Rain, rain go away.

Thought I would share a little something for the weekend. The boys and I are in sunny San Diego for the long weekend. We had great plans for swimming, etc but instead we woke up to rain and lots of it. Hopefully it will all blow over by Monday when we have a big pool party planned. In the mean time it's game day at my parents. The boys love board games so they are just fine with that. It also gives me an opportunity to follow the USC game this afternoon. Go Trojans! We are huge USC fans in our house. The boys have already said that's where they want to go to school. If they do they'll be fourth generation Trojans. I'd better start saving now.

Hope everyone has a great long weekend.
Fight On!
Lara

Something older

Just a quick post before my computer decides to shut itself off again. We just got one fixed and now this one seems to be possessed. Just my luck. I wasn't lucky enough to get something made today although I have some great ideas floating in my head. I did want to try and get back to daily posts so I thought I would share a card I made last December. The front of the card has a pocket that holds the sentiment or could also hold a gift card. It was for a pocket swap I did awhile ago. Hope you enjoy.

August Hike

I thought I would share some pictures I took from our hike last weekend. I have started to remember how much I used to love to take pictures. This month took us to Lee Canyon and we hiked the Upper Bristlecone Trail. This is a wonderful hike because it is not to steep at any one time.
Today was Open House for the older boys. It was nice to see our friends again, meet the new teachers and check out the classrooms. I think this will be a fun year.


I loved this tree at the peak of our trail. Peter and I called them "witch trees". There is just something about it that's different.

I'm going to try and be back tomorrow with something creative.
Till then, Lara

Simply so

Where did the summer go? It feels like the kids were just getting out of school and I had a whole summer ahead of me. There were things I was going to get done. I blinked and now here we are again... shopping for school supplies, new shoes, haircuts, the works.

I finally got to be creative recently. My sister called and needed a set of cards (like, yesterday) for someone she works with. This is one of the cards I came up with and I think it is among one of my favorites. It is elegant yet simple which I really like. I hope you do to. I'll be back tomorrow night with some pictures from our latest hike. I never realized how beautiful our mountains in the desert are.
For this card: Garden Silhouettes stamp set; Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Whisper White card stock; Regal Rose and Always Artichoke markers; Rose and Spring Moss ribbon all from Stampin' Up! and of course some Stickles for that little something extra.

Bonus Challenge

Whoo Hoo! I love the bonus challenge. This time is was hosted by the talented, JulieHHR. The show, Friends. The challenge to make a funny "friend" card. I am not funny at all, so at first I thought I might have to skip this one but then an idea. Is it funny?
Dylan decided to make funny people. Again they pulled out the essential ovals, who knew they could be kayaks, skateboards and monsters. He stamped them then drew funny faces and bodies. What a kid.
Can you see the lines between the trees and the bird and butterfly. Jake thought it was funny that his trees, etc were holding hands. Always thinking outside the box that one. I'm going to have to watch out for him.

Patrick's card may not necessarily be funny but I think it cute. Patrick is our Cubmaster so he thought the Hiker needed to take Santa's sleigh for a joy ride. Cool.

Talk to you later,
Lara

VMAA #4

I should have known with a TV theme that Jennie's would be One Tree Hill. The goal... to use just one stamp. You could use it multiple times but only one stamp. I pulled out the scout because I have had Cub Scouts on the brain lately, I've been busy stamping cards for all the kids whose birthday's are this summer. So they get a little something special. This is quick and simple but I like it.
Dylan went with a flower stamp and stamped it over and over in different colors.

Jake, the ever creative one, went back to his go to stamp set, Essential Ovals. But this time he turned it into a skateboard then drew his own ramp. Why can't I think of things like this.
Patrick new exactly what he wanted to do. He stamped his image over and over all the while telling me how he just loves the clear stamps because he can see right through them. Yes, honey!

Enjoy!

VMAA Challenge #3

I just loved Challenge #3 hosted by the wonderful Rhonda. Rhonda is a lady after my own heart. Her challenge was based on her favorite show, LOST, which is also my favorite show. I wait every week to see what new twists are around the corner and at the end of the night am shocked and excited for next time. Summer is hard to be without the drama and suspense. Our cards were to showcase our favorites (ie stamps, colors, notecards, etc.) I just love this Elzy so I had to use her and I have been loving the Purple Kitchen notecards and creative candy. Hope you like.
Jake (top) and Dylan (bottom) decided their favorite thing was to make birthday cards. Hope you like them.

VMAA Challenge #2

Our second challenge of the night was hosted by Geeta (who also hosted our online chat). She chose Gray's Anatomy. The challenge: Make a card that has something to do with love: any kind of love!

By now I had given up on stamping live and played online while getting things for the boys when they needed help and answering their many questions. Next time I want to know something I'm going to have them start stamping first. As soon as they started I don't think they stopped talking till I told them they had to stop stamping at 9:00.

My cards first. I love the coffee set. It was my first ever A Muse stamp and I always seem to come back to it.

Dylan (8) is next. He thinks the hiker and Elzy are in love. I love how he drew a heart in between them.
Jake (6) thought about the love theme for a couple minutes before he decided to make tons of girls ( there are 7 more on the inside and back of the card). He was very adamant though that he didn't love girls but that girls loved love.
Lastly, we come to my husband, Patrick. Since we stamped after the kids went to bed. This was actually the last card he made. He combined sets to make and Mom and her baby.

I never knew I had such a creative family. We'll have to do this again sometime.

I'll post the rest of the challenges later. I've got to run now, Dylan has a scuba class in 20 minutes.

Lara

Patrick's Passport to Europe

So I had the pleasure of stamping with my family tonight for VMAA. Dylan and Jake stamped till 9:00 and then after we got everyone to sleep Patrick and I sat down and did our cards. I know what you are thinking, "Your husband stamps?". Not usually but tonight he saw how much fun the boys were having and wanted to join in. He said it's just like when you were in elementary school except he's better at coloring now.

Challenge #1 - Passport to Europe

Well we may be behind but it's kinda fun stamping with all my boys. This is the card I made for Michelle's challenge. I loved the colors and was drawn to the window. The boys on the other hand were drawn to the "kayak".
Jake immediately looked at all my stamps and wanted to make Kayaks out of the essential oval set. I would have never thought of that. He has a starting line and a finish line for his race.
Dylan has a lot more going on in his. He also has the kayaks in water and a house for his window as well as a table on the patio with lemonade and the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Hope you enjoy.

They are hard at work on the next challenge.

My stamping family

These are my boys stamping for tonight VMAA goodness. Hope you enjoy. If you're interested the younger ones are 8, 6 and 2. I'll be posting all the cards in a minute.