PL2020 - Week 26 | Sahlin Studio

It's officially summer now. 

Though I woke up to my furnace turning on, a mere week ago, we're now in the high 20 to low 30 degrees celsius. 

We're guaranteed to have at least a few sleepless nights, when the temperature on the main floor of the house shows 26 degrees, and as we head to bed, it just gets hotter with each step up.

We're just back from a few days camping as well, the average temperature for 3 days was 31 degrees. The only time it was cool was after 10 pm. And 10 pm was such welcome relief.  

Days like this [all 5 of them a year] make me wonder, if air conditioning is worth it...

Here is my layout for week 26, the same week Mason had a big birthday. 

• Picking up our little trailer. 
• Love that Madelyn took this shot of an army man in the grass, near a growing mushroom.
• Little dog, surveying her yard. 
• Planted an echinacea plant this year. Hope it thrives. 
• Celebrating 18 years of Mason!

The following Sahlin Studio products were used:

PM Vibes Elements - https://the-lilypad.com/store/Project-Mouse-Vibes-Elements.html

PM Vibes Journal Cards - https://the-lilypad.com/store/Project-Mouse-Vibes-Cards.html

July Template | Sahin Designs

Sahin Designs has released her July templates! Follow this link to check it out. 

I used this months template to document Mason's 18th birthday. 

Eighteen... 

It seems hard to believe. 

We started the day out, with traditional birthday donuts and french toast. We went out for dinner [the first time I've been to a restaurant since Covid] and then came back to our place for birthday cake a presents. 

Since restrictions have eased up a little bit, and we've expanded our bubble slightly, we were able to have multiple singers. It feels really nice, to feel a little bit 'normal'.

This has definitely been a year we won't soon forget. 

Here's how I used the layout:

The following Sahin Designs products were used: 

Paper - https://sahindesigns.com/products/hooray-papers/

Elements - https://sahindesigns.com/products/hooray-elements/

PL2020 - Week 25 | Sahlin Studio

Week 25 was good. 

We had a few things to be excited about.  

One of Mason's friends, organized a backyard BBQ for the graduates, their girlfriends, and and their parents. It was so great to get together, socially distanced of course, and celebrate our grads. 

Madelyn too, got together with her group of friends, to celebrate the finishing of Grade 9 over Peter's milkshakes. 

As I wrote in my journaling below, things are slowing opening up here little by little, but I'm in no way ready to get out and about into the world. I'm feeling quite safe in my small little bubble. 

• Celebrating the graduating class of 2020, in a way we couldn't force in September 2019.
• Trip to the eye doctor for little miss, was the result we were hoping to hear. 
• A few funny screen shots, shared with friends. 
• The park by our home is now 'open for business'
• Mad's crew celebrating the end of the school year with milkshakes. 

The following Sahlin Studio products were used: 

PM Classic Elements- https://the-lilypad.com/store/Project-Mouse-Classic-Elements.html

PM Classic J. Cards- https://the-lilypad.com/store/Project-Mouse-Classic-Cards.html

PM Classic Word Bits - https://the-lilypad.com/store/Project-Mouse-Classic-Word-Bits.html

PM Fasteners - https://the-lilypad.com/store/Project-Mouse-Essentials-Fasteners.html

Plus Side | Sahin Designs

Oh Madelyn, you are still just as crazy about Hamilton now, as you were a year ago. 

I often hear you singing rapping the songs when you think no one is listening. You know all the words, to all the songs.

You know every single detail about this play, you are so eager to see it. 

For your birthday, we surprised you with tickets to Hamilton, when it comes to Calgary. It was supposed to be August of 2021. Now with Covid, it's hard to say what that might look like. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, that we will still be able to have the theatre experience. 

When you found out that Hamilton was going to be streaming on Disney+, with the original cast members, you bugged us weekly, about picking up that service. We don't even have Netflix, so the likelihood of that happening, was slim. And you knew it. I was pretty sure you would know someone with Disney +, who would hopefully invite you over to watch it with them. 

Hamilton was released on July 3rd, and on July 4th, Cooper invited you over to watch it. 

Within an hour, you were sitting in front of the tv at your friends house, watching the play you've been gaga over for the past year.  

The following Sahin Designs products were used: 

https://sahindesigns.com/products/plus-side-elements/

https://sahindesigns.com/products/plus-side-papers/

https://sahindesigns.com/products/plus-side-cards/

Also used on this layout was the Hamilton 'obsessed' card, a free download from Cathy Zielske.

PL2020 - Week 24 | Sahlin Stuido

Is anyone else having crazy weather? 

We've seen the sun a smidge, but we've also seen a LOT of wind and rain. We even had a tornado warning last week. What the heck? 

Rainy days do make it easier to get lost on my scrapbooking though. 

Here's week 24, which speaking of crazy weather, was the week we got that ridiculous storm that did so much damage to our city. I did create a quick page to insert into my project life album. I already shared about it here. 

• We were so thankful a classmate organized an outdoor grade 9 farewell get together. 
• A Grade 9 as well as a Grade 12 graduate. 
• The swollen creek after the storm.
• Family dance party, that was so much fun. 
• Celebrating Ama's birthday. First get together in 3 months. 

The following Sahlin Studio products were used: 

PM Beginnings - Elements: https://the-lilypad.com/store/Project-Mouse-Beginning-Elements.html

PM Beginnings - J. Cards: https://the-lilypad.com/store/Project-Mouse-Beginning-Journal-Cards.html

Layouts Old and New | CZ Design

I have followed Cathy Zielske for as long as I've been scrapbooking. Through her work, I've watched her kids grow up. I feel like we're old friends that go way back. I'm pretty sure we could be besties. 

I've also taken several of her on-line classes through the years. The pages I created from those classes, continue to be some of my most cherished layouts. 

I have loved her elegant simple style from day one. 

Here are a few of the layouts I created from the class, Design Your Life, circa 2008. Back when I actually used physical paper and pictures.

Oh. My Heart... Those sweet little faces, that have grown and changed so much. I'm so, SO grateful to have all these stories captured through the years.  Scrapbooking is something I've never regretted in the 20+ years that I've been doing it. 

In 2017, Cathy offered Design Your Life again, only this time it was in a digital format. I took it again. And if it's possible,  I loved my layouts even more. 

These days, all of my layouts are done digitally. I was super excited to find out that that Cathy has just launched her very own digital download shop. Check it out here:

I'm no stranger to the 'scraplift' if I see something that resonates, I will definitely try to recreate it. Now I don't have to re-create! I can simply download the template design and get to work. How awesome is that? And heaven knows, there are a ton of Cathy templates that resonate with me. 

Everything in Cathy's shop is on sale, 40% off, through July 19th at 11:59 PM EDT. Discount code can be found below.   

 

Here are a few of the layouts I've recently created, using her templates: 

Layered Template 047  | Paper - Jessica Sprague Just Beachy

Layered Template 151  |  Splendid Fiins Mixed Bag Kit

Layered Template 002 | 2014 Studio Calico Digital Basics [In a Creative Bubble]

Layered Template 55  | Sahlin Studios Rough Times Kit

This is just so exciting! I can't wait to continue on with my simple story telling. 

Making Waves Collection | Sahin Designs

Elif of Sahin Designs just released her new Making Waves Collection. It's perfect to use for summer, whether you're getting away, or hanging out in your own backyard.  

You can pick pieces of this collection up, through July 5th for 20% off. If you happen to be a newsletter subscriber, watch your inbox, for your link to pick the collection up at 50% off! 

I actually got giddy, when I first saw this collection. The colours, the papers, the summer time elements...

Umm, yes please.  I couldn't wait to sit down and start to create something. 

Having said that, 2020 hasn't given us the opportunity to appreciate being poolside very much. Fingers crossed, it's on the horizon.  I simply dug up a few past summer photos. 

I ended up creating these two layouts.

It's true, Barry ended up taking Madelyn to the outdoor pool, because she couldn't connect with a friend to meet her. I'm super appreciative that he both took and sent me these photos of their time spent together. He has always taken and sent photos to me. So, so thankful for that. 

This is definitely a more adult layout. Cocktails by the pool... Okay, I'm in.

We spent time by the pool in Vegas, mostly people watching, and enjoying adult drinks. The water was so G R O S S... I'm sure there are no restrictions as to how many people they can get into the pool. And the sheen on the pool, which were hoping was just suntan lotion was nasty... But we were in Vegas, in August. And it was over 40 degrees, we had to spend some time by the pool.  

It's hard to choose a favourite... I love them both. Of course, the Las Vegas spread conjures up a lot of fun memories of our short get away. That was eye opening trip for both Barry and I, for many different reasons. Before this trip, we were considered ourselves, Vegas Virgins. 

I would sure love to be planning a tropical vaycay, somewhere with drinks, good food, pools, crashing waves, maybe even palm trees.   I hope we're abel to make those types of plans again sometime soon.  

The following Sahin Designs products were used: 

Making Waves Elements: https://sahindesigns.com/products/making-waves-elements/

Making Waves Journal Cards: https://sahindesigns.com/products/making-waves-cards/

Making Waves Papers: https://sahindesigns.com/products/making-waves-papers/

Making Waves Digital Stamps: https://sahindesigns.com/products/making-waves-stamps/

July Template Freebie | Sahlin Studio

Can you believe it's July? 

Where has the time gone by this year? 

I'm not going to lie, March and April felt like an 

e t e r n i t y. Then, it seems like I blinked and suddenly May and June were over.

Always, with the start of a new month, the template freebie from Sahlin Studio gets released. Here is the July template. Click here to go and download. Remember, it's only free to download through July. 

I had a few ideas swirling around my head when I first saw this layout. In fact, I sat down at my computer and went in a very different direction when I started. I first filled all the boxes in with different patterned papers. Initially I thought this might be a good 'favourites' page.  

One of my favourite parts of digital scrapbooking, is the ability to swap elements in and out. Try it this way, then try it that way. I started playing around with this page a little, and finished off with this: 

 

This is a 12x12 sized layout, that I shrunk down to 8x8. 

I'm so upset for my kids, they're both missing out on their grade 9 and 12 farewell/graduations. There's no sugar coating it. It totally sucks. 

I was so glad when one of Madelyn's classmates organized a meet up in the park. At least the grade 9 kids that attended got the opportunity to say good-bye to one another. 

The following Sahlin Studio products were used: 

PM Vibes Elements - https://the-lilypad.com/store/Project-Mouse-Vibes-Elements.html

PM Vibes Journal Cards - https://the-lilypad.com/store/Project-Mouse-Vibes-Cards.html

PM Vibes Paper - https://the-lilypad.com/store/Project-Mouse-Vibes-Papers.html