Mon Ame Memories July kit

I received my Mon Ame Memories July kit the other day and was thrilled to use it an my monthly crop last night. The kit has a cute travel theme to it, but as you'll see from my layouts they don't have to be travel themed. I also created a sketch for today's Make a wish challenge at Mon Ame Memories.
This is the sketch I created. You can join us at MAM here in the forum for this challenge.

I used the July kit to make this layout


I'll be back wiht more layouts from the kit....I just need to add a couple finishing touches.

Have a great Sunday!

Blueberry Pickin'

Well, today was a first for Natalie and ME. We went and picked blueberries! I found this cute new place and decided to go there. It was only $1 a pound to pick the berries and we got 2.5 pounds. We had a really good time. Natalie LOVES blueberries so she was already digging into them on the way home. This place is opening a bakery some time next week so it would be nice to go back and check out their baked goods and get some more blueberries. Here are some pics I took while we were out there.

She just couldn't resist!




I had an urge to do some scrapping this evening...well, I saw a challenge on Label Tulip for their birthday party which immediately made me think of 2 photos from Natalie's bday.....which would work perfectly for the sketch challenge this week at The Shaker Box (sketch is provided by Got Sketch #78) I love it when things start turning in my head like that! SOOOOO......here it is...I have rediscovered my love for stitching on a layout.

The Shaker Box July kit is available

The July kit from the Shaker Box is available! I loved workigng with this kit. I kicked out 5 layouts and 2 cards within such a short amount of time. It's full of My Little Shoebox and Crate Paper. There is also the cutest little owl mini album included.
Check it out


Here are two layouts I created with the kit
"Your Happy Gilmore swing"

Fun filled weekend...sorta

Hope everyone had a great fourth! We went to the parade in Schoolcraft. It is one of the biggest in the area but I think this may be our last year. We may venture out to other parades in the future. We did not have the best experience. It was filled with lots of business advertising of people in a truck and people following with business cards. Kinda got boring, quick. The worst part was how adults were so crazy over penny candy. We were seated next to a lady who appeared very patriotic...she was spraying the girls' hair red and blue. They all had American flags to wave during the parade, too. Well, the Mom then told us that it was her daughter's 9th birthday. We wished the (unenthusiastic) girl a Happy Birthday! Well, whether or not it was her birthday, the Mom used that to their advantage. We started to wonder part way though the parade. She got out a huge sign that said, "Today is my 9th birthday!" I heard her tell a friend that last time they used the sign the people in the parade kept giving them extra candy. Sure enough, the parade begins and every time someone with candy came along they were standing and waving the sign. They all rotated who held the sign...Mom was out in the street, too. The littlest girl got mad because the brother wasn't "holding" the sign, he had it leaned against the wagon. That is when Mom got up and started waving the sign. These kids were running up and down the street grabbing as much candy as possible. You should have seen the Dad when he was a float passing out lunch bags with popcorn. You would have thought they were handing out $100 bills they was he was encouraging the kids. I was a bit disgusted. Last year we sat by people who were all making sure all the kids were getting candy. We were passing candy back to kids who weren't along the parade route. It was very friendly last year. There was a sense of community and SHARING!! These people were all about getting as much as possible. Very much an ALL ABOUT ME attitude. Of course, my Dad had a few comments to yell out at Natalie which hopefully made these people think. Ironically, at the last second some people my Dad knew sat by us with their 5 year old son. He was such a sweet boy and was trying to give candy to Natalie when the parade was all done. I saw a lot of people shaking their heads at the all about candy family. I have to wonder if these people and the kids even know what the parade is all about, or do they just think it's a way to get free penny candy? On top of it, there were adults lining the streets grabbing candy, too. Someone threw candy and a tootsie roll landed in the cup holder of my Dad's chair, an old man came up and grabbed it out! My Dad was speechless. I have to wonder if people show up to celebrate America and our brave military people, or to get free penny candy.
I did get a couple pictures of Natalie. This one is of her waiting for the parade

I love this one! She is watching the parade in this one....notice the green gum? LOL

Natalie has informed me that she wants a Corvette. She doesn't care what color, although she mentioned white, yellow and orange, BUT it must be a convertible. I am sure a glass top would be fine, too. LOL. I had to get a picture of her watching the Corvettes along the parade route.


We didn't got to any fireworks, but we watched the neighbors in my parents' neighborhood light them off. They have a bunch of neighbors who light off the good ones so we enjoyed them. We got home and had neighbors lighting them off here, too. Natalie enjoyed her sparklers, too.

Happy Birthday America!

Mon Ame Memories Make a Wish Crop

Mon Ame Memories is turning one and we're having a month long crop!

Weekend at Lake Michigan!

Natalie has been wanting to go to the beach the second she thought it was Summer. I decided we would go on Saturday. We had such a great time. The water was calm and the beach became packed over the day. I put sunscreen on us both every single hour but I still got burned on the extreme sides of my back...places that I can't reach and didn't think to mention to Natalie. My parents joined us around 3pm and we ended up staying an additional 2 more hours. My Mom called the following day to see how I was feeling becasue she was concerned I may be burned and uncomfortable. I told her I felt find. Well, that opened the door, she wanted to go back to the Lake since my Dad was showing some houses. Sunday there were some pretty good waves. I thought the water was a bit warmer, too. We had a GREAT time both days. Natalie loves to go in the lake and then roll around in the sand! We kept calling her the sandman and some people next to us were calling her Sandy. She laughed when they said it but shared with me later that she really didn't like being called Sandy. LOL Here are some pics from our fun weekend!




Look at all that sand!

I had to stage a pic of Natalie on the way up the stairs to the car. I love this view of the beach and the pier