Monday, October 26, 2009

I LOVE my I-Top!!!

Seriously!

I got the I-Top this last week!!
I will say, I was willing to be critical, if need be.
I can be honest even though...
OK, so yes, I applied to their Design Team.
But I SWEAR! I LOVE it!!

I went to a crop this last weekend... a fundraiser.
It was a great crop. LOTS of food. LOTS of junk food.
Maybe that isn't so good.
But there is SOMETHING about crops.
It is a time warp. Seriously.
I sat down, and about 10 minutes later (12 hours), it was time to go!

AND I didn't take any pictures!
But I got 4 layouts done. Pretty lame for 12 hours, huh?
Not to say I didn't wander about a lot...
Raffles, a garage sale, vendors... there was a lot to do!!! :)

Back to the I-Top.
It is easy. REALLY easy!
The reason I even bought it?
It makes big brads. Not that I won't ever make the smallest brad (I did today), but I tend towards bigger embellishments. Or at least bigger brads. Most of time. ANYWAY, again. It was SO simple!!
I see grabbing for this in the future MANY times!!
Yes, this is College Press. No, I didn't apply to their DT.

I did this one recently.
Though I like this... it makes me wish I would just go ahead and learn to sew! It could use some sewing. :)

And are the layouts for my Christmas Layouts Class at Scrapaganza!
Giving "simple" a try! And I used a Cricut! Geez!


Using American Crafts-YUMMY! And lots of I-Top action! OK, so admittedly, I caught on to CENTERING the images in the brad after the first couple of brads for the "Joy" layout!
Learning curse is really only about paying attention. {sigh}
The punches for the I-Top=MUST have!!
LOVE the whole system.
The large head for the large brads is a separate buy.
Again, there are punches too. MUST have!
AND, ingenious Imagininsce made brad making die cut shape brad paper tablets (does that make any sense?), so all you have to do is pop them out and make a brad! HELLO! :)

Anyway-hats off Imaginisce! Great job with this tool!!!!
If I were you, I would just get the bundle and be done!! :)

Happy brad making!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Continued...

So much for "tomorrow"... dang!!

OK, so where was I?
How about a little more about Cora's birthday?
Cora is 7... (huh??)
We adopted Cora when she was 2.

This is Cora then (she had just turned 2 when we met her in Ukraine)
This is Cora now...

I would love to say it has all been bluebirds and rainbows-but that's not life.
I have grown, and struggled as a mother. Even as a Christian. I came to BE Christian, in the whole-hearted sense, because of this child. God is always in charge. (Darn it!)
But there has been a LOT of joy... and many blessings. Our family wouldn't be the same without Cora in it!

Five years. Five years right now we were in Ukraine doing one of the hardest things of our lives.
Five years ago I was missing my boys so much it physically hurt.

Five years ago, our lives were changed forever.
There are days I cry, "I can't do it." And God makes it clear many times-"No, but I can."
Take the wheel... I'm all for it.
(Looking at these last pictures from 5 years ago, makes me miss my little house in the country a bit-but NOT the green couch! LOL!)

OK, back to the update...

It snowed already (hard!)...
I was at work.
Kelly was my snow-bunny model. Somehow this didn't make it onto the store blog... hmmmm.

...had an impromptu photo shoot with Cora (the one above was part of that)
The light was so yummy! This one isn't edited at all... I like the fall glow to the setting sun on the fields...
I know there are a lot of fun things I could do with affects-and probably will the future. It isn't perfect, but it was fun!
My kids headed to the sailing club this weekend for sailing-pumpkin retrieving game!

They were WAY intrigued by the sailing boat going in...
and then getting to go out and sail...
Here they all are-all the (local) cousins. Quite the motley crew!
Cora and Daddy (and Grandma Dinah and Arra) went out on the committee boat.
They had to collect 9 pumpkins, and they had numbers-they had to add to 26.
They couldn't get any closer than 25-but had a great time, and got a FANTASTIC prize!
They each got a $15 gift card from Toys R Us-you would have thought they had a free ride to college! LOL!

I couldn't help but get a couple fun shots of Cora in her Halloween outfit.
It was a gorgeous day on the river...
And for goodness sakes a layout!
I got this vintage card at Willow in Dubuque. They had many.
Gabriel is 5 months younger then his sister, which means he'll always be the baby.
I really am loving the newest Cosmo Cricket! It has been my favorite of their releases!
The boyfriends line is fabulous!
And to tease the Holland Family just a bit (so they know there is some good stuff in their shoot-I think they were concerned, seeing as we had SO much running around after their active (adorable) 18 month old!! :) )
Don't worry Hardaway Family... some teasing coming your way soon! :)

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Playing catch up!!

OK... so it has been over a month since an update of activities!

Seriously-where does the time go!

But I want to try some new things on my blog, so let's play catch up and go from there!!
("Click" to check out the full sized version...)

Food...

facepainting... (and YES I am claiming these!! I can paint faces! :) Who knew.)

and football...


... a birthday... (Happy {cough} 31st birthday Kelly!)

...an apple orchard w/friends...


...and rain...
...and mud!


A trip to the "junk" store...


...playing with the neighbors...


...lots of reading...


...pinwheels and kites...



...friends and school...


...another birthday and a brand new bike...




...and a Wii!!!!


I have more...

...even a layout!

How about tomorrow. :)