Celebrate #5

Credits: Krystal Hartley-Patriotic Collab kit available at FaithSisters.com

Template by Krystal Hartlety TOO!

Fiesta Sale

Here you go! This is what I bought on day 2. I didn't have my camera with me on day 1. Dead battery. This was so incredible. Everything you see in the left photo cost me $80. You can't hardly see the 4 green plates on the left side. And the second pic is how it looked inside the tent. Everything was just a hodge podge of stuff in wooden bins. Covered with dirt, dust, water, you name it. You had to have rags to clean it off to check it for flaws. But fun!!! Oh...I had a blast. The thrill of the hunt is what it was all about. Most of the stuff I bought here was for my sister Amy Jo. Her kitchen is orange/green/brown. So I got most of the stuff for her. I already own a lot of it.

Credits: I am not going to list each piece but here are the designers in no order: Krystal Hartley, Amy Sumrall, Kristin Aagard, Melissa Bennett. (my dream collab. kit come true!)

FiestaWare Rules!

Home safe and sound. Just very tired. Long drive. Had a wonderful time. Would do it again in a heartbeat. Went 2 days in a row. 6 hours of sleep, heat, humidity, long lines, heavy ceramics. Too pooped to post photos. BUT STILL...FIESTA WARE ROCKS MY COLORFUL WORLD!

Mini Road Trip today

I am heading off for a mini road trip today. Going to Newell, WV. It's almost a 5 hour trip one way. Can you imagine the pictures of all that color! I am going with my MIL and one our school teachers. Should be fun. I'm actually very excited. Working off 5 hours of sleep. Hope the storms hold off...I don't wanna stand out in the rain all day. Taking a huge umbrella to be on the safe side.

See you all Saturday sometime!

Krystal Hartley-Moody Hues: Zen

Here it is!! The newest MOODY HUE in the collection being released by Krstal Hartley called ZEN! Don't you just feel the peacefulness when you see these colors!!

CREDITS: Krystal Hartley: Moody Hues-Zen it's only $3.95! Best four bucks you will spend this week for sure! Promise!

Blowin' bubbles

Credits: Kristin Aagard-bubble bubble elements plus a few items from BathTime freebie on her blog.

Melissa Bennett Fans

Hey guess what! She's having a SALE!!! 50% off!!! until the end of the month.
www.melissabennettdesigns.com

*I get NOTHING in return for enabling this...just have to share a great sale!*

Oink Cluck Moo by Kristin Aagard

I finally share these layouts with you all! These are from our trip to the zoo on friday. How stinking cute is this kit!! Those animals, esp. the pig, just speak to me! Look at the smirk on that pigs face! LOL That's so Charlottes Web!

Credits: Kristin Aagard from PlainDigitalWrapper.com- Oink Cluck Moo kit

Circle of Friends

Credits: Melissa Bennett-Safari kit
Template by Shelley Moore!! Whoot! whoot! whoot!

Cistern

Ok...seriously...What more could possibly happen at my house? WOW...check this out. Here is the back story on this mess. Zander told us that he saw a hole in the ground out back. Ok, son, it's alright! Well, we were outback Friday night and Josh saw the spot that Zander was talking about. He said, looks like the ground is sinking a little. He walks over the dipped area and stomps his foot. Well, he sinks up to his knee. I was screaming and yelling and running. Well, we go get a flashlight to look in the now 10" around hole. Holy Cow...it's an old well we think. We got a tape measure and find out that it's 10' deep to the bottom. I am still freaking out at this point. Are you kidding me...we have a freaking sink hole in our backyard with two boys, and pets. Holy Crap. My sister is here staying with us so we go get her to come look. We are all in shock.

The next morning we get up and Josh starts shoveling out this area. I am shocked to see what he has done as I walk outback. This hole is now about 3' around. And you can see what we saw in these two pictures here:So then we have a friend of ours come over to check this out. He helps Josh get it to about 4' across and call it a day. We cover it with boards for the night and now it brings us to Sunday (today) This is what it looked like after a few minutes of digging and sledgehammering the cement that was the "lid" of this cistern. The bars you see below were just there for support. We thought they were water pipes. but nope....just support bars.There was 3' of dirt on top of the cover and the cover apparently failed and hence the hole. Well, we were planning on redoing our driveway. So it got started TODAY! We needed the dirt to fill this damn hole. So we had a 10' deep by 7' across hole in our yard today. This is Zander & Josh sitting on the edge to show you the size of the hole. You can see our friend coming with the skid full of dirt to start filling it up.

And this is now how my driveway looks after this whole mess. We are going to put stone down for now. Can't afford concrete now since we had to get that old cistern filled in. When it rains it pours. So we will just have a stone drive for now and then in a year or so, we can save up to have concrete poured. Oh man...my crazy life.

Gotcha!

The boys had such a blast this day! Included the eldest boy! He even said later that day that it was the first time in a long time he felt no stress or pressure. Finally! We were trying to convince daddy to hang upside down like Will but nope...he was too scared! LOL So the boys said they would help him down! haha....it was very very funny and cute!

Credits: Krystal Hartley: Moody Hues-energetic plus her alpha from a CT collab kit. Black paper from Sweetest thing {the kit}

Template freak

Yep...I swear I am. I sometimes feel like I can't even do a layout without one. I feel like I need them to get my gears going. It is starting to drive me crazy. So anywho...I saw this at GottaPixel.net and decided to get them. Wow...I was surprised. If you like to do mini albums (hybrid) you need to get this grab bag. I don't want to totally spoil it for you but...do you know where I can buy Ethan & Kate Cosmo Cricket albums? I might have some layouts that need to go in those albums!!!

Heading to the zoo

I am heading out to the zoo today with a girlfriend and her daughter. Can't wait! I love the zoo. The kids are pumped too. We packed our cooler and will have a picnic too! I love being a member of our zoo. Such a great value. It's $65/year or $10/adult, $7/child. So two visits is all it takes to 'pay' for the membership. We go probably 3 or 4 times a year. And I still see things that I didn't before.

So I need to find a zoo kit that 'speaks' to me!! Any of my designer friends wanna tackle that one?! I promise I will provide layouts for you!!

Going to the zoo zoo zoo how about you you you? You can come too too too we're going to the zoo zoo zoo! Look at the crocodiles swimming in the water, Swimming in the water, swimming in the water! Look at the crocodiles swimming in the water, we can stay all day!
don't you just love raffi songs! You have to listen to this song if you have never heard it. He's awesome!

This is how my garden grows!

Credits: Michelle Swadling of GottaPixel.net kit called Be Mine. I just fell in love with the flowers and knew I needed this kit! The blue paper comes with those flowers already there too! Wahoo...this was one of my fastest layouts yet! But looks like took much longer!! And that big sqaure button is a favorite of mine too. Which brings me to my most favorite part...the subjects!!! hahaha Aren't they just adorable! FONT: Partridge

That smile will take you places

I love this photo of William. We were at Sandy Beach over in Hillsdale for the Magic Ride and played at the park for awhile. He was having a ball. And I truly believe that his SMILE will take him places. He's going to be a looker thats for sure!

Credits: Krystal Hartley-Moody Hues:Energetic, Jan's Happy Place, Little Black Alpha, Grass is Greener Alpha(recolored)

Dot template by tracyblankenship.

Moody Hues-Energetic by Krystal Hartley

Bent Frames in top layout are from www.sonjascraftspot.blogspot.com freebie right now.

Here are some layouts using her newest kit!! It's red hot!!! Available at FaithSisters.com or PolkaDotPotato.com Price: $3.95 Hurry!

Credits: Krystal Hartley-Moody Hues-Energetic and Little Black Alpha

Ready for July 4th!

I love July 4th. It's such a fun time for me with so many wonderful memories. So I wanted to get the party started by doing up my blog for the occassion. If the colored background bothers your eyes, let me know and I will go white.

Busy day planned today. ENT appt for Zander, summer rec program starts today, need to mow at my grandmas, visit FIL. So I won't be around much today. It's cooler here today. Only in the 50's right now. So it will be a great day to mow!

FIL Coming Home!

Just got word that he's coming home today. They said all they are doing is feeding him is pills and we can do that at home!! YIPPEE! It is just unbelievable to me that they can rip open your chest on Friday, mess with your heart and send you home on Monday?! WOW... Saw his scar yesterday. BIG...but it looked great as far as scars go. I know what my C sections looked like and this looked way better than mine. Go figure. So thank you for all the prayers and well wishes. I needed it and it obviously worked! Prayer is a powerful thing.

Dad's Corner

Credits: All Kristin Aagard-Pieces of him. Coming soon to Plain digital Wrapper. Mesh background template by TracyBlankenship.

I just had to try to use that bookcase. She wasn't going to include it in the kit but I said, Please! How fun. I tried to make a masculine shelf. We really love antiques so I put together things that make me think of Josh. Sorta like a tribute to him on Father's Day today! His senior picture, books to show knowledge, key to his heart, a leather strap to keep it all together, the metal because what man doesn't love to work with metal. And we both love flowers and being outside.

A peek into Yesterday

Credits: All Kristin Aagard called Pieces of him. Coming soon! to Plain Digital Wrapper.

umm...yep...I just MIGHT have picked up another CT job. Maybe, probably, ok...fine, I did! My time with GottaPixel is coming to an end and this will be a low stress one for me! Love those types! Thanks Kristin for the invite!

GottaPixel Brag book

Here is my Brag book page that I created for the GP challenge. I also made 5 others. But this is the one I picked to send (minus the words and photo!). Credits: All Amy Sumrall.

Update on FIL: They moved him to the step down stage at the hospital tonight but he is still in a ton of pain and comfortable due to the drainage tubes that are still in place. Finds it hard to breath with them pushing on his ribs. We are able to go visit tomorrow late afternoon. The boys are ready to see their Grandpa thats for sure.

FIL update

My FIL is out of surgery. They ended up only doing 2 bypasses instead of the three. But they found a hole in the heart which is now repaired and all is well. He is now faced with the long road to recovery but out of danger. Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes. It's so nice to have 'friends' whom I know I can count on when I need it even if you are not 'next door'. THANK YOU!

Daddy

Credits: Kristin Aagard-www.Digidelights.blogspot.com-freebie called Daddy Day mini kit.

Check this out...

I am so surprised. Given the week I am having, I needed this.

And on top of that...I discovered this too!

Triple Bypass

My FIL has to have Triple Bypass surgery. The stints would not work. I'm totally bummed. Please keep praying for him, us.

ETA: Surgery is Friday @ 9:30am

Prayers Needed

So yesterday turned into a totally crazy day. My FIL went to the hospital via ambulance with chest pains. He was then transfered to Ohio to a hospital to treat him better. Well, he has two blockages and continued pain. They are doing surgery this morning. As a matter of fact they should be getting done soon. So if you could, just say a quick prayer for him. He's 51. And just lost his dad in Jan and his MIL in April. So stress is probably a major factor, in my opinion. He's a wonderful man whom I adore and we NEED him!

The Best $4 ever spent

Ladies...Seriously... YOU MUST go buy this Grab bag. It's only $4 and you get 14 zip files! And There are TWO FULL KITS in those zip files! I am on my last download right now and I am just had to post this for you all. I NEVER EVER buy Grab bags because you just never know...but trust me...I went out on limb on this one because I love Melissa Bennetts stuff....and WOW!!!

I get NOTHING for saying this...I am just sharing a heck of a great deal with all my friends. HURRY! It only good until June 13th. I will give you a hint as to what you will get without totally giving it all away.

BEACH KIT

SAFARI KIT

This is just a mix of stuff

CUTE! Hurry!!!!

Tried to show you the best I could what is there!

Layouts-a-plenty

First night of summer vacation and I was up late! I love staying up late. I am such a night owl. And I was back up at 7:20am! Thanks kids! Mommy loves ya...

So here what I was doing last night. I fixed the typo---bad part of staying up too late.

Hybrid Album

Here's my hybrid album that I did of William's Graduation. I used the Melissa Bennett Premade album for the Lil Grad kit. I just printed it off 4x6 and mounted it to some cardstock. Put it on a ring and tied it with ribbon. Oh..and inked the edges. Just something small that I can carry around to show my coworkers, family, & friends.

Layout Frenzy

Credits: Randi Oh Designs- A Mother's Love collab kit available at GottaPixel.net

Credits: Paula Phillips-Neopolitan kit
Credit: Amy Sumrall-A walk in the park
Credits: Amy Sumrall & Kami Leonard (Ziggles Designs) available at GottaPixel

On top of all these...I started a hybrid album of Will's graduation yesterday. I have them all printed and cut now I need to mount on Card stock and put it together! I am on a roll. I have so much I wanna get done this summer. I wanna spend as much time as I can with my family. And if that means quitting a few CT, so be it. I will give it the month of June to work itself out but if I can't find a happy medium then I am going to be forced to make changes.

As you may remember, I was also elected our Parent Group President for next year. Well my job started and I have lots of great things in mind to make some great changes. But again, it's time from my personal life. My goals are and always will be: Family First, Work, School, Scrapbooking. And pretty much in that order. But keep in mind those are some broad categories. So lots of stuff has to fall under those topics. So it doesn't look like much on paper.

Finally, It HOT in Michigan today. whew...looking at temps in the 90's today with high humidity. And my naturally curly hair hates it! LOL I applied for a new zip code for it yesterday, still waiting for the reply. And that's after a cut on Thursday! I went even shorter. But it feels sooo good. My hair is extremely thick too. So I needed to rid myself of some!

Have a great day!

Another Grad layout

Credits: Melissa Bennet- see below for full credits

Graduate

Credits: Melissa Bennet: Lil Grad

Template by Sweeteshoppedesigns.com

Tornado Warning...

Heading to the basement....more later.
ETA: It is ok. Nothing to report. Still have power so all is right with the world!

William's Graduation

His Teacher Mrs. Lake
The Principal, Mrs. Godrey
Officially in First Grade!!!
Here we all are after the big "Walk"!

Today's the day!!!

GRADUATION DAY!!

My baby is graduating Kindergarten!

Be back with pictures later today!

48* water

Seriously...How could they do this?? We just opend up the pool the weekend before and it was literally freezing. Yeah the outside temp was 70 but that water was only 48. WOW?! Zander, Will, my SIL, my FIL, and my little nephew all spent time in that water. Crazy. I think my tap water is warmer than that pool water!! It will be a few weeks before I step foot in that water. And we have been dipping down to the high 30's low 40's at night still here. brr....

Credits: Tara Sroka Designs. New kit called Funky Summer. Available on Friday!
Acrylic numbers are by vicki20.blogspot.com
Acrylic letters by Misty Cato

Field Day

Yep...I'm lazy! Just changed the pictures for each boys book. What a fun day!! I love this day. I even took off work yesterday so I could be there. It's a total riot. The weather held out for us and even got a tad burnt. I took over 160 pictures yesterday. Not all my children so I won't be scrapping them all but what a great day! That's why no post yesterday...too tired! I IM'd with Shelley but that was as far as it went with computers yesterday. Some days you just need a break!

We held a raffle at our fun night where you could "buy" a teacher for a day! I won Mrs. Kirkland. So my boys got to be her for the day yesterday. She made them both tshirts and got them a goody bag full of stuff. Credits on this layout: Sara Ellis of GottaPixel (click on layout)

Aunt Rach & Jackson

I got to have Little Jackson overnight on Friday night! He was just as good as gold. We went outside to jump on the trampoline and took the camera with us! Hard to believe that my first nephew is going to be 3 next month! Time flies.

Credits: Paula Phillips- Summer Stroll
ETA: I fixed the date-grrr...stupid typos! But to lazy to re-upload.