The winner for the October Afternoon products is:

Please send me your address Amanda so I can send your prize out to you! I totally loved reading everyone’s stories about the scary things you’ve done!

I will have another giveaway posted next week: I still have to unpack all my scrapbook stuff! I will also be starting the Mini Albums monthly challenges in August.

The move went well for the most part. It was a very long drive (22+ hours in the car total). The dogs were fabulous, they barely made a peep the entire time. They absolutely love our new place - so much room to run around both in the house and in the backyard! The weather has been great too - some days have been extremely hot but it totally cools down at night. I’ve been having to bring a sweater with me wherever we go cause its so hot outside but so cold in all the buildings cause the air conditioning is cranked up - lol! Just something I have to get used to.

This week has been nonstop crazy busy since we arrived. Getting my cell phone hooked up with AT&T was a major ordeal - took over 3 hours in the AT&T store! Getting a bank account down here and the cable and internet set up wasn’t as difficult though luckily.

We did have a little mishap on our way back from Ikea… we bought a bed and a chaise there and had to strap the mattress to the roof of the SUV. As we were driving down the I-5 freeway, the mattress fell off!!!! It was still partially attached to the car so it got dragged a bit before we could pull over. Thankfully we were in the right hand lane and there was a bit of a shoulder to pull over on. Needless to say I did not get any pictures of the glorious event as we were both extremely stressed and frustrated (and trying not to get hit by the cars whizzing right past us) and it took awhile to get it secured back onto the car - plus it was almost 100 degrees out and we were dying in the heat.  We can kind of laugh about it a bit now, since we made it home safely eventually, and that it didn’t cause a major accident!

Car shopping was the next big thing we did - 2 solid days of it, so not fun at all. We heard about car auctions that towing lots hold - to get rid of impounded cars and thought that it might be fun to go to one of those. Um, not so fun. That was sure an experience, one that I will never EVER repeat again. Lets just say that we found ourselves in a very sketchy part of Los Angeles, like a place I thought only existed in movies…how naive of me.

We finally found a car yesterday through a dealership - so here is my new car: a 2004 Ford Focus! Seems to be a great little student commuter car : )

And one last picture for now: Zoey enjoying her new chaise. She has already claimed it as hers and has slept on it each night since we got it. (which isn’t all bad cause it means she isn’t sleeping on MY pillow and kicking me in the head repeatedly during the night which is our usual routine). I have since covered the chaise with a blanket as white chaise + black dog = cleaning nightmare

We left at 7 and headed straight to the border which amazingly we breezed right through it - literally. The border guard simply looked at our passports and my student visa papers and told us to have a great night. He didn’t even ask about the dogs or ask to look in any of the boxes or even look in the car. NOTHING. wow. We totally expected to be held up there for awhile. So off we went with the SUV absolutely full of stuff, including the 2 dogs and 1 very disgruntled guinea pig (Fro). He was not impressed at being in a dog crate and continuously banged his hanging toy against the side of the crate.

We drove all night, stopping only once at a rest stop to sleep for an hour, then we switched off so each other could sleep for a bit. We went through many energy drinks (they really work though!) and stopped for gas several times along the way. Finally arriving in San Francisco this morning around 11am. We were able to check into our hotel early, then met up with our friends Jen & Peter. (Jen was my best friend all through junior high and high school). It was great to see them again and we had a great time! Thai for lunch, long walks all around the city, Fisherman’s Wharf, Italian for dinner, and Ghirardelli’s ice cream. Oh and we took the dogs for a long walk through a beautiful park and to a dog park right on the beach. They loved it and even played in the waves - already true California dogs!

Tomorrow we continue south for another 6 or 7 hours crammed into the car, and then will arrive at my new home….

This weeks giveaway is whole bunch of products from October Afternoon - I love this line so so very much! You will get the Hometown collection including paper, alpha stickers and journaling cards. As well as a few Jenni Bowlin products: a couple journal jots, 2 mini bingo cards, and 3 journaling tickets. Plus 4 prima flowers and a bunch of buttons.

But this time, I’m giving you an entire week to get a comment up - so you have until Tuesday July 14 at midnight. This is because I leave on the 11th to drive down to California and I should arrive at my new house sometime on the 13th. I won’t have internet though for a couple days most likely so I will get the winner posted as soon as I have internet access.

So as I am getting ready to embark on this crazy adventure of mine, my question for you this week is: What is the scariest/ most craziest thing you’ve ever done?

Actually I have a few questions today… does anyone have any great remedies for sunburns? Yesterday I went on a 24 km bike ride with a few friends and I got really really burnt on my shoulders, arms and back. I was wearing one of those criss cross strap tank tops so I have a very funny looking pattern on my back right now! Needless to say, its very painful and having clothes or anything touching it hurts like mad! All I can really wear at the moment is a halter style backless sun dress! If you have any suggestions, I would appreciate it so much!

Next question: how many of you are interested in some monthly mini album challenges - with prizes of course. I’ve been thinking about this, and since I’m going to be in school, in order to keep up with scrapbooking and doing what I love best (mini albums): how about a year of monthly mini book challenges? So I’m going to challenge myself each month with a list of things to document/ take photos of at the beginning of the month and a certain type of mini album each month. Then all albums can get posted at the end of the month and I’ll send a prize out to one that’s chosen randomly. Who’s with me? : )

Please send me your address Lynn so I can get your kit sent out to you : )

I’ll be back in a little while with this week’s giveaway! In the meantime, check out some more of these cool projects you guys posted:

Rhea’s very cool “An Everyday Adventure” mini book. Look at all the yummy ribbons she’s used! She always has the best ribbons and trims - she owns the Ribbon Club: Savvy N Sassy : )

Caryl’s totally awesome photo ball ornament: this is such a great idea - I think I’m going to have to try this out soon.

Mary’s gorgeous layout of her friend who started the non profit: blankets for babies. (they deliver blankets all over to babies in need!)

Peggy’s touching tribute to her parents: so lovely

I just got back home to Vancouver, leaving behind my hometown, my parents and my friends. There were some sad goodbyes this week that’s for sure. I tried to cram in as much as possible while I was there, trying to see as many people as possible, but there were some I didn’t get to see. Thank goodness for facebook so we can still keep in touch! 3 of my really good friends are pregnant right now so I’m pretty sad that I’m going to miss the birth of their babies (and my best friend is having twins!!).

Anyway, after a very long and hot wait at the ferry and then on the ferry, the dogs and I were relieved to pull into our driveway tonight….however, I then realized I had no house key!! Brent was working quite aways away so I started on the long drive there but luckily part way there I was able to get ahold of a friend of mine who also has a key to our house. I met up with her, got the key and we’re happily home.  (*note to self: make sure the car I get in California has AIR CONDITIONING!! cause ours here doesn’t…).  Our house is so empty now and not surprisingly so is our fridge and cupboards. There really wasn’t anything to make for dinner and I didn’t feel like going out again so I had a protein shake and a can of chick peas. Good times

Exactly one week from right now we will be on our way driving down to California! Crazy!!

So, I’ve been having a great time looking at everyone’s favorite projects! here are a few of my favorites (and I’ll post some more tomorrow)

mustangkayla’s cute mini book: I absolutely LOVE the papers she used, those colors look awesome! Take a look at her blog header - she has the cutest picture of one of her little ones up there!

Sammie’s layout documenting a year in her son’s life: this is such a great idea! It’s really cool to see how much he grew and changed in the year!

Christine’s adorable mini album: I love everything about this - and check out her cool idea about using the ribbon for a page marker!

ChrisA’s fab layout: very cool and I especially love her handmade embellies!!

I am still in Victoria for another few days and wanted to post a couple pics of my cutie neices. They left yesterday and are safely back home in Indiana. I just can’t believe how fast they are growing up!

Today I went downtown Victoria to walk around with one of my very best friends (we’ve been friends since we were 5). I didn’t even think about the fact that it was Canada Day and would therefore be complete chaos downtown! Yep it sure was, but it was fun to walk around down there again, it’s been so very long since I’ve been there! If you know Victoria at all, you would probably agree with me that’s it’s one of the most beautiful places ever! Right down by the parliaments buildings and the Empress Hotel - is the inner harbor with the causeway and there were so many people out today celebrating. The weather was perfect too. I managed to get a few phots but they didn’t come out very good. I didn’t realize that my water bottle leaked in my purse - all over my camera!! It wouldn’t even work for a little while but slowly came back to life when it dried out  (thank goodness!).

So leave a comment here by Saturday, July 4 at midnight and I’ll post the winner on Sunday. : )

My question for you this week is: What is your favorite scrapbook layout or mini album (or project) that you’ve made so far? (if you have a link to it that would be awesome too!)

Have a great week! I’ll be back to post more tomorrow. This last week has been so busy (but so wonderful) being with my family, but I haven’t been on the computer much at all! If you’ve emailed me, I promise I will catch up on my emails in the next few days!

This one is on homemade glass pebble (or glass tile) magnets. Basically any shape or size of glass pebble or shape will work as long as there is one flat side to it.

What you need:

- glass pebbles or tiles

- Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi Medium in Gloss (mod podge or silicon clear rubber sealer will also work)

- foam brush

- small magnets

- craft knife

- tiny photos or patterned paper

1. Find (or print) some photos that are the right size for your tiles and pebbles

2. Brush on a coat of the medium to cover the entire flat side of the tile.

3. Immeadiately stick the tile to the photo

4. Smooth the backside of the photo out using a craft spatula. Make sure you get all the air bubbles out.

5. If using small pebbles, cut some small squares of patterned paper or small photos if you have some printed that tiny.

6. Using the same process as above, stick the pebble to the photo or paper. You will most likely not need to smooth out the back of the photo in these ones.

7. Let them dry for as long as you can, (overnight is best), then trim the excess paper off from the edges. Finish off with a craft knife

8. Use a sanding sponge to smooth off all the edges.

9. Put a blob of medium (or you can use a hot glue gun) on the back of the tile and push a magnet into it.

10. for the smaller pebbles, trim the paper off the edges and sand if you wish

11. Use a smaller amount of medium (or glue) and stick the magnet to the back of the pebble

Leave a comment here by Friday at midnight to be entered in the draw. I’ll have random.org choose a winner on Saturday.

My question for you this week is: If you could have an entire day to do whatever you wanted (assuming money was no object) what would you do?

Happy 10th Birthday to Dasha!!! Dasha’s mom, Jodi, is one of my closest friends and I am so thankful to have met her. I get to see her often as she lives across the street, but those days are numbered : (

This weekend we had them both over for a little birthday dinner for Dasha, finishing off with a yummy ice cream cake!

We got Dasha this cute little hamster for her birthday. She’s been begging for another pet for so long and Jodi said it was ok if we got it for her. It was very cute as I took both J & D to the petstore and we told Dasha that I had to stop off there for something. She thought I was getting something for the dogs but she made a beeline for the small animal cages anyway to gawk over them. When we told her she could have one and that’s why we were there, she was beyond shocked! She totally reminds me so much of how I was at her age: her incredible love for animals, her love of reading, playing outside, and love of desserts! haha

Anyway it’s late, I should get to bed. I head off to Victoria tomorrow to visit my family for a couple weeks, I’ve been looking forward to this for so long. I’m sure my neices will be so much more grown up since I last saw them at Christmas! I can’t wait to see everyone.

I do have a new tutorial, I promise I will get it posted tomorrow for sure! : )

Sweet dreams