only a month later: the 4th weekend.

For crying out loud, Sarah! When are you ever going to post right after an event happens?! Well, I guess it’s better late than never.

We spent our 4th of July weekend up at my parents’ place, and we did the usual – family time, barbecue, and fireworks. No complaints there! Well, the heat was definitely a complaint, but other than that, it was all good.

As you can see, it looked pretty eventful.

I still need to post about Nat’s bridal shower. Perhaps I’ll actually get to that before their wedding day, haha! We shall see.

FOTL and adventures with k.

((Beware! This one is loaded with photos!))

The past week has been very hectic, a good hectic though. We held our annual FOTL event. We barbecued tons of delicious food, and as the sky darkened, we prepped the fireworks. …and even though the weather was super hot where my parents live, we still managed to enjoy the time spent with our family.

The kids decked out in their 4th of July colors.

She loves being a big sister!

Maui hung out out in the living room with Natalie. 😉

Kian kept observing the camera!

The kids made me play "Headbandz" with them, lol.

The kids started writing out their names with the sparklers.

"I need someone to light this."

The day after our FOTL event, we took my little cousin back to the Bay Area with us. She had been dying to hang out with us for at least a week this summer, so we decided now would be a good time. Thus far, she’s been getting her craft on over at Our Paper Place, explored the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

She has been getting crafty at the store.

Enjoying pizza over at CPK; she likes their cheese pizza!

Cousins hanging out in Monterey!

We love visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium!

The SUNFISH is humongous!

They decided to see if they could spot some otters or seals in the water.

They spotted a couple of seals, some starfish, sea cucumbers, and lots of birds.

We explored all of the seahorse exhibit. This one is my favorite!

Isn't this such a cool picture?!

Helping her with the crafts at the aquarium. Go figure, right?! Me...? Crafts...? No... 😉

We loved looking at (and touching) all of the creatures.

It's her new penguin friend, haha!

Running up and down the steps!

The two of us decided to hang out after lunchtime.

Here we are... hanging out with Stella, the pink seal.

After Monterey, we drove up to Santa Cruz to play at the beach.

We made a super sandcastle with a pool! 🙂

It’s only Thursday, and we’ve already done so many fun things. We still have other fun stuff planned for the next couple of days. In the meantime, we’ve been working on making layouts and samples for the store. Here’s what I’ve made using pretty paper from American Crafts:

Now, it’s time for me to clean up my big mess of supplies because we’re having a huge garage sale at the store on Sunday. Yes, we’re open this Sunday. It’s gonna be loaded with awesome deals. Make sure to come check it out!

wait, it’s late!

What?! It’s passed midnight?! I got home early from teaching my bind-it-all class, and I’m still no where where I want to be on my to do list!

Looks like I’m going to be creating into the wee hours of the morning. I don’t mind though because I seem to have more creativity when it’s late. Anyway, I thought I would take a quick break to write a post before I get back to the table.

As promised, below are just a few of the HUNDREDS of  pictures from this past weekend:

All in all it was a wonderful weekend with the family. We had some yummy BBQ and a fun time lighting up the fire works. …and like last year, we hosted our annual neighborhood 4th of July show. It has become a yearly tradition to do a display of fireworks, and I totally enjoy watching it (and taking photos of it, too).

On top of the fireworks, my cousin and his family arrived from Florida a couple of days ago. They are relocating to California, so you’ll probably be seeing new faces in my photos.

I also have a winner to the Punky Sprouts book. The winner is…

conniemelancon please contact me at redoaklines@gmail.com to claim your prize! No worries, to the rest of you. As you all know, I LOVE to do giveaways. Stay tuned because I’m thinking about doing an Imaginisce giveaway. 😉

Speaking of Imaginisce, have you stopped by the blog recently?! There’s a Birthday Bash celebration going on right now – meaning lots of giveaway! 😉

Below is layout I created using the latest release, Birthday Bash:

No joke… but this is my favorite birthday paper! The colors are fabulous, and the products to this line are so unique! Again, head to the blog for major inspiration from my fellow Imaginisce designers. …and make sure to check back here very soon; I recently received a box LOADED with NEW products, which means more inspiration for all of you!

Lastly, I wanted to share a couple of layouts that I created for That Scrappy Girl. I was sent some Echo Park Paper to design with, so I got right to it.

If you find the time to leave extra love, click here. 😉

Thanks for the taking the time to pop in today. I really appreciate each and every one of your visits. It’s not easy to share one’s personal life in a public space, so having positive vibes/comments means so much to me. You all are amazing.

PS: Now, it’s back to working on the Punky Sprouts album I need to create for an upcoming class. I plan on starting/fishing it tonight.

who’s got junk in the punk?!

Yup. You read that right! Junk in the Punk is the latest Punky Sprouts book, and it will be released at CHA this month. Have you seen what it looks like? If not, here you go:

I actually got to see it in person on Wednesday when I saw Suzy at a crop, and it’s beyond cuteness! Anyway, make sure to look for it in stores real soon. …and in honor of Suzy’s new design for Punky Sprouts, I’m going to be hosting a giveaway this weekend.

Leave a comment to this post. You have until Sunday, July 4th by 11:59 pm! One lucky winner will receive a Punky Sprouts book!

On another note, I finally got a hold of my latest publications. This month, you can find me in the following:

It’s always neat to see your work in print. …and it’s even better when you get to see your cute little furbabies in print. 😉

Lastly, I finished a handful of projects at the crop, but I’m only going to share one of them today. This one  features some of the latest papers from Bo Bunny.

I love how my journaling frames the focal point to this layout. It adds a great touch to the overall page. Also, the colors to these papers are so bright and happy; it works well for all of those summery layouts.

…and speaking of summer, I can’t wait for the weekend. It’s gonna be a FUN weekend with the family! For all you Americans, what are you doing for the 4th of July weekend?

me?! on a saturday?!

If you are here for The Sampler blog hop, please click here!

I normally don’t post on Saturdays, but today is special! Okay, well… not really, but I just felt like writing and sharing some of my recent work. I have been keeping up with a handful of deadlines, so I keep cranking out layout after layout.

These first two layouts were created using the fabulous April kit from The Sampler.

I have to reiterate how much I love the colors to the April kit. It’s so perfect for spring and summer photos. If you are interested in subscribing to this awesome kit, click here.

I have also been finishing up layouts for Memories Live On, one of mylocal scrapbook stores. They wanted me to create a non-4th of July layout using the latest We R Memory Keepers’ 4th of July themed paper…? Yeah… my thought exactly, hehe. No worries though! I managed to create a layout using the latest sketch from Sketchy Thursdays.

I turned it into a love/wedding themed layout, haha!

…so what do you think?! Did I pull it off? I think I’m going to give myself credit for taking 4th of July paper and creating a layout about a wedding, haha! 😉

Last but not least, I wanted to pass on some FUN and EXCITING news about Kiki Art.

Yup, you read that right! There’s a blog hop(scotch) going on next week starting April 29th. You are all gonna LOVE it. I’ll fill everyone in on all the details once I hear more from Kiki.

Until then, happy weekend.