We had another birthday last week. I've been so busy this last few days I have not been able to post anything at all. I've tried to add something at least once a week but have found it's not as easy as I thought to sit down and think of anything interesting to say that anyone else really would like to hear about. But here are a couple of pictures from our oldest grandsons birthday party. He turned 8 this year. Jeff and I find it hard to believe this big boy that Jeff always said "the little guy is coming over" is growing up so fast. Of course he has 3 younger brothers, so there are a lot of little guys still coming over to grandma and grandpas.

I have not been very creative this weekend, but since I have not posted for a while I thought I would just put in what I have gotten done this weekend along with pictures. Jeff and I drove to Grand Rapids to do some shopping for lawn and garden items that we were in need of. Needed to pick up sprays for our fruit trees and some other needed items. We are hoping this second year, now that we know what to do, we will have some fruit. Although we did have blueberries and raspberries, we also have cherry, apple and peach trees that did not produce. Then it was off to our youngest daughters home for our granddaughters birthday celebration. She turned 4 this year and is pretty proud of that fact. Then after returning home I went out to start cleaning out some of the flower beds. I had already done some raking earlier in spring, but it has been getting so cold at night, I had not uncovered the perennials yet. So I broke in my new gardening clogs that my middle daughter gave me. Cute huh?! As you can see I have also figured out how to add pictures to my post instead of posting them separately. And lastly, I have given my stinky pup a bath. She really goes nuts afterward and ends up looking like a ball of fluff. She is such a digger I have to give her one every other week.

I have had a Bind-It-All for quite a few months now and have just started my first book. I am using the Teresa Collins Bracket Covers in red for the outside covers. My first page is a red core'dination paper that I sanded. I used a punch from Stampin-up and the Distress crackle paint in Fired Brick is peaking through. That is hard to see in the picture. The flowers are Petaloo Flora Doodles. Now my problem is that I didn't research ahead of time how far over I should have started the elements on the page. I am hoping when I bind it together I will not ruin the page. If anyone knows by just looking at it let me know before I start another page. Thanks for looking!

Starting my first Bind it all album.

As you can see I had grandchildren visiting this weekend. Three of the six. The two in the pictures below are the 4 year olds that are only 2 weeks apart in age. They get along really well and enjoy playing together. We also had the oldest grandson. He is 8 this month and is into a lot of video time. Him and grandpa played a lot of Zelda. We also went to a movie on Saturday before they went home. I will have to try the same with the 2 year olds next time. Two of my daughters were pregnant at the same time twice so they come as double trouble. And then there is the baby he is 8 months old, not a trouble maker at all yet. They will be here for Easter dinner, we actually bought a table last year that will sit everyone. Love them all!!

Thrifting

Yesterday I went into town to meet my Mom-in-law, Bette at a local antique shop for a little fun. Did our browsing and taking of pictures there of things we liked and went on to a friends shop a couple minutes away to shop and have coffee and visit with her. I bought a few things at the Stone Cottage in Howard City, as you can see in the picture below. I love cute shelves and can hardly resist picking them up when I find one. The yellow vase is tall and I'm hoping to get some tall fresh stems of something to put in it for Easter Sunday. I put the little swan dish on my bathroom counter top and put q-tips in it. As you can see in the rest of the pictures I pulled the pin cushion apart and put clean fabric on it. I think it came out really nice. The pink shelf I have it sitting on I also got from Stone Cottage. The owner Corky, who is sweet and generous gave that one to me last summer. Found a hutch/china cabinet at the first antique shop we went to and decided to buy it today. Jeff is going to have someone help him move it later in the week and after I put some new paint on it and fill it up I'll post a picture. All in all it was a relaxing day. Now I'm off to make dinner for Jeff.

This is only the second day I have worked on this blog and am learning slowly how to add pictures and titles ect. Maybe after another week or two I will know what I am doing. My oldest daughter will be here on Easter Sunday so I might have to put her to work helping me to pretty things up a bit. The weather played an April Fools on us today with snow flurries on and off all morning and early afternoon. I am so wanting to get outside and work on my flower beds and start the new herb garden I have been planning in my head. Maybe I should work on putting it on paper instead. Have orders that should be arriving soon from the many seed catalogs I have been pouring over. The picture I have added today is of a cookie sheet that I have made into a magnetic board. I believe I can call it Altered Art. Spray painted it black and added papers that match my craft area. Also made the glass marble magnets to match. I am entering it in a challenge on Scrappy Frogs Challenge Blog. Not sure if it fits the challenge if not I need to get to work creating something new. It is suppose to have something to do with food and have stamped images on it. It has both stamped images and rub on's. The stamps are the Stipple Butterfly and words from the Garden Pleasures set from Stampin Up.