Happy Birthday JJ!

Today my eldest boy, Jon-Jacob, turns 12 years old! He had fun helping me make these fun Star Wars invitations for his friends. JJ is very excited to have some friends over for a party. We bought some lego kits. His friends get to put the lego together without knowing what the kit should look like. Sounds like so much fun!

JJ loves to swim and have fun! Yesterday he took me for an hour long bike ride! I was tired when we returned, but he was ready to go again!

Happy Birthday, JJ! We love you!

Susan Bruyn

Creative Projects

I really enjoy it when a project works well. I love how the paper colours match with the photo. I used the retired Stampin' Up! "Walk in the Park" paper with the new Medallion stamp. Of course, I added bling and ribbons also!

I had so much fun with the page, that I tried the same thing with a card. I love the sunburst effect, and how the medallion finishes the card. It's a great way to use paper scraps.

Here are some more fun cards I've made recently. I often look in magazines and books for inspiration. This project idea came from an Australian magazine. This is a technique I've tried before called "One Sheet Wonder." You simply decorate a sheet of white cardstock, and then cut out the decorated cardstock in a variety of ways for use in cards. I love how the new Bermuda Bay, Mambo Melon, and Crushed Curry worked with Green Galore. I also enjoyed this arrangement of cards. The stamp set I used is Circle Circus. Don't these cards look summery and bright!

Take care, and enjoy this lovely hot day!

Susan Bruyn

Family Reunion and Horseback Riding

We went to a family reunion in Ponoka this past weekend. It was so good to see cousins, aunts & uncles, who I haven't seen for quite some time. I had a good time visiting with each one of them.

I spent some of my growing-up years in Ponoka, both in town and on an acreage 7 miles out of town. My mother and I took a moment to drive near our old home in town. It has been painted, but hasn't changed much. There is still the same fence in the back yard that I remember!

One evening, we took Juliana for a walk in the neighborhood. My aunt lives near the edge of town, with farms just across the road behind her place. Well, we saw a deer in a green space between two houses. She wasn't concerned about us at all. We moved closer, and all of a sudden, this little one popped out of the bushes close to its mama! What a pretty sight to see this little fawn bounding around, copying the movements of it's mama!

On the same walk, we saw some very pretty wildflowers. I don't remember the name of these ones, but they grow everywhere. You can see them in varying shades of pink and purple. I have not seen many with this deep purple before.

On Sunday morning, my cousin's daughter brought her horse over for the kids to ride. Apparently, Molly is an older horse who used to do barrel-racing competitions with Tamara. It was fun to watch the kids ride. I even got a turn! What fun! This is JJ on his very first horse ride. Tamara couldn't believe he hadn't ridden before!

Timmy has ridden before, and was very confident on Molly! He even got her to canter and trot a bit.

We had a good time at the family reunion. My cousins and I mentioned that we'd like to see one another again, before another 15 years has gone by! It is a good reminder to keep in touch with those we love!!

Have a great day!

Susan Bruyn

Summer's Flowers

What I enjoy most about summer is the flowers! There is a vibrancy in the colours and variety of wild-flowers, as well as domestic flowers that can be found during the summertime! They really inspire me!

I created this fun card from a new Stampin' Up! set called 'Animal Stories.' It uses the colors Crushed Curry and Dusty Durango, as well as Old Olive and Always Artichoke for the leaves and stem. The ribbon is the new dotted Dusty Durango grosgrain. If you look closely, you can see the beak of the owl - doesn't he make a great flower petal!

This card uses another new set called 'Autumn Days', and the colors Dusty Durango and Soft Suede with Chocolate Chip. I also used the new Modern Label punch and the Soft Suede dotted grosgrain ribbon.

We went for a walk to the Waterfall Valley, in Beaumont Park, in Calgary's Northwest. Here were some of the lovely flowers I saw while I was there.

Have a great day, and enjoy the flowers!

Susan Bruyn

Summer Scrapbook Challenges

Now that school is finished, I am taking some time to do some scrapbooking. My friend Christy Riopel ( http://christyriopel.blogspot.com/) has a weekly scrapbooking challenge on her blog. I have had fun trying some new techniques with my scrapbooking.

On this page, I needed to sand or scratch a photo - notice how the main photo of JJ really stands out! When I sanded the background, it faded, and he 'popped'! Quite striking, I thought. I am enjoying the new "Tall Tales" designer series paper from Stampin' Up!, and the new Crushed Curry polka-dot ribbon that I used on this page.

I love the bright colors on this page. To me, they reflect the colourful diversity and variety of animals! We went to the Calgary Zoo with friends. This page needed to have 'fussy cutting' on it. I made a fun collage of some of the animals. Some of the animals are popped with dimensionals, as you can see in this next photo. I love how it turned out !

What makes it more fun, is that these are the actual animals as we saw them on July 3!

I am having fun with my new supplies from Stampin' Up! also. Their new "In Colors" are a lot of fun! I colored this stamp with the new "In Color" markers. Combined with the Bermuda Bay paper and Melon Mambo dotted ribbon, it makes for a cheery card!

Take care, everyone, and may your day be filled with sunshine, even in the midst of rain!

Susan Bruyn