Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Flashback

this is now

that was then

Flashback to a time when the kids loved to go camping! When they had fun. When they didn't need technology to have fun...as much anyway....When we'd come home smelly, hot, dirty, and sunburnt. I miss those days...I also miss having time to camp. Perhaps again someday...






Monday, June 29, 2009

Flowers Around the House

Another nature post. I love tiger lilies-and this is the first one to bloom! I took these photos after it rained last weekend. I love the water droplets on the petals!
This is the same tiger lily from a different angle :)

These were the last 2 of the graduation lilies-I cut them and put them in the kitchen.

These were the graduation lilies at their peak in the dining room!
So there was my second little nature post for the week. I'll post something more deep tomorrow. Happy Tuesday!


Sunday, June 28, 2009

Birds at my Feeder

Birds were eating out of the finch feeder for about 2 weeks before I caught who was doing it.
Here are the Goldfinches.

I have also caught Mr and Mrs. Housefinch eating at the feeder as well.

These guys spook pretty easy in our yard, so they don't hang out long. Maybe they will hang out longer once the Zinnias start blooming.
Sometimes, the sparrows eat at the finch feeder too. But more on that another day. Happy Monday!

Year in Review-June 2009

Elizabeth's Birthday-Sweet 16
(Overlay and date brush by Ali Edwards available at Designer Digitals.com)

Cookie Dough and ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. Elizabeth is a little disappointed that she won't be able to try for her license until Thursday, but when you consider that you'll be driving for the rest of your life (I tried to reassure her) one week isn't that long. Not sure if it soaked in or not. On Saturday we went shopping at the Coral Ridge Mall to buy a few of the things that she wanted for her birthday (mostly at Holister, American Eagle, Scheels, and PacSun). I was even able to squeeze in a quick trip for me at Barnes and Noble....

The party happens on Thursday night. I'm not sure just how many people she invited....or how many are coming...and I don't really want to know....

We love you Elizabeth-Happy Birthday!


Thursday, June 25, 2009

Driver's License Update

Okay-last night's uploading and playing around with Photoshop Elements kept me busy all night last night. So tonight....no photo-just a quick update. We got to the DMV around 3:00. Guess what? The loser in front of us got the last DRIVE TIME!!!! So she may not get it until Tuesday. We shall have to see...Time for brownie cake from Dairy Queen! Happy Birthday, Elizabeth-maybe next time.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Happy Sweet 16, Elizabeth!!!

Sari holding Baby, Liz when she was very tiny. (Photo Overlay: Ali Edwards Design Masks and Overlays, and Love Circles Embellishments available at DesignerDigitals.com)
Fifteen: Texting over breakfast. (Template, paper, and design by LivEdesigns, ez-pz Template 01, available at jessicasprague.com)

What can I say-this is soooo Elizabeth.... (You word art by Ali Edwards Design, available at DesignerDigitals.com)


15th birthday in Disney World 2008. Yay! (31DaysCircleNumbers, Ali Edwards Design, available at Designer Digitals.)



I remember how she wore this crown ALL day. (Remember word art, Ali Edwards Design, available at Designer Digitals.)

I LOVE this photo of Elizabeth and William feeding their baby and Bunny :)
(Love Sentiment Strips, by Ali Edwards Design, available at Designer Digitals.)
Sweet Baby pretty much says it all. (Photo Overlay: Ali Edwards Design Masks and Overlays, Pinked Circles-Pink, and hello baby handdrawn brushes available at DesignerDigitals.com)
Love you, Elizabeth! Have a great Birthday and good luck getting your driver's license. We love you!






Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Nothing Ever Changes


Texting.
I ran across these photos and I realized that nothing really ever changes. Whether you are 3 or 16-some things remain the same. Check this out....


After washing her hair

On the computer.


After taking a bath.



On the Phone




On the computer.
There is something coming up on Thursday. Wow!









Monday, June 22, 2009

My Weekend

I got off work early on Friday because I worked my butt off earlier in the week. First I helped Bryan finish cleaning his room. He really did a pretty good job. Most of what he had left just needed to be swept into a trash bag. Then we went and bought paint to FINALLY turn his pink room (over a year, I think, he's put up with it...) into a very manly shade of blue. This is me. Obviously. At the point that I took this photo I was close to completely off my rocker because of this:
Elizabeth was home for less than 5 minutes-she popped in-"Can I put my handprint on the wall?" Put her hand in the puddle of paint and proceeded to slap it on the wall...several times.

Elizabeth was here.

Bryan's door.


Trim finally painted and 3 coats later-Saturday night.


What I found Sunday morning.
Bryan stayed up late moving furniture back into his room. So sweet. He loves the room and I think it turned out great! And boy did I sleep well!




Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day, Part 3-My Dad

Big number 29-enough said.
Mom and Dad right around the time we moved into the "new" house (1981). So so much better than the four room house with no doors in Dunlap...


Merry Christmas...(Peter Christmas...) 2009-29 Christmases together-Mom, you are a patient woman.

Happy Easter-1982



Putting up the fence is the blurb that I have on the back of this photo...but I'm not sure there is much work going on here...This is probably around 1981 as well.




Holding Paul David-I think this was when Paul was baptized at St. Vincent de Paul in Peoria.

I loved Sarah's post for Dad for Father's Day, so I decided to go on a scavenger hunt for old photos. I didn't have to hunt too long-I have been pretty good about organizing my photos over the years. And my old photos are only in a couple of different albums. These are some of my favorite photos from way back (probably because I took many of them.) I even had a few of them labelled and I remember most of the others. Happy Father's Day, Dad! Thanks for all of the life lessons! We love you!
One of the things that amazes me is how each family sort of invents it's own language based on the personalities of the people in it. Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!




Happy Father's Day, Part 2


We love you Daddy! Thank you for being such a great part of our lives!

Happy Father's Day!



Happy Father's Day, you crazy Clint Eastwood impersonating fool! Hope you enjoyed your pancakes and sausage links this morning. We love you!
{Of course-these are MY pancakes and sausage, because I was too busy cooking them when I was doling them out to the menfolk. And I started with the homemade recipe-which reminded me as soon as I poured the batter in the skillet that I hate it...I quickly threw it away and made the "Complete" (ie-just add water so you can make thick fluffy pancakes) version. They were much better. Hope to remember this for previous years. It's been a while since I last made pancakes!} I hope to have a scrapbook page coming soon. But right now I think it is time for a nap.
Happy Sunday!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Fave Photo Right Now



Okay-I can never choose one photo for my favorite. I love the first photo because it is so rare that I am able to get my teenage son to actually pose for a photo with me. And the second photo shows how he is always trying to pull away from us-even when he really does need us. Love you, William. (Post in response to "Describe your favorite photo right now" for Ali Edward's sponsor giveaway this weekend.)

Friday, June 19, 2009

Finished Painting


I finally finished the painting. I finished it last night and scanned it in at 11:00 pm. The painting is done on an 8x8 canvas from Dick Blick. {It has been sitting around waiting for inspiration for quite some time.} Then I hung up the original in my cube on the "wall" when I got to work this morning. It totally brightens up the area. I love it!! Happy Friday-have a great weekend!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Thursday-Playing in the Studio

Last night I decided to work on some paintings. My inspiration comes from Traci Bautista and her "Springtime" print on Etsy-her blog can be found here. I totally have to learn by copying first. Once the techniques are embedded in my brain, then I can draw on them to create my own stuff. Until then...I do a lot of pointing to other people's work :) Anyway-I am still loving her Creativity Unleashed class! I haven't been doing a lot of "finished" paintings lately, just a lot of backgrounds that I have been scrapbooking on, or creating journal pages for. So I had a GREAT time creating these pieces. The above piece is a 9x12 painting done on watercolor paper. The other inspiration for the painting is some new paint that I just ordered from Heidi city. It can be found here. The colors I bought are icee, betty, and cotton candy (under accessories)-of course I had to order a couple of other things as well. What I liked about the piece was the colors and the flowers. What I didn't like was that the background was a little bland.
That's where this piece comes in. I didn't like the flowers so much on this piece, but I LOVE the background and the stems. Tonight I am working on an 8x8 canvas piece that will hopefully take what I like from the above 2 paintings and merge them so that I can take the piece to work and brighten up the "Pod" as they are known at work (6 cubes=1 pod). Keep in mind that I don't often spend a lot of time in the pod. I also work in the lab a lot and do some running to different buildings as well.

This is the front cover of a journal that I created using a combination of techniques learned in Traci Bautista's class as well as a couple of techniques from her book which can be found here.


This is the back of the journal. I am totally loving the painted pages inside the journal too. In fact, my post from yesterday was written on one of the pages of the journal and scanned on my scanner. Gotta go-boy is it warm in here! Hubby just put the AC in the attic window. Back to creating soon. Happy Thursday!



Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Wednesday

And that is all I have to say about that today...

Mini-Book














Here is a look at pages that I created for a mini-book. I started it as a way to experiment with watercolors on cotton duck canvas fabric. The photos were printed on the "wallets" setting on my computer, and the pages are 6x6. The paints I used were just plain old Crayola watercolors with water. I love the effect! I plan to sew the pages together soon, but I wanted to scan them individually first. Happy Tuesday!