Where has the summer gone?

Just as quickly as it came, summer has seemed to vanish into fall.  My ninety-one days are gone - and then some!  But what a busy, memory filled summer it has been.  Lots of work and travel  -  I have been so busy that in fact I have had little time to craft, and scrap!

My big project this summer that seemed to undermine everything else was the redesign of the landscape in our back yard.  Seems I have had constuction workers and Virginia red clay around all summer! But the results are stunning!

I designed and then had built a patio, two new decks, an outdoor living room under a pergola, a summer kitchen complete with refrigerator and an enormous grill with an oven, and a hot tub.  Before we had a very small brick patio off a wooden deck with ugly railings.  I had the railings removed along with all the pressure treated wood and designed new wrap around steps to open the back deck to the back yard.  We replaced the gray and splintered wood new Treks "wood"  - cool to your feet and you never have to refinish it.

The old patio was maybe 200 sq ft and had grass growing in between the brick.  I ripped it all out and built a new 1400 sq ft patio with a 2 ft retaining wall to keep the run-off from the back yard in my basement.  The new patio is made with the "flagstone" pavers.  They are three inches thick with 6 inches of gravel and rock dust under them and polymeric sand betweeen them - I dare a weed to grow in between them!

And don't you just love that kitchen!  I have a new margarita mixer out there as well - and you know that will go to good use.

This is the construction of the "hot tub deck".  It is finished now, but I haven't taken pictures of the completed deck.

And I built a firepit for these cool autumn nights that are on their way.

Here's my hubbie grilling - you can thee the pergola off to the right.  I just had it painted white and I bought some really nice wicker furniture and a propane patio heater for it.  Hopefully if it ever stops raining, we can sit out under the stars this fall.

Now that I have been bitten by the "landscape bug" we have added a second "upper" patio with an in-gound pool.  Of course it will be November before the final phase is complete, but at least for now the bulk of the designing is finished.  Next Spring I may add a couple of walkways and put in a few new gardens since all the ones by the house had to be removed for the constuction...but that will be next year...

Anyway, I have been back in my "studio" working on a project for my nieces wedding and finishing up my "91 days of Summer" album, although I won't have 91 layouts - that is for sure.  I did manage to take a ton of pictures, and have a number of layouts (simple ones I might add) completed.

I will take some photos of and share soon....

Ninety One Days of Summer

My boys are out of school for the summer.  They get exactly 13 weeks for summer vacation.  This year, we decided that each of them would journal everyday throughout the break to keep track of what they did. (It also keeps their writing skills from degenerating over the long break!).  So I thought what a great idea for me, too - a small scrapbook page for each of the 91 days until they go back to school.  Anyone want to play along?  Day One was baseball games, Day Two was football tryouts, and Day Three was gardening and cleaning the pond. (Don't you love my little croaking friend?).,

I'll take a photograph, journal a half page or so and make a simple 8 1/2 " x  11"  page to to keep it all together.  That's the plan any way!

Hope your summer is off to a terrific start - we have 12+ weeks to go!!

Enjoy!!

A May Day Basket

Last month, I participated in my very first swap hosted by Kari Ramstrom. The idea of this swap was to create and exchange May Day Baskets with your swap partner who was randomly selected by Kari.   The baskets were to be sent in time for a May 1 arrival. For my swap partner, I put togther this very artful basket using purples, beige and creams.
Contents included this very cool handmade "calypso" soap and local grown cinnamon I bought while in the Virgin Islands, along with a hand made bunny, a lilac candle (my favorite scent!), a big "H" (for my swap partner's first initial), a small "dragonfly" watercolor bowl, a journal, some Starburst jelly beans, and a mini album that I made.

I made this friendship album using Basic Grey's Kioshi papers and a Rusty Pickle chipboard flower album.

I was really pysched about this album because it turned out even better than I thought it would.  I loved the way the purple ink looked over the ivory painted edges of the chipboard.  I really hope my swap partner enjoys putting her own photos in it...and speaking of which....

if you were wondering, my swap partner never reciprocated...no basket, no email, no acknowledgement of the basket I sent, no reply to my email inquiring if everything was alright with her.  At first I was concerned that something terrible may have happened to her, but I noticed that she has been active on her blog, so at least I know she's okay.I guess life gets in the way sometimes, and even though we have the best intentions when we commit to something, life finds a way of taking over our plans. I hope she enjoys her May Day gift as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Garden Delights

My mother's clematis is absolutely gorgeous this year.

I don't think I have ever seen it with so many blooms!

And the peonies from my grandmother's home place that I transplanted along our driveway are as fragrant and as beautiful as ever.

I love these old fashioned ones.  They smell so much nicer than the new hybrid ones that I have mixed them with.

And look what has made a nest in the Rhododendrons under our dining room window! 

The cardinals are back after a two year hiatus when a hawk took their nest.  This nest seems to be a little less conspicuous so hopefully we'll have little babies soon!

I love my garden in bloom!

Artful Spring

Today I am home from work, sick with the croup bug my boys brought home last week.  It started on Wednesday, and progressively has gotten worse as the week went on.  I was able to teach my Turtle Dreams class on Saturday, but I think that is what pushed me over the edge. I have been confined to my room for three days since, but at least today I feel like actuallty doing something!

Although I haven't blogged in a while, I have been very busy creating lots of projects for lots of causes this spring.  First, I had to get my auction donations ready for my kid's school annual fundraiser.  I made two rocking chairs and five photo journals.  The rocking chairs featured papers from Anna Griffin's Isabelle line.

I also made a number of my favorite photo journals, similar in style to the class I taught on Saturday. (by the way, all of my fees from that class were donated to Sea Turtle Survival programs).  It is the same design as my Beach Comber project from last summer, but instead of the teal colors for the Creative Imaginations line, I used the coral papers. 

Here are a few of the pages from the project.

I am hopeful that I will be over all this sickness and can get back to work and back into my scrapbook room.  I have too many unfinished projects as well as too many ideas  in my head to get started on before summer!