Creativity Challenge Post

I created this for a challenge for a class that I'm taking at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I found these egg beaters at a garage sale in town. (The woman said, "That's an antique! Do you want to buy this too? It's an antique." She was trying to get me to purchase an old meat grinder. Of course I have NO place to put an antique meat grinder. So I passed.) But I love this and decided to add some antique photos and some antique seam binding.

I used copper tape to solder around a pair of glass microscope slides and filled them with antique photos of my family. This photo is my great grandma, Viola. I was touched that my kids saw the resemblance between her and I. I can see it too. I also think that my sister Kate looks like her.

This photo is of my grandpa (he's the little one in the back), Aunt Mazie, Uncle Joe, Uncle Stub (Adelbert). I think it is so great that grandma and grandpa had all of these awesome photos of their families. And I think they look great in the soldered frames!

Also-Sarah-I'm planning on taking Yesterday and Today which begins in October. The class is taught by Ali Edwards (for 3 months) and I'm really excited about it. She has some info on her blog about it too. (Just in case you miss out on those Master's classes and need something to do...ha!)

Have a great weekend! I'm hoping to fit in some creativity somewhere over the weekend!

Coming Home

One of the best parts about going on vacation is coming home. My garden/backyard changes daily during the spring and summer and being gone for a week always amazes me. The yard explodes into various colors and textures. One of the tall sunflowers bloomed while we were gone. So beautiful. Happy Sunday!

Zinnias-July 2009

The zinnias are in full bloom! Zinnias are my most favorite flower to grow in the yard. They are so inexpensive-so easy-you plant some seeds and in return you get flowers that keep giving all summer long! I love to cut them on weekend mornings, or in the afternoon when I get home from work-and enjoy them in a vase all over the house all week long! Happy Thursday!

Sunday Funday

Hello Sunday!

(Sunday overlay by Ali Edwards for Designer Digitals, available here.)

Hy-Vee was having a sale on roses, so I picked out a dozen that I knew my husband would want me to have ;) They are truly beautiful! And-my first large tomato is ripe! We will eat it tomorrow!

Taking lots of photos, making strawberry freezer jam, sun tea brewing outside, hanging around the house. Didn't do much of anything...just playing around with some photos. Have a great start to the week!

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!

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!

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!

Saturday snowcones and Graduation Lilies

I found some beautiful pink lilies at Hy-Vee on Sunday morning. I love to put fresh flowers in vases around the house. It makes everything more cheerful!

We got snowcones on Saturday after we bought some Summer project supplies at Michael's. (Mostly supplies for Elizabeth...) We decided to take a photo of our brightly colored lips after the snowcones!

Signs of Summer-Challenge

This digital 12x12 page is in response to a challenge on designerdigitals.com from Ali Edwards about the signs of summer in our lives. Flowers, gardens, cookouts, family, lazy dogs, and mowing, and sunny blue skies are some of the signs of summer that we have spotted lately. The flourish was in a Rhonna Ferrar pack of brushes called, "Cabaret" I think that was for Autumn Leaves. The "Signs of summer" brush was in the challenge kit. Happy Monday!

Found Photos

I was looking for a specific photo to blog (I didn't find it...I know what the date was that it was taken, but it isn't showing up in the right folder) but I did find some other really great photos to blog about. Clearly, only one of the photos was taken by me. I think William took the photo of Tigger and I, and Elizabeth took the photo of her and Bryan. I love "found" photos on my harddrive that I wasn't the one who set up the photo and photos that the kids take. I think they are as hooked as I am :) Love the Canon! Have a great Wednesday!

Happy Friday!

I have been totally swamped with stuff going on this week, so I will leave you with these. First, is my album for the "Everyone Can Write a Little" class with Cathy Zielske. And second is how I put my Mom's spice jars to use. Yes, Mom-I used every single one of them:) Happy Friday and see you soon!!!

Random Weekend Events

#1. Saw Star Trek-it was, quite possibly, the best movie I have ever seen! Seriously, it was that good. Now-keep in mind...I am a bit of a trekkie and I watch the old ones all the time, so I got all of the little inside jokes. It was still awesome. Definitely replaced First Contact as my favorite Star Trek movie. Having a hot Kirk didn't hurt any either...

#2. William is making his Birthday List-so be ready. Complete with hyperlinks that say, "Click here for the magic."

#3. Ralph is looking on. Such a cute puppy....

#4. Bryan is laying on the floor with Tigger.

#5. Playing with Dimensional paint.

#6. Playing with regular paint.

#7. Stock photo of Elizabeth. She was hanging out with friends all weekend. She was supposed to take pictures, but the camera's memory card conveniently died.

National Scrapbook Day Self Portrait

This was me last Saturday working on a layout on National Scrapbook Day. What would I do without a tripod and a self-timer? Happy Saturday!

Crabapple Tree

I have been playing with the camera and taking a bazillion photos of this tree-it is so beautiful! I wish we had like 10 of them lining the street so that I couldn't hear the traffic getting onto the interstate! The top photo was taken outside next to the tree and the bottom photo was taken from my attic bedroom with the window open and Ralph's head hanging out of the window to make it a bit more challenging...Happy Saturday!

New Pub Table

I just spent almost an entire hour trying to find a "before" photo to showcase the most hideous part of my kitchen. I couldn't find one. So you get to view the "after." Is it beautiful? Compared to the hideous rolling dishwasher-you bet! Looks like I now need to paint the trim around the windows. Loving it. I hung a new birdfeeder outside the window so that I can sit at the table and watch the birds. Soon I will have the hummingbird feeder out and hopefully I will be able to see the hummingbirds there as well! Bring on Spring! Happy Monday!