the start of terri's treasures

I am working on getting some samples set up for my new hobby/ enterprise/ business. Whatever you want to call it. The four cards below show the different border punches I have and how cards can look with them layered. 

I used my Nesties circle for this sentiment. I also heat embossed and pop dotted the sentiment. The border punch is a circle punch from EK Success

This one is my leaf border punch from Fiskars. Another of my Nesties and heat embossing on the sentiment.

I used another EK Success border punch. I really like the look of this one when it is layered. Yup... nesties and heat embossing.

This is my Fiskars Apron border punch. Nesties again doubled up with heat embossed sentiment.

I am working on getting a website up to show off what I can make. Along with the prices of them. Sure does take awhile. I hope to have it done within the next couple of weeks. I need to make a few more examples. But so far... so good.

where i want to be

Yup... this is it... right where I want to be today. Not sure why since today has been a pretty decent day with the kiddos and the weather. I think I want to hang with my twin again. Missing her. 

I took this picture after the rain cleared up before the sun went down. Look how calm and still the lake is. Simply beautiful.

Then the sunset came. Seriously it was overcast all day and yet this is what happened at sunset. Totally amazing and peaceful.

The next morning before we had to leave this slice of heaven. The lake was a bit rougher than the previous day and oh so inviting. I sunned my toes on the dock before we headed out. I can hear the water hitting the rocks and the dock.

Yup... that's where I want to be today.

loons on the lake

What a sweet family portrait.

Last year there were twins born but they didn't make it, thanks to a hungry eagle. It's the circle of life but sad at the same time. This year it looks like mommy and daddy have decided to keep a closer eye on their offspring. I was happy to catch this moment.

to your art's content

We had Kira's birthday party at To Your Art's Content and it was a great time! The girls did a great job with their pieces and had fun. While I was paying, I noticed they do a six month art club for both adults and kids. Unlimited studio time, a free piece for the kids, a free mug for adults to enjoy their hot beverage in, a percentage off of their items they create and a snack for the kiddos. hmmm... sounded wonderful. Talked it over with hubby and he thought it sounded great too.

So off we went on one day. We got us all situated and off we went. The kids painted their free pieces plus a dog so it took us a couple hours to complete everything. But it was great. Very relaxed and fun. These pieces that they created will be for them. The next few... Christmas presents for friends and family. Very excited about that... as are they. We're going to work on our list of what we want to make for everyone and start checking off those presents. Woohoo!!

Here's my girl with that silly grin of hers painting her first piece. I think it will be called FireStar which is one of the cats in her Warriors book series. She did a good job and even got the star on the forehead. So talented!

Here is my serious artist. Him actually holding the piece and having paint on his fingers and hands is a HUGE step. This boy HATED having dirty hands when he was creating. So totally my kid. But he embraced the paint and knew he could wash it off... which he did. He really got into it. Love seeing him grow this way.

And here are the four completed pieces they created. Left to right... Random Brown Dog and FireStar created by Kira along with GingerSnap and Woofie created by Alex.

I cannot wait to see them all fired up and coming home. I think we are going to enjoy the next six months of creativity!

what a difference a day can make

Same tree... different day.

Still totally amazing.

Working my way through my Boyd Lake pictures. Figuring out which ones to share. It would help if I could concentrate and just do it. I keep getting distracted. Must be the kids. They are always wanting to eat. I mean seriously... didn't I just feed you breakfast? And now you want a snack? oh my. This parenting thing is tough.

Off to the kitchen. The natives are hungry.... again.

boo boos

Poor little guy. Good thing he has a hard head.

He was running around and playing hard as only a six year old can do and fell face first into the new entertainment center in their playroom. Sigh.

Bump and scratch on forehead. Kissed and bandaged. Scratch on neck beneath ear. Kissed and bandaged. Poor kid.

As I said... good thing he has a hard head.

slice of heaven

I was finally brave enough to spend the night at my twin's camp on the lake. Yes I will admit, I am not the rough and tumble crunchy kind of gal. I like my water in pipes and a toilet to flush. 

But part of me really wanted to wake up at the lake and to enjoy everything about camp. I am glad I did. So amazing. Totally get why my twin loves being there during the summer.

A M A Z I N G !

We went up Monday after I arrived at her house. Her girls had gotten the truck all packed up so it was easy to throw my stuff in the back and head out. One hour later and we were there at Boyd Lake. So peaceful... minus the throng of kids that were splashing in the warmer than warm lake water. But even they were totally relaxed.

Tuesday morning I awoke to find a heavy layer of fog on the lake. It was much too early for this chickie to be up so I failed to get a picture of the lake. I guess my brain doesn't function at 5am on the lake. When I woke up later, it was to the soft dripping of rain in the camp. I think that was even better than the sun the previous day. Very calming.

I took some pictures and I must say, this is one of my favorites. The drops were sliding off of the pine needles and the rain was hitting the lake. Perfect!

I'll leave you with this shot while I figure out what to share next. Stop and enjoy the rain.

what i did last week

Last week... it was a busy one and totally awesome. However, some of it was pretty darn boring. I'll share the boring photos first and the fun ones later. Cuz that is how I roll!!

Monday morning I headed north on 95 to visit my twin in Bangor, Maine.

Definitely a picture that will have to be cropped to show the welcome to Maine sign better.

On Wednesday, I headed out of Maine on 95 South and snapped this sign. I wasn't in New Hampshire long enough to get a picture.

I'm still motoring along. Now I am on the NYS Thruway.

I hate this bridge. It's too high, too long and they are always doing some sort of repair on it. Makes you wonder.

Here we are in Massachusetts on Friday. Hey... look at the traffic. This is near Lowell where Route 3 joins 495 which means about seven lanes of traffic must merge into three. We ran into the same thing last year coming home from Syracuse! Plus there was a minor accident ahead which everyone had to stop and look at. Hate that.

oh look... more traffic! There was a car off the road up ahead. Gotta peek again!

So to summarize last week.... I drove... A LOT! But I got to visit my twin and go to her camp on Boyd Lake. And I got to pick up my kids and bring them back home. I guess that means all the driving was totally worth it.

tinkerbell flies

When you are at Disney she sure does! Except when the wind is too strong or it is raining. But most nights she can be seen flying from Cinderella's castle to Tomorrowland at the start of the evening fireworks. Getting a picture of it... not so easy and I have to give credit for the four shots I do have to my amazing dad. All I got was blurs.

I used a PageMap for this layout. And it almost resembles the map! Strange how sometimes that happens. I used Heidi Swapp ghost letters for the 'flies' in the title. I used Diamond Glaze to attach them to the layout. Worked pretty good.

I am plugging away at these pictures but I took so many. Imagine that. But it is all good. Happy memories.

pirate and princess party continues

These are a couple of pictures we had taken in front of Cinderella's glass coach!! We couldn't get inside but to stand in front of it was totally amazing! It is so pretty. I can imagine feeling like such a princess in this coach. BEAUTIFUL!

I added some bling and some pirate papers. Simple but I like it and better yet... two more pictures scrapped for thee 2008 Disney trip.

almost forgot

We have finally gotten the kids art hung! Three of Kira's pieces have been framed and waiting to be hung somewhere and we found the spot. Right near their bedrooms. I think they will be very happy to see this display.

The top two on the main wall are Kira's creations from last year's Painters Club. The bottom is Alex's from the school wide art show that was held in March. The kindergartners did pictures in the style of Georgia O'Keeffe. I think he did pretty darn good.

This is a shot of the side wall artwork.

All of these are Kira's creations from the elementary's school Painters Club. The top and bottom are from this year and the squirrel is from last year. I LOVE THAT SQUIRREL!! She did such an amazing job on it. The top picture is a dog scene she made during the Painters Club field trip. The bottom flower was the last thing they painted.

I love my creative children.

my munchkin

Sometimes I get the silliest pictures of my girl. I don't know where these looks come from, but they are all so HER. Seriously, she is such a ham. That's why I can't figure out why she didn't want to be in the drama club at school. It would have been the perfect fit for my drama queen.

Anywho... I snapped these pictures one night when we were out to dinner with the kiddos. She was in quite a silly state.

Love her freckles! I mean seriously, love them! Excuse the crazy hair she was having that night. Long day of school and playing.

I mean... look at that face! Yeah, it's a good thing I love her so much. Or I don't think I could handle her. Silly girl.

artist in the spotlight

Going back in time here. Not too far but not today either. At the elementary school, the art teacher posts three artists in the spotlight on the bulletin boards near her room. It's always fun to see the kids work and how proud they are to have their art showcased. Kira had been trying to get featured since first grade but hadn't really seen it through. They have to have four or five art pieces complete to be showcased. After that I am not totally sure on the rules, but she had not made it a big issue.

That is until she realized that she was in fifth grade and wouldn't be back for another year to try. That's good motivation. She was finally an artist in the spotlight. Here are her works of art.

She is loving working with just pencil and paper. No color. But her details are amazing!

This was the picture used for her display.

And here she is in front of her artwork. So cute!! Very proud of my little girl and her amazing talent. She has got to get it from hubby since I can't draw stick figures. While she has been on vacation, hubby and I have picked her up a couple of sketch notebooks and some drawing pencils. Hopefully this will keep her motivated and working with her talent. I love my girl!

card sketch challenge- june

Christmas in July. But it really is the June sketch challenge. But anyways... I have made another five Christmas cards to add to my stash.

We were given this sketch in our group. Look at all the potential that is there!! I would love to say that my interpretation of this sketch was a worthy one. But alas, I am not feeling the deep down love with the card I created. I think I let the paper take over and got lost somewhere. Here is the sketch....

And here is mine.

Not my favorite by any means. I should have stopped and ditched it but I continued forward. I am thinking maybe a bit of stickles around the sentiment element would help a bit. And maybe some on the blue and green cardstock couldn't hurt.

This did not turn out how I wanted it to at all. I may have to give the sketch another chance to inspire me. I feel I have let that beautiful sketch down. oh the shame.

july sketch challenge

This month we were challenged to do a layout choosing one of three single sketches. The challenge was to take one of the sketches and make it a two pager by flipping the sketch for the second page. oh the fun!!  I have kept the other two sketches as well and hope to create them sometime.

Anywho... here is the sketch I picked. 

And here is what I did with it.

That was our lawn December 2008. Yup... I am so far behind soon I may catch up with myself. LOL I wanted to use some Christmas embellies but all the ones I had were the wrong colors so I opted for the flowers. I think Alex will forgive me for them. And there are now five less pictures in my pile looking at me. Always a good thing!!

gonna see us a mouse

More specifically this one!!

Oh yes we are! We are gonna see him and his pals in the spring. The kids are excited as are hubby and I. We'll be staying at the new Art of Animation Resort in the Lion King section. We have been drooling over this resort online since they announced what they would be doing with it. Hubby signed up to get updates on the Disney Blog and has been forwarding it to me and showing the kiddos. I can see myself taking a zillion pictures just walking around the resort! My parents are staying in the Little Mermaid section which is the standard Disney rooms. Two people really don't need two bathrooms.

It will have been three years since our last encounter with Mickey. We would have gone this year, however they are doing some major remodeling of Fantasyland and we wanted to see it all done. Not partially complete. And they are putting in Beast's castle (from Beauty and the Beast) and I was not going to miss that! We are definitely going to be eating in all the restaurants in the castle!! The Beast better be there as well as Belle in her yellow ball gown. Just saying.

Guess this means I need to get my hind end in gear and finish scrapping the last two Disney trips! Talk about pressure. Then again... maybe I could at least finish our trip from 2008?

We'll see you soon Mickey!!

final look of the playroom

Let's just start back at the beginning....

Now looking down the hall. We have had something against the wall with the pictures since we have moved into the house. It is beyond strange to see nothing there. Yet it is somehow calming. I love this space now.

The kids entertainment area of the playroom. Total kid friendly. But I do think they need a table to play games on and eat a snack on. Maybe this one... not that I am planning my next trip to IKEA or anything. :) We covered up the ugly A/C unit and I think it helps so much.

The kids new chairs. We picked them up at Walmart. $20 Big Joe chairs. They rock. I am thinking I may need a couple more for our family room. And each kiddo gets a new popcorn bucket with M&M's on them (and inside) Those are also from Walmart.

And our Expedit unit. They don't have this one online but I linked to the next bigger one. Thank goodness I didn't get that or we would not have had any room! The last three cubbies will hold their arts and crafts stuff... once I get it all together and in storage pieces. Next project on the list.

Thanks for checking out our new and improved playroom. I am beyond happy with it.

the other corner comes along nicely

This poor corner has been abused. This is where our Christmas tree goes every year. And it was where the kids play kitchen had sat for MANY years. After many tears and persuasion we were allowed to donate it to the Rec Center for others to enjoy as much as the kids had. I know Kira was hoping I would forget about getting rid of it but I hope she likes how it all turned out.

Doesn't that carpet look amazing??!! Love our new carpet cleaner.

The wall between the two windows in that room. The file cabinet needed to be emptied so it could be relocated to allow the piano to fit into that space. It wasn't easy but we have done it!

Billy bookshelf from IKEA which holds my scrapbooks like no ones business! Lovely.

And here is the filled in bookshelf. Well... I actually have a bit of space left over. Guess I need to scrap more. And fix those lousy labels. Please excuse that.

And the piano in its final resting place. Seriously that thing weighs a TON. Doesn't help that the front legs would snap off if you tried to roll it. We took it very slow but it finally made it from one side of the room to the other.

I am loving how this is all turning out. I think the kiddos will LOVE their new space.

the evolution of a corner

We'll take the playroom redo a little at a time. I know I have teased with other posts but I'll share the whole room by the time we finish. Promise.

This is the corner that I have had a love/ hate relationship with since we moved into this house twelve years ago. We couldn't put much there since the A/C unit was there as well as a heater. We have toyed with the idea of removing the A/C unit but it is one of those industrial types that probably weighs over a ton if not more. It works however our electric bill goes up by at least $100 if we use it. Serious energy sucker. Plus we had the piano here and the music in a bin next to the heater where things ended being piled on top of it. Spiders, cobwebs and a mess lived there.

We removed everything and went ahead and cleaned the wall and painted.

Looks so much better painted. Love the color. Peanut Butter by Behr at Home Depot. And you can see the freshly cleaned carpet too. I am beginning to love this corner again.

Here's what it looked like before we finished moving the piano to the other side of the room. That beast is heavy. The entertainment center and the Expedit cubes are from IKEA. Love them both. Again... still hating the A/C unit.

Hubby got the electronics all installed for the kiddos. We moved the Wii upstairs so that the kiddos can play and the tv in the family room can be used at the same time! Woohoo.

Here it is all set to go! A couple of curtain panels later and I can live with the A/C  unit. Hubby also added the stereo to the top of the center. Love having their DVD's all organized and together in those two wicker bins. Their Pokemon DVD's are in the drawer below the bins and the Wii accessories are under the Wii games.

So excited to take pictures of the kids enjoying this space. I LOVE IT!!