Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

...gotcher green on??

:O)

...the kids and i are clad in our green shirts today and it looks like the

"luck 'o the Irish"

is upon courtney today because we just had a phone call that her dance lesson was cancelled

for tonight!!!

( she literally did a little irish jig when i told her the 'sad' news...hahahaha! - until i told her she still had to do some practising though.....)

YAY...a night home and dinner all together!!

well, things are definitely going better here...

my cousins memorial service was yesterday and now she and her beautiful PINK urn have been put to rest...it was nice to see all my other family and extended cousins that i haven't seen in a very long time!!

i am still going to my grandparents every night to administer my grandpa's eye drops following his surgery, and still have two more weeks of it to go...but I am trying to look positively at the running around every night as it's 'tea time' with them instead of more running around....sometimes, you just have to change perspective to get yourself out of a run, ya know??

anyway....

i thought I'd share some photos with you from our trip last summer from our extra 3 day trip over to

IRELAND....

what a better way to celebrate St. Paddie's day!!!

...downtown Dublin...lot to see!

...Wicklow Gap and mountains...

...some ruins on our way to the Monastic site...

St. Kevin's tower at the Monastic site, Wicklow


...when we arrived and proceeded onto the grounds, i saw this painter off in his own quiet little solitude off to the side...i 'touristly' snuck up behind him ( you know...pretending I'm just walking about, checking out the sites...) ahem, and then stole his photo in time!!! I think it's a piece of art itself!

hahahaha!!

...one of my FAVORITE pictures in Ireland...the kids dipping their feet and exploring in the Irish Sea, in Bray....just such a REAL moment of them oblivious to their surroundings...just in the moment of their discoveries and exploring!!

...sigh...

AND

here's Grandma and Grandpa 2 days ago!!

i told them i needed a new photo to post for our family and friends so they can see how well

they are doing!!

( don't mind grandpa's red and bloody left eye- surgery! )

Hugs to all and I hope you have some fortune in today's mysitcal Irish Holiday!!

:O)

takin' a day...

my emotional stress load, this week especailly, has been a roller coaster ride.

up and down.

with all the happenings in my family...

( grandma's stroke, grandpa's surgery and all the continued running about after surgery, my cousin ellen's passing and coping with now 'unfixable' issues and of course keeping up with my own family's schedules...)

has just been overwhelming!

so, for the first time ever ( if you can believe it! )

Me, Myself, and I, decided last night while at my hall crop that I just

NEED A DAY.

a day to absorb, to catch up mentally and emotionally, a day to unwind a bit, and a day to have with my family.

most of you know me well enough to know that my life is always on the fast track, flying by the seat of my pants, one event after the other, cram as much as i can in a day...but i am not afraid to admit that for as much as you may think 'kim can do it all'...i AM only human and it does catch up with me too sometimes and i feel down and overwhelmed....these days happen to us all and i find no shame in sharing my defeats this week with my friends and admitting "surrender" for just one day!!

i refer to 'the first time ever' because today courtney had a dance competition, and i just felt for my sanity's sake, that it was one i needed to miss.

otherwise, it would have been yet one more day full of stress and anxiety and i really didn't think i could deal with that today.

so...

i just made me a hot cup of herbal ginger peach tea, and made miss courtney a cup of candy cane hot chocolate and we are chillin' in out jammies still and it's already 12:13pm!!!

she has a room that needed some desperate TLC and i have more than enough to liesurely accomplish myself around here!

...or not...

here's to a much needed mental recovery ME DAY!!!

( no guilt, no regret, no cares )

Hugs.

:O)

~sigh~

well, they say that bad news comes in THREES...so lets hope that our family has no more bad news for a while!!

most of you know that a week and a half ago, my grandma had a 'mini stroke'. she is recovering very well so far and has been home from the hospital since monday....she's pretty much back to her spunky lil' self!

and sadly on tuesday, my cousin ellen passed away after a fight for her life battling breast cancer over the last few years. after a check up at her doctors a few short weeks ago, her doctor told her that the cancer had returned, this time in her back. she went through two painful mastectomy's and with the new results, she did not want to go through anymore treatment.

i hope she is at peace now.

...and on a much, much less serious note, but still upsetting news for tyler, my poor little guy got some disappointing news tonight at his swim lesson...

he will have to repeat his level again.

he was doing really well, but struggling a bit with breathing technique on his front crawl...otherwise, he passed everything...why the heck red cross will fail a kid on ONE little thing in the report card, who knows? oh well, i guess his insrutctor is just going by the books!

( and making more $$ by making kids repeat lessons!! haha )

next time little buddy!!! we're still proud of all you've accomplished this session!

high 5 little man!

...being the last lesson tonight, he was quickly distracted with his bad news with the pleasure of "free swim"...

DIVING BOARDS and WATERSLIDE!!!

'nite everyone....

:O)

creative play...

( just a quick update for my family who reads my blog...Grandma was released from the hospital yesterday in good condition! She has some follow up appt's to go to but she seems good and in much better spirits now that she's home! )

...so, on saturday i went out to my friend ( and fellow Slice Girl ) Tracy's house to have an all day crop! Yep, it was a fun, fun and super relaxing day I'll tell you! you don't know how much you need a day like that until it is actually happening...ya know?

and i mean ALL DAY...make the most of it when you can! i got there around 11:30am and left at 12:20am...13 hours of girlie fun!

so here's a peek at some of my layouts i did...

yep...what would my layouts be now without some hand cut felt shapes or letters, stitching or buttons somewhere!!! hahaha!

OR PAINT!

...these ones just make me CRAVE summer so bad!

...and this one is done on KI Memories "sheer delights" vinyl diecuts!

So cool...so fun to play with too!

Brat...oops I mean Tracy in her very own scraproom...

lucky duck.

:O)

...thank you sooooo much again for such a super fun day!

Can't wait til we can have another Slice Girl Crop!

HUGS!!!!

...teehee...

this is all my 'stuff' packed up at the door...i can see the layout now...

"KIM WAS HERE"

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

...and on another creative note...

i just thought i'd post a few pic's from last years

Gimli Getaway, Gone Scrappin' event...

just to tease and excite those of you gals who are coming to this years event in april!!

(the cut off date for registration is MARCH 20...there are still about 12 spots left, so if you are still thinking about it or are interested in attending, PLEASE email me at thegriffs@mts.net to get more information! )

ALSO...the Lodge has told me that they will be offering a full breakfast buffet on sunday morning again for $9.99!!! The restaurant opens at 9am and you will be able to order both saturday and sunday off the regular breakfast menu as well.

for those of you who are lighter bite breakfast eaters, I will still be providing everyone with a morning snack both days in our crop room -muffins, danishes, donuts....coffee and tea will be available all weekend )

The chef's have also been busy preparing a daily lunch and dinner menu specials for our group as well, so please feel free to have your meals at your convenience at the lodge if you'd like!

The food there is fabulous and all in great portions...

...I leave you with these pic's from last years getaway...just to bring on the excitement!!

"here we go"...

my ever helpful and supportive mom!

PRIZES...PRIZES...PRIZES...

the cropping room...classes taught in very back of room at separate tables...

...fully loaded...

...optional layout contest winners...

PRIZES!!!

( and those layouts on the wall behind the girls are for the FAVORITE LAYOUT charity contest...this years charity is Cancer Care Manitoba - breast cancer. you donate one dollar per layout to enter ( and enter as many as you'd like! ) and each guest has ONE voting ballot in their welcome bag to vote for on sunday )

...as I mentioned in an email to those attending, last year i had a CHIPBOARD CHALLENGE that everyone loved!!

so....we are doing it again this year!!

Get those creative juices going and make yourself a chipboard album ( any shape, size or theme ) and bring it out to the getaway..it will be displayed all weekend and voted on by all the guests on sunday at noon!! Each guest will have ONE voting ballot in their welcome bag.

There will be 2 PRIZES again for this challenge!

HaveFUN!!!!

:O)

24 Sleeps!!!

R U ready?

...lots to share... and GIMLI CLASS PROJECT PHOTOS TO FOLLOW!!

first...while the kids were eating breakfast this morning tyler says:

"uh, Mom...my tooth just came out"

just plain out with it, no excitement! ( until he remembered the Tooth Fairy )

I knew it was wiggly but he confessed he bit down on the spoon and it just fell out!!

so....if i dress him in a hockey jersey and a pair of skates, he'd fit right in with the NHL!!!

...and i'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our family...

tyler adopted FLOYD the bunny from Build-A-Bear Workshop on tuesday night, paid for in full with some of his birthday money!!

( he was so cute to watch him giving 'hug tests' to make sure he was just right in the stuffing department before he got sewed up )

...and of course FLOYD can't come home naked so tyler bought him some cute Batman pj's!

...yesterday was courtney's last day for curling at school...

she's been in the lunchtime curling club for a couple months now and they wrapped it up yesterday with a fun game against the teachers! ( ice is starting to get too soft and melt )

...teachers kicked their little butts...

...and i did some playing of my own yesterday too...

i totally LOVE using paints on my layouts...and i've been playing a lot lately with felt, buttons and embroidery floss...that adorable little owl was SO EASY & SO FUN!!!!

(just cut out your shapes freehand)

...for this blue painted doodle effect i did on tylers picutre, simply use a Q-TIP end and paint little circles on your 'canvas'...once the paint is dry, use your journaling pen ( i use a black fine point Sharpie pen - but a Slick Writer by American Crafts would work great on photos too ) and draw cirlces around your painted circles and doodle inside them!

( this is also a layout off an elsie sketch i loved! )

...Hmmmmm...

For those of you lucky ladies coming out to my 2nd Annual Gimli Getaway weekend retreat in April, here's some photos of your two free class projects!

( this one is completed in my choice of colors BUT you will get to choose your own colors for both projects! )

PROJECT #1:

4 X 4 MINI ACRYLIC TABBED ALBUM!!!

...just a suggestion...

to leave more room for your embellishments or rubons, etc that you choose to use on your album after, I printed my photos in 2 x 3" and 3 x 4" sizes.

if you cannot do this size on your own computer, you can do what i did:

-go to your local Superstore or Walmart that has a

KODAK PICTURE MAKER KIOSK.

-use your memory card OR scan in photos and select

'make mini prints'

-here, you will find the choice of size you want to print ( 2 x 3, 3 x 4 , 4 x 6, etc..)

-you can select 4 different 2 x 3 per sheet ( 4 x 6 sheet )

-you can select 2 different 3 x 4s per sheet ( 4 x 6 sheet )

AND MANY MORE OPTIONS like black and white...sepia...

HAVE FUN!

( oh, and the cost per sheet is only around .29 )

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT YOUR 2 FREE CLASSES INCLUDE THE BASICS...

embellishments, etc...is your ideas in your colors!!

PROJECT #2:

FANTASTIC AND FUNKY FIBRE ALBUM!

this awesome mini album came from my friend Leigh-Ann over at Freckled Nest ( check out her COOL and INSPIRING blog here

www.frecklednest.blogspot.com

she is a warm and wonderful person with an amazing talent for HOMEMADE projects!

she was recently a guest blogger for the always fun and awesome Elsie Flannigan and that's when i saw her totally cute mini...with Leigh-Ann's permission, i have figured out and created my own spin off her album and will be teaching it to you in Gimli!!

All supplies needed to create 'the basics' will be provided for you...basically what you see in the following pages will be supplied for you IN YOUR CHOICE OF COLORS of many different items!

DANG,

i am sooooo excited to share this project with you!

( and thanks so much LA for sharing your awesome ideas with us -HUGS )

i wanted to share this project completed in its BASICS as this is what yours will look like when you're done! Sizes may vary at class.

...let me just tell you how many cool fibre pages you will be using in this mini...

-corrigated cardboard

-painted coffee collars

-FOAM

-FELT

-kraft paper

-bazzill edge papers

-cardstock

-and you will also be FUSING PLASTIC to make a couple pages!

SOOOOOO COOL!!!

...i can hardly wait...

i've been working on my photos and embellies now to complete it and show you in Gimli...

it's going to be tyler's tae kwon do 'white belt' action shots!

( he loves it already! )

so...there you have it.

get those creative hormones hopping and start your planning!

28 sleeps to go....