Kari's Scrappin' Korner

I'm in....

2011-04-18T10:47:00.000-05:00

Yippeee....The Jessica Sprague Portraiture Class, led by Candice Stringham started this morning. I'm so excited i got it. Candice is expecting a baby this summer so she won't be offering this class the rest of this year.

Did you know in photography there is a feminine & masculine tilt of the head? It all depends which way your knees are pointing that you tilt your head. Girls can tilt in any direction and get away with it. Hmm

I lost my settings tool bar on top that i had all my favorite go too's. Lot's of short cuts I used to use to get where a wanted to go... Google Reader was one of them. In my yahoo i had a short cut add on that is gone as well. Frustrating!! What do you use for a short cut tab??

Busy week. Kids have early release on Wednesday, Meghan my granddaughter has vents put in her ears on Thursday. My kids don't have school this Friday or next Monday.

Anyhoo I have some errands to run, laundry to do. Oh, and i was asked about my blog header. All i did was put a reflection frame outside the banner.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

All is well...

2011-04-11T13:10:00.003-05:00

Hello Friends, Family

Sorry I've stepped away for so long and haven't been visiting or commenting. I haven't been keeping up with my google reader lately.... I've been a bad blogger. But before you shoot me down take a look at what I've been up to. :) It's been my passion lately that I can't put down.

I've been working on photo editing. {Learning some new things about Actions and Textures in PSE} I'm still taking Kelby on line editing couses. I'm also taking Nicole Martins 3 hour editing course tomorrow evening {4/12} and hoping to get into Jessica Sprague's 4 week Portraiture Class with Candice Stringham. {4/18} Registration is tonight and it fills up fast. So I'll be glued and hitting "Refresh" hopely I'll get in.

Yes... I miss my paper, stamps/ scraproom. But if it's been calling for me I haven't heard it. I hope you understand! :)

Here are a few photos I've been working on.

This reminds me of a ....Angelic photo

Before and After

Sepia w/sun flare.

Actions & Textures

I'm hoping to make the rounds visiting and commenting again soon. Thank you for your visits and sweet comments!

Cyber hugs!!

Here is my photography Facebook fan page if you want to check it out.

Another Fully Packed Post

2011-03-20T13:45:00.001-05:00

A lot can happen when you step away from your desk. LOL Well, I'll get right to the photo. I've been taking some on line courses though Kelby Training for Photo Shop. It's been fun to say the least... because..... I want to lean more about Photography, Editing and I can take these courses at my own pace. There are lessons for everything! I use PSE9, there are courses for all Adobe PS {CS, Light Room which at this point i know nothing about.}

As for the picture I took of my grandson Ian. I turned it into b/w and used a eraser brush to bring the duck back to yellow. Today i made my first watermark in PS. It's not the best but i got the hang of it now!

Another bit of news, my kids are going back to private school this fall. We tried public this year and have decided to put them back in private. They both cried when we told them they could go back to their old school. Days after we told them, Micah thought he was dreaming. He kept asking me if it was for real. There friends are so excited to see them their again. When i told my friend who is a teacher at the school. She e mailed me back and said her 8th grade sons tuition was paid for for the year so she was going to deposit $300.00 plus scrip $$ into our tuition acc. What an awesome blessing!! What a generous heart! {We are not members so we pay full tuition}

Oh and my Canon Rebel sold last week. A friend of mine bought it. She said she was looking for a new camera.... after I posted a slight rant on FB about the replies i was getting off Craigslist. Scammers wanting me to ship it to another State/Country and they would pay an additional $150.00 to get it there. What a crock! I like using CL for selling stuff.... because it's free, and I have sold a few things on that site. But you have to be careful!

Today is the the first day of spring!! {it's raining and sleeting outside} : / My kids are off of school this week. Sam got a new bike and they both got helmets. So if it gets nice enough maybe we'll get to ride our bikes. I hope so.

Well friends/family thanks for stopping by.

Happy Spring!

Grumpy Pants....

2011-03-11T10:17:00.002-06:00

CTMH CS & Felicity Papers, Thicker Letters, Twine,

Hole Template, Brown Marker, 2 Brads, Smile Button

Sam did not want to participate for pictures on this fall day. But I have to admit... despite the layout title and post title, I "LOVE" this photo. It captures what Sam was feeling that day. { He did not want to be their} Smiling Micah is pretty layed back. :) I've made this photo my wallpaper on my laptop and iPhone.

Well, my camera hasn't sold yet. I'm about ready to list it in our local newspaper. I have it on Craigs List and had three scammers reply. Who want to pay me more than what it's worth and want me to ship it to another country. Geesh

Not much going on this weekend. Charlie & I were going to have a dinner date night tonight, but only to find out that Cailyn 3yo grand daughter may have pink eye. Her daddy took her in to walk in last night. Her eyes were pink and pasted shut after her nap yesterday.

So we're all going out to dinner. Well friends/family have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Praying for Japan.

A Fully Packed Post...

2011-03-04T10:08:00.005-06:00

Hello Fellow Bloggers/Friends

I guess I've been missing in action for a little while. A lot has been going on keeping me busy. I have my gbabies at least twice a week, which i love!! We just finished working on our Pinewood Derby cars. Registration is tonight. The race starts tomorrow morning. I'm racing for the first time. Here's a link for my Web Album if you want to see our cars. Mine is "Flower Power" with a little "Bling and CTMH" rub ons. LOL Charlie's is black & white, Micah's is red, Sam's green.

I'm still working on photography, taking and posting pictures. Which I love! That brings me some News I'd like to share. I recently updated to a Canon D series Camera. I'm selling my Canon T1i Rebel 15mp... It's 7 months old and in Excellent Condition. I comes with everything it came with, plus an extra battery. {2 total} I'm selling for $600.00 on Craigs List {under photo/Video}. But.... I'll sell it here for...... $550.00 plus you pay shipping, >>>I'll insure it<<< That's well over $100.00 off retail price. If you are interested or want more info you can e mail me at kariberry97@yahoo.com I will only accept Paypal for payment

Canon Rebel T1i 15mp
SOLD

Below Camera is shown with Lens off camera body. Will be shipped that way.

Yesterday my grand daughter Meghan had Spirit Week at her Pre-School. Meghan dressed up as "Jesse" from the Toy Story movie. How fun! I got to take a few pictures of her.

Well friends, a lot to do today. So I better get going. Sorry i packed so much in. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

Street Corner Josh....

2011-02-22T14:02:00.000-06:00

CTMH CS, Travel Stack Papers, Stamp ~ Street Corner Josh, Brads, Foam Dots, Gel Pens, Copics.

Ok I've loved this image since it's first release last year from

Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps. It came on Saturday and I couldn't wait to ink him up. With having boys at home i could so relate. He reminds me of my Sam who likes hot chocolate, has a ipod nano.

Did you catch the street signs? East Sparkle Way.... LOL.... Sometimes I don't know how i come up with titles.... Sparkle's our friend and she has an On-line Stamp Store. :)

We were snowed in yesterday, school was canceled, it felt like another Sunday. It being Presidents Day, Charlie even had off. Over the weekend he got a lot of work done in our living room. He finished putting up the moulding, and door frame mouldings. The mirrored closet doors were hung. Soon he'll be tearing down a paneled wall, drywalling it and painting it.

Anyway, That's about it here. I hope you were able to check out my Photography FB Page. I recently added some new photos.... The Sunrise this morning was Gorgeous! Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!!

Hello.....

2011-02-15T08:38:00.001-06:00

Friends/Family

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day!! Yesterday I was remembering what we did last year on Valentines Day. Charlie & I and a group of friends went to see Tim Hawkins live. He's a LOL Christian Comedian. You can find him all over youbube. We have a couple of his dvd's and still watch them to this day. He's a hoot!!

Gosh, a lots been going on the last few days. In my last post I was telling you about getting my Photography Face Book fan page up and going. I needed 25 "Likes" in order to get a Registered URL for my user name so I can link my page anywhere. We did it!!! :) I can post my favorite pictures. Why FB? Because I hang out their, and so does a lot of my friends, some family & local friends.

Precious in His Sight Photography if you want to check it out.

I also had a friend from one of the groups I'm in design a Profile badge banner for my FB page. She did and awesome job! Sarah Panell. And as a Bonus...... she added the little film strip to this Blog Header. My Ty header is 3 years old and I'm looking into doing something different with it.

We're still working on our living room. Sunday Charlie got one of the last 2 walls primed with 2 coats of primer, and yesterday i gave it ~~2 coats~~ 3 coats of paint. It's looking good. Our LR hasn't been painted since I was pregnant with Sam, over 11 years ago. I'll post some pics soon.

Well, I best be outta here, I have laundry up the gazoola and a kitchen to clean. I have my grand kids the next 2 days. Oh and I want to visit you all.

Have an awesome day my friends!!

1136 Miles ~ 7 States

2011-02-10T17:17:00.002-06:00

CTMH CS, Travel Stack DP, Stickers Letters, Numbers & States,

Cricut Plantin Schoolbook Cartridge.

Hello there, hope you all are doing well. We're freezing here! It's been so cold the last few days. -2 with a wind chill of -22 ~~Yikes~~. Brrrr

The photo is from our trip to Florida we took over Thanksgiving last year. Cody on the left calls Sam & Micah his brother's. How cute! We sure do miss the Christie clan ... and the warm weather! I'll be working on some other pages from our trip. Can you tell what i digitally added to the layout? It's not that hard. :) Thought it needed a little something extra.

I'm taking an on line course through Scott Kelby PS Training.There are tutorials for everything and i have the ~~desire~~ passion to learn it. I recently took a Bold leap of Faith. I took my photography skills to the next level. I started a FB page called "Precious in His Sight Photography" where i can showcase some of my photos. Check it out if you like. : )

Well friends & family thanks for stopping by and your sweet comments! Stay warm, or cool depending on where you live.

GB Packers Won The.....

2011-02-08T02:31:00.007-06:00

SUPER BOWL!

Green Bay Packers & Pittsburgh Steelers

31 - 25

Well i maybe a little late in posting but we are "Still Celebrating" our GB Packer Super Bowl Win! What an Awesome game it was. I'm not one to sit back and watch the game.... I'm at the edge of my seat cheering them on. LOL I'm so happy for our GB Packers!

btw... the cookie was delish. Micah got a little upset because i cut into it before the game even started. LOL oh, and the footballs are Super Bowl Rings! :)

Sister's....Church Valentine Brunch on Saturday. I found another Packer fan.... Cori!

Hugs & Kisses...

2011-01-26T14:08:00.000-06:00

CTMH CS, Rub-Ons, DE Heart, Baby Pink Ink. Tilda Stamp, Foil Heart DP HL,

Twine, Gel Pens, Aluminum Foil, Copics

Hello There!

Well I haven't inked up Tilda in a while. Actually she was done and cut out for a long time I just never used her on a card. I was going through my "had forever stash of HL papers" and found the valentine hearts cs. With Valentines Day coming up i thought it would make a cute card!

As for the foil, i adhered a piece on a strip of cs.

Well friends/family not a whole lot happening in my Korner. I have my gbabies Th-Fri. Sam has a basketball game Friday night. We have another wall finished in our LR, mudded, primed and painted. 1.5 more to go. We've only been working on it just over a year. Charlie is still driving 150 miles a day. Almost 3 years now. Sigh... He can only get so much done. Anyhoo, I better get moving, I'm cooking a chicken. :) kids will be home soon. Happy Wednesday!

Thanks for stopping by!

Super Bowl!

2011-01-24T19:46:00.005-06:00

Any Super Bowl Fans?

Yep.... The Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears 21-14. What a great game!! Packers are the NFC Champions!! They haven't made it to the NFC since Jan 12th 1996 against the Dallas Cowboys and lost. I remember I was working at Kohler Co. at the time and we all wore our Packer garb, cheese heads and all.... and had a group picture taken in the factory. hahaha I still have the 8x10 picture, and I still love to watch the Packers play! The Super Bowl is in Dallas TX Feb. 6th. 2011 Against the Pittsburgh Steelers!

Well i hope to be back with something crafty soon. Till next time...

Thanks for stopping by!

Edited in

Green Bay Packers vs Chicago Bears....

2011-01-22T12:23:00.002-06:00

"Are you ready for some..... Football"!!

Oh yeah!! The Green Bay Packers are in the NFC "National Football Conference" tomorrow {Sunday} at 2:00 pm CT against the Chicago Bears. We are thrilled that they made it this far. Aaron Rodgers QB played very well this season. Considering he had two concussions.

In honor of our "Home Team" {64 miles down the road} I thought I'd pick up a desert to "Celebrate" their WIN... we can only hope... right!! :) Than...it will be off to the Super Bowl!

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We'll be glued at game time! Charlie is Not/ kids are... football fans, but he'll watch the game with me.

Thanks for stopping by!

*~*~*~*~*

"Go Pack Go" !!

Swimming Lucy & Photography

2011-01-15T14:52:00.002-06:00

CTMH CS, Liquid Glass, Rub-Ons

Stamp ~ Swimming Lucy, Basic Grey Bitter Sweet, Black Embossing Powder, Gel Pen,

Misc Ribbon, Chalk, Template, Rhinestones, Copics

I've had this card on my craft table for at least 2 weeks. I heat embossed the image with black embossing powder, when i colored it it ran a bit on her face.. dang!... I spent to much time on it to redo so i left it and put it together this morning. Hope it's not that noticeable. I ♥ this paper!!

I'm trying to keep up with my photography skills so i shot this card in manual setting. If your interested... I had the camera set at... Shutter Speed 1/40 {Light meter... center zero} Aperture f/8.0 and ISO was 200 here. {100 would be bright outdoor light} No flash, but one daylight bulb in my photo box.

A friend asked me to take school pictures of her 2 kids. I'm excited to do that!! :) I did a family of 9 over Christmas. I'll post them in the near future.

Well, I played long enough today, It will take me a week to clean up. I have quite the mess! Charlie took the boys ice fishing this morning. They called this afternoon and said they caught a 14 inch bass. {dinner tomorrow} :)

Well friends thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend!

Blessings!

Airplane Riley...

2011-01-11T18:40:00.001-06:00

CTMH CS, Rub-Ons, Stampset Leave Your Mark, White Pigment Ink

DP, Paper Studio School Days, Riley Stamp, Sun Stickers,

Buttons, White Gel Pen, Chalk, Copics

I have no idea who will get this card with a title like That! Hahaha... This was before Riley & Sophie got hitched. :)
Not a whole lot going on in my Korner. Just getting over being sick. Charlie & I came down with a nasty cold and hacking cough. He went to walk-in on Sunday, he's got an ear/sinus infection. Kids didn't get it. We're on the mend here.
Hope you're all having a great week. We got a few inches of snow today, but by the looks of it NY is getting hammered again. Another foot from what I'm hearing. Yikes
Well that's about it for me. Take care...thanks for stopping by!

One Little Word.....

2011-01-05T11:15:00.001-06:00

Determined

Ali Edwards has an awesome blog, the first of the year she posts a list of words you chose from...

"One Little Word" to be your focus throughout the year. I have never done this before, but since my goal for 2011 was to "love my treadmill" and get fit, I thought this was perfect for me. No one can take care of me but me!! {well other than God}

I have chosen the word **Determined** as my "One Little Word"

I am determined to workout, get fit, lose weight and make the great outdoors, treadmill my best friend. :)

If you want to keep track of my results you can visit me at ... You Go Girl

I will be working out with my daughter today at her house. I'll be posting my stats on my get fit blog later today.

What is your One Little Word?

Blog Oversary.... Today??

2011-01-04T11:41:00.001-06:00

Yep.... it's been 3 years since my very first post. Here I would have forgotten all about it but a sweet blogger.... Teena left me a comment on my previous post. Sure enough! I'm at 381 posts. Not that it matters, but I'm just sayin.

I want to **Thank You** for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year!.... your visits and comments have meant so much to me!! .... I wouldn't be coming back if it wasn't for you!

Thanks again for stopping by, whether you were just passing through, commented or not, I hope my blog has inspired you in some way.

Blessings!!

*****

Today is also my MIL Marylee's Birthday. She visits quite often. :) Happy Birthday Marylee!! You are one sweet women, always a giving heart! I love you!!

Blessed!

2010-12-29T09:32:00.003-06:00

Hope you all had a Blessed Christmas, we did too! We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for! Every other year we have Christmas at my daughter and son in-laws house. We have breakfast and open gifts together, this year it was at our house.

For our family gift this year we got an E Reader.... Kindle. My husband LOVES to read and i thought it would encourage my boys to read more as well. So far it's been a big hit!

The angel ornament was handmade by one of my husbands friends, mother. She sent handmade bells as well. {with a dangling dinger ball in the inside} :) It looks like there is glitter or tinsel in the thread. So very pretty!!

I took this at my daughter's house, her tree.... no flash..... looks better in b/w

Adding Ornaments

Our Grandbabies

Ian on the move.....

He kept crawling towards me as i was "trying" to get him to sit in front of the tree. He wanted the camera.

I thought i would made another Christmas card using Scooter Chloe

CTMH Aspen Papers, Bitty Sparkles~ Sparkle Creation Rubber Stamps, Misc. Merry Christmas Stamp, Sizzix Pine Tree die cut,

Paper pieced scarf, Sewing Machine, Gel Pens, Copics

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Hope you have a Blessed New Year!!

I'll be home for Christmas....

2010-12-21T12:48:00.010-06:00

CTMH Mistletoe/ Key to my Heart Papers/ CS

Flowers/leaves ~ Michael's, Stamp image Sparkle Creations Stamps , Sentiment printed on computer,

Paper pieced Scarf, Ripple scissors, Dew Drops, Liquid Glass, Chalk, Gel Pen, Copics

Click image to enlarge

Some of us may fly, drive, or scooter home for Christmas, depending upon where we live. hahahaha. Isn't Scooter Chloe cute! I've had this stamp since July and have yet to ink her up. I thought a Christmas theme would fit this stamp image as well. I'm happy with the way it turned out. :)

Is your tree up, are the gifts all bought, are you ready for Christmas? .... Have you accepted the Gift God has given to all of us? Jesus Christ His Son. I made that decision on June 23, 1985. I asked Jesus to come into my heart/life at a Lowell Lundstrom Crusade..... it was the greatest decision i ever made! {next to my husband} :) I have never looked back, other than to remember what God has taken me out of and how He has changed my life for "His Glory"! {I know i would be dead today if God hadn't stepped in and saved me}..... I'm not the same person I use to be, and I'm not better than anyone else either. I only rely on His Saving Grace in my life, I know I'm heaven bound when my life is over! I want to share that with other's so they can have it too.

John 3;16, John 14;6

I was having a battle within whether or not to share my faith in this post. That i might offend someone by saying "Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday's or Jesus loves you"!
I have come to realize that you can't please everyone, you have to be who you are and if you happen to lose some friends along the way, ... than they may not have been your friends to begin with. I am in no means trying to jam Christianity down anyones throat, but just giving you something to think about this Christmas. My pastor recently had a sermon series called... Who is Jesus to you?

11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

14 “ Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Luke 2;11-14

If I don't make it back here before Christmas....

"Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday's friends, have a Blessed New Year!"

Jesus Loves You!

Birthday's, Birthday's.... and MORE Birthday's

2010-12-18T17:16:00.001-06:00

Yes, December is a busy month for us. I about lose my mind this time of year. We got through 3 Birthday's within a weeks time. I don't wanna see another cake, cupcake or brownie for a while. Well, unless it's chocolate cake. Hahahaha They all had a great time! Here's a few pictures of the birthday celebrations.

Sam had to unwrap 4 boxes to get to his gift. It started with a cereal box.

Sam wants to save all his birthday $/gift cards and put it towards a digital camera.

Papa & Ian

{we are STILL mudding and painting}

Charlie asked for wool socks for his BD.

Christyl turned 35 Yikes

We got her a snowman table runner & cook book with some fun reciepes

Whatever could it be?

I gave Christyl the scrapbook I created over the last 4 years of their kids. She loved it! Us adults we are not exchanging gifts for Christmas this year {just for the kids} so this was the perfect time to give her the scrap book. hehehe

Thanks so much for stopping by!

I'll be back soon with some Christmas pictures i took of my kids, and my daughter and her family.

Have a great weekend!

Riley Christmas Tags

2010-12-08T18:47:00.004-06:00

CTMH Papers~ CS, Mistletoe, Even Song, Ink ~ Bamboo, Heavenly Blue, Black

Liquid Glass, Liquid Applique, Ribbon, Photo Clips

Cricut Cartridge ~ Plantin School Book, Tag... Paper Pieced Tree, Merry Christmas Stamp, Michael's,Decor Scissors, Copics

Card opens by moving photo clip

After deciding to make something Winter/Christmas I pulled out my Riley stamps. It's been a while since they've seen ink. I love making tag cards.

I wanted to stay home and play all day but my daughter and I & Gbabies did a little shopping. We had a great time!
Cailyn will be 3 in January and she comes up with the cutest things. Meghan had to go to the walk-in clinic Sunday morning, she has been complaining that her ear hurt, {ear infection} Mark took her in, Christyl had to work. We took the other two Gbabies to church with us.......Cailyn say's ..."Meghan went to the Bump and Fall Store" {clinic} hahaha I told my daughter what Cailyn told the boys. She has no idea where that came from.

Anywhoo, It will be a busy month of December, four birthdays, Christyl, Sam & Charlie, and my dad's too. Well, that's it for me, I've got one heck of a mess in my Korner. I haven't cleaned it up from the last mess i made.
Thanks for stopping by, your visits and sweet comments means a lot!

Dog Day Afternoon....

2010-12-03T13:12:00.001-06:00

Best Friends

Papers~ My Minds Eye DP... Where the heart is.

CTMH CS, Matt, Buttons, Hobby Lobby Stickers,

Journal tab side of photo.

I love this photo!! I took it last February. {winter} I had just opened the front door to let the warm sunshine in and they both layed down in front of the door. All i could think of was grabbing my camera before either of them got up. {layout is much brighter IRL}..... Cailyn my grandaughter, 2 years old here has taken to Toby since day one. Where ever Toby is, you'll find Cailyn. :) She must have a love for animals. My daughter said they were recently at a friends house, who had a cat. Cailyn didn't play with the other kids, she chased and played with the cat. hahahaha

Sam has his first basketball game tomorrow afternoon. He's very excited!! This is the first time he has played sports through grade school. Summer sports yes, through our Rec. Dept. Now he's asking for a Cell Phone & FB account.... Not yet son! ... .He didn't take that to well. He'll be 11 this month. Yikes

We are expecting our first snow fall of the season. They said 3-5 inches? Lake effect, that means us.

Anywhoo, have you gotten all your Christmas shopping done yet? I'm just about done.

Well friends, I've got laundry to do and an errand to run before the kids get home from school.

Have a great weekend!!

We're Back!

2010-12-02T15:10:00.004-06:00

Our vacation to Fl was so nice, but there's "no place like home"! We got home Monday morning at 4:10 am. We drove straight through from Tallahassee. We left there 7:30am Sunday morning. {My kids cried they didn't want to leave} I drove 2 of the 18.5 hours. Charlie drove the rest.

We had such a great time with his family. I put together a little slide show of pictures Here It was like living in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by acres of woods, so quiet. Charlie loved it!! A few neighbors, but all woods. Charlie's family is so sweet!!

My boy's got to drive 4 wheelers, shoot BB & Shot guns. We had our 1st deep fried turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.. emm emm Good! So much to be Thankful for!!

After dinner we went out to a spot and shot clay pigeons. (that's where Walker & Micah got stuck in the mud on the way back) I shot it twice. Charlie was amazed that i even hit the thing. I surprised myself that i shot the little clay disk in the air. Tuesday we went to St George Island, that was beautiful, took pictures on the beach, did some shopping. Had a wonderful time!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!! It's taking me some time to get back into the swing of things. I kept in touch with friends on FB while we were gone. Just some updates. And being on the road for over 18 hours straight, I had to chat with someone outside the van. GPS lady... "Chatty Kathy" { no offence to any Kathy's... That's just what i named her. It was a hoot listening to her. hahahaha Anyway, I'm happy to be back and hoping to post something creative soon.

Oh yeah, I may be out of the loop, but have any of you made one of these Wreaths out of coffee filters?? My sil Kim found this site/blog and made one of these cute wreaths herself. I may try it. Click Here

Well friends, I'll be checking in on you. thanks for your visits and sweet comments! It's good to be **Home**

Much Love!

Micah, Cody, Sam

Fall Pics &.......VACATION!

2010-11-17T14:12:00.003-06:00

Brother's

I took my kids out one more time for fall pictures last week. Sam really didn't put up a fuss this time, which i was happy about.

They're 22 months apart.

Sam 10

Micah 9

Best Buds...sometimes

I was a bit sad when we went back to this area where we've taken family fall photos of the kids and gran kids. Half the fallen tree was removed.

Well at least the quarry and bridge is still there. :)

Well, I don't think I'll be back with anything crafty for a while. We're taking a road trip to Florida for Thanksgiving to visit my husbands family, dad & step mom. We're leaving Saturday and won't be back till after Thanksgiving. It's been 5 years since we all have been out that way. {Charlie flew out there 2 years ago.} The kids are very excited, and have been counting the days.... Road Trip, restaurant's, hotels, dvd movies, snacks, pillows and fuzzy blankets. How fun is that!

I think the worst thing for me about taking a trip is packing. At least we're not flying. kwim (don't touch my junk) hahahaha

Well friends, Thanks so much for your visits and sweet comments! I'll make the rounds and see what you've been up to. God Bless you all, take care and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Hugs!!

♥ America Again.....

2010-11-13T16:55:00.001-06:00

Did you VOTE?

CTMH CS, Desert Sand Ink, DE Hearts, Rub-Ons

Cricut Cartridges, A Child's Year, Plantin School Book, Foam Dots

Card was cased & tweaked from the cartridge book... A Child's Year

As we recently celebrated Veterans Day this past week, and also Elections Day a few weeks ago. I though i would make a card and add it to the scrap book page I'll be making.

I was out and about on elections day a few weeks ago supporting the Republicans running in our State. It was very exciting. As we didn't know at that point who would win, but we did have a good idea considering the direction our country was going, and how fed up the people were.

The last few years when we rally in our city my kids usually want to go with me. This is Sam

We met Ron Johnson. He was running against Russ Feingold, and won btw.

While i was out i met a new friend Megan. Loved the sign she made.
Mike Endsley {behind us} run for State legislature.

Ron Johnson gave a rally speech in town, thanking us/Wisconsin for supporting him!

We also met some.... "Tea Partyers".....The Grandma Squad. :)

Well, you remember the saying? "Keep Religion & Politics to yourself" Well i can't. I have to stand up for what I believe in.

Thanks for stoppin by, have a great weekend!

1st Digital Stamp

2010-11-07T15:05:00.002-06:00

Digital Stamp~ Whimsy Stamps....A girl and her Overalls, CTMH CS, Eyelets, Liquid Glass.

Sentiment Papertrey Ink, DP My Minds Eye {where the heart is} SU Border Scallop Punch, CM Corner Punch,

Chalk, Flower,Ribbon HL, Deco Scissors, Pearls,

Gel Pen, Copics

Well, this was my first attempt at digital stamping, a bit challenging as to getting the right size for printing. I have an Epson Stylus Photo Printer RX620... had it 4-5 years} None of the ink ran while coloring. :)

I ended up using Word to size it. But I started in Paint and wondered over to PSE, and with a little help from my friends i finished off in Word. LOL.... Thanks Jeanne, Danni!!

I ♥ all my cyber friends!! They are so sweet!!

Charlie took the boys out for target practice with the bows this afternoon. They so need dad time. I'm the bad mom all week. Nuff said!

I can't remember the last time i sat down to watch a Dr Phil show. But I'll never forget what he said and probably still says today... "The greatest influence in a child life, is the same sex parent."

With it being daylight savings now, Charlie will be getting home an hour earlier every night, but will have to work a few Saturday's. That makes for such a short weekend for all of us being together.

Anyway, I'm making chicken soup. Just cooked the chicken, cut up the celery, carrots & onions, now throw it all together. I'll simmer it most of the day tomorrow. Yummy!!

Well friends, Thanks for stopping by!! Have a great Sunday!

Packers vs Dallas tonight, I'll be glued. :)

Scoot 2 School

2010-11-05T10:03:00.003-05:00

CTMH CS, Hinges, DP Grade School Stack {HL}, Thickers # 2

Misc. Stickers. Cricut Cartridge A Child's Year... image was cut at 2 3/4"

School picture's and journaling behind hinged photo

Click layout to enlarge

Yeah, that's what my boys have been doing, "Scootin to School" there new school while the weather is still pretty decent.

I love this Cricut cartridge I picked up yesterday **A Child's Year** There are so many different neat images on it. My kids love to scooter, so i was thrilled to see the scooter kids image on it.

I have to thank my friend Jeanne {we enable our cyber friends don't we?} She bought this cool Cricut Cartridge * Paper Lace* on sale at Michael's. I went their yesterday to check it out. It wasn't even out yet. They don't even have a card listed for it. You can't even order it through Provo Craft yet. It only says.. "Coming Soon" Way to go Jeanne!! That's what you call... Being at the right place at the right time! (:

I heard back from Denise Whimsy Stamps yesterday about my Digi Stamp i downloaded and couldn't find on my computer. She sent me another attachment of the image. I guess when I opened it, I didn't *save* it. Thanks again Denise!!

Well, friends, Thanks for stoppin by. Have a great weekend!! Charlie has to work. Me and the boys will do something?? Fun!

Gon' Fishin....

2010-11-03T14:47:00.002-05:00

CTMH Papers, It's a guy thing, CS, Stickease, Hinges

Misc Stickers, Twine, Circle Punch, Square Punch

A picture and journaling behind center photo.

A wonderful day of fishing, it was!! This was a fun layout to put together. It brought back some fun recent memories of Micah & I fishing this past summer. We didn't catch a thing at Gerber Lake, but one thing we did learn about each other is. Neither one of us likes to put worms on a hook. :) Thankfully a father & son duo showed up and gave us a hand. :) I should have taken pictures of them!! Oh well.

Have you ever bought a digi image and can't remember where it stored on your computer? I can't find mine, one of cutest digi's i recently bought. It was " A girl and her overalls" image. My bloggin friend at Danni's Dreams Blog recently used that digi image. { too cute!! She does awesome work}!!
I tried search, and no luck. I e mailed the digi company and no response. Hate that! That I'm aware of, it was a one time download sent to my e mail.... Maybe I'll still find it? Anywhoo, I've got a lot of scrap booking/cards to catch up on.

Have a great hump day!! Thanks for taking the time to visit and your sweet. comments!

A Birthday Party and The Boecker Family

2010-10-25T09:30:00.003-05:00

A party without Chuck E Cheese?

We no sooner walked in the door, sat down and the mouse was in our face. LOL

We all had a great time! It doesn't look like it but the place was packed when we got their.

Well as you can see I figured out the best way to post pics. I used my Picasa web album and uploaded in multiples, so much faster!! It stopped working uploading them one at a time in Browse.

I can't believe Micah is 9. He picked out his cake. Gifts not shown... but he received 70$ in gift cards, Wimpy Kid book, Bop it, Spy kit. Thank You!!

Trying to get every one to smile at the same time was impossible.

Too many distractions.

Boecker Kids

Katie, Jon, Emma

This is the mom's favorite picture. All 3 kids were adopted from China at just under 2 years old.

I love the color outfits they chose. All i asked was to color coordinate their outfits. :)

Boecker Family

This is my favorite!

I was asked what kind of camera I have. It's a Canon Rebel T1i 15mp.

The newer Canon Rebel is T2i. little bit more $$... they both have video. What is nice about the SLR camera's is the lenses are changeable. When you get the Rebels/Nikon or higher end camera's they come with or without a Kit Lens. When I took the photography class Candice recommended the **{50mm 1.4 or 1.8 lens.} Which a lot of photographers use. It will give you a nice wide -close up frame, but with no zoom. It blurs the background very nicely. **The lower the number the less in focus.{background}

My last camera was a Canon SLR D10 I bought from my brother 5 years ago when he upgraded. It was only a 6mp. Very Small LCD Screen. I recently sold it on Craigslist. I also a point & shoot camera. Canon Powershot SX110 9mp.

Oh and I'll let you know how to get the soft black border around the outside of the photos.

But first off, I haven't figured it out yet in PSE9... If someones wants to share how, I would love to know.

Anyway, there is a free photo editing site called **Picnik** {maybe you already have it or something like it} Download it, Create an Account, Upload a photo and go to the .....Create Tab, then to Effects and scroll down to Vignette. There are many other cool effects you can use as well. Not to mention some FUN stuff too. :)

Well I hope this helped. If you have any questions you would like to ask me about the Photography class or my camera. You can e me @ kariberry97@yahoo.com or post here.

I am very much enjoying photography. I have not arrived, but I'm enjoying the ride. :)

Thanks for stopping by!!

Fall.... and a Happy Birthday

2010-10-22T09:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Micah's Birthday. Wow, I can't believe my baby boy is 9 years old. We're all going to Chuck E Cheese on Saturday {Micah's choice} with Mark & Christyl, gbabies and a few others.
Wednesday my boy's had early release from school so I took them out for a few pictures, but for some odd reason blogger is only letting me upload "one" photo while in Browse. Why? I don't know.
Sam is very hard to photograph these days, stubborn is more like it. Maybe it's his age. I've been saying lately he's 10 going on 15. ~~Maybe i shouldn't say That.~~

Anywhoo, Thanks so much for your sweet comments on my photos. In the last 6 weeks of photography class I feel like i took in so much information, now putting it all together and using my skills has been fun yet challenging. I have Photo Shop Elements 9 and last week I enrolled in Jessica's Self Paced *Photo Editing Class* The first lesson was adjusting skin tones. It amazes me how you can manipulate a photo to get the "Perfect" look? I don't mean adjusting the color to make someones eyes more bluer or bigger. But just fixing flaws or enhancing color/contrast/background. Once I removed {PS} a red cooler off a pier. That was so cool to see it disappear from the photo. LOL
I'm still needing practice so later today I'm photographing my friends family. {5} I love the location she picked. There's a gazebo and pond in the background. I'll post pics when i get them done and ready to give to her on a cd. Well i best be off, I've got some chores to get done. TGIF... Have a great weekend! :)
Thanks for stopping by friends!!

I'm still here

2010-10-18T11:48:00.000-05:00

Fall Photos

Here are a few pictures I took of my friend Tabetha and her sweet family. When I asked her if I could take pictures. She said "SURE"! But I told her I was still practicing the different modes on my camera. Well after 287 shots we ended up with 92 that were good. Some were just blown out too bright or too dark. There's no rule as to how many pictures you should take. Just keep snapping. It's digital, you can always delete.

I'm happy with the way these turned out. I love the reflection of the water and bridge in the background. Oh and the kids are adorable!! One tip i learned when photographing kids... Bring a treat/snack. They were so happy when i told them I had candy for them. Hahahaha... Things went a lot smoother than. Over all they did very well! I think I was more nervous than they were. :)

Philip & Tabetha

Well, all is well at the home front. I did get all 3 sides of our foundation painted last week. It looks nice considering what it looked like before.

This is the last week of my photography class. We haven't gotten our class assignment yet. Candice said in an e mail this morning it will be posted tomorrow. I'm excited as to what we'll learn this last week. Last week was lighting. The best times to take photographs of people {if possible} is later in the day. or at sunrise or sunset. The lighting is much better at those times.

I haven't seen my scrap room in weeks. I do have a bunch of newer pictures to scrapbook, just haven't got near my paper. :)

I'm sorry I've been a bad blogging friend lately. I will make the rounds and see all the gorgeous work I've been missing.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Magnificent.... In a Childs Eyes

2010-10-05T16:38:00.000-05:00

CTMH CS, Ric Rac, Pink Big Brads ~

Designer Paper Memory Keepers {Tiffany's} Thickers, Pink Plastic letters, Circle Punch

Yes i know my L is upside down. I fixed it after the fact. :)

I took this picture of Meghan a few weeks ago. I love her pose and the expression on her sweet little face. She looks like she's in Awe as she was looking at the birds and leaves. Reminds me of the sweet innocents of a child.....but then her attention span wasn't too long either and she was talking and looking at other things. "Capturing the Moment"..... Hmm, I like that title. :)

I Know my daughter visits my blog from time to time. {I hope not this time!} I don't have her as a FB friend, I chat about things I really don't want her reading about, especially Christmas gifts. :) I'm thinking of putting a scrapbook together of all the pages I made of her girls and giving it to her as a Christmas gift. Though I haven't yet scrap booked a page of Ian.

Last week Thursday I sold my first item on ebay. I have bought plenty from that site, but this time i was the seller. :) I sold my Gypsy I bought last November. I used it only a handful of times so I couldn't justify keeping it. It sold the same day. YAY!! No bids just a buy now for $$$. Plus Shipping{ est...10.70} Cost me .75 cents to place the add. 4$ and something for pay pal and 10.20 to ship it to KS. Next time I sell something I'll add in these extra costs in the sale item. It sure was fun selling it though.

We'll be painting the foundation on the house this coming weekend. I'll try to take before and after pictures. Other than that..... Thanks so much for your visits and sweet comments.

Have a great evening!!

Hello There....

2010-10-02T13:27:00.002-05:00

Family & Friends!!

Sorry for the delay in posting but life gets busy and other things seem to take priority. A lot has been going on the last 2 weeks. My photography class is going well. We had an off week this past week so we could practice on what we have learned so far, using the different settings. Here is a pic I took in manual.

Last Saturday my boys participated in EAA Young Eagles Program.... a bonus for their Wednesday Night Royal Rangers. {church thing}They went flying for the first time. I found out that" Harrison Ford is the Chairman for the Young Eagles Aviation. "Which gives kids the opportunity to demonstrate flying in a way that might not otherwise be possible."

Isn't this a gorgeous view!

After we were done flying Micah made the comment that he knows how to fly a plane now. Accept his feet didn't quite reach the foot peddles.

Sam & Micah will both receive their Young Eagles Certificate.

Arlan took Micah & I up in the plane. It was a blast and I'm so glad we all got to experience it in the same day.

Charlie & Sam went up together with Poppi the pilot. :)

My daughter asked if I would take Cailyn out for a photo shoot like i did Meghan. Of course I jumped at the opportunity since i needed the practice and my boys are in school. They really don't want to pose for the camera.

Cailyn 2.5 was a challenge to photograph, she was either moving around or talking the whole time. She did do very well. I'm so glad her mommy came along.

Cailyn

I love this one!

Of course she got to play at the park when we were done.

Oh we can't forget little baby brother Ian. He just turned 6 months on Sept 26th. He's starting to eat fruits & veggies and loves them!! :)

Well that's about it. I'm not getting anything done sitting here. Charlie is out filling the cracks in the foundation so we can prime and paint it before the snow flies.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!!

Fall Bouquets

2010-09-17T18:03:00.002-05:00

A New Bouquet

After seeing all those pretty fall flower bouquets at WalMart.... Cheap....I thought i would make my own arrangment. I had this basket for over 10 years. It had spring flowers in it. Thought about spray painting it a different color.

Time for something new and fallish to sit on my desk.

I added some new foam and green Spanish Moos to the inside.

I snipped all the flowers apart from the arrangment.

Center piece for the kitchen table.

Charlie has to work tomorrow. Me & the boys will probably go for a hike in the woods somewhere. Oh and maybe I'll get to play with my ink, paper, and stamps. : )

Have a great weekend!! Thanks so much for your visits and sweet comments.

Photography Class Assignment

2010-09-16T10:33:00.001-05:00

My class assignment this week was on Aperture. {Depth of field} I thought i would show how my photos turned out. Taking picture's with **no blur and blurred background** I chose to use Meghan my grand daughter as my model. : ) My boys are in school all day and I needed natural sun light for the aperture, and 4 year old little girls are just plain fun!! : ) Esp my gbaby!!

I really like this location at the Quarry. With the woods and water, a bridge, and fallen trees as a back drop, how beautiful is that!! We took our family fall pictures here last fall.

Closed Aperture

Open Aperture

I like this one, but to me it seems a little over exposed. I used the flash here.

I told Meghan she could bring her favorite toy.... I set her up on a fallen tree. Meghan starting looking up at the leaves and birds. I was thinking how beautifully her eyes popped as she did that. The only photo editing was cropping. I was suppose to use a flash. It never went off, and I forget to turn it on.... Senior moment? not yet.... LOL

I feel like I'm getting so much out of this class. Jessica Sprague Site Class taught by Candice Stringham. If photography interests you, I would highly recommend it for anyone who loves taking pictures and wants to know how to use all the ~~bells and whistles~~ {Advanced mode settings} on your camera. A EOS - SLR camera is recommended. Classes fill up fast so watch for new registrations to be posted. The beginners class is called.. "Oh Shoot" Standard Class

Thanks for stopping by!

Thanksgiving Card

2010-09-14T12:05:00.001-05:00

Stamps~CTMH Thanksgiving - Textured CS, Images Heat Embossed

w/ detail black embossing powder, Chocolate Ink,

Photo Hanger, Ribbon, Twine, Brads, Ripple Siccors,

Hole Punch, Corner Punch, Copics

It's not too early for Thanksgiving cards is it? Naaaah Well I played a little last weekend, hope your not sick of the color.
Anywoo hope you all had a great weekend. We did too. My kids and i went out to my sil's in Waukesha  on Sunday. My niece was there from Massachusetts with her 2 kids. I seen my dad for the first time in almost 2 years. It was so good to see him!!
I'm into my  second week in my photography on line class. This week we're learning about Aperture {blur background} Honestly sometimes the blur background happens automatically when i take pictures.... Amazingly.   But now I'll learn how to use the settings to make it happen. I'm taking Meghan my grand daughter out this afternoon. She's going to be my model. : )
Well i better get going, it's been a busy morning already, {I voted!!!}   I haven't even tackled the laundry yet. Ribs & Kraut are in the slow cooker, Kids are gonna love me.... LOL >>>>NOT! I bought some BQ Sauce. They like that.

Thanks for stopping by and your sweet comments!
Hugs!!

Many Thanks!

2010-09-10T11:49:00.001-05:00

Products used

Stamps~Whipper Snapper, CTMH Sentiment,

Textured CS, Brads, Chocolate Ink

Chalk, Copics

I can't believe how cool the days and nights are now getting. I don't mind it at all... until we have to break out our winter jackets, then reality sets in. LOL

Hope you like the card..... I thought i would give it a little extra color. Wal-Mart had some pretty fall silk Bouquets on sale.

Thanks for stopping by, and for your sweet comments!!

TGIF~ It's the weekend again, have a great one!!

Home is where your DOG is

2010-09-07T10:41:00.002-05:00

Products Used

Stamps~Whipper Snapper,

Papers~CTMH CS, Textured CS, Liquid Glass, Chocolate Ink

Misc. Rub ons, Copics

Hope you all had a nice weekend. We did too, busy.... mudding the walls, draining the pool, cleared out the garden, too many tomatoes again. We give some to our neighbors. The sweet corn was ok. Charlie thinks we should have pulled it 2 weeks ago. The ears were big and yellow but it wasn't that tasty.
Yesterday i received my first e mail photography lesson. This week we're learning about fast & slow shutter speeds. OMG, finding all these settings on my camera, that for years were just numbers/dials on the body and LCD screen.... this is gonna be a fun 7 weeks. I so want to take this all in. : )
Well, that's about it here. I have some errands to run and a house to clean. Today is my Monday.
Hope you like the card!!

Have a great day friends & family!!

You float my boat.....

2010-09-04T10:08:00.002-05:00

Products Used

Stamp~Swimming Lucy, DP So So Sweet Paper Studio, Chalk, Ripple Sissors,

Misc. Flower, Button, Pearl, Black Ink

CTMH CS, Ribbon & Eyelets~ Computer Font, Green Gel Pen, Copics

Another Swimming Lucy card made from Sparkle Creations Stamps. She is having a 10% off Labor Day Sale going on this weekend at Sparkle's Creations Rubber Stamps, now till Monday Midnight. Check it out!! : )
I think there are so many cute titles you can use with this image. "You float my boat" just popped in my head. Hehehe
Not a whole lot going on for us this weekend. We're draining the pool, Charlie is mudding/prepping the living room getting it ready to paint, we're half done. {But lastly there is one dark paneled wall that he'll take down and put up drywall. <{not this week end} Can't wait till it's done! We're planning to go fishing this weekend too.
Well I better get moving here. I played last night and made a few cards, I'll post soon.
Have a wonderful weekend!

It's that time again....

2010-09-03T11:21:00.004-05:00

School year 2010-2011 started for my boy Sept. 1. There were a few bumps along the way but they seemed to have adjusted well to there new school. Getting there picture taken before school was a challenge. Sam says i take way too many pictures. LOL I hope he thanks me one day, or maybe his wife will. :)

I had my gran babies the other night while Meghan had open house at her school. So of course i took some pics of my gbabies. I thought i would update with some family pics of them too.

Sam 5th grade-Micah 3rd

Meghan ready for 4 year old pre school.

Ian 5 months old, so fun and such a happy baby boy!!

Cailyn praying over her food. She prays for everyone else too. She's 2.5. I snuck the camera into the kitchen again, Told Cailyn we were going to bless our food, How precious!!

I have some exciting news. Some of you might remember about a year ago I talked about taking a photography class, well I'm registered!!! Yay!!! for Jessica Sprague's on line class... " Oh Shoot" It's a 7 week course. Class starts Sept 6th. {Labor Day} I also upgraded to a Canon EOS Rebel T1i. I'm so excited that I'll finally learn how to use all the bells & whistles.

Well not much else going on. It's been quiet around here the last few days. : )

With this being a Holiday Weekend I hope you all have a safe and blessed time with your family and friends!!

I'm finishing up on a card, I'll post soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Swimming Lucy

2010-08-27T10:18:00.005-05:00

Products Used~ Stamps {Swimming Lucy} CTMH TLC {sentiment, sun} Glitter Stack DP, CTMH CS, SU Scallop Border Punch, Sewing Machine, Rhinestones, Liquid Glass, Chalk & Cloud Template, Copics

Hey, my friend Sparkle has a new online stamp store called Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps This is one of her images. She has some really cute "Rubber Stamps, not to mention she's an awesome artist too!

This summer has flown by. I can't believe school starts up Sept. 1st. My boys are not too enthused at this point....since we are sending them to a new school this year. While out running errands the other day Sam {10} and I were talking about their new school and he says... "I wished I could go to my old school and be with my friends" his eyes watered up. I felt sad for him. Micah {8} seems to be ok with it. He'll have a boy from our neighborhood in his class.

I'll be watching my grand babies 2 afternoons a week. Meghan is 4 and starting pre-school. She was so excited as she was showing off her princess backpack. : )

Anyhoo, not a whole lot going on here. Charlie is still driving 150 miles a day to work. The power house job here in town is suppose to start up April 2011 or before. We're praying he gets in!!!

Well friends thanks for stopping by! TGIF.... hope you have a great weekend!!

Sweet!

2010-08-07T14:43:00.001-05:00

Products Used~ CTMH White CS, Random Stamped Flowers, CTMH Friendship Blessings, Blush Ink, Glitter Sweet Stack DP. White glitter cs for the headlights, Rub-on, Flower Brads, Paper Pieced Black Pieces, Sizzix Car Die Cut, Copics.

Ok, I had so much fun with the last card, I wanted to try it again. Thought it needed more color. I might just give this card to Cindy when she gets her drivers license.

Just a typical Saturday here, Charlie had to work. He was so sick with the crud and took off Wed-Th. temp of 100. He's on the mend, so he says. Anyhoo, not a whole lot going on. My Korner is a mess and needs a good cleaning.

Thanks for dropping by. Have a wonderful weekend!

You Go Girl!

2010-08-03T11:07:00.001-05:00

We have a neighbor friend across the street from us. About a year ago she received a large inheritance from her grandfather. Inherited his house, some land up north, and a large sum of money. Cindy decided she would stick around here for another year or so and get things in order before she made the big move. One of the things she wanted to accomplish was getting her drivers license and a car before she moved. {She's in her late 40's never drove} The last i heard from her, she had her temps and was driving with an instructor, doing very well she said.

As far as the card.... After a few stamped images made it into the waste basket. I remembered I had this Sizzix Die "The Car" Thinking about my neighbor friend across the street, remembering she has really big blue eyes, and wild hair... : ) Well you get the picture. LOL and she is a hoot! I'll be giving her this card soon.

Products Used~ Papers CTMH CS, My Minds Eyes, Laundry Line, Stamps, Charlotte {by Kimmie}, Bella Sentiment. Ric Rac, Misc. Flowers, Rub-On, Foam Pop Dots - Copic Markers

Have ya gotten any school supplies yet? We're done!! We went out Sunday afternoon and picked up everything we needed for the boys.... They start school Sept. 1st. I also picked up a Portable Hard Drive to back up our computers. If they ever crashed all data and pics would be gone. Good investment says my hubby.

Well friends, Thank you for your visits & sweet comments! I appreciate them!

Have a great day.

Baja Missions Trip

2010-07-27T12:03:00.011-05:00

Mother {Dulce} with her 4 kids and her sister on right.

It was so good to get home Saturday evening, but I have to tell you I left a part of my heart in Tijuana Mexico. I'm honored and humbled that I was able to take this trip. I'll never take the littlest things for granted, or complain about pot holes again. The team I was on built one of the 6 houses that went up that week. This week another Missions Team is their. Another 6 houses. 12 houses total in 2 weeks. Glory to God!!

We lived on water & pb&j while out on the mission field. Our water bottle was our **Best Friend** We took it everywhere we went. We could not drink their water {would get sick} and we could not share ours with them. : (

Three girls from my team got sick during the week. Dehydrated. It was well over 100 degrees everyday with no humidity. Nights were 55-60*

Each day M-Th was a daily routine. Every morning I woke up at 3-4 am to the sounds of a Donkey.... hee hawing and the Rooster... crowing. I'll never forget those sounds. : )

Every morning at 5:30 am we were all awoken by worship music, breakfast at 6-6:30. {cereal} Worship time 6:30-7, Quite time, {personal journaling/bible reading} 7-7:30. Than we got together with our teams at 7:30, left by bus at 8 am to go back on the mission field.

Every day at 1:00 pm we had vbs {vacation bible school} with the kids, and everyday the group of kids got bigger. We had 67 kids on Thursday. Many kids had accepted Jesus Christ as there personal savior for the very first time. : D

We left the mission field daily by 3:30-4pm Everyday the kids would ask us if we were coming back the next day at 1:00. Thursday we had to tell them no we weren't coming back. A lot of them cried. Saying good-bye was so hard on all of us.

There was a little boy named Alexander he had to be about 7 years old. The first few days we were their he was biting and kicking everyone that got close to him. The kids would all ask for "Capuche" which means piggy back rides. Alexander would bite and kick you. By Thursday Alex was a lot nicer and wasn't so mean, but than his cousin tried to stab him with a screwdriver. Please pray for them and all of Tijuana.

Everyday & everywhere we went was an Eye Opening Kodak Moment for me. There were just over 300 missionary's that went on this trip. Just seeing how these people have to live on a day to day basics broke our hearts. Even getting enough food and water to survive was a struggle for them.

We had pb&j sandwiches everyday for lunch, and a snack/orange. I gave my snack away to the son and him & his little sister were fighting over it. He slapped her on the arm and said NO! in Spanish

Our teams went out everyday {we had a spanish translator} either working on the house or going door to door inviting families to vbs, offering prayer, or our services to help with whatever they needed help with, laundry, cleaning, or even digging a trench for a water line to go from one house to another.

Monday {19th} our team started building the house. {We weren't allowed to bring cameras the first day} Only Team Leaders. I may be able to get some pics from the first day.

In order for families to be eligible for a free house to be built my Missionary's.

#1) they had to own the land they lived on.

#2) They had to apply an application to Baja Christian Ministries.

Then from there, the word is sent out through internet ~ Teen Mania/ Global Expeditions and missions groups are formed all over the world. I have to say that this was the first missions trip i went on. And Yes, I would do it again, even without the Newsboys being there!! : )

What pure joy and excitement it was for me to pound those nails & framing the house together, and standing up the very first wall.

Please enjoy the photo album I put together. Sorry it took so long posting, I couldn't find the right code.... I narrowed it down to 150 photos {with some comments pertaining to each photos}.... I took over 400

Friday was our Free day. We went to Rosarito Beach for the day shopping.

If you have any questions you would like to ask me about my trip, you can post them in a comment or e mail me at kariberry97@yahoo.com I would be more than happy to answer them if i can.

Thank you for your Love, Prayers, Support, and Sweet Comments!!

***Missions Trip Album***

The Newsboys

Jody,Jeff, Me, Michael, Duncan

How fun was this!

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...

2010-07-15T14:27:00.005-05:00

Hello friends & family.
I apologize for not commenting/posting this last week. My brain seems to be on overload these days. I have been anxiously waiting for July 17th to get here. I'm so excited to see what God is going to do in Tijuana, Baja Mexico on this Missions Trip. and how he's going to use me. Some families will get a new house of there own, and I get to help build it with the Newsboys. : ) Sharing the gospel and the ♥ of Jesus with them... is Priceless!

The Boarding Kennel I checked out last week for Toby was a totally dark damp dumpy kennel. I wasn't going to let my dog stay their for a week. The smell of pee nearly made me sick. Aside from that, I was thinking about Baja and me going on this trip, seeing how people have to live everyday. Families living in cardboard boxes or tin sheds, breaks my heart to even think about it. {reality was setting in} and not even wanting my own dog to stay in conditions like that for only a week. I have found another kennel that was cheaper and clean! Nuff said

We are so blessed with what we all have. But yet there are times I want even more! Last summer my sons had a neighbor boy come in the house for the first time to play Wii. One of his first remarks were... "you guys are rich" the kid was about 11 years old. {we are Not rich, but in his eyes he was comparing what we had to his own home life} He comes and stays with his dad and step mom on some weekends durning the summer, the dad could give a flyin flip what his son does all weekend when he is staying with him. Blowing off fire crackers, dumping oil on a vacant garage floor, his lunch is a bag of Doritos, and he wears the same clothes all weekend. Where is the love for his own son? Sorry for the rant.

I'm pretty much packed and ready to go. Charlie and boys will be taking me to the airport {1 hour drive} Micah {8 yo} has been pretty teary eyed and doesn't want me to go away. aww : (

My plane leaves at 8:30am CT. I arrive in San Diego at 12:50pm It's a 4.5 hour flight, no layovers! Oh, but I gain 2 hours when i get their. : )

Anyhoo, I have an iPhone and I heard we'll have electricity at the guarded ranch we'll be staying on. I'm not bringing my laptop. Charging my iPhone can plug in to a wall outlet.

As time allows I'm planning on posting photos and updates on Facebook. If your not my friend and want to be, you can be. Just do a search for... Carolyn Christie. I'll add you. I won't be here updating my blog till after the 24th.

Well my friends! I've got some laundry and last minute errands.

Thanks for stopping by! Please pray for me and my team this next week.

Love & tight hugs as my new friend would write!
God's Blessings!!

"Grandchildren fill a space in your heart that you never knew was empty"

2010-07-07T15:37:00.007-05:00

You know me, I can't resist posting pics of my family and grand babies. We just got some new updated pics of the grand kids. Aren't they precious!!

Our newest grand baby~ Ian 3 months

Cailyn, Ian, Meghan

Meghan turns 4

Meghan

Cailyn 2.5 years old

Our children are a gift from God, our grandchildren are the reward!

I'm hoping to be back soon with a page/card. Summer is in full swing here and there's lots to do to keep everyone entertained. Our pool is getting a lot of use. I'm busy getting things in order and packing for my Missions Trip. 9 more days. {see right sidebar} I hate camping. Charlie's hoping I'll really start to love it when i get back. :)

We decided to have Toby kenneled for the week I'm gone. He'll have the luxury suite, which means he'll get 2 walks a day, full run in/outdoor kennel, lots of attention, and a bath before he leaves. LOL We tried getting one of our neighbors watch him, but they're already dog sitting. We didn't want to ask Mark & Christyl, they're already taking are kids for the week. Charlie has his honey do list to do while we're all gone. Than the Friday before I get back he'll be taking the boys to Father & Son Ranger Camp. So i won't see them till Sunday when they get home.

Anyhoo, all is well, just getting everything in order.

Thanks for stopping by!

She's a Ballet Dancer....

2010-06-28T12:27:00.003-05:00

Products Used~ CTMH SS Dancing Dreams... Ink, Black, Blush {stamped Ballet & Recital on DP Background} {DP Butterflies~ Paper Studio, So So Sweet w/Glitter} Matted Glitter CS, Misc... Pearls, Rhinestones, Flowers, Circle Punch for journal tag, Foam Dots, "Soft Spoken" Ballet Embellishments.

I had fun putting this layout together of Meghan's Recital. She loves to watch herself on the short video clip Christyl took of her.
I've been waiting on the pics to get here from Winkflash....by mistake I ordered Glossy prints. { I hate glossy} I was able to contact customer service within a day of my order, and got to cancel and reorder Matt finish. NO problem. They ended up sending me both orders. {credited me for the one} I sent the glossy back. I'm very happy with the quality of the prints I get from them. Packaging is top quality as well. A lot of times they'll have prints .5 cents for 4x6 and .25 for 5x7. It was the second time I ordered from them. Oh and here is a website for looking up discount coupon codes for where you might shop. Coupon Cabin

Not a whole lot happening here. Sam got back from Ranger Camp yesterday. He had a great time! Accept it rained and his tent leaked.
He has baseball games twice a week till mid July, and then tournaments if they make it that far. They won all three games so far, last one ending in a tie.... Swim lessons are done till the 26th of July. They are both staying in there same levels another time.
Well i better get movin. They want to go fishing today?? Sam says he'll put the worms on the hooks, good, cuz I'm not doing it. :P

Thanks for stopping by!! Have a wonderful day!

Hope you have a tail wagging day, everyday!

2010-06-26T11:43:00.003-05:00

Products Used Close to my Heart CS & DP~ Heart of Winter, Ric Rac, Dog Stamp Whipper Snapper, Sentiment, Hanna Stamps, Brads, Nestables, Liquid Glass, Foam Dots, Copic Markers.

Hope you like the card! I made it a few weeks ago, just haven't posted it yet. Charlie took Micah fishing this morning so I have some ME time to get some stuff done, so here i sit. :) Ahhh... Blogging
Here are a few pics of what we've been up to this last month, and it hasn't slowed down. I feel like I'm still tyring to play catch up. With my Mission trip coming up in a few weeks I'm tyring to get organized & packed. Global Expeditions gave us a pack list. Airline only allows us to pack 50 lbs or less in our duffel bag. NO suite case. As far as a carry on?... backpack & sleeping bag. Gosh I hope that flies. $49.00 if your check-in bag is over 50 lbs.

Micah waiting patiently to assemble the pool and fill it.

Just goofing around while the pool fills.

Love this pic I took of Micah heading back to the van after fishing.

Thursday I got my 1st fishing license. YAY Micah & I went fishing for the first time ever!. I even bought some worms...Caught nothing, but we made some great memories! I don't do worms, but the man & son who was on the pier when we got their, put the worm on the hook for me. Micah said to me...quote "Mom be a man" face your fears and do it" end quote. I still LOL when I think of what he said. Micah is 8 yo.

Nice warm day!

Batter Up!

Meghan's rain gear, she loved it! We're the Bestest grammy & papa! : )

Complete with boots.

My daughter made her dress, not the shirt or bow. Isn't she adorable!?!! When ever Meghan sees me, she runs and says... grammy, grammy, grammy and gives me a big hug. There's nothing like being a grandparent!! You have to be one to know the awesome love & joy it brings to your heart!

Meghan's traditional silly string fun at her BD party.

We're ready!! :)

The pool took 14 hours to fill. Yikes!! I called the water company just to see what it would cost to fill a 14' x 42" pool. 3740 gallons. Are you ready for this?... $5.00 and $2.00 on the sewer charge. That's alright with us, for 3.5 months of Sumner fun!

Sam has been at Church Ranger Camp since Thursday morning, he'll be home Sunday @ 1pm.

Charlie got his fishing license yesterday so Micah, Charlie & I went fishing down by the river last night. {I forgot my camera} Micah & I caught some Goby fish. 3 total} According to the fishing book Charlie got with his Trout Stamp. Wisconsin waters are under attack by a growing list of... aquatic invasive species. Goby fish being one of them... Yikes, all we wanted to do was fish. LOL

Anyhoo, hope you enjoyed my catch up. It's amazing what you can get done when you have the house to yourself, and it doesn't have to always be housework!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend!

Update..... Missions Trip Fundraiser

2010-06-22T10:41:00.003-05:00

Some of you may already know I'm going on a Missions Trip in a few weeks to Tijuana in Baja Mexico. {see my countdown on right of sidebar} I'm so excited but yet nervous at the same time. My Rep Marvin from Global Expeditions has encouraged me to have a fundraiser to raise $$ for my trip. I needed to raise $278.00 out of the $1040.00 I needed. This past Saturday I did just that. PTL!! I had a car wash and cook out at our house. My dear sweet husband cooked out brats, burgers. We also had chips, I made 4 pans of brownies, some bottled water. I had heard I could ~~rent~~ pay a $10.00 deposit on 2 "No Parking" signs so no one could park in front of my house during the event. That worked out great! Here are some pics. Enjoy!! :)

Our 1st guests ~sweet neighbors

Charlie serving up the food.

Kids cooling off, it was a beautiful warm day!

Let the car washing begin! Sam was my helper when he wasn't playing around with the stereo system. :)

Tony & his beautiful wife Rebecca

My friend Tracy

Our new neighbor Yvonne

My neighbor Tony is a DJ and offered to set up his stereo system for the event. I ~~cranked~~ played Newsboys cd's all day. How fun!!

I washed about 5 cars, but they mostly came to eat and support my cause.

The end of a Blessed Day!

I raised $297.00

Thank You to everyone who supported me!! Thank you Charlie for all your hard work!!!!

So much has been going on this last month. My last post we were getting ready for our SIL Marks BD party. That was great!

Charlie & I celebrated 13 years of marriage May 24th ~ June is a busy month for us as well....My boys got out of school on the 4th. We had my granddaughter Meghan's 4th BD party on the 11th. My BD was the 15th. {thank you Erica & Sparkle for the gorgeous BD cards! Check out their blogs they do amazing work, not to mention some sweet cyber friends too! My boys have been in swimming lessons the last 2 weeks. Sam has baseball games twice a week, and getting ready for my Missions Fundraiser... well lets just say my head is still spinning. Sam leaves for Church Ranger Camp on Thursday. We have our church picnic this Sunday.

I received my pack list from GE for my trip. Those of you who know me know I Hate Camping! {I hate bugs!!!} I don't even camp with my family...Guess what? We'll be on a guarded ranch, Camping!! God is up to something! : / I'm not ~~whinning complaining~~. I just hope the bugs are gone when I get their. LOL

Things i need to bring... Large duffle bag. Airline says... less than 50lbs when packed} Is that possible? Backpack, sleeping bag/pillow, candy for the kids.

I'll try not to stay away so long this time. I do need to get reacquainted with my scrap room/stamps/paper/toys. I did make a cute card a few weeks ago. I try and get it posted soon.

Well my friends, I'm off again, the kids have swim lessons. There done this Thursday. But than they start up again when I get back from my trip.

I hope you're having a wonderful summer....

I Plead Insanity...

2010-05-21T13:17:00.001-05:00

Products Used~ Charlotte Stamp Image, My minds Eye laundry Line papers, Hanna Sentiment, CTMH DE Tag, CS.... Misc...Pearls, Rhinestones, Flower, Brad, Foam Dots, Copics .

Card is 6x6

Did your mother ever tell you there would be days like this? I grew up with 4 brothers and 1 sister. I think there were many times my mother about lost her mind with us 6 kids.

I've seen this stamp image in cyberspace a number of times. It's one of those gotta have it stamps! Isn't Charlotte adorable !?! I used my light box this time with daylight bulbs to photograph the card. I think it turned out much brighter than it use to.
Anyhoo, we have my son in-laws birthday party tomorrow afternoon. Mark turns 35. He wanted dumbbell weights for his BD. We got him the 5 -10 lbs. His mom/dad got him the 20lbs. I'm wrapping one weight and keeping the rest in the back of the van. : ) We're meeting at a park, frying out, and we get to visit with Mark's family as well. Sweet family!! The weekend weather is suppose to be beautiful! We also want to put our pool up. Kids are happy about that!
Well I hope you all have a great weekend! Hope you get to do something fun!
Thanks for stopping by!

Meghan's 1st Ballet Recital

2010-05-18T18:40:00.003-05:00

This last Saturday morning my granddaughter Meghan had her 1st Ballet Recital. She did so good, we were so proud of her!! They asked us not to take any still flash photos of the little girls durning their performance because it might throw them off.

The song they danced to was called.. "I need a nap" It was precious! Meghan will be 4 in June. Most of these photos my daughter took at Meghan's dress rehearsal the Thursday before. The pic of Meghan & Cailyn was taken after the recital. Cailyn had a little red tutu and ruby red shoes.... Sweet!!!

This was at the end of the performance when all the girls came out to take a bow. I snapped this quick shot. Considering we were pretty far away, the zoom turned out quite nicely i think.

Some of you who visit my Korner might be grandparents. Well, we have bragging rights too! : ) I hope you enjoyed seeing my sweet granddaughter's. We love them so much!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hello

2010-05-13T19:04:00.001-05:00

Products Used~ CTMH CS, Basic Grey, SU Scallop & Corner Punch, Wild Card Cricut Cartridge, Bling. Card is 6x5.5 Any kind of envie can be made with this cartridge depending on if you have the Cricut Expressions or not.... lots of possibilities, love it!!.

I'm not sure if I like this card or not? I was headed in a different direction with it. It didn't come out that way. Oh well, an after thought... adding some eyelets at each end of the curly cord.

Hope you're all having a great week, days seem to fly by. My kids have 15 more days of school left. Sam & Micah are both enrolled in swim lessons in June. Sam's in level 4 and Micah level 3. Both at the same time, two weeks straight.

My granddaughter Meghan has her 1st Ballet Recital on Saturday morning. Can't wait to see that. She's been practicing her twirls. We have 2 of the 3 grandkids tonight. Meghan has recital practice and pictures.

Well that's about it for me. Thanks for stopping by, have a great evening!!

Wedding Card and.....

2010-05-10T14:50:00.004-05:00

Products Used~ CTMH C S, Cricut Cartridge ~ Wild Card, {paper pieced the dress} CM Corner Punch, Foam Dots, Black Matted cs on back of white card base. Stamped "Congrats" on the inside.

What a difference a week makes.... Refreshing!! It was a nice break from blogging, but i have to admit there wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think of you all that have faithfully visited my Korner. I didn't go on Google Reader at all. I knew if i did that, that would be the end of it. Sooo, I'm glad to be back, now I have some catching up to do!

I have no one to give this wedding card to at present, but I did want to try out the "Wild Card" Cricut Cartridge again. I love this silhouette wedding couple. I can't get over ALL the different things you can make with this one cartridge.

I hope you all had a nice Mother's Day. Mine was great with my kids and grand babies! I got flowers from Charlie and the boys. Mark & Christyl gave me a gift card for Hobby Lobby. : )

Charlie fryed out. We were all going to eat out on the patio but it was too cold for the grand kids. 50's was just a little too chilly. Anyway, here is our round patio set we have had for the last 11 years. My in~laws bought it for us as a house warming gift. We keep it in the basement over the winters so it really doesn't see hard weather. { I need to paint the door}

Well that's about it for me today. Sam is home sick. He was up most of the early morning throwing up. He seems much better right now.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Hitting the pause button.....

2010-05-03T13:55:00.001-05:00

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed these days needing to sort things out in my head & heart. Honestly I'm ok, excited... but yet mentally/spiritually preparing myself for my Missions Trip mid July. I was at the Global Expeditions website not to long ago looking at pictures from last years missions trip, someone had posted a picture that will forever stick in my head/heart. An older women going through the dump, looking for whatever she could find that was worth something. Whether it was food or material.
I've seen the Newsboys Video numerous times. I'm wanting to bring the kids.... some Love, Hope....shoes, flip flops, candy and some kites. My rep and I chat with every few weeks. He said the kids love candy. They'll follow you if they know you have some.
I know a while back some of you were interested in an update as to how my missions trip was coming along. I have pretty much all my ducks in a row. I had to apply for a new Birth Certificate because I didn't have a raised seal on mine. That came in 3 days. I applied for my Pass Port March 1st. That arrived in 18 days, wow, they told me it could take up to 6 weeks.
As far as my financial portion of the trip. I've raised $702.00 so far. {thank you very much friends & family!!} I still need to raise $338.00 by mid June. That's a Praise the Lord!!... considering my whole cost including my airfare was $1040.00. Thank you for your prayers and support!! You can read about my trip here
I'm not sure when I'll be back with anything creative. I'll try to comment from time to time. I'm just needing a break right now. Thank you for your visits and sweet comments!
I love ya!!

Blessings!

Resilient.....

2010-04-29T13:11:00.006-05:00

Thank you for your sweet kind words on my previous post!

The last 3 days I have been hearing this word **Resilient** a number of times concerning my boys and their school change this fall. I have come to believe that they'll adjust just fine. {they'll bounce back}

Resilient..... The ability to recover quickly from illness, change, or misfortune; buoyancy.

I told them yesterday and they both cried. I knew they would, {I felt bad} so i thought what better way to prepare them then to take them to see their new school. They met the principal and some of the teachers. They warmly welcomed them! Well to my surprise when they found out they would have their own locker, it was a done deal. :) But i knew there would be days when they'd say they don't wanna go their. This morning was that day.... it will all work out and they'll still be able to visit their friends.

Thanks again for your kind words!

Have a wonderful day!!

Faces of Ian & Decisions

2010-04-27T11:01:00.004-05:00

My little grandson Ian was a month old yesterday. My daughter & I did a little bumming and went out for lunch, all 5 of us. Christyl, Me, Meghan, Cailyn, Ian.
A friend of mine had some baby boys clothes for Christyl to go through, plus i have been saving all my boys clothes since my kids have grown out of them.

As of yet he is still Ian, but i call him Bean. His daddy is 6'2"

I love to see a baby yawn

Ian loves his nuck. Christyl said both her girls refused to take it.{not that she wanted them to} Ian can't get enough of it.

***********************

We're all doing well, just making some family decisions on where to send our boys to school this fall. We are thinking of putting them in Public School. Nothing against the Lutheran Schools/Church, but we have visited this idea in the past, and are still pondering it. For personal reasons, as well as cost is one factor, and what they are getting out of it vs PS

I visited one PS school this morning and met with the principal, had a tour. I liked it. This school was the only School in Sheboygan County to receive the State Academic Award.

Registration is $20.00 vs $300.00 what we were paying. Plus tuition went up $505.00 since last year. {we are not members of the Lutheran Church} so we pay full tuition. Both boys enrolled is $4500. for the school year plus added fees.

We haven't told our boys yet, upon hear this they will probably kick & scream but i believe we are doing the right thing. Most of the kids in our neighbourhood go to this PS. They will know some of the kids.

My husband & I talked about it last night, we have friends praying for us, this morning i felt total peace about the whole thing. The school is 6 blocks from our house. They can walk or ride their bikes which is what they want to do anyway. It will just be an adjustment and not seeing their friends will be the hardest.

Well, I will keep you informed as to how this all pans out. If you want to pray for us. Please pray our kids take this school change as a good thing!

We might even be able to to take a V*A*C*A*T*I*O*N to Fl to visit grandparents. They would love that!

Thanks for stopping by and letting me vent as well.

Blessings!!

He is.....Funny, Quirky, Kissable, Unstoppable, Spontaneous, Irresistible, Energetic, Clever, Amazing, Extraorinary, Witty, Rough on the outside ~ Gentle on the inside, Wonderful, Thoughtful...and Loved!

2010-04-20T16:43:00.007-05:00

Oh and did I mention "Strong Willed"....

Sam I Am!

Inspired by Dr Seuss? You bet!!

A few weeks ago I was cleaning out the boys bookshelf. Books they don't read anymore, I came across this one [put it aside}...inspiration was stirred, I remembered reading this book to my boys when they were little....

"I do not like them, Sam I Am"

Well this morning was the perfect time to make the Sam I am page.

Oh and did I mention I had a rough morning getting them ready and off to school. I won't go into detail. But i decided not to hold on to the anger. Instead i did what any normal stay at home mom/ scrapbooker would do.... I created a page.... LOL.... turned those negative angry feelings into something more positive. I will never forget working on this layout today. It brought back all the positive qualities I felt about my son. Dispite how i was feeling earlier.

We all need to vent, sometimes life is hard.... But I love the family God has given me!

Products Used~ CTMH CS, It's a Guy Thing Paper Pack & Stickease. Thicker Letters, Plastic Slider Frame, Brads, Sewing Machine.

Thanks for your sweet comments on my previous post. Thanks for stopping by! Have a great evening with those you love!

Garage is finished....

2010-04-19T11:28:00.004-05:00

Hey, Thanks so much for your sweet comments about my previous patchwork card! I'm happy with the way it turned out, it was very easy to make. 5.5 x 4.25 card.

Here was our near to last big house project we had going on last week. I'm so glad it's done. When Jim came over 2 weeks ago and did the last 3 small areas of siding on the house. He gave us a really good estimate on siding the garage, so we jumped on it. We already had the siding bought from last fall.

Today I'm painting the inside garage entry doors white. First coat is on.

We have a patio set we put out. Can't wait till it warms up!

They do awesome work!! But one pet peeve my husband had, was they sawed the plywood inside the garage. Charlie's motorcycle looked like it went through the sawmill. He was not too happy.

Same card {scroll down} just redid the sentiment and pop dotted the square. I also noticed how much more brighter the card shows up using the daylight bulb. The textured white CS is so white. It didn't photogragh well outside. Looked to washed out.

Ahhh, It's done. The color siding is Ivy, the trim is Almond from Home Depot.

Well you can't have the Front without the Back. right :) Oh, and the tree just left of the garage, Charlie is taking that down. Our pool we put up the last few years got full of leaf trash, we decided to take it down.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the little tour around our ~~house~~ garage. : ) We have lived here 12.5 years. So when we ever decide to sell it... it might sell a little faster with the improvements we made.

Thanks for stopping by, you are so sweet!!

Thinking of You

2010-04-18T09:06:00.004-05:00

Products Used~ CTMH CS, Textured CS Base, Olive Ink, My Minds Eye DP, Laundry Line, SU Square Punch, Twine, Bookplate Tag, Foam Dots. Card is glittery in real life.

Good Sunday Morning To You!

What a difference a light bulb makes?? My family & I went to Home Depot yesterday to pick up a few building supplies. So I went off and looked for a daylight bulb to photogragh my cards, found one. I'm hoping things are looking a little brighter on my Korner of the Web. :) But then again there is always ~~the great outdoors~~ back porch to photograph my cards. LOL

I was going to use stitching on this card but decided against it. Thought it might take away from the pattern.

Thanks for your sweet comments on my previous post, I know we all have had an inky smudge from time to time. It happens. Thank you Sparkle for suggesting I pop dot a new square. I did that!

Friday the guys finished up siding the garage. We spent part of yesterday afternoon cleaning up all the scrap siding. I'll post pics only if you want to see it finished. Well, that would be it for me.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Patchwork Baby Card

2010-04-16T16:26:00.001-05:00

Products Used! CTMH CS,& Textured White, Anna Griffin DP Hanna Collections, Sweet n Sassy Pond Pals {congrats} Black Ink, CM Square Punch, Misc. ribbon, sewing machine.

Well it was either post this card as is, or make another one. I'll probably remake it. I was stamping the back of the card with "Made With Love" stamp and i had black ink on my finger {not knowing} When i flipped the card over i got ink on the bottom square, dang it! I already had it all stitched. So i made a dummy square, if it looks a litttle goofy, that's what happend. I was in a mood to make a patchwork baby card using my sewing machine. I do like to sew. It's either on CS or mending my families clothes. I haven't made anything clothes wise in years.

TGIF, Micah has a birthday sleep over tonight, Sam has a friend sleeping over. And as far as I know Charlie has off tomorrow. He was suppose to start working Saturday's but that hasn't happened yet. Which is fine with us, we like him home.

The garage is almost sided. Just a few more pieces.

Well i feel bad my card turned out to be a flop. But I still like it. :) I'm hoping to play again this weekend, maybe another patchwork?

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great evening!!

SiLly sTRiNg

2010-04-13T11:27:00.002-05:00

It was after I finished the page I came up with a more creative title idea. I should have made the word silly more "Silly" But I didn't want the title to over ride the photos. Oh well maybe it wouldn't have made a difference.

I thought about redoing the page, but I'm not. I also ran out of the sassy strands.

Can you tell Sam is more agressive than Micah? Sam will keep pushing till he gets his own way. or figures out it just ain't working... by that time I'm ready to scream. :)

Micah is very layed back, but he will push back when he's had enough of his brother. :) I'm so glad I get to journal about this day of summer fun! LOL.... Hope you like the page!

Products Used~ CTMH CS & DP,"Stardust" White Sassy Strands, Brads, SU Photo Corners Punch, Sticko Foam Letters, Pull Out Journal Tag.

I use this Scotch Permanent Adhesive a lot, {fine & broad tip} especially when i have to draw fine lines to adhere things like the sassy strands on this page. Or glue down tiny buttons when small glue dots are even too big.

We're in the process of siding our garage. Two guys started working on it yesterday. They have all the new plywood up. Today they're wrapping it and starting on the siding. Thanks for your sweet comments on my previous post! It feels great to have the house done!

Well, you all have a great day, thanks again for stopping by!

We're Finished!!!

2010-04-11T11:42:00.013-05:00

Hey a few of you might remember this project? Well, on ~~Friday~~ Thursday we **Finally** completed the siding job on our house, that took us.... 2 Springs, 2 Summers, 2 Falls and 3 hours, Spring of 2010..... YAY!....

My husband didn't want to finish the last 3 small areas so we knew someone who would. We're also getting our garage done this coming week.... I never did updated from where we left off last fall, you can see June 2009 here If you want to follow where we started from...Sigh.... Spring 2008. You can start from Our House in Progress # 1 on my left side bar under label Cloud - 1 through 7.

I can't believe it's done! : D Yippeeee

We sure had lower heating bills this past winter, compared to a few years ago.

Getting ready to put the vent in.

There was another V area where the top of the ladder is. Done!

All Done!

I hope you enjoyed our house project, we're so glad it's done. I hope to be back with a page I'm finishing up on. Hope you're having a Happy Sunday!

Thanks for stopping by!

God is Gracious...

2010-04-08T17:58:00.001-05:00

Our Precious Grandson

The little bean is 13 days old today, He had his 2 week check up this morning and is back up to his birth weight. He lost almost a pound the first week, but most babies do lose some weight.

I'm just tickled pink... I took these photos of Ian this morning. Christyl liked them so much that her & Mark used the first photo for their birth annoncement. Christyl loves the hat.

Ian means.... "God is Gracious"

They're tossing back and forth a nickname for the little guy. {I call him Bean} Not Mr Bean.... silly.... Just Bean... Meghan is noodle and Cailyn is KK. It's funny what we call our kids these days, otherthan there given name. I'll let ya know what they decide on.
Hey, remember last fall when that guy was gonna finish the last bit of siding we didn't get to finish? Well here's here today working on it. He gave us an estimate on doing the garage. We just may let him do it. Charlie has no time right now.
Well thanks for stopping by! Thanks for all your sweet comments!!
Blessings!

Thanks

2010-04-07T13:07:00.004-05:00

After picking up the Cricut "Wild Cards" Cartridge I couldn't wait to play with it. There is so much cool stuff on it, it's hard to decide what to make first. I seen a card made by Laurel a while back that ~~tempted~~ "Inspired" me to get this cartridge. Thanks Laurel! : )

Products Used~ CTMH CS, April's Stamp of the Month~ Flower Pot, Black & Honey Ink, Small Scallop Circle Punch. { Cricut Wild Cards Cartridge... Base, Shadow and Envy} Brads, Liquid Glass, Copic Markers. {envy front scallop flap is folded down with shadow & adhered}

Top of envy stays open. Card is tucked inside... I set the cricut on 4 1/4 for the card & envy.

I need to cut this short. I've neglected my laundry for days, kids have early release today, lots to do yet and I'm not feeling that great. If your a women reading this, I'm sure you can relate if you still have your plumbing... I wish I could have it all pulled.

Anyway, Thanks for your comments showing Thrift Store Horrors some love! They loved their Blog Award. {I'm glad} Hahaha.... Too funny!

Thanks for stoppin by friends!

This Blog Award Goes To.....

2010-04-05T09:10:00.002-05:00

Thrift Store Horrors. My hope is Carmen and her friends will be "Honored" to accept this Blog Award! You deserve it ladies for all your hard work finding those thrift store treasures that will most likely remain on the shelves...unclaimed for who knows how long. :)
I just so happened to find a yummy chocolate cake in clip art, added some text and now it's ready to be passed on....

Do you know of a blogger who is also deserving of this Blog Award" Please share their blog with us, and pass this award along. Let's keep bloggin fun! Have a wonderful day!

Happy Blogging Everyone!!

I can't take it anymore...

2010-04-03T09:36:00.003-05:00

I have to share this....Ok, we all love a good deal right . Some of us even go to Thrift Stores to find someone elses treasures, I do, and I know Jeanne does too.... Well, this past week I noticed I had a New Follower on my blog {thank you very much!} so like the curious blogger I am, I went to check out my new follower. I have to tell you this blogger is a Hoot. She and her friend check out Thrift Stores for the most Bizarre things. Thrift Store Horrors I LOL so hard at her postings and some of the things she found are scary. Maybe that's why someone gave up that stuff.

We all blog about different things, but this one takes the cake!!! She ought to get a blogging award. :)

I'll be checking out her blog often. I even added her in my Google Reader. Thank you Carmen & Kim, you're part of what makes bloggin so fun!!

Thanks for stoppin by! Have a Blessed Easter weekend everyone!

It's Your Day!

2010-03-30T19:24:00.002-05:00

Products Used~ CTMH.... Flower Pot Stamp Set, CS, Ribbon, Ink Sunny Yellow, Black~ My Minds Eye DP, Where The Heart Is, Liquid Glass, Misc. flower, brad, bitty buttons, Paper Pieced Flower Pots, Nesties, Copics

A friend of mine is having a birthday. I thought I would make her a card. I love this stamp set from CTMH... It's April's "Stamp of the Month"~Flower Pot. Cute!!

We're enjoying spring break. yesterday I took the kids bowling and to the park. I am not a bowler. I have to say, It must all depend on the bowling ball. I changed it out at the end of our second game and I bowled much better, but I'll still take Wii bowling anyday! :)

Well I know this is a short post. Charlie's home. Thanks for stoppin by. Have a great evening!

Love the ones your with! : )

Good night friends!

Listen Honey....

2010-03-28T11:44:00.001-05:00

Products Used~ CTMH CS, My Minds Eye~ DP,Where the Heart is} Stamp Image, American Art Stamp

Misc~ flower, brad, twine, Liquid Glass,, Copics

I was playing around the other day and made this card. I was in the mood to use the color orange, so starting with the image and then the flower. This is what i came up with. I never get tired of these images. I love the sentiment... right now it's about how i feel.... I love anything chocolate.... esp. chocolate chip cookies from Mc D's. kwim : )

Thank you for all your sweet comment on my previous post. It's so fun having a baby in the family again. All is well, If Christyl is doing alright she and Ian will be going home tomorrow. My boys just love him to pieces.. Micah has really taken to his new nephew. Meghan & Cailyn adore him. they call him their baby and wanted to give Ian fishy crackers. LOL... Oh my

My kids are on Spring Break till Tuesday the 6th. The weather is suppose to warm up by mid week, so I'm hoping to get our bikes out and go for a ride. They also want to go bowling, and to Chuck E Cheese for a few hours, only an hours drive from here.

Anyway, We are off to Menards {like Home Depot} We're pricing some things for some summer projects around the house. We still have a little bit of siding that has to be done yet. Sigh.

Well friends! You all have a great day! Thanks again for stopping by!

The Z Family Is Complete!

2010-03-26T18:34:00.002-05:00

Family of Five

Grandson~Ian Jerome Z. Born March 26, 2010

Weighing in at~8lbs 9oz {shocker, the girls were both 7 something}

21.5" long

9:02 am

He was so hungry right before i changed him.

Mark calls me at 9:40 and says "Ian is here" but he thought Ian wanted to go back in. Oh, he was screaming. I could hear him in the background. : )

Mommy & Son

Precious baby Ian.... Big yawn

Marks mom wanted a pic of Christyl & I with Ian

I had my grandaughters this morning at 6 am, then at noon we went up to the hospital. Ian nursed for a good half hour. After i picked up my boys from school we all went back up to the hospital so Sam & Micah could ~~see~~ hold their new nephew. { oops no camera} Christyl said Ian was awake for 2 hours after he ate, eyes open. and very quiet. What a precious gift!

God Is Good!! We are Blessed and Very Thankful!!

Every good and perfect gift is from above...

James 1;17a

NIV

Pretty Pincesses

2010-03-25T13:18:00.003-05:00

My grandaughters love to play dress up. Aren't they adorable! I would think it would be awful hard to walk in a shoes that your toes are hanging over the top.... hahaha.... they don't care. : ) Christyl had told me that for Meghan's 4th birthday Party this June, they'll have a princess birthday. All the birthday guests [little girls} will have to wear their princess dress to the party. How cute!

No baby yet..... Tomorrow morning at 8:30 CT is the big day. Can't wait to ~~meet~~ hold the little bean. I'll post pics of baby Ian when i can.{but not before the parents do} Till then, here's his two big sisters.

Thanks for stoppin by, have a great day my friends!!

It's what's on the inside?....

2010-03-22T19:50:00.005-05:00

Products Used~ CTMH CS, Sizzix Embossing Folder... Hello Friend}, Cuttle Bug, Red Rhinestones

This card was inspired from our friend Kathi from Kathi's Corner. She makes/made a gorgeous card using this Sizzix Embossing Folder. I love this folder so I had to try it. : ) Thanks Kathi!!
No title on the front, I thought I would put the sentiment on the inside saying something like...I dunno.... hehehe, Have you ever bought a card that had no words on the front? I'm sure most of us have.
Sorry i missed your blogs the last few days. Been busy here. I've had my Gbabies that last few days.

Anyhoo, we can't wait for my daughter to have baby Ian on Friday. Last Friday she was 9 months along, I had the girls, so I snapped a few pics of Christyl. {Mark will probably get some pics of her in the hospital} I also had the girls Saturday morning for a few hours and took some really cute pics of them in their princess dress up clothes, all the way down to the shoes. They're really cute, I'll post later.

I bought a new banner for my blog.{Ty is staying} Jeanne ~~was~~ is so sweet to help me with the layering process and some other things in PS. I didn't understand. Thanks Jeanne!! I got the hang of it now, but I'm not too crazy about the banner i bought anymore. It was only $2.50. {isn't that just like a women to change her mind} hahahaha... my husband would say... Oh yeah!

Well, I need to get movin, things to do. Have a great evening, Thanks for stoppin by!

Sock Bunnies

2010-03-16T11:05:00.007-05:00

I was at my daughter's house yesterday and she showed me these cute little bunnies she made with her daughters. Meghan 3.5 Cailyn 2 yo. Aren't they adorable!! She filled them with popcorn seeds. Speaking of my daughter, Christyl & Mark are scheduled to have their baby boy {Ian} next Friday morning the 26th, unless he decides to come early. Can't wait!!! I have the girls that morning so i probably won't get up to the hospital till possibly that afternoon. {we'll see}.... Stay tuned. : )

Back to the bunnies...The first person i thought about sharing these with, was my Our cyber friend Jeanne from Creative Bliss. She knits and is very crafty and creative with everything she puts her heart and hands to!

Here is the link for the Sock Bunnies if anyone is interested.

Love the big fluffy tail.

Although the calender says the first day of Spring is Saturday March 20th. The temps here may not always agree. Yes, It's going to be in the 50's this week, but in 20's next week...Maybe even some snow.... geesh. I'm ready to rake the yard, as soon as the lawn dries out. : )

Anywoo, have a wonderful day! Thanks for your sweet comments on my previous posts! It means alot!

Flowers for you... #2

2010-03-13T11:34:00.002-06:00

Products Used~ Whipper Snapper Stamp {Flowers for you duck} CTMH CS, Textured CS, Perfect Day DP, Liquid Glass, Nestables, Misc. flower, brad, rub-ons, Copic Markers.

Duck is back.... LOL.... As far as the title? Have you ever had to tell someone you were sorry for something you did or said? You don't have to answer that. I think we all have. :) I should just hand this card to my husband when i put my foot in my mouth. Mainly at that.... TOTM.... kwim.
Anyhoo not a whole lot going on. Sam is having a friend over. They want to practice there band.
Going out for pizza tonight.

Thank You for all your sweet comments!!