Love the new color

 I couldn't wait to use the new SU color Lost Lagoon. I paired it up with this KaiserCraft Storyteller History designer paper. The Lost Lagoon pulled the teal colors out of the paper so nicely. The labels were cut out using Spellbinders Decorative Labels 28. I tucked the MemoryBox die Honey Blossom Sprig behind the Labels 28 a bit and added a few very small buttons for added texture. I stamped the bird in SU Baked Brown Sugar which is another one of my favorite colors. It is a Hampton Art stamp from the clear set Vintologie. The twig was stamped in SU Sahara Sand and it is a Stampendous stamp called Silhouette Sprig. Some old olive seam binding and a few round embellishments for bling and there you have it.

While I was away we had gone up to the family cottage in the Michigan's Upper Peninsula. For those of you who didn't know, this is where I was raised. My husband is also from up there and we met in college. My daughter came home from North Carolina with her dog and we all drove the 11 hours up to God's country. We stopped in at my in-laws and spent a night to check in on them- both have been sick the last few months. It sure helps to break the trip up. We drove 8 hours and then got up the next morning and did the last 3. We had some great weather again this year which as anyone in Michigan knows can change on a dime. I was worried that my DH was going to have a hard time going to the cottage without Jake and the fact that my daughter was bringing her dog might make it even worse but I think it was therapeutic for him. He said he felt a bit guilty at how nice and relaxing it was not having any of our own dog issues to deal with while traveling. I still find myself getting melancholy every now and then when I look around the house at places Jake used to lay down or when we get home and no one comes to great us at the door, but time will heal. I have been trying to arrange trips that we normally wouldn't take because of having a dog. We are heading back up to the UP in a few weeks for a family wedding so I think we will head over to the west side of the state and spend a night or two as tourists just for fun. We also planned a vacation around a work trip out to Scottsdale Arizona in October since we won't have the added expense of boarding a dog in a kennel. It's almost like going through empty nesting again once the last one leaves for college. No strings to hold us back.

~have fun and enjoy!