PSA Essentials

This is a card that I made for PSA Essentials. I used their Peel & Stick stamps to stamp the Christmas tree and the saying on the inside and also the border around these. If you would like to find out more about their stamps go to their website here.

Beautiful Hazel Eyes

My son took a picture of his own eye. Sometimes he gets very artsy with the camera. He wanted to take the pic to place on his computer. When I saw the pics I really loved them. So I thought I'd share the pictures of my son's beautiful eyes.

We always have thought that his eyes were beautiful. When he was a baby they were a very pretty shade of blue and as he grew older they turned into what you see here. His eye lashes are so long and beautiful too. When he was about 5 or 6 we caught him cutting his eye lashes. We were so freaked out that he would take scissors up that close to his eyes but also because he cut his gorgeous eye lashes. He didn't like them being so long because he thought they looked like girl's lashes. But all is well, I guess they grew back because they are still gorgeous.

I loved pictures of hands, eyes, arms, feet, etc., of your loved ones. They in them self tell a story. I once did a page of a picture of Sam's foot. My husband had told me to just throw away the picture (it had been taken by mistake). I looked at the picture and realized that his foot would soon be bigger and that little baby foot would be gone. So I saved the picture and love the page that I did for it.

Well I hope you enjoy!

Thanksgiving Feast

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

We had a very lazy day Thursday, we woke up and ate, we laid around then ate, then more laying around and more eating.

We didn't have anyone over to share in our Thanksgiving feast, so we had the whole turkey to ourselves. We've been eating turkey sandwiches ever since. ;)

Being so far from our families the holiday feeling sometimes isn't there. Don tries to invite people over, those who also don't have family in town. It does help to get that holiday feeling. But this year we didn't start inviting until it was a little to late. Really it turned out okay because we all got some much needed rest.

Scrabble

On Friday, Nov 19, we had a Family Game Night here at the church. We had a very good turn out of adults and children. Sam asked if I would play Scrabble with he and his friends. We had a great time playing. It is so cool to think that Sam enjoys playing this game. When I was young, Sam's age and younger, my family, on my mother's side, would all get together on Sunday afternoons and play Scrabble. I remember how fierce of a competition it would be with my Grandfather Nelson. (He would not allow the dictionary to be cracked open unless someone disputed a word.) Now here Sam and I are playing together. This is one of those neat memories I will always keep and I hope someday he will enjoy playing the game with his family. (We are much more easy going with the dictionary thing. HA!)

As you can see I didn't win, Sam's friend Marcos won pretty easy. I got stuck with Z and J and no where to put them.

Do you have a favorite game you like to play with your family? If you do let me know.

The craft fair is done. I'm glad that it is because I was so stressed out before and during. I will post some of the pics from the fair at a later date. Right now I've got to get home and get some work done for PSA Essentials.

First Snow

We received our first snow of the season today. We woke up to maybe 1 or 2 inches. By 11:00am it had started to melt. It has been cold and we have kept the fire going all day.

The local craft fair starts Saturday and I'm not ready for it. So I worked on these note pads today. I'd like to give these away to those who visit my booth. I'll have some cards and tags there to sell, but mostly I just want to get my name out there and to show my work in scrapbook design. Hopefully I'll have some clients after this. People here really like to make scrapbooks for their graduating seniors. I don't know how it will go, so pray for me Saturday if you think of it.

Thanks for visiting.

Ride on the Train

This is a page I made about our trip on the Amtrak Train. We rode the train from Ft. Morgan to Glenwood Springs CO. It is a beautiful trip, you ride through the Rockies and it is gorgeous. The town is a lovely town too. We stay at the Hotel Denver which sits directly across from the Amtrak Station. Plus their restaurant is wonderful. This was Sam's first time riding the train and I think he really enjoyed it. The lounge car is the best place to ride. If you can see in the one picture, there are windows at the top of the car so when you go through the mountains you can see up to the top of the cliffs. On this trip we saw deer running through the trees and the best thing is, we saw 2 bald eagles!

Hope you enjoy!

Background paper is from Rusty Pickle

tags from the office store

Actual ticket

and the rest is just scraps from my scrap pile

Creative Underground

I went to the most fantastic store yesterday. It is called the Creative Underground at Timeless Creations. You can go to their website to check them out or you can go to Fort Collins and see their store. I had so much fun looking around at all of the wonderful papers, embellishments, tags, cards, artful journals. If you like Stampington & Co. magazines (Artful Journals, Artful Blogging, Memories, etc.) you would like this store. What you see in those magazines is exactly what you will see. I highly recommend going to check it out. I definitely will be back to stock up on some new playthings. I would very much like to go and take a class there some time. Maybe after the first of the year.

Happy Birthday

Today is my wonderful husband's birthday. He and I are going to Ft Collins to spend the day together. Happy Birthday Honey!!

I completed some cards for the craft fair. Here are the some of the cards that will go into sets.

Hope you have a great day!

We have 4 little,baby trees. We planted them last year thanks to a very good friend who gave them to us. The two in the front yard are maples. One of them didn't come back this year but the other one is doing great. Here is a pic of how bright red the leaves have gotten this fall. Just thought I'd share our fall with you.

I'll have more pics of cards and such soon. I'm trying to get ready for this fall craft fair next month. I'm getting a little nervous about it. I'm just not sure exactly what to do for it. I would like to have a give away but I'm not sure of how many to make. I think I'll try to make 50 little notepads and give them out. When they are gone, well they are gone. I'll try to have a pic of that soon too. I hope you have a great weekend

You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! Galatians 4:10

Reflections of a Mother's Heart

I have begun to write in this little book here. It is a book that ask you questions like, "Tell about a canning or harvesting experience." or, "Where did you go to grade school? Junior High? High School? Write about your best childhood friend(s)." Questions that spur your thinking. The concept is to write about your family, your childhood and then pass this book along to your children so that they will better know you and what your life was like. So often we don't talk about these kinds of things with our children and this book helps you do this. Plus in writing in the book your children will be able to see your own handwriting which I think is so important.

Journaling has become so important in the scrapbook world that even some don't even place importance on the art of the page, but more on the, on your, story. If you are interested in something like this little book, I'm sure you can find all kinds of variations in your local bookstore. This one was published by Word Publishing. I'm not sure where we actually bought it. Don got it for me quite some time ago as a present.

I hope you enjoy and happy journaling!

What I've Been Doing In My Basement Studio

I've some new things to show you today!
I signed up to host a table at a local craft fair along with showcasing my scrapbooks in a showcase at our local community center. It all starts next month so I need to get busy and get some things done. After we got back from vacation it seemed like we hit the ground running and there hasn't been much time for getting the little extras done.




These first pics are of just 2 of the cards I completed. The stamps are from Stampin' Up. I actually got 4 cards done and how many more to go?, I'm not sure. The tag is just something I was playing around with. I thought I'd make some Christmas present tags for the show too.





These next pics are from my October book. Every October for the past 4 years I have put together an October Scrap book. It is just filled with the scraps that you would normally throw away on a daily basis. But these record what were some of the things you were doing on a day to day basis. I got the idea from Rebecca Sower. I saw her version in her book Life's Little Treasures. So I used numbered file cards, punch holes to put jump rings through. Ink the edges and then just put whatever I may have collected on that particular day. The book itself is just made with scraps from my scrap pile.

I have also posted the tag and the Christmas cards up on Two Peas In A Bucket. I'll post the October mini album after I have completed it. I hope you go on over there and check it out
Hope you enjoyed.
Now I need to call my mother to see how she is doing. She just got out of the hospital yesterday. She has a viral infection in her lungs. Please keep her in your prayers. Thank you.
Until next time....

We Are Back

We have returned home, we're back in Colorado. I miss the beautiful trees and hills of the Smokies, but the dampness mixed with the cooler temps made it feel even colder. It was nice to come back to warmer temps. We are all pretty tired since we got in at 11:30pm last night. Don came into church today to try to get some work done and to look over his emails.

I took Sam down to the DMV to get his permit. He got his certificate in the mail while we were gone showing that he had completed his online Driver's Ed Course. So here is our son holding his permit. He took the test and he didn't miss any questions. The girl said that was the first time that had ever happened. We are so proud of him.

Johnson Bible College

We visited Johnson Bible College today. It is near Knoxville, TN. We really enjoyed the campus, it is a beautiful campus. It sits way back in the country with beautiful green rolling hills. The buildings, although some of them are new, they have kept that old big, brick, statly feel. We met Kristin who helped us with our tour, and we met Mark who actually led us on the tour. He is from Zimbabwe. Very interesting to meet him. Sam was able to stay all night with his cousin Carl. Carl is attending JBC and working on a degree in education. That is him in the picture with my husband and son. Carl is the one with the longest hair. It was good to see him again.

While driving today I looked through my new Stampington Magazine, Take Ten. It has so many wonderful cards. I can't wait to get home and start making some.



We're on the road again. We probably will get home late tomorrow night.

national storytelling weekend is over

I had such high hopes to document this weekend in pictures and journal. I journaled this weekend but the pictures didn't get taken. I had 2 cameras in my backpack all weekend long. What people don't understand is that the National Storytelling Festival is intense. You arrive at 8:00am even though the first hour of storytelling doesn't begin until 10:00am. In the last 16 years the crowds have grown so much. There is limited seating in each tent and you know that the most favorite tellers will cause the tents to fill fast. So you arrive early, you find the tent you want to attend (there are 5 tents to choose from.) I heard someone say that there were 61,000 people there this weekend. So when you find a seat you stay there, you save your seats for your family, even tho there are several people who get upset with you for "saving" seats. If you choose to move to another tent you only have a 1/2 hour in between sets, so you have to hurry. Stories are told from 10:00am until 10:00 at night. You are kept busy all day. So stopping to take pictures just isn't in the time frame. So I'll just put some "scraps" in my October book and that will have to do to document this weekend.
This weekend is the only weekend in the whole year that time actually flies. It is the best weekend. The best storytellers from around the world are there to capture your imaginations. These are not your local librarians sitting there reading a book to you, no these are people who actually 'tell' you stories of folklore or a story from their childhood, or a story that is so crazy you know it's not true but you just keep listening and asking for more. Some stories make you laugh so hard that you don't want the story to end but other stories can make you cry that you wish the story wouldn't end just because you love the way the story makes you feel.
If you want to know more about this weekend go to the website for the National Storytelling Festival, Jonesborough TN and I highly recommend this weekend for your whole family.
We have now drove back to Knoxville to get a hotel and get some rest. We have been sleeping in a tent the last 4 days in 50 degree weather and it was damp. We decided to get a more comfortable bed and a warmer room.
My mom had met us in Jonesborough and went to the Festival with us. She stayed there tonight and will leave tomorrow for Indiana. It was a hard goodbye. I'm hoping to be able to see her at Christmas time.
Well I better put this down and get some rest. Sam goes tomorrow to tour Johnson Bible College. Maybe I'll get some pictures tomorrow. I didn't even get pictures of him at Milligan. I really was worried I'd embarrass him.
Okay I really do need to go.

We left home on Monday. We are headed to Tennessee for the National Storytelling Festival. Here are some shots of our trip. I thought maybe I'd use this as a trip diary then, when and if I put together a scrapbook of the trip, I'll have a running record of our trip.

We need this trip really bad. We all need to get away for a while.

This is a restaurant that we found in Hays Kansas. It was really good, Don wanted to try and find some more on the road but they were never in the places that we stopped.That night we stayed at the Hampton Inn and ate at the Cracker Barrel. Sam was able to beat the peg game 3 or 4 times. On the second day I was able to lay in the back seat and read the newest edition of Artful Blogging magazine.Here's my cool cute son at Freddy's.

While driving we found the Family Comedy Channel on Sirius and listened to it almost the whole way. We laughed so hard, it was so much fun. It made the miles go by so fast. But when we stopped it felt like we were still on the comedy show because everyone became a comedian.

While reading the Artful Blogging magazine I had some thoughts on what to do on my blog and hopefully how to make it a little better. Each blog that was featured told of how they started it to have an outlet for their art. Some only post pics of their art and a few inspiring words for the day. I'm not sure if my 'art' is that good to host a site only for that. I think this will just be another journal, something to use as an outlet. But and that's a big BUT I never know if anyone will ever read this, anyone that I may know and just how much do I want them to know. So I guess this will be a work in progress. We'll just see how much will be posted.

If anyone is out there and happens to stop by to look at what I've posted would you please let me know. It would be nice to know that my blog did land in the land of the blogs - Blogland. But if not I guess I'll just write to myself.

This last picture is of the decor of a BBQ restaurant we ate at in Cookeville TN. You know you're in the south when they use a Billy Beer can as part of the decorations. funny

Tomorrow I may post a few more things I learned from the magazine.