Summer Mini Book Part 2

Remember this massive post?  I was prepping this album.  If you are interested in picking up any of the things I used that I found on Etsy, I referenced the shop in my original post.

Here is the first half of it.

All papers are from the Simple Stories 100 Days of Summer line. You can find that in the shop.
Everything else is from my stash or stuff I found along the way.

 The epoxy circles are the Epiphany Crafts 20 Circles.  

Page1: Kraft cardstock, white mist, Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Studio Calico ferris wheel stamp, ticket from Etsy.

 Those teeny letters?  From Lily Bee.  I think this company is so underrated.

 I'm really bad about journaling.  I'm working on making something fit.

 I love the tags and extras included with the Simple Stories lines.  These were perfect for the mini album. I used a lot of the 4x6 tags to add pages.

Another thing you'll see a lot of in here are tags from both Elle's Studio and Shabby Chic Crafts.  You can find Shabby Chic Crafts in the shop.

 Another 4x6 tag.

 Crocheted heart is from Etsy.

 More Elle's Studio tags.

 Shabby Chic Crafts tags (summer icons)

 That goofy smile.  I don't have one picture this summer without a goofy smile. I'll be glad when this phase is over.

 I got really creative with this page.  I had too many fun pictures from the beach and no way to display them without making the book huge!  So I made a mini foldout.  Its kraft paper.  I cut 4 strips of 4x8 cardstock.  Each piece is layered to become one of the foldouts.

 Crocheted star from Etsy shop.

 You can see the first two fold outs here.  I then added another 2 foldouts on top of the bottom two but they open up and down vs. out.

 You can see how all 4 pieces expand to create a mini book on the page.

This is the first half of the book.  I'll post the second half when I'm done.

And this isn't the only crafty thing I've been up too.......  More layouts coming up!

Currently....

Drinking: Water


Eating: Pringles


Listening: Counting Crows mix on iTunes


Reading: Voyager, book 3 in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon


Wishing: I had more time 


Thinking: of making some changes

Wanting: to spend more time with Nick


Needing: some scrap time with the girls

Easy Canvas Prints

I was contacted by Brendan from Easy Canvas Prints and asked to review their product.

I've actually been thinking about a project for our home that included photos on canvas so this was perfect!

I have several ideas pinned on Pinterest that are photo collage ideas.  My idea revolves around the places we've travelled too.  Since we've seen some pretty amazing places (and are planning on seeing more in the near future) I needed a way to showcase some of the photos from those trips.  I may take anywhere from 500-2000 pictures depending on the destination and there is always that 'one' photo.

This was that 'one' photo from our trip to Calgary this summer.

I ordered this in a 16x20 canvas.  They have a sale going right now.  Save 25% off a print.  That makes the 16x20 only $67.06!

I plan on ordering more of these in various sizes to create a collage of vacation photos on a large wall in the house.  Like I said, we've seen some amazing things and this is the perfect way to display the photo!  With prices starting at just $29.99, you can't beat that!

I have a special link on my sidebar for anyone looking to order these canvas prints.  This would make a great gift.  The holidays are coming up - get your order in now!

I'll be back with another review once I receive the canvas.

Eat your veggies

My son love fruits and veggies.  I'm lucky, I know.  A lot of my friends say their kids won't touch much of either.  We started Nick early on veggies though.  According to his pediatrician, kids get a sweet tooth early on so starting them off on fruit baby food makes them crave that.  If you start them on veggies and introduce fruit later, they usually eat both.  Not sure if that true but it seems to have worked with Nick.

Last fall, we did the Tanaka Farms Pumpkin Patch tour with his class at school and he loved it.  He got to pick some veggies and see how the farm works.  Well, we missed the strawberry tour this Spring.  I made it a point not to miss the watermelon tour in August.

 We entertained ourselves while waiting for the tractor to pick us up by running along the bales of hay.

 Last year, when we were here, they had a petting zoo.  He was a little upset to find the zoo was only there during pumpkin season.  Thats not a happy face....

Our first stop - the herb garden.  They grow pretty much everything fresh here.  We got to smell each one right from the ground.  Nothing like fresh herbs.

 And then they bring you fresh picked veggies to eat.  They don't use pesticides there and the water is not reclaimed.  So they pick them, wash them and hand them out to the people on the tour.  Nick wanted to know why his carrot had 'green hair'.

 Finally he didn't care anymore and just ate it.

The next stop was fresh corn, yellow and green beans.  He didn't care for the yellow wax beans but he ate his corn and mine.  Corn picked fresh off the stalk is sweet and juicy.  The sugars haven't processed yet so the corn is best I've ever tasted.

 Pumpkins growing.  They had a countdown calendar there and its 42 days til pumpkin season.

Next, we got a chance to get off the cart and we got to taste more fruits and veggies.  Chio, our driver and fruit chopper, chopped up the fruit picked fresh that morning.  So good.

Someone really wanted the watermelon.  Every time they'd pass around a new fruit or veggie, he'd take a bite and ask where the watermelon was.  I think he was thinking I lied to him and it wasn't a watermelon tour....
Zucchini and yellow squash.  He ate 3 slices of the zucchini but not the yellow squash.  I'm not a fan of that one either.

Next was canteloupe

Cucumbers

And FINALLY watermelon.  Everyone around us laughed when Nick saw the juicy red stuff come around.  And the first thing out of his mouth once he'd had a bite.....

'Its like a party in my mouth!'

And then they passed out yellow watermelom.  Never heard of this before but I tried it.  Its not as sweet as regular watermelon but its still good.

And a second helping of regular watermelon too.

Next, the guide took us for a walk through the fields.  They got to see the watermelon on the vine.  Most were bad though and they left them there for the bees and birds to snack on.

At the end of the walk, there was a pile of mini watermelons for us to choose from.  Some of the people had done this before and brought bags to carry theirs home in.  I had two watermelon in my purse - not easy to carry.

And then back to the beginning.  They have a small market there were you can purchase some of what they grow.  Nick was antsy so I didn't have a lot of time to shop around but we got some fresh strawberries, corn and green beans for dinner.  I need to go back soon.

Summer Fun

Got this layout done quickly one night using last months Studio Calico kit.  I loved the colors of this kit and it was perfect for some of the photos I took this summer.

I loved this layout.

And a quick card from the scraps.....