Queenston Heritage Walking Tour

I thought I'd make a layout that was a little more challenging than my last ones, and this proved to be a tricky one!!

I've been wanting to go to visit the RiverBrink Art Museum in Queenston. The current Featured Exhibition is RiverBrink’s War of 1812. This year is the bicentennial of the War of 1812, a huge deal in our part of the world, lol. The village of Queenston, Niagara-on-the Lake, is only about a 20 minute drive from our house.

Early this morning I had gone to the website to check their hours of operation and found out about their 'Queenston Heritage Walking Tours', held every Wednesday and Saturday at 11 am and 2 pm. I thought, "Perfect", today is Wednesday and the weather is gorgeous!" I told my hubby about it and he said, "Sounds good. Let's go!"

Here's the info from the website ...

The picturesque village of Queenston breathes an atmosphere of history and charm. First settled in the 1770’s by United Empire Loyalist refugees and immigrants from the United States, Queenston served as the key shipment depot for moving goods around Niagara Falls in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The War of 1812 was the area’s defining historical event, and is marked by two important sites in Queenston – the Laura Secord Homestead, which commemorates this celebrated war heroine, and the Brock Monument, which commemorates the iconic military leader. Queenston is also site of the restored home of rebel publisher William Lyon Mackenzie, which contains 500 years of printing technology, amid the authentic ambiance of a period print shop, and Willowbank, an exceptional example of Classical Revival architecture and the country estates of Upper Canada in the early 19th century. Queenston continues to thrive as an active community. This Heritage Tour Walk provides an informative orientation to the historic village of Queenston.

We went for the afternoon tour and my hubby and I were the only ones who had signed up. Our young college-age tour guide was super nice and friendly, very knowledgeable and it was great to learn a few new things about our local history. The Art Museaum is amazing, with beautiful paintings, bronze sculptures, historic artifacts, documents, and books that are hundreds of years old.

I have lots of photos to scrap, but when I was looking at them and trying to decide what I wanted to do I remembered that last week I had bought a new kit from Kim and thought the colours would be fab for these pics. What a time-consuming project this page was, but I love the way it turned out. If I wasn't so fussy about getting the colour/pattern combos "just right" (to my liking) it would have been quicker. Oh well, sleep is over-rated, lol.

Credits: Most of the page is made with 'Beautiful Summer Days' (Kimeric Kreations), with a few bits from 'Sweet Summer Sunshine' (Kimeric Kreations), and I used a template from 'Paper Lovers 4' (Kimeric Kreations).

Perfect Summer Picnic

Oh look ... more food! haha. Can you tell I'm on a diet? I think about food a lot when I'm trying to lose weight. My hubby and I are still on holidays this week. On Monday we got a reprieve from the extreme heat we've been having so we drove to one of our favourite outdoor places, Chippawa Creek Conservation Area. It has a lovely little lake, called Dils Lake. (Oh yes, Dillon thinks they named it after him, lol.) There are nature trails, a lakeside recreation trail and a marshland boardwalk; great spots to have a picnic, go hiking, camping, swimming, fishing or canoeing. We love it here, year-round.

We brought a picnic lunch but it was not our typical picnic fare. No hot dogs or hamburgers or potato salad, but the food we had was delicious. I made a couple of salads, bought two of kinds of hummus, some whole wheat pitas, and a roasted chicken (removed the skin), and a bunch of fruits and veggies. All the items were fresh or homemade, healthy and yummy. Even my hubby, who has never had a weight problem, thought it was the best picnic we'd ever had. Afterwards we walked around the perimeter of the lake. It's not that big. It look about 45 minutes (including the times I stopped to take pics). It's good to know that picnics don't need to be fattening to be fun.




I kept these pages really simple and didn't use any embellishments ... just a wordart and date tags that I made. (Oh, and one cherry, haha.) Background is a freebie from an old kit called 'Summer Dream' by Collab Girls. I don't think it's available any longer. It's funny, I have many hundreds of kits, but I still enjoy using freebies when I like the quality of them. I don't know what it is about this paper that I like so much ... I just do.

Week 1 ~ Back to Fresh

Today was the final day of Week 1 on the new weight loss/healthy lifestyle regime, called "Doing it 4 Digi Weight Loss Challenge" on the Scraps N Pieces forum. I had a very good week and concentrated on eating fresh food, made from scratch, with lots of fruits and veggies, good quality lean protein, whole grains, and low fat dairy. I made my own dressings using things like extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar, so although I had a little fat, it was the healthy kind. Fortunately I love to cook and I often photograph the meals I prepare so scrapping my faves from Week 1 was a natural for me, haha.

I did OK on the exercise front ... meaning I actually did some, which is a far cry from what I'd been doing for the previous 8 months, which was nothing. Hopefully tomorrow's weigh-in will reflect the effort I put in this week.

I used a kit called 'Freshly Squeezed' by Heather's Digital Creations and the journal card is from 'Mom's Diner' by Sweet Digi Scraps. All my recipes came from a recipe book called, 'The LooneySpoons Collection' by Janet and Greta Podleski.

As soon as I saw you...

My niece posted this photo on Facebook and it made me laugh out loud, for real. It looks like Hayden is thinking, "Yikes, Tyler ... stop with the crying already!!" That's not what was really going on but I had fun scrapping this pic and telling a story of what might have been going on in his head :)

Hayden has this "trick" he does .... he shows his muscles like he's a little body builder. It's really funny. You can watch a short video clip of Hayden doing that (taken two months ago, so he was a bit smaller).

In the photo (above) that I scrapped Hayden was actually "showing his muscles" to Tyler, trying to distract him from crying. It wasn't working, haha. When I made the page I was aiming for kinda crazy ... like "2 boys = all heck breaks loose."

I made the two main background papers myself in PSP, using colours from the photo. For elements I used two of my favourite boy kits ... 'Boys Only' *the bundle with the wordart and paint splats (collab by Marie H Designs and Craft-tastrophic) and 'Boys of Summer' (by Ziggle Designs). I used one journal from 'Boyish Summer Journaling Cards' (by Erica Coombs), but I recoloured it to match my page.

Good Ole Days

These pics are from that 40th Annual Heritage Display that I had scrapped about on Sunday. Most of this one is made from 'It's a Wonderful Life' (by Kimeric Kreations) and I used two IAWL Wordbits and one IAWL Graffiti. The blue background paper and one flower are from IAWL May addon. The two yellow flowers are from 'Oh Canada' (by Kimeric Kreations). The little red barn is from 'Farmer Ikean' (A Saxon Creation). I sort of semi-scraplifted a template/sketch from 'Debbie Hodge' but for the life of me I can't figure out which one I used as inspiration.

The elderly man holding the plaque is the founder of this heritage club and started the event 40 years ago. While we were there my hubby and I had gone into an open sided pavilion that had these huge old picnic tables and a couple of old guys came and sat with us. Turned out to be the founder and another founding member. Ken (the founder) was soooo proud of the plaque they had presented to him I just had to take his photo. He told us lots of neat old stories about the Good Ole Days. I just love talking to the old-timers at these events. You can learn a lot if you stop to listen, and we had a few good laughs along the way. :)

July Exercise Calendar

Yesterday (July 1st), was not only Canada Day but Day 1 of on the new 'Doing It For Digi' weight loss/healthy lifestyle regime. I'm a lists and calendars kinda gal. I like to have a plan and be able to check things off my lists and add little checkmarks or "you did it stars" to my calendar. I guess it takes me back to my grammar school days. Anyway, I've come up with my exercise schedule for the month of July and decided I might as well scrap it ... as in make a page, not scrap the whole idea of exercising, lol.

The plan is to start off slow and ease myself back into a fitness routine.

• Sunday: Walk or Cycle 40-60 min.
• Monday: Yoga 20 min. and Strength Training 20 min.
• Tuesday: Walk 30 min. (Treadmill Hills)
• Wednesday: Yoga 20 min.
• Thursday: Walk or Cycle 40-60 min (or REST if needed).
• Friday: Yoga 20 min. and Strength Training 20 min.
• Saturday: Walk 30 min. (Treadmill Hills)

We have a small home gym set up in our basement. Nothing fancy, but have a treadmill, an upright exercise bike, weights, etc. a flatscreen TV on the wall, and an area large enough to do yoga or any other type of fitness DVD. I use to collect fitness equipment and exercise DVDs the way I currently collect digi-kits.

I'm hoping to walk or cycle outdoors a couple of times a week, but if it's killer hot out I can still do it indoors. I also have a couple of fans set up downstairs so I really have NO excuse for not exercising. I just haven't done any since last October. Paint me lazy.

I hope to build up to 60 minutes of exercise/day and increase the strength training to 3x/week. That's the goal anyway. We'll see how it goes. I am not going to beat myself up if I miss a day now and then.

I used a kit called 'Start Now' by Wendy Tunison Designs and the stars are from 'Rock a Bye Baby' (by Marie h Designs). I made the tiny treadmill from a photo of the treadmill that we actually own, and I made the wordstrips.

The Horse Pull Competition

Yesterday my hubby and I we went to the 40th Annual Heritage Display presented by the Niagara Antique Power Association at their Show Grounds on Learn Heritage Farm in Sherkston, Ontario. We honestly love these small town country exhibits. This is what it said in the ad about the show...

Forty years ago Ken Benner and a small group of friends decided to hold their first "Power Round-Up" on Saturday July 1, 1972. The location chosen was at Ken's home - to be specific, behind the workshop where he played with his old rusted relics.

Since then members of the Niagara Antique Power Association have dedicated 40 years to preserving the history of agriculture in the region. The organization is celebrating its 40th annual heritage display this weekend at the Learn Heritage Farm.

• Saw Mill Demonstrations
• Blacksmith Shop & Demonstrations
• Steam Traction Engine running the Saw Mill
• Models & Model Demonstrations
• Tractor Display
• Vintage Motorcycles
• Antique Cars & Trucks
• Antique Tractors & Farm Equipment
• Antique Lawn and Garden Equipment
• Gas & Steam Engines
• John Leonard's Military Band Organ
• Memorial Wall & Show Picture Display
• Parade of Equipment
• Soap Makers
• Trading Post
• Arts & Crafts
• Flea Market
• Souvenirs Shop
• Niagara Ole Tyme Fiddlers
• Our Log Cabin was built in 1850

It was great. We walked around looking at all the old equipment, watching demonstrations, eating really good food and talking to a lot of the old-timers about the by-gone days. I took a ton of photos. The horses were fantastic and really huge. The ones in the pulling competition are known as draught horses (draft horses in the US), or sometimes just called work horses. Truly beautiful animals.

I used a kit called 'It's a Wonderful Life' (by Kimeric Kreations) as well as the coordinating IAWL Borders, IAWL Wordart and IAWL Wordbits. This is one of my favourite kits. I actually bought the whole bundle and have since bought almost all the addons to go with it. I buy the new releases when they are on sale and use coupons whenever I can.