Can you say REDNECK Halloween??

It's all Hallow's Eve and the kids are dressed and ready to go out trick or treating. Joe looks out the back door and cannot believe the kids did not even take the time to carve the pumpkins yet.

Well, we can't have that.

So.......Joe gets his favourite carving tool and carves the pumpkin.

The finished product....

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Chow for now,

Jacqui

Sleepy Time Riley

I made a conscious decision today to try and update my blog at least every other day, if I cannot do it every day. I would like to do it every day, but somehow, life keeps getting in the way!

But I will try and put at least something on here every day if I can. I don't even know if anyone other than my Mom reads it, but just in case someone does....I'll post for you too!

This past weekend, I hosted Jactopia (see previous post). Kristi made the cutest card with the cowboy Riley. I loved the layout of the card she used so I decided to copy the layout. So this is the card I came up with.

I love the 6X6 paper packs from Basic Gray. They are such cool patterns and awesome colours.

This polka dot paper comes from the Two Scoops collection.

The base is Soft Sky with Cool Caribbean ink applied direct to paper. The half circle and rectangle strip are Wild Wasabi inked with Wild Wasabi applied direct to paper. The middle circle is Soft Sky with Cool Caribbean ink applied direct to paper. A white gel pen was used to put the dots and dashes around the half circle and around the rectangle. The PJ Riley and the sentiment are both stamps from http://www.hannastamps.com/

Riley is popped up off the page as well. Here is a close up, that maybe shows it a bit better.

Just looking at him all cuddly in his little pajamas makes me want to cuddle up on the couch with a good book!!!!

Thanks for stopping in,

Chow for now,

Jacqui

The Sun Sets on Jactopia 2008

Wow, what a fun weekend! I can hardly believe this weekend was our 10th "topia". You are probably reading this and thinking what the heck is a topia? Well let me tell ya!!!

In 2004, Vicki Garrett invited me to attend a crop that was being held in Westport called Croptopia. It was a weekend long crop and we slept in cabins just like if we were at Church camp like kids! We ate our dinners in the mess hall and there was a large area where we could leave our cropping stuff out all weekend long and we could crop 24 hours a day! It was very fun. There were classes offered and a store as well. After that weekend we decided we had so much fun together, we were going to plan to have our own "topia" and hold them at our houses instead!

So in the fall the topia is in my neck of the woods and in the spring the topia is at Vicki's.

This year I had the pleasure of having Kristi Ferro, owner of Hanna Stamps, attend Jactopia! http://www.hannastamps.com/

I'll post some projects tomorrow!

Chow for now,

Jacqui

Celtic Thunder here we come!!!

Early in the spring, I was sitting at my stamping table, which just happens to be in front of the television!! I was flipping through the stations to find something I could have on in the background while I was performing the creative process!!!! I happened to flip to PBS (Public Broadcasting) and they were showing a performance by a group called Celtic Thunder http://www.celticthunder.ie/. They were AWESOME. I immediately got on the computer and emailed my mom and told her, (she works for a bus tour company), if she had the opportunity to go and see these guys I wanted tickets!!! So she tried to get her company to pick up the tour, but they declined so we bought tickets on our own. And TODAY IS THE DAY!!!!!
So my mom is coming to my place, we are going to take a leisurely drive to Markham to pick up my sister - rumor has it she is cooking supper for us!!!!! I can hardly wait for that!!!!! Then we are going to see the boys perform!!!!

I know this is a short post, but I have a gazillion things to do before tomorrow - I have 8 people coming for a sleep over tomorrow so need to get a shed load of stuff done!

So will definitely be posting some pictures in the next couple of days - Promise!!!

Chow for now
Jacqui

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving today. I was thinking back to last year at this time and what we were doing Thanksgiving weekend. Believe it or not, we were camping at the Pinery Provincial Park in Grand Bend. My two kids (Jade and Joel) and I decided to go for our last camping event of the year. The thing I remember most was that it was 30 degrees and with the humidity it was around 38. It was insane for October. We didn't even want to have a campfire cause it was so hot, and the campfire is the best part of camping! We even went swimming in Lake Huron! I just couldn't believe it.

Well this year, we didn't go camping. We really didn't plan too much of anything. The weather has been kind of crappy here lately so the thoughts of camping in the cold and rain were not something I was looking forward to. So we didn't make any camping plans this year................. and Murphy's Law .........the weekend was absolutely beautiful and would have been an incredible weekend to camp. It has been between 23 and 26 degrees all weekend.

So since I didn't have a camping weekend planned, and the weather was so beautiful, and the family didn't have any plans........ what else could I do...........So I went golfing!!! I wanted to get one more round of golf in before the snow comes and today was perfect. I am gonna be sore tomorrow, but it will be worth it!

My golfing partner picked me up at 9:40 AM and we headed out to the course.What a beautiful drive it was with all the beautiful fall colours.

Fall is such a bittersweet time of year. I love love love the fall colours, but hate the fact that they are a sign that soon comes the snow. Don't get me wrong, snow has it's time and place....I just wish it was a shorter time at my place!!

Here are a couple of pictures of the beauty of fall and the beauty of the golf course!

Chow for now,

Jacqui

The Hammer Goin' Down!

So last night the Road Hammers were playing at the Norfolk County Fair!! So we just had to go and see them! They put on the best show! That was the third time I saw them. The first time was at the Festival of the Islands, with my best friend Vicki! She got us kick ass tickets. We were in the third row.

We saw them again that same summer at Western Fair in London. This time we were in the 5th row. Last night we didn't have great tickets - we opted for the free concert with the price of admission to the fair - which meant the grandstand. I wish we had of been closer, but the music was AWESOME like always and the show was incredible. I even called by best friend Vicki when the concert was on. I could not hear hardly anything on the phone, but I really wish she could have been there with me, so at least this way she kind of was!

It was nice to see the boys back home in Ontario, Canada as they have been touring around the US for a while now.

Even playing at the Grand Old Opry!

If you ever get the chance to go and see them play - you really should go!

Chow for now,

Jacqui