1439 Enjoy Life, D1495 You & Me

 Z1387 Wooden buttons

Z1371Blue buttons Assortment

Z280 natural Hemp

Retired Pewter accents medley

Ribbon scraps

Cricut and Plantin' Schoolbook Cartridge

We interrupt this summer break for a candle project

How's everyone enjoying their summer?  Between kitchen renovation and family camping trips my summer has been anything but lazy.  I came back from a long weekend at the lake to find 375 unread posts on my Google Reader! So much crafty inspiration...so little time.

I haven't posted anything crafty for a while, so I thought I'd share my candle project with you.  My Mom is one of 6 girls, and they get together every year for a "Sister's Weekend".  They always bring little gifts for each other, and this year Mom asked me to make something for her to give each of them. 

She loved the candles I made:

These were super easy to make.  I started with inexpensive 3" pillar candles from Ikea. 

The sentiment was done with my printer onto white tissue paper (tape the tissue paper to a sheet of regular office paper so it doesn't bunch up in the printer) Then trim the excess away around each logo, smooth it down onto the candle, cover it with a piece of waxed paper large enough to wrap around the entire candle with enough to grab onto to keep it tight, and carefully heat it with the heat gun until the logo is set into the wax. Then remove the waxed paper...viola! Custom candle.

I wrapped some matching ribbon around the base of each candle, and it it just held on by the brad in the center of the flowers pushed into the candle like a stick pin.

The big one is 5" and has an angel charm on it for their sister Leona who passed away from Breast Cancer 3 years ago. I really miss her. They kept this one burning all weekend while they were together.

This was a fun project. Thanks for visiting my blog, and a special thanks to my followers who have stuck with me while I've been pretty much AWOL this summer.  Summers in Alberta are just too short to spend in a basement craft room, I'll be back to regular posting when the kids are back in school.

Lorrinda

Kitchen Reno Update

Hi there!  Just thought I'd pop in with a kitchen update.  I have been so busy that I haven't even stepped into my craft room in the past 2 weeks.  But I have been painting so I guess that counts as crafty, right?

So, if you remember my last post, we had just finished the drywall. Since then I had to put 2 coats of paint on the ceiling of the entire space, all by myself:

If I never paint another ceiling in my life it will be too soon!

Then I painted the kitchen and adjoining laundry room:

The color is Benjamin Moore "Stone House", nice and calm.  I may still paint one wall blue...I'll have to wait and see when it's all done. Just ignore that hole in the wall under the window, it's an access panel for the dishwasher plumbing, and will be hidden when the cabinets are done.

Then we got kicked out of the house and had to move into the camper while the flooring was installed.  New flooring was put in front of the front door (shown) and the back door in the laundry room, so we couldn't even get into the house until all was finished.

Isn't it purty??  Was just finished YESTERDAY.

Talk about a tight schedule...we just had enough time to move the appliances in and get things cleaned up.  Then this morning THIS beautiful van showed up:

And this is the view from my front step right now:

See?  We've been so busy in the house we haven't even mowed the lawn...not really, it's been raining all week so we just couldn't get it cut and all the rain does is make it grow faster. Today is a beautiful day, and by tonight I should have most of the cabinets installed. 

Thanks to Peter and Vince:

I'll be back with another update soon.  Sorry if you popped by looking for some crafty ideas, I am too tired to even think about making anything crafty, but I do have the new CTMH Idea Books, and I did get time to order some new supplies (I always have the energy to spend money!). 

Thanks for popping in!  If anyone has any advice for adding some pops of color into my overly beige new kitchen/family room I'd love some ideas?

Lorrinda

Just checking in...

Hi all!  I thought I should check in to my poor neglected blog and let my followers know why I have been such a bad blogger lately....

We decided to start a complete kitchen reno this summer.  I could stop right here and I'm sure you'd all understand, but I have pictures to share! 

Important NOTE: I like to think of myself as a scrapbooker, but I am 15 years behind on my pictures so I figure if I blog it then it is an actual recorded event...am I right? (I am also taking Stacy Julian's online course 'Finding Photo Freedom' at Big Picture Classes right now, so maybe someday soon I will stop thinking that I am 15 years behind with my photos...wish me luck with that...I'm already 4 weeks behind on the course!  Remind me again why I thought I would have time to do a 10 week online workshop while I was starting a kitchen reno???? I'm glad that my registration allows me unlimited access to the course materials so I can revisit this as a winter project.)

Here is my kitchen BEFORE:

For a 30 year old kitchen, it's really not that bad...

But...the counter top is all chipped and the flooring is in really bad shape.  The cabinet color isn't so bad, but those stupid door pulls in the middle of the doors have always bugged me, and the drawers are warped and don't work very well anymore.

And since we moved in 11 years ago, we have wanted to knock out this closet/pantry wall to open up the kitchen and family room.

This was the kitchen last week.  Removed the cabinets and scraped off the backsplash tiles. Discovered some creative wiring behind the range hood, and realized we forgot to mark the stove outlet on the plans and would have to move it to the right 6 inches...and of course there was not enough wire so we had to fish a new electrical line in. There was some colorful language when my big hubby had to crawl into the tiny attic space to do the wiring, but we are still happily married (for now, things may change by next week).

Here is my kitchen today.  Making progress.  All the drywall repairs are done, ceiling almost finished. Don't you just love my new plastic drapes?  They are all over my house right now until the wall sanding is done, but even with the plastic there is a lovely film of white dust covering virtually every surface in my home.  I should be able to start with a primer in a couple of days, then I have the ultimate joy (not) of painting the ceilings.

My new cabinets are scheduled to be here on July 25th, and before then I have to prime and paint my kitchen and laundry room (and I still can't decide on a color, I'm thinking teal blue), repaint the ceilings, and remove all the yukky peel and stick vinyl tiles from the floor. And hubby has to fix the holes in the subfloor, move a couple of floor registers, and cut in the stove outlet. In case anyone else is worried, we do have a real electrician coming to do the work on the breaker box and hook up the stove outlets. My man is a trained plumber however, so he will come in handy when we finally get to put in the new sink and dishwasher. Hopefully that will happen before the kids go back to school!  Then I can get him started on a new bathroom...

So, now you know why I haven't been spending much time in my craftroom this summer. Fear not! I am having severe paper withdrawal symptoms, and the new CTMH Idea Book will be out soon...so just as soon as I can find the time I will get back to creating! I have been keeping up with blogland over my morning pot cups of coffee, and have been following along with all the CTMH gals tweeting from the big convention in Disneyland (I really wish I was there!)

Thank you all for hanging in there while I renovate!

Lorrinda

If you can read this, THANK A TEACHER!

Today's post is sadly my last one as a member of the Heart 2 Heart Design Team :(

It has been such a great experience to be in the company of such fabulously talented ladies for the past 6 months.  Each week the challenges have pushed me out of my creative box, and being on a Design Team with these gals has motivated me to bring my A game!  We've all become friends through our little chats behind the scenes, and I really hope to get to meet them all face to face one day.  I feel so honored to have had this design team opportunity!  If you get a chance this week, pop in to their blogs for a visit, and sign up to be a follower if you aren't already:
Debbie: http://www.scrapmyheartout.blogspot.com/
Haley: http://inkyscrapper.blogspot.com/
Jessica: http://www.jessicaspaperpetals.blogspot.com/
Jody: http://cre8nmemories.blogspot.com/
Karen: http://www.kdaycreations.blogspot.com/
Mary: http://www.mbryt1.blogspot.com/
Melinda: http://www.ifyoublingittheywillcome.blogspot.com/

I will continue to stalk their blogs on a daily basis :), but I will really miss being a part of this team.  However, our term is up and it's time to pass the torch on to some new talent!  Keep your eye on the H2H challenge blog for the new Design Team introductions, and please give the new designers a warm welcome.

Before I get all choked up, I better share the details of  this week's challenge.

This week H2H has a color challenge for us:

My kids have had really great teachers again this year, and today is the last day of school (Yay!...? This used to be such a happy day for me, before I became a Mom... just kidding...I think...)

 I wanted to include a little something to thank them for being a part of my kids' lives.  I made them each this cute bookworm card to go with a little gift:

Recipe: All product CTMH:

Stamps: B1380 Mayberry WOTG, C1322 Gratitude (Retired), and D1290 August Word Puzzle (Retired)

Paper: Bamboo, Barn Red, Blue from X7137B Lucky Paper Pack

Inks: Barn Red, Indian Corn Blue, Desert Sand, Sunflower

Z1371 Blue Button Assortment

Z906 Bamboo Waxy Flax

Z1099 Twill Ribbon (Retired)

and googly eyes from my stash :) 

Want to play along with us?  Now it's your turn to use these fabulous colors on a project.  Don't forget you must use some CTMH products...then link it up at H2H so we can all pop by for a peek.  Each entry has a chance to win a fantastic prize from our lovely sponsors, and a place in our Top 10 at the end of the month.

One last thing:

I want to share the inside of my card with all of you today:

Summer is always so busy for us, the kids are home from school, the yard needs maintenance, weekends are spent in our camper (with no internet), and just to make it extra crazy around here we've decided to begin a complete kitchen renovation.  I have no idea when I will get a chance to get into my craft room for the next few weeks, so I may not be posting to my blog very much this summer.  I will keep checking in with some of my favorite blogs that are in my Google Reader, and will try to leave some comments along the way.  Don't worry, I'm not abandoning this little blog...I'm just taking it easy where I can this summer, and am giving you fair warning that I'm gonna be a lazy blogger for a couple of months. 

A big THANK YOU to all my followers and to everyone who has taken the time to leave me a comment here. 

HAVE  A  GREAT  SUMMER!

Lorrinda