Believe Christmas Book

I made this little "Believe" book at Scrapbook Addiction's Christmas Expo in Anne-Camille Collins class. I filled it with pictures from Christmas this year. I love the way it turned out and it only took me about and hour and a half!

Heidi Swapp Class Coming to an End

I have been enrolled in a year long class with Big Picture Scrapbooking taught by Heidi Swapp. I have learned so much and tried so many different techniques over the year. I am really sad it is ending. One of the pojects was a calendar for 2007. I have posted my November and December layouts. On the November layout we used different sizes of envelopes and wrote letters to the important people in our lives to be opened in 2012. It was fun to do and I had to make sure all of the envelopes opened and I love all of the bright colors. The December layout was all about family and the reason we scrapbook. We made tiny envelopes or pockets for each day and put a little surprise in each one. On the background we used Tim Holtz distressing inks. I am going to Creative Escape AGAIN this year (So happy!!) and he is one of the teachers. I will always cherish the scrapbook calendar I made for 2007. So many wonderful and challenging things happened this year. It will definately be A Year To Remember for me.

Annual Christmas Party 2007

Lauren had the annual Christmas Party for her High School friends this Friday. We made lasagne and pound cake and fudge. It is so good to see these kids each year as they grow into wonderful young adults. I am so proud of them. They have all done really well in college and I know they will become adults that will actually contribute good things to the world. It's hard to believe they will all be 21 this year!!

I have finished all my shopping and wrapped all my gifts so I am ready! Lauren and I made the dressing today and we'll do some more cooking tomorrow. My brother and sister-in-law arrived today from Little Rock. Tomorrow we will go to our church service at 5:00 and then the Episcopal service at 10:00. The ladies ensemble that I sing in is singing at our service. ( I love this group of ladies and singing in this group). I love this time right before Christmas. I almost dread Christmas morning coming because it will all be over.

Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas surrounded by their families.

Merry Christmas

The Reason for the Season

Every year we struggle with Chritmas decorations. We love the lights and we wanted to do something that represented what Christmas was really about. John wanted something that he could set up every year that was easy to store. So I came up with the idea to do a big nativity scene that we could use year after year. Sooooo what to do? John bought one off of ebay!! Yes I said ebay! We set it up in the yard and John built the manger around it. It will all fold flat for easy storage. He really did a great job and we used the hay from Halloween and spread it around inside the manger. We love it and we're proud to show the reason for the season.

Chalk Board

My cousin Ann, (we call each other Sister) gave me this for Christmas!! She loves everything old and this was a mirror frame. She took out the mirror and painted the frame red and turned it into a chalk board for me!! I love it!!! I hung it in my den. She is soo talented.

I had the best time today at the Scrapbook Addiction's Christmas Expo. We made some really fun things and I visited with some great ladies!! Hey Girls! I just love this hobby. It was 5 hours long and the time just flew by. So much preparation goes into these things and I really appreciate the teachers for all the hard prep work that they did, and of course to Brandi who organizes it all. I'll be back next year!

Thankful

We have a lot to be thankful for this year! We traveled to Jackson, Mississippi for Thanksgiving. We switch every year and next year they will come here. I made each family a little cookbook with blank pages for them to put their family's favorite recipes in. We are going to exchange recipes so that we will have a cookbook with each families favorites. We had a great time in Jackson and on my next post I will show you the fabulous gift my cousin made for me.

A picture a day in November

This is a 30 day picture journal I made for the month of November. I am taking a picture everyday and then I journal on the back. I thought this was a good month to do it because of all the beautiful fall colors and I will see all of my family this month because of Thanksgiving. We will be traveling to Jackson this year to visit our relatives in Mississippi.

Update: I am feeling much better although my leg just doesn't want to heal. I am trying to keep it up as much as possible. I have devised a way to scrapbook with my leg propped up on a chair. I should take a picture of that!!!

My Studio

A couple of years ago we turned a guest bedroom into my studio. I told John all I want for my birthday, anniversary, and Christmas is to have a studio. Our guest bedroom is only used about 2 times a year so I had over taken it with scrapbook supplies. My parents live in Mountain Home and so some of our out of town guests usually stay with them. We pulled the carpet up and had some laminate wood floors put down. My good friend Lori Kauffman from Cabinets and Interior Design helped me design some cabinets with a Murphy Bed just in case we needed an extra bed for company. Lori did all my cabinets for me when we moved in and her and her husband Bob (Anderson Construction) built our Dental office. My studio is like my sanctuary. I love it and I love being in there. It just relaxes me to go upstairs and sit in there. I got the 2 metal rolling carts from Sam's and they are perfect and really cheap. My table is an old table I got at Rusticities so I wouldn't feel bad messing it up. I got the sewing machine about 5 years ago for Christmas and I think John thought I would make all my clothes. hahahaha NOT! I dabbled in quilting for a bit before I became addicted to scrapbooking. Now I use it with my scrapbooking. Anyway, I am very blessed to have found something I am passionate about. I feel like I am recording my families history for generations to come and that is the real reason I do it. I made my first scrapbook in High School and I still have it. I hope my kids can look back and remember the good times we had and share their history with their children. When I was 9 we lived in Gulfport, Mississippi and a terrble hurricane named Camille hit our area. We were without electricity for a week and had a couple of trees hit out roof, but we were all alive. My grandparents lived on a creek and they got about 8 feet of water in their house. The water ruined all of their belongings but what I remember most is how all the pictures of my Dad's family were gone. Wet! We have very few left and most of them have water damage. I think it all started there. The desire to preserve the history with pictures.

I have been tagged by one of my cyber buddies, Colleen at http://cestmoi.typepad.com/, from my Heidi Swapp class to tell you 7 facts about myself (some random, some weird). So here goes:
1. I am a home body.
2. I was born in Gulfport, Mississippi.
3. I would love to be a computer nerd.
4. I sang my first solo in 6th grade and have sung solos at weddings and at church.
5. I am determined to learn more about photoshop elements!!!
6. Next year I will be married for 25 years on August 13th.
7. I treat my animals like they are members of my family.

Here are the rules which must be posted on your blog if you're tagged:
1. Link to your tagger and post rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Now, here's who I'm tagging:

1.Denise: http://deniselauerman.blogspot.com/ She is such a sweetie and is moving to my neighborhood soon and is a greatscrapbooker.
2.Anne Camille: http://annecamille.blogspot.com/ Is a very talented scrapbooker who has some really neat original ideas.
3.Brandi: http://scrapbookaddiction.typepad.com/ Brandi owns our local "WONDERFUL" scrapbooking store. We love her!
4.Jennifer: http://jclarestudios.typepad.com/ She is a great photographer!! Just look at her work!
5.Amy: http://amywelch3.typepad.com/ She inspires me with how she used the Hambly products!

Ok so tag your it!

Getting Back to Normal

It's been 3 weeks since my surgery and I am feeling stronger everyday. I go back to the Doctor on Thursday so I hope to be able to drive soon. I am so blessed to have all of my family and friends.

There is something I forgot to post about. The Mountain Home Golf team won the State Championship for the second year in a row. I was nervous for Seth because my surgery was the Thursday before the State Tournament. I was hoping he would be able to focus and play well and he did. The tournament was in Little Rock so John went down on Sunday and was with Seth on Monday, the day of the tournament. My Mom and Dad stayed with me and I ended up going home from the hospital the day of the tournament.

I am also posting 2 layouts from my Heidi Swapp "A Year to Remember Class". These are the layouts for the September and October calendar pages. It will certainly be a "Year to Remember" for me. I thought it was cool that the September layout said to include a heart. That's kinda appropriate don't you think.

Thankful

My life took an unexpected turn 2 weeks ago. I had been having some pain around my breast bone that would come and go so I went to the Doctor and we thought I had some acid reflux because I wasn't having any other symptoms. We did an upper GI and it was normal so Tim Paden said let's do a stress test just to make sure. I went to Dr. Camp's office and we did a stress test. They read it and said well they see a little something but I am having no other symptoms and it may be breast tissue, but the only way to know for sure is an angiogram. So 2 weeks ago I went in for an angiogram and a 95% blockage showed up in a V of an artery. Everything else was clear. They couldn't use a stint because of the location of the blockage. They think it is a genetic thing because my Dad actually had a heart attack when he was 48. I am 46. It was in a weird place in the heart and a long skinny blockage. They said I probably wouldn't have survived if I had actually had a heart attack but since they caught it, it was repaired and there was no damage. THANKFUL! Ladies if you hear anything remember. My only symptom was a pain like acid reflux pain. No shoulder pain, no nausea, no shortness of breath. Evidently women's symptoms are totally different. If I can help one person then it was worth it. I have learned to be very THANKFUL and GRATEFUL for many things. God allowed me to be healed and I am so thankful. The kindness shown to me during this past 2 weeks has been overwhelming. My church family for one has been praying for me and bringing food and sending cards, and calling. My friends have been here for me helping me and sending flowers and food and gifts. My family immediately came to the hospital that Wednesday to be with me before the surgery. Even my cousin and her husband drove immediately from Jackson, Mississippi to be by my side that night. Of course John, and Lauren and Seth were held up by such good friends. They were well taken care of. They surgery went great. They didn't have to put me on a heart lung machine which is good and they used a mammory artery. The mammory artery ended up spasming so they had to use a small artery from my leg so that wasn't bad at all. Everything went great. I was in intensive care for 2 days and then I moved to the cardiac floor. I cannot tell you how wonderful our hospital is. Those nurses were my best friends and were soo nice. We have alot of Dr. friends who checked on me everyday. Dr. Paden, Dr. Elders, Dr. Croom were regulars. I even bought 3 of my favorite nurses Vera Bradley bags. I'm telling you they were wonderful. Misti Walton and Amber in ICU, and Rhonda Bell was my floor nurse. I had surgery on Thursday and went home that next Monday. A day early they said. I am doing great and John and my Mom and Dad have been here with me everyday. Mom and Dad do all the laundry and take care of me during the day and then John and Seth take over at night. I feel good but I can't lift anything over 5 pounds and I am suppose to be careful and not lift my arms over my shoulders. (Makes for some pretty bad hair days) The only real problem is I can't drive for 30 days!!! What!! My Mom and Dad will take we where I need to go. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and that will be my first day out. I have already asked them to take me to the Scrapbook Addiction first!!! My studio is upstairs so the second night home John was kind enough to set me up a scrap area in our bedroom and we brought down a bunch of stuff. It made me feel soo much better just touching everything. Anyway, thank you for all of your prayers, food, gifts, and flowers, but most of all I feel very thankful and blessed to have you as my friend.

CREATIVE ESCAPE PART 2

After classes on the first day, we had a "Friday Night Extravaganza" and all of the teachers from last year taught a 15 minute class using Heidi's big deck of cards. We stayed in our flower groups and the teachers rotated. They even used stop watches to make sure things ran smoothly and we got a BIG cropper hopper container full of supplies to make 2 cards with each teacher. The teachers were Stacy Julian, Pam Black, Kelli Collins, Carol Wingert, Heidi Swapp, Marti Jones (Mrs. Bazille), Tena Sprenger, and Amy Totty (this lady is hilarious!!!). When we got back to our room they had pink and green popcorn in little bags for us. The next day our first class was with Rhonna Farrer. We did a 21 day journal in her class and used all of her new stamps to stamp the pages of our journal. She is really fun and creative and full of energy. Our second class was with Heidi Lynn (she is the daughter of the Bazille's). She is wonderful and soo funny. She did a calendar class and we got a 12x12 Heidi Swapp calendar, a purple cows cutting tool, and supplies for the layouts as part of the class kit. Our third class that day was with Tracey Niehues. She works for K&Company and this girl created a book out of a clear office envelope. You need to see this to believe it. She had the instructions down to a science. She is super creative. Each class had a power point presentation with the intructions on a big screen. That was really helpful. Our last class was with Leslie Spafford. Her class was a card class and she did some really neat folding techniques for cards and we also did some tags in her class. Her husband was her volunteer and he baked over 600 cookies so everyone could have one. They were a cute team. That night we have a wonderful dinner. Of course we ate dessert first and man that stuff was good!!! After dinner they gave away a ton of prizes. Then Allison Tyler Jones did the keynote speech. She was sooo funny and moving at the same time. She had a great power point with some amazing pictures and music. After her speech all the waiters came out again and gave everyone a little chinese take out box. Inside was a fortunate cookie saying how thankful they were that everyone came, and inside one box was a certificate for her and a friend to attend Creative Escape next year free. Darn!!!! I wanted that!!!! Anyway I'm sure I left out some stuff but as you can see it was a great event. My cousin and I had a great time together and I really miss her because we only see each other about 2 times a year. We talk everyday on the computer but it was an experience I will never forget and be forever thankful that we got to go.

CREATIVE ESCAPE

I had such a wonderful time at Creative Escape!!!! My cousin Ann and I flew out of Memphis on Wednesday to Phoenix to attend Creative Escape. I cannot possibly tell you in one post all of the wonderful things I want to say. I will try and do my best but honestly it was AWESOME!! We were all divided into flower groups and Ann and I were Magnolias. We attended our classes in our groups and each group had 2 helpers. On thursday we had registration and met Heidi and Mr. Bazzill and then went to the "technique boutique". A card came with our name tag in a cute pink "Creative Escape" bag for about 15 stations that we needed to get checked off. At each station we learned techniques we would need to know in our classes for the next 2 days. We also got a TON of free stuff. Each station had a give away from adhesives, to a $40.00 cutting tool, acrylic stamps, a digital CE layout printed on 12x12 cardstock, free kits for mini books, etc. It was really cool. After that the teachers had a "truck show" where they set up big tables with examples of all of their work, and we could visit with each of them and take pictures. After this we went to the on site store!!!! Well, all I am going to say is that we each had a basket full. Ok no more details just in case John reads this blog.

All of the meals were included, so on the first day we got up early and ate a great breakfast and went to our first class. It was taught by Jennifer Wagner and we made a very cute little scrapbook purse. The unique thing about this event is that everyone attends every class. There is no signing up for classes. We all did each class. As you walk in the door they hand you these huge bags of supplies for that class. We did have to bring basic tools and adhesives. Each class lasted an hour and forty five minutes and it FLEW by! The CE people and the Bazille people had extras of everything in case you messed up and they absolutely made sure everyone was happy and had everything they needed. Each classroom had drinks and water. Every need was met.

The second class we went to was Heidi Swapp's class. We used Tim Holtz ink and masks to distress 2 canvas boards to make a message board. This was a relaxing class and we had alot of fun with Heidi. She is so genuine and generous. At the technique boutique she gave us a wonderful kit to make a banner that said "Escape" with all the supplies to make it included.

We had a break after Heidi's class and our last class of the day was with Chris Randall and yes we learned to solder. We bought our own kit and we really had fun and it wasn't that hard at all. At first we soldered around a chip of china. Then we moved on to a necklace. I'll do this again. I would have never tried this if I hadn't gone to CE. That night after our welcome meeting with everyone, we went back to our room and there were chocolates and a CE eye mask for us in our room. (How fun!) Ann posed in hers for me. I also bought us some matching scrap girl PJ's for our trip and it was quite funny to see me set the timer on the camera and put it on the dresser and hop on the bed and pose in 10 seconds! Ok that's all for today. Sorry it is so long but I wanted everyone to see all the pictures. Tomorrow I will finish up the last day of CE on my blog with more pictures.

We Caught A Critter

Well, we finally got a "Have a Heart Trap", (they were sold out for a long time). We knew something was eating my gerber daisy's, but recently we had some huge holes in our flower beds. I mean digging up plants and landscape light wires!! We also had our baby deer visitor so we weren't really sure which one was the culprit. The first night we put out the trap we caught this possum. We used cat food and bacon to bait the trap. It was cute but really mad. It showed it's teeth several times!! John and Seth and some of Seth's friends took it and let it out at Denise Lauerman's new house. hahaha not really Denise!! Got ya! They took it to a lake and let it go. I really felt sorry for it. The problem is..... that since then MORE daisy's have disappeared!!! We are putting it on the back deck now in hopes of catching the flower thief.

This is a fun exciting week for me!!! I leave for Creative Escape on Wednesday!! We are soo excited. They divided all the girls into flower groups and we are in the Magnolia group. I have packed up all my supplies and am ready to go. We got a list of all the women going and I noticed that Stacy Julian and Becky Higgins will be attending!! How exciting! They aren't in my group, but maybe I can get a picture with them. I can't wait to show everyone the pictures when I get back. Have a good week everyone!!

Lisa Bearnson!!

Ok, so John and I have been scheduled to go to Tulsa for months so John could get some continuing education hours. It's only for one night and we could go by Fayetteville and see Lauren on the way to and on the way home. I would have all day Friday from 9 till 4 in the afternoon to entertain myself and we would leave when John finishes. So I print off directions to several malls thinking no problem. Well, we are leaving Thursday afternoon and that morning I get a post card in the mail listing the Creating Keepsakes Conventions for the rest of the year. I am half way glancing over it and.........WHAT??? TULSA THIS WEEKEND!! Well, needless to say I went. It was really fun. All the major companies had booths set up and make & takes. It was fun to just walk around and watch all the excited ladies. I hadn't signed up for any classes, but the examples were all setting out and some of them looked pretty cool. Well about 3:00, an announcer says that Lisa Bearnson will be here in a few minutes if you want to meet her. What? How exciting! I was third in line and I had her sign my big K & Company bag. I had taken John's little camera in case I wanted to take a picture of the event to scrap. She was so nice and very warm and took her time with each lady. She is probably the first individual person I identified with scrapbooking because of her magazine. I admire her story and the way she raises her family. The next day Stacy Julian and several others were going to be there. I saw several groups of ladies together with matching shirts taking classes, laughing and shopping. Hummmm, maybe a group of us need to go next year??? Any Takers??

Heidi Swapp Creative Escape

Well, school has started and I must admit I like the routine. I think I just like change because, I love it when the seasons change, I love it when summer comes and Christmas break comes. I call those good changes. I got a little surprise in the mail yesterday!!! I got a FedEx box from Heidi Swapp's Creative Escape. It had a little travel journal, a black and white polka dot ribbon to tie around your luggage handles (for easy ID), 2 luggage tags in bright pink with Creative Escape on them, a CE button,a CE edge distressor, a little Fed Ex airplane, and 2 candy Fireballs (because it's really hot in September in Arizona). How cute is that! I leave on September 5th with my cousin Ann for Phoenix, Arizona for 3 days of the BEST scrapbook event. I will make sure I have some wonderful pictures to share. I have never been to an event like this before, and I don't know if they will have it next year because Heidi is moving to CHINA!! Yes she is, because of her husband's business. Anyway, I am so excited to be able to go!! In the meantime let's all think "Fall" and maybe we can wish these hot temps away!

End of Summer

Seth and I were home one afternoon this week and he started yelling, "Come quick Mom and look at this"! This precious little baby deer was just walking around in our front yard. Now remember we live in the middle of Indian Creek in the center of town. We started watching it from window to window. It was just eating some of the plants and calmly looking around. Several cars drove by the house and the deer didn't even notice. Eventually it just walked into the woods behind my house. I took this picture off the back deck.

I guess summer is almost over. We took Lauren back to school on Saturday and got her room all fixed up. She has a very nice room in the Tri-Delta house. She was sad and we were sad but no one cried this year. She is coming home for Labor Day and she has called me at least 4 times a day since she left. It is work week for the sorority this week for rush so they have been working from 8am until 11 every night. She is pooped! I think she is ready for classes to start on Monday so work week will be over. I miss her already and am counting the days until Christmas when I get her for a whole month! Yeah! Seth starts High School on Monday. I can't believe that. He is fully engrossed in the HS golf season. He shot a 74 yesterday in a tournament and was the low scorer for the team. We are very proud of him. He truly loves golf. I just hope he remembers as of Monday he has classes too! hahaha

Summer Happiness

I decided to do this layout using one color and printed it on 12 x 12 paper using my Epson 1800. I knew this printer could print 12 x 12 pictures, but I had never tried it before. My theme was happiness and I used some word stamps to frame the photo. I liked the way it turned out. Kind of simple. I have been busy scrappin lately. I have done 2 layouts and made Lauren a clock for her sorority room. We took it apart and put scrapbook paper on the face of the clock and added some bling. She picked everyhing out and it's already in the box to go to Fayetteville. She leaves on Saturday! boo hooo!!! I think she is as sad as we are. We love all being under one roof.

After I posted this I noticed when I scaned and stitched these together some of the words were blurry. I redid it and it was the same. This kind of thing drives me crazy. Oh well live and learn.

Fun!

I love this page! It reminds me of a quilt and I have collected quilts for years. I did this page for my Heidi Swapp "A Year to Remember" Class with Big Picture Scrapbooking. It is such a fun class with some great ideas. I am excited because it is less than a month and I will be with Heidi Swapp in Phoenix for Creative Escape!! My cousin and I signed up for this almost 6 months ago. I can't believe it is almost here!!! Yeah!

Pansy Can

I made this "Pansy Can" this weekend while I was taking care of Baxter. As pledge trainer Lauren needed something to pass around during the sorority meeting that members could drop nice comments in. After the meeting they read the comments out loud. I used this Tombow

Glue stick that I had never used before and I really liked it. I don't regularly use alot of glue sticks but this one really worked well. It seemed much thicker than regular glue sticks and it really held tight. Update: Baxter is doing good. He gets pain meds once a day and then sleeps. As evening gets here he is more active and today he was even putting his leg down just a little. Dogs are much tougher than humans. We would have still been in the hospital with a button for our pain meds. hahaha I hope everyone is staying cool!

Baxter's Surgery

My poor little Baxter had surger on Friday. He is 12 years old and his back leg kept slipping out from under him and he kept falling down. So I took him to Dr. Helvey and he said the cartilage on his knee keeps slipping off the knee cap and he looses control of the leg and falls. So he had to operate and carve out a bigger groove on his bone so it would hold the cartilage in place. Needless to say I am being a nurse this weekend to my sweet Baxter. They shaved his leg and he has this long line of stitches so I am just holding and loving on him this weekend. He only weighs 4 1/2 pounds so I have just been carrying him around or he is sitting in my lap. He goes back on Tuesday for a check and I am going to have to start a little physical therapy on him like stretching his leg out etc. I wish animals lived longer. He is like a member of our family.

Busy, Busy, Busy

First....no we have not caught that "critter" yet. John went to buy a large cage that catches the animals but doesn't harm them, and they were SOLD OUT!!! So we are waiting until they get some more in. I'll keep you posted.

Golf, golf, and more golf! Seth has been playing in so many golf tournaments from Greenville, Mississippi, to Pine Bluff, to Mountain Home and last weekend in Kansas City. The only tournament we have here is a wonderful tournament in honor of Chuck Morton. The Morton family has sponsored it for several years and it is a top notch tournament attracting top junior golfers from all over the state. Last year Seth won his age group and this year he got second by one stroke. He was fine with it. He still got a BIG trophy. Golf season for the High School starts next week. Last year they won the State Championship and they only lost one starter so it should be a good season.

When I wasn't at a golf tournament I was watching the movie "HAIRSPRAY"!!! Lauren and I have seen it 3 times in the last 2 weeks! It is right up there with my all time favorite "GREASE". I highly recommend going to see this. The first time we went to see it we went straight to Walmart and bought the last soundtrack they had. I hate to admit it, but I will be seeing it again!

I think we are home for a while so I will be better at blogging.