Some puppers ...

Hello, hello.  The crazy heat has finally broke a bit and makes for easier sleeping around here.  We're planning a massive bonfire for tonight (the remnants of an old barn that's been torn down), so hoping for some nice weather.

The August kits will be another few weeks before they're ready.  I've had to made some substitutions, but I'm pleased with how they're coming together.

The online store will soon be ready to go.  I'm hoping by the end of next week.  Until now, I've only had just the kits and a few extras on the website.  I had no idea how time consuming it is to load each item.  One can only stare at a computer screen so long before going a bit squirrely.  But it will come.

 

Today I'm sharing a layout made with "A New Beginning" (still a few left).  Very, very simple.  One piece of patterned paper, a bit of cardstock and a few embellishments.

I didn't want to take away from the photos by adding any more paper, but I did want to add a bit of dimension behind the photos.  I used Liquitex Blended Fibers (applied with a palette knife through a Prima stencil).  It started out white, but as it dried, it seemed to absorb some of the colour from the paper.  I wish I'd taken a photo of it while it was drying.  This was my first time using the Blended Fibers so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I then just rubbed a bit of Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the tops to help bring out the texture.  Very subtle, but just what this page needed.

The "wandering afar" sticker is a bit of an inside joke.  The dogs belong to our friends Jen & Kirk and are forever wandering off and coming back (after a time) dirty, tired and thoroughly pleased with themselves.

The little gem pin is from a kit from last summer.  Keep your bits!  You never know when you'll be able to use them :)

Completely unrelated to scrapbooking, check out this website.  The director is the son of a friend (who I met through the store so I guess it's not completely unrelated to scrapbooking).  I would be wonderful to see a film made in our very own London.  Please donate!

Settling in ...

So I'm home now.  The store is cleared out and is beginning it's transformation into Once Upon A Time Weddings' new home.  I stopped by yesterday to pick up some mail that they were holding for me and had a look around at the work they've already done.  It will be different, but lovely.
It has been an adjustment ... not going in almost every day to my little store.  But with everything that needs to be done around here, I haven't had a lot of time to really miss the most recent chapter in my life.  I have many projects started and none finished :)  Typical.  Flowers purchased and waiting to be planting (we've had oodles of rain lately, so I'll blame the weather), a table partially transformed, boxes and boxes and boxes yet to be gone through and uploaded to the new online store.  We've fit in a sleepover and some cherry picking.  Planning some day trips, some time with my mom, an upcoming sushi dinner date, more cherry picking and some visits with friends.  This summer will fly by.
What I am really missing are the wonderful people I saw so frequently at the store.  Those customers who quickly became friends.  A group of them came by the night before my last day open to say goodbye to the store.  Definitely a bittersweet evening.  Great food and conversation.  But knowing that it would be the last time we would be gathered in a location that had become home to many of us was hard.  I'm hoping that after we all get over the incredible busy-ness of the summer, we can start getting together on a regular basis again.
One of the shocking events that has occurred is that I've actually been scrapbooking again.  Nothing earth shattering or ground breaking, but photos on paper and in the album. 
Nothing but "Heating Up" on this one.  No ... I lie.  A couple of staples too.  Pretty basic, but I love the background paper and didn't want to add so much that it would take away from the photo.

This is Paul's friend Wyatt on our trip to African Lion Safari this year.  The pizza was bigger than the kid's head. I couldn't stop laughing.

Still a few of these kits left on the website.  Local delivery/pickup available.

Stay cool folks!  Stock up on popsicles ;)