A little bit of catching up...

OK, I look at the pictures I download from my camera-and if I am going to make this blog a record of our happenings, I better catch up!!

{Scroll down to see the layouts for my March class at Scrapaganza!!}

This morning, it snowed again. I'm holding fast. I still love it. It is stunning!

I was playing with my zoom lens, and while standing in the back door, I caught this picture of a little friend-no cropping... and he was probabably 60-70 feet away. He had breakfast, it seems!

Even the ordinary can be beautiful in the snow.



The eclipse!
Now remember, I am a rookie with my camera-but I think I did O.K.
I DID crop some, (so there wasn't so much black around the moon!!)
but at least I tried to captured the event! :)
It was stinkin' cold that night!!
I literally set a timer for every 15 minutes, and ran out to get a shot of it's progression!
The fully covered picture, without a tripod-NO WAY!
It was a great golden hue! Memorable!

I LOVE playing with my camera and lenses!



And Mr. Gabriel!
Mr. Cutie pie!
My baby!
Mr. Icicle!
Gavin loves them too.... even caught Jerry playin' and knocking them down!!
Again, playing with my camera...
lovin' the depth of field shots...
I'm learning!

Mr. Bashful (yeah, right!)


And some pictures from the other night when we were at Alicia's for a Mom 4 Moms "outside activity". We all brought wedding pictures, and shared stories! Try to find a women that doesn't want to talk about her wedding! :)
There were some funny stories for sure!!


OK, so Alicia's going to kill me! LOL! But this is one of the things I love about Alicia-joy oozes from her most of the time! And comes out in an explosion of expressiveness!!
Do you know anyone more expressive??
Love ya lady! ;)

March Layouts...

Inspired by some of my favorite designers online this month, here are my layouts being offered in my class at Scrapaganza in March! One date only! Saturday March 22nd, 4pm-6pm!
Hope to see ya there!

My Joy...

I am sitting here, listening to my children giggling, and "jammin" to "New Soul" (Mac Air commercial) and thinking. "Life is good"! and as I am writing this, a huge bunny is hopping by the patio door (up past his bedtime, I presume-it's dark) and it's snowing those huge beautiful flakes. While everyone is complaining about the snow, I sit silent. I love the beauty of it. No, I don't like that I have been stick in my own driveway twice this season. But when they said snow, I got happy! Sick.

I'll post some new layouts soon!

Stay safe, and be blessed!

What matters most...

As much as I loved my week at CHA, I really love my full time job-being a mom!

The kids missed me, but coped well. Thanks to grandma for filling in for me-the back and forth, the hugs and kisses... I couldn't ask for a better person to do the job!

The kids liked their presents from CA!

OK, so the masks don't really match the rest of it... but they had fun anyway!

Cora loves her flippy-flop, and she got pink flip-flop slippers too...

Famous Faces...

...not pictured in the previous post! Either "famous" &/or fun! I wanted to show the highlights of those I know via the internet, Scrap in Style TV, magazines, manufacturers... All scrap worthy!

And thanks to Heidi Swapp for her tolerance, grace and humor! :)

I will post my favorite layouts of CHA soon!!

A full review is available at scrapaganza's blog (click to check it out!)

Scrapbooking, cupcakes, and the beach...

First of all, a message to my sweeties!!

And then, a beach favorite photo...

The beach on my birthday! What more could an Iowa girl ask for!!

Then, cupcakes... Red Velvet DOES rock!! $3.50 worth-well, I'm not too sure, but yummy and worth it for my birthday none-the-less!

Here I am, on the phone, listening to my kids sing "Happy Birthday"! Thanks Jerry!

It was the sweetest thing! A birthday moment to remember!!

A fun picture Candi took of me being "crazy beach photo lady". Thanks you!!


Since I was asked (like you could stop me otherwisew!! :) ),

here are my last minute layouts for the booth!

Not bad for last minute?????

Let me tell you, having Kelli Crowe come to your booth and take a picture of one of your layouts... THAT was cool!

And it wasn't even my favorite! Go figure! :)



A sneak peek of one of my suprises for Megan!!

Whatcha think Megan??

WhatEVER will you put inside???? :)

SCRAPBOOK CELEBRITY PHOTOS:

:)

Heidi is too fun! I had to get in out the "Heidi photo a day" kick!

Jeanette From Scrap in Style (founder and Big Sis!)

We met at Round Table Pizza (Really?? We are in CA and we get PIZZA! LOL!) but it was a fun time!!

Donna Downey...

Glitz girl Laura!! Could she BE any sweeter! THESE are great ladies at Glitz Designs!!

Look for their roller stamps, and HUGE rub-ons !! YUM!!!!

Allison from Hambly Screen Prints!!

Scrap in Style Fashionista's Sarah Bowen and Gigi Kennedy

Teresa Collins...

And lastely... one of my favorite layouts at the show! (From the Tim Holtz Ideology booth)

I will try to post more "favorites" later. I also will have to have a "Canon update"

once I can get all the wonderful shots on my Canon (I forgot my USB cord!)

Good night!!!

Keep Scrappin'!!!!

Too much fun-and lots of work!

This day has gone by SO fast! We got to the booth at 8:15am, finished setting up, and I think I might have blinked once or twice, but here it is 10:30 at night!

I met Ali Edwards-SO nice!! I am sincere when I say this! She wasn't just "tolerant", she was genuine! What a wonderful lady!

We (Candi and I) managed to scrapbook 12 layouts in a day yesterday, but I can say I am very happy with the results under pressure!

We had a lot of people to the make and take, and we have had some great feedback about the product.

So many people are SO nice! We are next to Tinkering Ink, and theyh are just great! So helpful and fun!

I am beat, so I am gonna hit the sack! I will try to update soon!! I have more pictures on my Canon, but no card reader or USB to download. :(

Jerry, Gavin, Gabriel, and Cora-and all my friend back home-I LOVE YOU!! :)

We're heeerrreeee!! :) CHA Winter in CA BABY!!

Yep, we're in California!! (check out the horns!)

I am VERY happy it is over 60 degrees here! I'mm happy if it is above 30 degrees lately!

Man I am tired! I am ready for bed-yet we are still waiting for stickers!

Ok, so the printer didn't get them done, and he is sending them with a friend of his... talk about

last minute! We can hardly wait! We got the chunky die cuts though! YAY! We can't wait to get it all... just SIX layouts to do tomorrow. (Six??) :) Oh, and let's not forget the 1200 make and takes we have to cut for... I am REALLY tired now, just thinking about it!!

I miss palm trees! (leave it to me! Always looking for an artsey picture to take!)

and mountians... I miss mountians too...

OFF to CHA-Winter!

Wish me luck! I am excited, but I always miss my kids when I go anywhere.
It is a nice break, but I usually don't need more than a couple hours break-that is usually enough.
But I know I will have fun!

Sue (my wonderful MIL!) got me a digital picture keychain for my birthday (and a new wardrobe practically too! :) ) so I can take some of my favorite pictures with me! WHAT a great idea!
So I will be carrying them with me!

I will try to post some of my favorite things and pictures while I am there!

Please pray for my safety and the safety of my children and husband while I am gone!
It would be very much appreciated!

I don't have the snow storm pictures downloaded yet-so I will post those later.

In the meantime, a layout I did and love! Simple, but sweet.
I love her little toes peeking out from this perspective! :)

Camera update!

I have one!!! YAY!

I got a Canon XTi! I got a GREAT deal!

So, the world remains small... in my search for a camera (read post below) I found out that when I called Camera Corner (our local ma & pa camera store) to see what they had on consignment-well all they had was a camera (Nikon D300) that was so out of my price range... $1300! But what happened is the person that called next, couldn't have been long after me, she bought the D300, and then in my searching online and on ebay-well, having bought the Nikon I passed on (like I had a choice!!) , she was then selling her XTi. Which I just happened to come across! (I saw the "Davenport, IA" in the "where item located" on her auction and thought-"hey, I could save on shipping") ANYWAY, wacko! Every beenon ebay? There are usually about 300+ auctions for the Rebel XTi at any given time... and that I knew of the camera she got which then resulted in her selling the Rebel... OK-I thought it was funny!

I have taken a few shots with my XTi-but I have a LOT to learn!!!

Keep in mind-these are w/o software correction!

My guy doing one of his favorite things... Eve online. :)
(a bit blurry, but I love the light anyway)


Gabriel... so DANG cute!!