I broke into the top 100!

Thanks to all of my wonderful friends who read this blog. I registered with the Top Scrap Blogs a while back. I started at around 200 and as I write this I am the 91st most read blog of those registered. Pretty cool! In honor of this occasion, I will be giving away a RAK. I will give it away on Friday, June 6. Anyone who comments on any post between now and then will be eligible. You will get as many entries as the times you post. I will assign a number to each one and use the random number generator to choose two winners. I have a pink package and a blue package to give away. I will take pictures of those and post them tomorrow.

Toot Toot

Look who's on the cover of Ready Set Create Magazine this month!

http://readysetcreate.blogspot.com/

Dead batteries can be fun

Curtis and I went to lunch on Sunday. We normally go to dinner on Sundays after church but this day we we decided to change it up a bit. Razoo's was pretty quiet. The Sunday lunch crowd doesn't have the music blaring in the bar and we could hear each other talk. We discussed an article in the paper that morning about how to get more miles per gallon when driving. One of the suggestions was to shut off your car at red lights and railroad crossings. I can see railroad crossings but red lights seem kind of crazy to me. What if your car doesn't start right up? You are in the middle of the road and you're holding everyone else up, too.

So, we go out to the car and it doesn't start! We've got a dead battery. We just had to laugh at the irony of the situation. We made a few phone calls looking for someone to come rescue us on a pretty Sunday afternoon and found a friend who was home. While we waited for him, we sat under a shade tree near the car. Naturally, I had the pocket camera I use for work in my purse so I took pictures. The response from Curtis? Is everything a Kodak moment? Absolutely!

And we have a bouquet!

Family photo mini book

I put this together really quickly by using the same plan for every page and a single line of paper. I used Scenic Route Providence. Even though these photos were taken on Christmas Day, I opted not to do a Christmas theme. The stamps and the scallop punch are Stampin Up. The Cover title letters are thickers. The letters on the title page are Basic Grey. I painted the edges just a little by closing the book and running a foam brush around the sides.

These are my brothers and sisters and their families. I don't know how long we are going to be lucky enough to have every single one of our kids home at Christmas. They are all growing up so fast. Of my mother's 17 grandchildren, only 7 of them still live with their parents and 5 of those 7 are in high school. It won't be long until they all have their own families and their own traditions. I am thankful to have these photos and especially thankful to have all of their love.

We're going to make our own bouquet

After pricing real flowers and pricing someone else making a silk flower bouquet, Karen decided that we should try this ourselves. I told her I was willing. We went to Hobby Lobby last night. They have all bridal and all silk flowers 50% off this week. We got some off-white roses, both open and buds, some purple lilies, some purple roses, some other little misc white flowers, floral tape, and ribbon for her bouquet plus the little holder. We got a "bush" of purple roses with white accent flowers to make the toss bouquet and some misc purple flowers to decorate the candle centerpieces. I also bought Seth a "be good" bribery gift and still got out of there for only $51. I really think this is going to work out well. These are just a couple shots of the flowers so you can get an idea of the colors.

I scrapped!

Felt good, too. I just have been too busy the last couple of weeks to play around with anything. Did this one for a contest sponsored by Tinkering Ink over at Scrapbook playground.

Some pictures

I have not shared any pictures in a while. I really need to upload my project 365 pictures to my flicker account. I'm a bit behind. Here are a few from Mother's Day and one from this past weekend. Couldn't you just eat this little boy up. He is just too darned cute....

Quote of the day

Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day.

anonymous

My life in just six words

Stuff happened but I kept smiling.

Can you sum up your life? Can you with just six words? Legend has it that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. He wrote “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

I read an article in the paper today about a book called Not Quite What I Was Planning-Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. The authors Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser compiled the responses they received on Smith's on line magazine, SMITH.

There are a few sad ones. "Everyone who loved me is dead." and "I should never have bought that ring." There are some angry ones. "Revenge is living without you." Some of them are funny. "I managed not to destroy anything." Many of them have the awwww factor. ""Found true love after nine months." Finally, some are just inspirational. "Danced in fields of infinite possibilities."

I'd love to hear your story. Can you with just six words?

Happy Mother's Day:

Sometimes being a Mom is painful

Some of my younger readers may not know this but girls were not allowed to wear pants to school until I was in the fifth grade. In addition to that, if girls wanted to wear jeans, they had to buy them in the boys department. This was in the early seventies. Being a typical tween of those times, I wanted to wear the same kind of jeans all the other girls were wearing. I talked my mom into going to Sears and buying me three pair of jeans in the cool colors that were available. I got purple, green, and turquoise. Because they were boy's jeans, they were a bit baggy on my skinny legs. All my friends were skinny, too and their moms had sewed a seam up the back of the thigh from the knee up so they were tight. This was the typical look of the early seventies. Again, I talked my mom into doing this for me.
While I was at school, my mom began this task. She got one pair done and started on the second pair. Denim is a tough, thick material and she was having to push it through the sewing machine to keep it straight. One more push and the needle went right through the fingernail into her finger. She calmly (or so she said. I wasn't there, you know) unscrewed the needle from the machine, took my baby sisters to a neighbor's house and drove herself to the doctor to have it removed. When I got home from school to an unhappy mother with a bandaged finger, she let me know that the last pair would not be done. I'm not sure what ever happened to that pair but I'm sure I would never have worn them baggy. No way!
Thanks, Mom for trying to help me be cool even when it caused you pain. I love you.

Smile quote

If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it.

— Andy Rooney

Another awesome story from Brian Andreas

A Hero

Anyone can slay a dragon, he told me, but try waking up every morning & loving the world all over again. That's what takes a real hero.

Brian Andreas, the storypeople

a couple more layouts and some cards

I used stamps and watercolor pencils on these cards. Sent them with Curtis to give his parents.

Adventures in Scrapping!

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

I am going to spend my weekend celebrating and scrapping. I'll be going back and forth between two different crops.

One of them is at a place I've been hanging out for almost a year now. It is Scrapbook Playground. I get a chance at a prize for referring a friend right here so go visit if you want a friendly place to play.

The other is a new place I've found. It is Memorable Seasons. This is a brand new message board that has just begun and it has been fun getting in on the ground floor, so to speak. Some of the ladies here are from the Unpubbed challenge blog where I love to get inspiration. Please stop by and chat with us. There is some pretty amazing stuff in this gallery.

Quote of the day

"You can't deny laughter; when it comes, it plops down in your favorite chair and stays as long as it wants."

Stephen King