Falls of the Ohio

So I think I've mentioned that it's Spring Break around here. And sadly when your mom works from home (and the weather has been really cruddy), the poor kiddos get the short end of the stick as far as activities go. But yesterday, since it was our first beautiful day all week, my mom and I took the boys across the river to Indiana to see the Falls of the Ohio.

First for a bit of history (school never really ends even when it's out, does it?!), the falls really are "falls" (but not of the Niagra magnitude - ha!) where there are uneven waters that make boat passing really impossible. Since the Ohio is such a major waterway, ages ago they set up these "locks" that controlled the flow of water and allowed for boats and barges to pass easily. When they started controlling the water, they discovered something they hadn't expected - one of the largest fossil beds of limestone in this region which contains remains that indicate TROPICAL sea life from 387 million years ago! TROPICAL - in KENTUCKY!

Anyhow, it's really fascinating and you don't have to look hard to find all kinds of fossils even though we went when the water was high. (Autumn is when the water is lowest and you can get deeper into the fossil beds.) The boys were constantly showing me what they had found and we even got to take one small fossil home from the digging area they have set up for the kids. (Fossil removal from the river bed is illegal.)




We ended our afternoon excursion with a visit to the yummiest little ice cream parlor (in an adorable little Victorian house) and then playing at the park by the waterfront. It made for some tired kids, but a wonderful day. If you're from this area and have kiddos that love rocks, dirt and climbing, this is the place for you! I hope you'll check out the link above and go! :)




And one final reminder my Coordinates Collections giveaway ends at midnight tonight so click HERE to get entered to win! :)

Have a wonderful Good Friday, everyone.
xoxo,
k.

National Scrapbooking Day is almost here!

Good morning, all!

As many of you might now, National Scrapbooking Day (NSD) is coming up quickly! It's always the first Saturday in May so that means this year it's an even earlier one - MAY 2nd - less than a month away!

Since I live in Kentucky, NSD has always taken a backseat for me to the true meaning of "the first Saturday in May", The Kentucky Derby, but I do still try and participate in the scrappy activities as I can! Part of that has been creating a really fun little "Circle of Friends" album for BasicGrey as their NSD class offering for local retailers. Here's a little peek at what it looks like:



If you are interested in making one of these little albums for yourself, please contact your local retailer for details!

And for the first time ever, I will be completely immersed in scrappy fun on NSD weekend when I leave Kentucky (I'm afraid they might not let me back into the state after this one ;)) to teach at Scrapbook Expo in San Diego! Becky Fleck and I will both be teaching four classes at the event and we're really looking forward to it! If you're in the area, I really hope you'll attend! Pre-registration is already going on and there are limited spaces still available in our classes. See you there!

Happy Thursday! One more reminder - Coordinates Collections is allowing me to give away two of their beautiful kits for them. Please click here to find out how to enter by Friday at midnight eastern!

xoxo,
k.

BasicGrey's April Newsletter

...is now available for viewing by clicking here!

This month we featured the gorgeous Lime Rickey line which should be arriving at stores near you any day now (if it hasn't already)! Lime Rickey will be perfect for all those spring and summer layouts that just scream for color. Here is a sample project I did for the intro section of the newsletter to show just that. It documents probably one of my favorite days/moments ever. I loved coming across this hot air balloon on the way home from a birthday party for my stepdad. But if I loved it, Mr. Carson loved it that much more!



The newsletter also featured our fabric contest winners - those projects were AMAZING! - as well as our monthly sketch column by Becky Fleck. This is my contribution to that sketch featuring the Wisteria line.



I want to give a huge thank you to Alicia Giess, Kendra McCracken and Kimber McGray for their contributions to this month's sketch as well. They did an incredible job! Thanks again, ladies!! :) If you still aren't registered to receive the newsletter so that it comes to your inbox every month, you can do so simply by clicking here!

And one last thing - don't forget to leave a comment on the post below to be entered to win one of two Coordinates Collections kits that I will be giving away! You must get your comment in by Friday at Midnight Eastern time!

Happy Hump Day!
xoxo,
k.

Coordinates Collections Giveaway!

****CONTEST NOW CLOSED*********
Winners announced soon!

Good morning, all! I don't know about where you are, but here it's not only Spring Break, but it's SNOWING! For the love of all things holy - SNOW in APRIL in KENTUCKY! Gah! I don't think we've had that happen since my Junior Year spring break in High School! (I'm NOT going to give the year because it was awhile back...too long. And WHY is it that Spring Break is totally different when you're the parent?!! Sigh. Sorry. I got off-track there for a second...)

Anyhow - since it's one of those nasty looking days, I figured I needed to spread a little cheer and what better than FREE GOODIES??! Last week Jamie at Coordinates Collections contacted me to see if I would like to give away one of each of her two collections this month both featuring BASICGREY! And since I know everyone likes free stuff, especially BasicGrey free stuff, I jumped at the chance to do that for her.

She has two kits up for sale this month at her site. The first is the Puddles kit featuring quite a bit of Marrakech. Doesn't it look fab?

The other is this beautiful Petals kit featuring BasicGrey's Porcelain. I am totally loving all that pink and orange together! Jamie does an amazing job at creating these unique kits. They coordinate and mix so beautifully!

And just think - this bit of happiness can be delivered right to your door if you are the lucky winner! Just leave me a comment between now and Friday at 11:59 PM Eastern telling me your favorite thing about Spring or Spring Break to be entered. I'll draw the lucky winner on Saturday and Jamie will get your kit right out to you!

Good luck and Happy Tuesday!

xoxo,
k.

Texas, This, That & The Other Thing...

Whew! What a crazy weekend!

I'm back from a whirlwind trip to Texas and the amazing store, Crop Paper Scissors! The owner, Emmalie, is such a beautiful and hospitable lady with a stunning home. I really enjoyed spending time with her and all the wonderful ladies who came out to for both the crop and my classes. A special, huge shout out to my Studio Calico ladies - Jacquie, Diana, Rita, KLiz, Reyanna, Aimee and Stephanie - it was so awesome to see all of you! I had a ball! We'll have to do it again sometime!


And speaking of Ms. Stephanie...I had the absolute joy of hanging out with her and her girls on Sunday at her home and over lunch. Those three are so much fun and I swear if I could have fit Harper and Sadie in my suitcase, they totally would have been coming home with me. I think I could justify it because then I wouldn't have to steal Steph's pictures anymore! HA!


Instead I settled on taking a few pictures of them myself while I was there. Have you ever seen anything more joyous than these faces? Ok, so they were actually screaming..uh, screeching?...initially but then they got laughing so hard! I love that I captured some real smiles, especially this grin from Miss Sadie who's still waiting for her front two teeth to come in! ;) Thanks again for everything, Stephanie! Next time, you have to come up here!

So with all that warm Texas weather (ok, at least warmer than Kentucky, but cold for Texans!), it was a bit of a shock to come up to a threat of snow. The boys are NOT thinking that's a cool way to be spending their Spring Break, especially since some of their friends are down in Florida. Ah, well, perhaps next year. Carson did get to have an Easter Egg hunt on Friday before break, though. It had been scheduled to be at a classmate's house, but due to some horrible rain that morning, got moved to the church gym. No matter to all the kids - it just made the candy eggs that much easier to find! A big thank you to my friend, Stacy, for taking these sweet pictures for me while I was away! I love them!

Where are those eggs again?!


Look! Here's one!


And a whole basketful!


And even though the May issue is now out, I'm holding on to the fact that it's still April! I'm so excited to share this month's cover of Creating Keepsakes Magazine with you. I had the huge honor of working with this beautiful Amanda Bottoms photo (of her own gorgeous daughter) to do one of three cover options for this issue. I was thrilled when Brittany Beattie surprised me at CHA by telling me mine was the one selected. I think they did a beautiful job with it and it was so exciting to get my copy in the mail.

I've had a few people email me about how I did the flowers - they were cut from KI Memories lace cardstock and then backed with coordinating colors of Bazzill. The button centers are by BasicGrey. They are super simple to do and I think they look very spring-y!

Supplies:
SEI & Scenic Route PP, KI Memories Lace Cardstock, Bazzill cardstock, BasicGrey buttons, Zig pen, Colorbox (Clearsnap) chalk ink, Heidi Swapp (Advantus) chipboard alphas, DMC floss

That's it for now! Hope you had a beautiful Monday!

xoxo,
k.

Scrap for a Cure

Hi, all!

Months ago, Patti at Scrap for a Cure emailed me to see if I would be interested in being a guest designer for them. I jumped at the chance because I always love supporting good kit clubs, but also because I completely think it's an amazing thing they're doing in supporting various charities each quarter. I just love that. And add to the incentive, the month they asked me for happened to be a BasicGrey packed month. Ah! So I'm officially Miss April...or something like that! ;)

Here are a few projects I created with their fantastic kit:

I don't often do layouts of myself, but I'm trying hard to do better. These shots are from a self-portrait session I was doing to try and get a new headshot! They crack me up and I thought they'd be fun to put on a page. I love love love how the ledger paper by Little Yellow Bicycle (that is also that orange on the reverse side) goes so beautifully with BasicGrey's Marrakech. Good stuff!

This layout was based on a sketch by my uber-talented friend, Becky Fleck. I LOVE sketches when I don't have time to think of a design on my own and Becky's are some of the best. She rocks some serious sketches. I think this is one she did when we did some joint efforts over at the Hero Arts blog. If you haven't checked out her site - PageMaps - you must do so now! :)

And here are a few cards. The first one is a window design that was inspired by Lisa and the girls over at Hero. They just did a week of window cards and I was completely fascinated. This is my first attempt at something even 1/2 as creative. It was definitely fun and I've already tried the technique again!

This is the front (it's laying flat so you can really see the window):



And this is the same card opened:



And a couple of more:




I had a lot of fun with this kit and I really hope you'll check Patti and the girls at Scrap for a Cure out! Thank you so much for letting me be apart of it!

xoxo,
k.

The LOOT (oh yeah, and the winner, too!)

Because so many of you asked...here's a little peek at the loot I'll be shipping to the lucky gal who's number came up in the Random Number Generator. This is one time when you might just hope you're number would come up!


It's just a sampling...it could be more as I finish purging. I like doing things "superdidooper" as some of you know. Several things got added last night. And well...I'm still not done. It's a pretty good haul if I do say so myself. But I do want to clarify one thing...there's not much BasicGrey in there because I'm purging and I don't purge that very often as I never know when I'll be having to use it. There are a few things though, so don't despair - things like papers from each of the four most current lines, possibly. Technically those aren't purged, but I had enough to share and I thought you might enjoy them (along with the oh, 50 or so sheets of other papers that are hidden a bit here and are gorgeous but I can never seem to find time to use!) I was hardcore this purge, no lie.

Ok, so to prevent further rambling - the lucky number was:



Which means KANDI - You're my gal! Send me an email at kelly.goree@gmail.com and I'll mail off your winnings!

Thank you all so much for playing and happy Monday!

xoxo,
k.

Friendly Reminders!

Hey all!

Happy Sunday to you!

I just have a few little reminders that I wanted to get out there so that you can get in on some fun stuff going on.

The first thing I want to put out there is that I'm going to be teaching in Waco, Texas at Crop, Paper, Scissors this weekend! I'm so excited! I'll be attending their Friday night (April 3rd) crop and then we have three classes on the books for Saturday (April 4th) - two different mini album classes and a layout class. For more info, please click here. It's going to be tons of fun and I really hope to see you there.
I'm so looking forward to going back to Texas, especially during bluebonnet season...and I have a date with two little chickies who need their picture taken with all that blue around them!

Also, please make sure to leave a comment on the post below by midnight tonight to win my version of a TOSGA give-away! I'm cleaning and purging and there is a big box that could be headed your way!

And...because I hate posting without a photo (especially twice in a row), here's Turner getting ready to ride a roller coaster on the midway at a little Irish Festival down in Tennessee last weekend. (How's THAT for a run-on sentence??!) Have I mentioned my kiddos are dare devils? Especially Carson - it's the teeny ones you have to look out for!

xoxo,
k.

Cleaning & Purging - CONTEST NOW CLOSED!

*****Contest is now Closed. Winner to be announced shortly.*****

Ok, that doesn't sound so appetizing but boy is it liberating! My local scrapbook store (the only one still left in a 30 mile radius) is getting ready for their annual yard sale and I figured this was a good time to get rid of all those old supplies I've been hoarding. I wouldn't have thought my little scrap closet would hold so much, but I've been surprised, let me tell you!

So in celebration of getting rid of all this stuff, I thought I'd do a little giveaway. I'm taking a cue from my friend & fellow Kelly/i, Kelli Crowe, and doing a TOSGA (Thursday Old Stuff Give-Away) but on a Friday! I can't promise you what will be in it, but I can promise you I'll fill up a Flat Rate box with all the goodies I can shove in there. Some may be newer than others but it'll all be good!

So I'll give you to say Sunday Night at 11:59 EDT to leave me a little comment to be entered to win. I'll draw the winner Monday morning and your package will be on it's way!

Happy Friday!

xoxo,
k.

The Wall

I have been a huge fan of this crazy wall ever since my mother-in-law moved not three blocks or so from it. I can see it when I stand in her yard and I couldn't get rid of this mad desire to take some pictures there. This weekend I got my chance!

I dragged Ethan with me first. He was not happy about it but evenutally gave me a few fun shots. And seriously? That texture just knocks me out! LOVE it!

Since Ethan didn't want to stay long (in fact, he ran back into the car not long after we got started - HA!), I begged my 18-year-old nephew, Kyle, and his girlfriend Natalie to come with me for a few minutes. Kyle's a ham and always game for just about anything. I adore that about him.

And isn't the way Natalie is looking at him so sweet? They've been best friends since they were freshmen I think and have dated off and on since junior year. It's not much longer until prom (her dress is amazing!) and then graduation. I've known this kid since he was three. It's all going way to fast for me.

And finally they all indulged me with a few jumping shots. These were my faves. I crack up every time I look at them! I can't wait to hit that wall again with the entire crew and a bit more time.



I hope all is well out there in blogland. Carson had his first soccer practice of the season last night (always a hoot!) and we're still trying to get the croup out of this house. Oy. Here's to a great Tuesday (and a Happy Birthday to my Daddy - I still miss you everyday).

xoxo,
k.

for my sister-in-law

Hi all!

I'm home again....again...I spent this past weekend in Nashville visiting my husband's family & celebrating my mother-in-law's birthday. It had been over a year since we had been down and it was so nice to be back. I really had missed them - especially this sweetie. This is my niece, Tristen. While I was down, my super-persuasive sister-in-law convinced me to do a quick portrait session in her gorgeous Easter dress. Of course it didn't take much persuasion. We know how I jump at the chance to take some girlie pictures! And her mama had just the place in mind - an old farm with beautiful fencing and blooming buttercups made a perfect backdrop.


I can't believe how grown up she's gotten. She was much more happy to pose for me this time than she was in our last session and even more so when we let her do a few with her new puppy. Aren't they too cute together?


More photos to follow from a busy weekend. I also conned my 18 year-old nephew and his girlfriend into a few shots along with a few of Ethan when I found this awesome wall. I'm feeling very inspired and can't wait for a productive week!

Hope you had a great one, too!
xoxo,
k.

Home Again!

Hi all!

I'm finally home (and re-settling back in) from a long weekend up on the Jersey Shore! I had some fabulous students attend the classes I taught at Scrapbook Cafe and I enjoyed every minute of it! Thank you so much to all of you, especially Angela, for having me up there and making me feel so welcome!

The extended part came because I also got to visit with my best friend, Ann Marie, and her adorable daughter, Lydian! It was a much needed girl's weekend even if one of the girls was only 16m old!

To say I was in heaven would be an understatement and I won't begin to bore you with even a portion of the 1000 or so pictures I took of the baby girl! (I'll just share one or two - ha!) She was a real trooper as her mama and I drove all over the Jersey shore (including Atlantic City - a definite, um, adventure!), outlet shopping, eating out and everything in between. I even did a couple of mini sessions - one on the beach with her mama and one with a couple of fun, green balloons. Thank you so much, girls, for having me and I love you both! Can't wait to see you again very soon!

But as much fun as I had, I was so glad to get back to my boys. Turner, especially seemed to miss his mama as he kept telling me over and over again as he climbed in bed with me in the morning. So sweet!
Hope you all had a fantastic St. Patty's Day and managed to not get pinched...unless you wanted it!

OH! And ETA: Today is the last day to enter BasicGrey's FABULOUS FABRIC Contest! See my post below for all the details! Good luck! :)

Here's to a glorious Wednesday! It's 75 and sunny here in Kentucky. Happy Hump Day!

xoxo,
k.

For all you Sew Scrappy Happies

This is for all my sew scrappy happy people out there - BasicGrey is offering yet another contest and his time it's for YOU!

As was announced in our March newsletter, BasicGrey is having a FABULOUS FABRIC contest and here are the details:

Smell something sweet? It’s contest time here at BasicGrey and this one offers three opportunities to win! Enter our card, layout or album/altered category by uploading your entry into the BG gallery online using “Fabric Contest” as the subject line. Entries must use fabric (any brand or style) in creative, innovative and beautiful ways. A winner in each category will receive a Sultry™ fabric “Sweet Roll” (1” x 36” strips of all 40 fabrics) and a 40-piece set of 5” x 5” fabric squares. This fabulous fabric contest begins 3/5/09 and ends 3/18/09. Winners will be announced in our April newsletter. Fabric — make it your new favorite embellishment!

So hurry and enter to win! We can't wait to see what you can do with fabric!

And speaking of the March newsletter, I want to send a huge thanks to Suzy West, Kristina Proffitt and Joy Uzarraga for lending their talents to us this month! You ladies did a fabulous job and I hope everyone will check it out! And one last thing before I head out for the day to enjoy this beautiful weather we're having (Sunny & 75 - yay!!!), I'll leave you with the two projects that were my contribution to this month's newsletter.

The first is from Becky's sketch and features the line LIME RICKEY which will be shipping in just a couple of weeks.

This is Carson and his frog wellies - the kid can't get enough! But I have to tell you, it's even better when he wears them with shorts! ;)

The next one is featuring my favorite line from our Winter release. I adore it because it's so very versatile. This is Marrakech used on a layout about my Turner at six. (These were his six-year-old portraits).

Have a fabulous day!
xo,
k

Teaching

Hi all!

I promised more updates and I'm trying to live up to that claim! It's easy when you have something you really want to share. Some of you may have noticed on my sidebar (to the right) that I have a lot (to me!) of upcoming travel dates. Some exciting things have been happening at BasicGrey and one of them is that we are now doing the Scrapbook Expo circuit! YAY!

So beginning with the San Diego Expo in May (where you'll get both of us! A two-fer!) until the end of the year, either the awesome Becky Fleck or I will be teaching at these events for BasicGrey! Becky and I have been working hard to make these some knock-out classes (there will be four different ones offered per show)and we're excited to share them. I really hope you'll come out and join us if the show comes to a location near you! I think you'll be glad you did! (I have to put out a disclaimer that unfortunately this will not include the Santa Clara Expo as we both already had conflicts with that event. I apologize to those in the SC area.)

Additionally, I'll be traveling to more local scrapbook stores as I can to do weekend sessions. The first one for this year is coming up next weekend (March 14th & 15th). It's at Scrapbook Cafe in Tuckerton, NJ (on the Jersey Shore) run by Angela, one of the nicest gals ever! I'm pleased to be offering two classes while I'm there - a "Love Notes" mini album class featuring BasicGrey's Porcelain collection (offered both Saturday and Sunday) and a double-page layout class featuring BasicGrey's Marrakech called "Now & Forever" on Saturday. I'm so excited to be there as I've never been to the Jersey shore AND I get to see my best friend who just happens to live in Tuckerton. She's not a scrapbooker - yet - but I'm hoping this trip might convince her! ;)


For all the details, please contact Angela at scrapbookcafe2@yahoo.com or visit her website at http://www.scrapbookcafenj.com/. I hope those of you in the area will come and join us for an amazing day of scrapping! :)

So lately, life has been a bit like this...

Seriously.

I can't even explain how insane the past couple of weeks has been but I think this picture gives you some clue! (But isn't Ethan rockin' his new trampoline trick?!)

So, she lives. She lives. Thank you so much to those of you who have been concerned and taken a minute to inquire about me! I assure you it's nothing more serious than a crazy weather pattern that has put the sickies in our house and a super-heavy workload. On the upside, the sickies are going, the work is being done and I feel like I can breathe for the first time in a bit. Of course now that I say that, I'm sure I just shot myself in the foot. It would figure, wouldn't it? :)

I hope things have been calmer for you and yours and I am going to try and be around more. I miss me, too!

xoxo,
k.