Mikayla's birthday is today!

Oh how time flies, my little princess is turning 6 years old today! What a blessing she is! She is so amazing and I just love to be around her.

Mom: "So, Mikayla do you feel old now?"
Mikayla: "Yeah"
Mom: "You feel old and you're only 6?"
Mikayla: "Not old, but I feel 6 now!"


Seriously, you can laugh at this photo... We can't stop laughing at it! Does she look like a redneck child or what! And the funny part is she's not missing any teeth on the top, those are all her baby teeth yet! I even posted it on Uncle Jason's machine to keep him in laughing spirits all day!

And of course, we got lots of pink for her birthday...its her FAVORITE!

And princesses...{ her little sister, Alexis, loves to play with these too } Mikayla wanted a magic wand for her birthday, so the Fairy Godmother granted her wish....

And pink sparkling pants....she wore them to school today!

And this is the funny act she pulled last night...she put my PJ's on ontop her PJ's...what a corn-ball! LOL

Happy 6th Birthday Mikayla! Love you lots and lots and lots!

Teacher conferences....

Oh, I just love to go to teacher conference! Today Joe and I met with Mikayla's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Foltz. I just love to hear that she is doing amazing in school! She loves to be in school and she loves to do well! I certainly think she is a smart cookie, but its definitely great to hear she is doing awesome by school and state standards too!

Joe and I, also, met with Casey's 4th grade teacher this afternoon too. I am so distressed and frustrated with why our school system decided to change its grading practices! What was wrong with A,B,C,D, and F? Now we have 4,3,2, and 1! The literature states that this system promotes "learning" over "earning" and it motives children to improve throughout the year better. I just do not agree! Why wouldn't a child who gets a C be motived to get a B or A? So the teacher did lots of explaining on the new grading system and we were excited to hear that Casey is doing well! {We just have to work on some Math facts}.

Oh, and next year when she goes to 5th grade she'll be back to the A,B,C,D, and F grading system! {At least for now.}

Lovely Layout

I was able to make time last evening for a quick card and one layout. Here is my precious daughter, Alexis, with her Gigi. She is only about 3 months old in this photo...now she's three!

Card of Thanks

I recently came across a creative blog, Mosh Posh {check it out here http://mosh-poshkits.blogspot.com/ } and they issued a challenge to create a card of thanks. Any size, any style, just create! I was inspired by a layout I seen recently by Jennifer Campbell and this was my card...Now I just have to figure out who the lucky recipient will be...I'm thinking this is a great card for my mom!

My daughter's Turkey and another layout

I was going to wait till next week and post my daughter's turkey project for Kindergarten, but I just can't wait to post it.

The assignment was to decorate Tom Turkey so he would not be recognized and hopefully not be eaten for Thanksgiving. {It was a family project so we were allowed to help.} Mikayla wanted to decorate "him" as Cinderella. {I know, what a shock!}

Here is our inspiration....

In progress....{I really tried to let Mikayla do a lot of the crafting, it was hard for me to back off and let someone else do it! lol}

Mikayla and her turkey....

and a close up...

Another layout that I created for a challenge at the week long online crop at itsscraptacular.com. This challenge was to use another layout in the gallery as inspiration. This layout was inspired by a layout that Dana had in her gallery. She created these awesome ribbon flowers and I was itching to try my hand at them.

Thanks for looking....

Fall Leaves

Another challenge on the recent online crop event at itsscraptacular.com was to use fall colors - Red, Yellow, and brown. Here is my layout and a close up of the leaves....Still more to come...

Really Punked Out Hair

I recently pulled out some older photos of my now five year old "baby". I have wanted to try and "catch up" {I know this is totally impossible by my standards} on some layouts of her. I had the chance to use these in a challenge on the online crop event at itsscraptacular.com last week. The challenge was a recipe list...and all ingredients are included!Stay tuned for some more reveals of the crop event....

Color Challenge

I don't know about other creative ladies, but some color combos just speak to me and I get an idea right away. This combo was not one of them....{HaHa}

When I sat down and looked at my supplies and started to look for these colors. I just could not find a pattern paper that combined them! I just really drew a blank on this one. {Which is really frustrating, because the prize is amazing!}

I decided to keep it very clean and simple.

Here is a recent layout I did for another color challenge. I seen the flowers on a tutorial and was looking for a chance to use it. I like how it turned out.

I recently dug into some older photos of Mikayla. I can't believe she is going to be six this month. In this photo she was about 8 months old.

Thank You Veterans!

Every year when Veteran's Day comes around I think of the great men and women who have and are serving our country. I think of my father who served in the US Army at the end of the Vietnam war in Germany. Before he passed away he requested a military funeral. I have never experienced a more humbling experience in my life.
I think of my Uncle who has been a huge part of my life for many reasons. He was also a Vietnam veteran who received a Purple Heart for his services. I remember him talking to me and my classmates about it in High School. I was so proud of him and his medal, but it was definitely a different reaction for my Uncle. He remembers things and events that I could not even imagine.
I think of the men and women how are serving our country right now and have to leave their families here to keep our country safe and free.
I thank them all and pray that God keeps them all safe.

Happy Veteran's Day!

Puzzling invitations

This creative design is not my own. This idea was posted by Betsy Veldman on Paper Crafts blog a few weeks ago. {Check it out here http://papercraftsconnection.com/2009/10/07/groovin%e2%80%99-with-the-go-to-gals-%e2%80%93-i%e2%80%99m-puzzled/ } I thought it was perfect for our birthday celebration coming up this month.
When I handed one to my brother yesterday he moaned "Do I have to figure out the crossword for the information?"....and I mean he moaned!

I, like Betsy, included the info on the back for those who do not like to do puzzles. My brother was thrilled to hear this.

Sketchy Thursdays challenge

This sketch was tough for me. I don't usually leave so much white space. I tried really hard not to cover up the layout and leave white space.

Challenge....

And my creation...

I love her smile! It just puts me in a great mood!

Plum Crazy Challenge

On the Moxie Fab World website at http://www.moxiefabworld.com/ you can try your hand at a Plum Crazy Challenge.

When I think of purple {or plum} I think of wine {oops...I mean grapes}. So I created a bunch of grapes on a wine tasting invitation.

Here is my creation...

I can not wait to schedule this event for after the holidays!

PageMaps Blog challenge

This a new site for me and my first sketch challenge is....
Now, I'm sure all crafters can relate that some times you are in the middle of a layout or project and it's just not turning out the way you like and when you finish it just really doesn't impress you. Then, on the other hand you have some layouts or projects that you absolutely adore when you are finished. This is the case for this layout!

This is a family joke we kid about with our daughter Mikayla who has very gorgeous pouty lips. {She did not inherent them from mommy and daddy.} So I found a picture that really showed her pouty lips and decided to use it for me theme. I, also, adore the orange and red colors. I think the orange/red polka dot pattern paper is so yummy! I'll be using that more in the near future!

I'm a winner!

I was the weekly winner at Sketchy Thursday this week! Yeah! I can't wait to show you all the Art Glitter package I receive and some awesome layouts with them! I'll be attacking the mail everyday when I get home in anticipation!

If you like to see the layout it was posted below..."missing you".

My Gambler

Yesterday was an in service day for our school, so Mikayla had a day off and joined us at the shop for the day. She is so good about contending herself and finding creative things to do. She was in the "play room" for most of the day and she came out to my desk as I was working and laid out some small pieces of paper. I'm thinking..."great, she cut up scrap paper and we'll just throw them away". However, when you look closer....

Mikayla {age 5} created her very own playing cards! I love it!
I'm sure in no time at all she'll be dealing them up with us! Oh, I sure do love my little gambler!

Sketchy Challenge

The latest challenge at Sketchy Thursdays....
I have wanted to do this layout for quite some time. I needed room for journaling, as this was an important part {and therapy} of the layout. So I removed one of the photo squares and turned it into my journal square. I'm happy with how it turned out...it's a hard thing to put into words.

Top Five Winner!

Please go to the website and see all the wonderful, creative projects!
Thanks so much!

Oh Goody Goody Goody!

I'm so excited!
Beth is having another online crop event! I had so much fun completing the challenges on the last online crop event {and I got so many layouts done in 2 1/2 days}.

Be sure to mark your calendar and join us on the forum! Only six more days to wait!