THURSDAY THOUGHTS - Celebrations Galore!

It was another weekend full of celebrations. 

On Friday we drove to Pell Lake, WI for my niece, Kayla's, high school graduation party.  She will be heading to Nashville to study music and further her career.  It was nice to see that part of the family again.  It certainly made me miss my sister as well.  She has missed so much in the past five years.

We spent the night at my father-in-law's house for a belated father's day get-together.  We watched Despicable Me on Saturday morning, had a wonderful scrambled eggs and bacon breakfast and then a quick lunch at Pizza Hut before heading back home.

Saturday was my son's 10th birthday so we gave him his gifts once we got home - a Bakugan DS game and a pencil drawing instructional book and sketch pad.  He had requested breakfast in bed for his birthday.  Since we were out of town we granted his wish on Sunday morning.  I made pancakes with some chocolate chips sprinkled on top, sausages and a glass of oj.

Monday we just hung around home and went to the Monona fireworks in the evening.  They were amazing!  Unfortunately we were two blankets away from a very interesting group of people who appeared to be very high on something and taking pleasure in self-asphyxiation.  It was quite disturbing to say the least and an uncomfortable sight to explain to the kids   We alerted the police but the people explained their strange behavior as an asthma attack and the cops went on to other things.  I'm curious as to what the heck they were doing and if self-asphyxiation is the "in" thing right now? 

Tuesday was my daughter's 13th birthday.  She also requested breakfast in bed.  I made her chocolate chip muffins and a fruit cup.  She had wanted her room painted so we worked on that all day.  She picked out a bright teal blue paint color.  Her room looks so different and I was so sore by the end of the day! 

This weekend we'll be off to the last of our graduation parties this summer, but then have our kids' birthday party the following weekend. 

USE YOUR STASH - Doodling Templates, Patterned Paper Scraps, Buttons, Thickers

I'm taking a much harder look at my supplies lately and have changed my approach to using my stash.

First of all, I have randomly grabbed things from my bins and determined to use them up completely or throw them away if I can't.

Secondly, I am placing all of my tiny bits that for whatever reason don't get used on one project into a small container on my desk and each time I scrap that is where I look first for embellishments.  Whatever doesn't get used by the end of the month either gets put into a future kit or thrown away.

And thirdly, any products that I do not use from my Studio Calico kits each month get set aside to be put into a kit and sold in my shop.  (That's great news for my kit buyers because you'll be seeing lots more new releases!)

This week's stash challenge is a product of my first two statements.  The buttons were pulled randomly from my stash.  The patterned paper was taken from my scrap bin.  The Hambly overlay, phrase stickers and doodling template were just laying on my desk.  The orange vinyl Thickers I've never cared for but didn't have the heart to throw them away got used here, and then I did throw them out.  The cardstock was a leftover from a card I'd made recently.  The vellum star was in that little container on my desk.  When all was said and done the only things I pulled out specifically for this layout were the cardstock, pink Thickers and the BasicGrey letter stickers.  Pretty awesome I'd say and even better?  I actually like the way this layout turned out!

Title:  Enjoy Each Moment

By the way, this is my niece, Kayla, singing at Smiles this past August.

See Straight Through Me by Kayla Hawkins

My niece, Kayla, just released her debut CD. You can listen to samples or download here:
http://www.digstation.com/AlbumDetails.aspx?albumid=ALB000035533
You can download the entire CD for $3 for a limited time. Isn't she a beautiful singer?