Stranded.................

Calgary was ravaged by floods and we missed it ..... but we didn't escape unscathed.  

I've been so looking forward to the kids arriving from Texas and we had a great Holiday planned but there were some change of plans along the way.  We planned on a camping Holiday in Kananaskis and the whole family was to be there.

When Katie made it on the Calgary Firefighters Aquatic Rescue Team ..... our plans had to change and we made the adjustments.  Katie was no longer to be on Holidays with us but instead she was to be training full time Monday through Friday, 10 hours a day for the full two weeks that Jenn, Cale and the girls would be in town but the opportunity only comes up once every two years.  The good news is that Katie`s training is in kananaskis on the Thursday so she`ll drive out on Wednesday night after training to join us.  Nathan is also driving out Wednesday night after work to join us.

Here are my two crazy Texans on their first night and it`s not that warm out, especially compared to San Antonio.  Molly is wearing a bathing suit under the blanket that she has wrapped loosely around her.  I honestly don`t think that child ever gets cold.

The rains haven`t started yet but they are predicted.  However, as true Calgarians, we figure it will all blow over and there won`t be much rain.  We feel vindicated the next morning when the sun is out in Calgary and our trailer prepping goes on without a hitch or a drop of rain.  We leave at 1:00 pm from Calgary instead of the planned noon departure.  This is all good.  We don`t actually see any rain until just before we reach Kananaskis and unfortunately it is Saturday before we actually any period of more than 20 minutes without torrential rains.  Both Katie and much to our surprise Nathan arrive almost simultaneously that evening and it rains.

It takes a little more than rain to stop this guy from having fun!

We are surprised the next morning when Katie gets a message that training is cancelled for the day as the bridge has collapsed on Highway 40 just up the road from us.  I`ve only packed for one night as I`m also heading into town for the Thursday evening as I have a seminar in Calgary scheduled for the full day on Friday.  It is raining so hard that this is when we decide that we`ll just head into Calgary for the night and come back on Friday morning.  Now the plot thickens as we diligently check out all the road closures before we head out but we are under the impression that we are good to go through Longview and up to Calgary.  

But......here is what we are confronted with shortly up the road......so we laugh.  The girls ham it up a bit and the sky almost clears for about 10 minutes.

Yay Canada!

Then we head back to the campground and we are officially STRANDED!

Here are just a bunch of pictures of the damage in the area.  It is amazing how brave I can be with a camera around my neck.  I actually did run out on the good (precarious) part of the bridge to get a closer shot of the damage.  Here is the picture of the washed out bridge from a safe-ish distance.....

And here it is from the bridge deck........I`m glad it all worked out and I didn`t get washed away but I`m really glad I got the shot!

These are from the area around the bridge.  This is a Creek Bed that is usually dry but there is actually a mini Niagara Falls developing.

Check out the road alongside the road.

 And of course, here are the mini falls.

More of the surrounding area of the Creek......

And here is the footbridge but there`s no way to get on it.

This is a new RIVER to the area and it flows.

And here are just a few on the campground.  We were asked to move to higher ground and given a powered site.  The power was intermittent but we certainly weren`t going to be able to rely on the solar panels.

The boats could have come in handy at some point and the kids did eventually go out to do some kayaking and Yep, that's SNOW!

And the rescue......evacuation. 

We have the two puppies with us and here is a picture of Mack as he gets transferred to the other side.

A view of the mini Niagara Falls from the other side.

My family scores the Cool truck and they are apparently the only ones that got to travel this way.  I wasn`t well so I got to travel in the passenger seat of the carrier above.  This is how we got to the Casino and from there we were loaded onto school buses.

I really can`t wait to scrap our adventure and that is a goal for this week.  Here is my favorite picture of the week.  This one was taken with Katie`s phone during the evacuation and it just goes to show exactly how oblivious the kids really were to the whole ordeal.  

We finally make it home and the kids are scheduled to fly back to Texas in just a couple of days.  It turns out that they are so lucky to have left the day before the train derailment or they would have missed their flight.

We were able to have a memorable Holiday after all.  My mother reminded me of a similar trip that I had with my children when they were young.  We went to Montreal for a visit during the Oka crisis and my children all had their picture taken with the army at the bridge closure.  I did scrap this many years ago and should pull it out and scan it just for fun.

Happy Father's Day!

This was my Project of the Week for Scrapbooker's Paradise this week.  I call this Pocket Scrapbooking and I use this to get some pages done quickly.  It's so important to get the stories told before I forget them and not be able to reminisce with the grandchildren.   I do it for my kids but mostly for their kids.  I will have the proof that they didn't walk ten miles uphill both ways to school everyday.  I think my dad told that story so many times that he believed it in the end.  

I've been printing all of my own pictures for over 10 years now and there's no turning back for me.  Color photo printers are so inexpensive now that I see no reason to not print my own pictures.  As a scrapbooker it means that I get to pick the pictures that I want printed and the size that I want and I do it at my convenience.  

  

I use Photoshop for my printing layout but there are so many programs that let you do the same thing and some are even free.  Photo paper is sold mostly as 8.5 x 11 standard size so I just open a document of that size at 300 dpi and just start laying out my pattern for printing. 

Here is how I laid out my pictures for this layout:  

***Always make sure that you have some straight lines running through your page so that it is easy to cut using your paper trimmer.***

Here's a quick how to for my corner #1 embellishment:

I've mentioned already how much I've been loving my Inka Gold crams and I've used these once again but this time on black cardstock to create my faux metal.  I just like to dry brush it on for something like this.  Check the post on Scrapbooker's Paradise for the list of products and colors used for this.  I did run the black cardstock through my Big Shot first.  I ran it through a second time to emboss my number 1.

I cut out my number 1 and just used my mini stapler to staple my cardstock back together where I started my cutting.  I just set that number aside and I will use it in the near future.  I had also embossed the number 1 on my background paper and used this to line my two # 1's  up. I just slightly offset the two number 1's (background paper and my cut-out for aesthetic reasons.

I just love finding new ways to use the products that I already have.  This justifies the purchase and makes me want the next coolest toy.

I sure hope this all makes sense,

They're here!

The puppies have been home for 5 days, 4 nights now and they are just PERFECT !!! 

We've been so fortunate that the breeder started the crate training the week before they all went to their forever homes and they have been perfectly content sleeping through the night and NO crying!

There's the 'Meet & Greet' upon arrival at Zeus' house
Zeus is over often so it's important that he gets to know the puppies and work on being gentle.

Adorable!!!  I'm a little biased but they seriously are super CUTE!

Nate is captured when he first meets his baby!

Koen just needs a little more coaching on the GENTLE approach.

Mack loves to cuddle and he certainly can be playful as well.

My Favorite thing about this little guy is that so far he will just stop and pose for me.
I LOVE this picture!!!

I'm sure I'll have more updates soon.  Ta-ta for now,

Just in time for Father's Day!

I love making these medallions or plaques and my favorite  and yet scariest part is the coloring portion.   Many times when I'm working with metal,  I find that I get to a point where it looks just right except for one small thing and then when I go to fix that, I mess up something that I really liked and I have to start all over.  I love how easy it is to just keep adding more color until I find just the right blend and I will eventually end up with something that feels perfect!

For this project, I started with my Alcohol inks and here I worked with two colors (bottle and stream).

I did some sanding to calm the camouflage effect and this is something that I do frequently during the coloring process.  The raised areas would typically see the most abuse as well.

The colors were a little too fake for me so I started to play around.  I added a bit of gold Inka Gold and some blue as well as my gobs of Black alcohol ink strategically placed in the divots.  I also dry brushed on some Blue Inka Gold for effect.

I played around with more alcohol ink and added some of the Terra Cotta color to the mix.

My favorite part of this entire process is the rubbing and buffing.  I keep an old cloth near by for this and you will be amazed at how nicely the Inka Gold starts to shine when buffed.  This is also the case on paper.

Here's one of my favorite tips of all.  You know when you use alcohol ink that it will be hard to clean of your craft mat after.  I keep a bottle of the 'Copic Marker Colorless Blender' on hand just for cleaning.  Only a few drops on your mat and it will remove alcohol ink easily.  The other thing that it cleans really well are your acrylic blocks that are stained with Staz-on ink.  

The full image of the card that I made with this and another card using similar techniques are posted on the store blog. http://www.scrapbookersparadise.blogspot.ca/

Hope you enjoyed,

Only two more sleeps.......

Oh my Gosh, It's almost 'Mack' Day and I don't know how ready I am.  I've picked up all of the necessary equipment and a few toys.  Writing this post also reminded me to set up an appointment with the vet so that too is now done.  I love my camera and taking pictures is a huge passion so no doubt there will be many.  I'm sure that Nathan will also allow me to take multiple pictures of Lexi and he might even let me take pictures of him with Lexi.  

The breeder sent us a picture of Dad with a few of his pups playing a friendly game of 'Tug-a-War'.  Mack and Lexi are the two at the front.  It turns out that the two puppies that we chose from this litter of 5 are also the two most high strung pups of the bunch  so this should be a lot of FUN!

Here are just a couple of sneak peaks of this weeks Project for the Scrapbooker's Paradise Blog. 

I had so much Fun doing these and I can't wait to share my tips on my 'Sunday with Sandy' portion.

See you Sunday,