Ideas For An End-of-Summer BBQ

  The end of summer is almost here. It's sad, but true. To send summer out with a bang, why not throw an end of summer or Labour Day party? We plan to.

  Here's some ideas that are inspiring me to make our party just a bit more festive.

Don't you just love the look of bunting? I don't know what it is, but it's just so darned cute! I'm thinking of whipping some up with some colourful handkerchiefs from the dollar store.

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Continuing with the handkerchief theme, I might make a table runner to match. :) 

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And use them as napkins with the cutlery in mason jars. The mason jars can also be used as glasses. 

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Adding some mason jars with brightly coloured flowers would be pretty. 

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And because our meal is a pot luck, I'm thinking of making some of these so people can label what they brought.

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I'm all inspired to party now! How are you ending your summer?

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Enjoy your day,

Indian Summer Cards {Basic Grey}

Earlier in the summer I made this little series of cards out some products from Basic Grey's Indian Summer line. 

I thought I would save them to share with you in the fall or when I when I was feeling a bit more excited about fall.

That time has come.

Recently, I found out that our church is holding another Fall Festival this year. This time, it's at the end of September instead of October. Because of that, I've been busy getting cards made for my friend, MJ, & my booth. 

And in thinking about fall & getting ready for it, I find I am becoming more & more excited for it. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to squeeze every last drop of fun & sunshine out of the last of summer before the kids go back to school after the long weekend in September. We still plan to go swimming a few more times, do more gardening, & have an end of summer bbq. Summer is not quite over.

And for that, I am grateful. :)

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy your day!

Map Gift Box

  Since coming back from holidays I've been 1) recovering from a cold 2) cleaning up the house & doing vast amounts of laundry 3) scrapbooking vacation photos 4) trying to spend some time outside on the nice days. We still have 2 weeks until school starts & we've pretty much got everything bought & organized for that (other than a couple of uniform pieces we need to order), so we're now trying to squeeze every little drop out of summer that we can!

  With all the travelling we've done this summer, today's project seems to make sense to me. Maps were a daily occurrence on our trip. Whether we were driving & consulting our road atlas to see where the heck our GPS was taking us or consulting the map to see just where exactly the Space Mountain ride was, we got to know our maps really well.

  In July, when I made my Map Gift Bag, I had some materials left over. One pinwheel & a whole bunch of maps. I also found this little gift box in my gift wrapping supplies. Put it all together & here you have a sweet little map gift box.

Isn't that pinwheel so much cuter than a bow? I love it!

Have a great weekend! I will have a bunch of new projects to share with you next week!

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, I'd love it if you would become a follower, 

subscribe by email (sign up on the right sidebar), or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. 

And please leave a comment when you do so I know who my new friends are! :)

Enjoy your day,

EXCITED!

  I. Can't. Stop. Smiling. :D 

Via

Wanna know why? 

  Because I just got an email from Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine telling me that they want to publish one of my cards in their Winter issue!!!! 

  I've been submitting to various scrapbook magazines over the past 6 years (although sporadically; not at all faithfully) in the hopes of having one of my layouts or cards featured in a magazine someday. Now it's finally happened!

And I'm pretty pumped.

I'll share more details when the publication hits the stands in December.

Smiles,

Home.

  It's been three weeks. Three weeks of driving, playing, sightseeing, & experiencing. What a wonderful trip we had! It included 7 states: Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, California, Oregon, & Washington. Each one held new sites  & adventures.

  Some highlights (in no particular order):

1. Disneyland! The main reason for our trip was Disneyland. None of us had been before & it did not disappoint. My favourite rides were Radiator Springs Racers, Peter Pan, & It's A Small World.

2. Legoland. 

It was my son's wish to be able to go there on his birthday. We were thrilled to be able to make that wish come true! 

3. Sea World. We thoroughly enjoyed Sea World. The highlight of the day was petting the dolphins. 

4. Zion National Park, Utah. We only got to spend a couple of hours in the park & it just wasn't enough. We plan to return in the future to explore, hike, & enjoy for several days. The area is just breathtaking.

5. The Grand Canyon, Arizona. So vast & majestic. I had visited many years ago, but the rest of my family had never been. It was exciting to share this natural wonder with them.

6. Route 66. Driving from Flagstaff to Anaheim, we drove on Route 66 & stopped in a little town called Seligman, Arizona. We ate at a restaurant called The Roadkill Cafe & took lots of photos on the town's main drag.

7. The San Diego Zoo. My son loved the huge collection of reptiles & bugs. My daughter loved the pandas, elephants, & having her face painted. :)

8. USS Midway in San Diego. It actually wasn't in our plans to visit this floating museum, but we had some time one afternoon & the admission was included in our Go San Diego cards, so off we went. I have to say, even from a woman's perspective, it was pretty cool.

9. Avenue of the Giants. The stunningly beautiful drive through the redwood trees of California is indescribable. We would love to visit this area more extensively someday.

10. The California/Oregon coastline. We drove up highway 1 for the better part of a day. It was cool & foggy. Even though we couldn't see much of the ocean, what we saw was beautiful! We'd also like to come back & visit this area again. 

When we arrived home a couple days ago, I posted this on facebook:

"3,200 km travelled, a car covered in bug guts & dust, lots of Disney paraphernalia, almost 1,000 photos, 7 states, some great hotels, some not-so-great hotels, 1 house key mishap, 1 hospital visit for an ear infection, many Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew audio books, lots of Christian radio, so many beautiful vistas viewed... the epic Richardson road trip has come to an end, but the memories will stay with us forever."

Alas, it is over, but we now have several more places to go back & visit. We were so blessed to be able to take this trip & we treasure each memory we were able to make together as a family.

It's good to be home.