The Christmas Season has begun...

I LOVE Christmas. I love the reason for the season, I love the music, I love the colors and smells... I just can't understand why some people let the stress of the season ruin the meaning.

I hope to get my Christmas Tree sometime in the next week but it all depends on when I can get to the Christmas Tree farm. The boys and I usually make the trip with Aunt Brenda and Uncle Charlie. I hope to pull out some of the decorations this weekend. At least the garland to hang around the doors.

oops! I haven't been blogging...

I have been so busy with work and scrapping with some amazing sponsor products from Heidi Grace. I just love the stuff that they sent to Coordinates Collections for the Design Team. The colors and style are so me. Here are a few of my layouts:

I took the boys to a local park for some photo opts and I decided to jump in and was thrilled with the photo of us. Since I am normally the photo taker, there are few pictures of us together.


This picture was also from the photo opt at the park. I loved the way they seem so grown up...they are still my babies.

I also did a mini album for my good friend Danica. She has 2 girls, which is a nice change from the 3 boys I scrap. LOL! Here is a few pages from her album:




She must have liked it because she had tears in her eyes while looking through it. Which made every second of working on it worth it!

Product of the Week for 10/8 for Cooordinates Collections

How many of us really collect trinkets or newspapers clippings? I know I do. I actually found alot of them while organzing my scraproom. I had so many little things that I kept to remember my years in Jr. and Sr. High School...not to mention my years in College.

So, I decided to use the 7 Gyspies Naked Pizza Box to create a little memory box to keep my dear items. I really liked how it turned out. I used the 7 Gyspies Zanzibar papers that I got over at CoordinatesCollections to cover the pizza box. I decided to dig out some pictures...some from each generation. I was thrilled with the way it turned out!

Ry's proud moment...

Preparing for the first day of Bow-Hunting usually starts a month before the October 1st opening day. Last year was Ry's first season Bow-Hunting. He did fairly well. He shot a small 6pt. buck. Something he and Roger were very proud of.

This year, Ry was able to do some shooting at an indoor range along with shooting the target outside. I think it did him some good...alot of good. On Thursday, October 4, Rog and Ry came home after hunting saying they needed to get the flashlights and to call Uncle Will to track the buck. In our family, this is pure excitment during the hunting season. About an hour later, they returned with this:




Rog was so proud for Ry. He even cleaned his barn up so that when friends and family came over to see Ry's buck they would have a place to walk. I have to laugh because when you show a picture of the buck to other hunters, they are awed. It isn't an everyday thing when you can get a buck like this.

POW for 10/1 Creative Imaginations Patsy and Chris gift boxes...

I have a bug. I don't know what type but I know it has me down. I was telling a friend and she told me that she had the same thing and a Doctor told her it was from a bug that is found on salad. Makes you wonder about eating salad again, doesn't it? I was down yesterday and down for most of the day today but I am starting to feel better. So, I spent most of my day in my scraproom listening to Family Life Radio and working on my POW's that were DUE TODAY!!! Thankfully, I was able to finish them. Phew...


Patsy Boxes:







Chris Boxes:



I love these! I decided I would create little "treat" boxes for a friend. After 3 weeks of making projects, I think I am getting use to making other paper projects other than layouts. I have one more project to make before I start another new task over at CC.

Why must the good always come with the bad?

I awoke Sunday in a "MOOD". I can't tell you why maybe it was a sign that I was in for an up and down week. That night, the boys went for a walk with Grandma and brought me back this beautiful bouquet of wildflowers.

It made my day.

You have to understand, my boys don't typically think of things like that for me. They are the rough and tumble type and not the loving and giving type. I think I need to work on that.

POW for 9/24 from Coordinates Collections

I have been in a organziation mood lately. Everything must have a place of its own. I am also a list maker. I think I have inherited that from my grandma. We make list for our chores, our finances and our time. Not, that we accomplish anything on our list. lol! One list I love to create is my list of Christmas for my boys. So, when thinking of how I was going to use the 7 Gyspies portfolio, I thought how perfect it would be to document my Christmas lists.

You can find this over at CC at 20% off.

The POW (Product of the Week) from Coordinates Collection

When Jamie, the owner and operator of Coordinates Collections emailed me and offered me the position on the Design Team, I was thrilled. The only reservation I had was that she wanted me to do projects of the week rather than paper layouts. Now, for me, that is a new experience because I have never really did anything BUT layouts.


On Monday, I revealed my first project. The ATC Matchbox Kit with Trading Cards from 7 Gyspies. It took me a few days to think about what I could create. I recently started reading and trying to focus on Living the Intentional Life by Dr. Randy Carlson. He suggest 12 Daily Principles to live by and how lucky there were exactly 12 trading cards. I was tickled to be able to combine my love of Christ with my love of Scrapbooking. I was happy with the outcome and thrilled to share the Intentional Living message with other.

The weekend just flew by...

Goodness. I can't believe how fast the weekend went. This past week was a tough one for the boys. Ry got in trouble twice for throwing things. One was some type of science project with needles in it and another, according to him was a stuff animal and according to his teacher was a pen cap. Anyway, he got called into the Principal's office, which meant he lost his ability to play any type of video games for a week and no TV on Saturday. Then there was Nick. On Friday, I got a call from his Principal. Nick will be eating alone this next week. According to his Principal, Nick and this other boy got into an agrument and Nick said something that wasn't necessary. So, he to lost his video games for a week and no TV on Saturday.

Because Doug didn't get in any trouble, I needed to reward him. I asked him what he wanted to do special. Just us. He wanted to go bowling. So on Friday Night, we headed out for some extreme bowling. We played 3 games and had some ice cream. We were on our last game, when the guy who works at the bowling lanes came over and asked me if we were having problems with our score cards because I just kept looking up on the TV screen at our scores. I told him we weren't, I was just looking at all the gutterballs that Doug and I had gotten. I think Doug managed to get a gutterball in frames 4 thru 9 and I had guttered in couple of frames. Yeah, we aren't the best bowlers but we had a wonderful time together.

Church was amazing this morning. During the service there were 5 children dedicated. I felt alot of comfort in today's service. It was exactly what I needed to hear. I never really had a strong parent role model, and because of that I think I struggle with what type of parent I am. I always wish I could be that perfect parent who never gets angry, who never raises her voice and who can always reason with their children. Maybe someday, with prayer. Ry and Doug got to go with their youth group after service for an outing for some bowling while Nick and I headed over to the fairgrounds to finish cleaning up the chicken barns.

Tomorrow is the big day over at Coordinates Collections. I am going to reveal my Project of the Week (POW). I hope everyone enjoys it. I plan on posting on my blog too...after CC, of course. So, make sure you check back.

Add another candle on that cake...

Yup, it's my birthday. Yesterday, the girls at work threw me a potluck and let me tell you how delicious it was. We had homemade stromboli, a cheese ball with crackers, mexican chip dip and the most beautiful chocolate cake with drizzled peanutbutter and slivered almonds. Yum!! They really spoiled me and made my 34th Birthday great! My Mother-in-Law gave me the most beautiful card with some money. I also got a gift certificate to Hobby Lobby, which is already spent. LOL! I had to get some scrapbook albums because my layouts have been stacking up. Oh, and to add to my wonderful day, I got my package for Coordinates Collections. I would post a picture of all the great stuff but it has to be a surprise to be revealed on that particular day. So, if you want to see the first Product of the Week...check out CC around September 17.

Rog asked me what I wanted to do today. Besides going to work, I told him not much of anything. I would be thrilled if they would do up the dishes. LOL! Birthdays just aren't the same for me since my Grandma Carol died in 1992. She had always made a big deal about Birthdays.

I hope to do some scrapping tonight. Wish me luck!

Here it goes...

Ok, I have never, ever thought of starting my own BLOG. That was until I came across Coordinates Collections. About a month ago, I started spending time in my scraproom again (after almost a year off). About 2 weeks ago, I saw that CC was having a Design Team Call. I thought, what the heck, it couldn't hurt to tryout. I mean, all they could say was no. Right? So, I jumped on the message board and made myself at home. Within a week, I had almost 100 posts. I do like to talk...



Although I didn't get the " kit spot" on the Design Team, I was offered a wonderful opportunity. Jamie, the owner and operator of CC, emailed me and told me that she enjoyed my work. She asked me if I would be interested in a position on the Design Team to highlight the PRODUCTS OF THE WEEK aka POW's. Well, I couldn't say no!! CC not only has a great group of ladies to hang out with but the kits ROCK. Being a mom of 3 boys, I sometimes find it hard to find kits that are masculine enough to scrap their activities. You know what I mean?



Anyway, back to why I now have a BLOG. Not only has Jamie offered me a position but she also offered Jenni, aka jgj27, the position of Coordinates Collections BLOG Coordinator. She has this awesome thread about Blogging and it just made sense to join in on the fun. So here I am...