Balloon Entertaining

As always I'm a day late and a dollar short, but I had to share a few pictures with you all from this weekend. Beyond the usual soccer craziness (which I will share a bit later), we also attended a birthday party for Turner's Cub Scout friend, Jacob. Because Jacob has a couple of siblings, all siblings were invited and it ended up being this large, crazy party of all ages. I truly think it was one of the most fun children's parties I've ever been to. And yes, *I* went too...and so did my husband. Because once you see these pictures, you'll know why we couldn't tear ourselves away!

Not only did Jacob's mom have two huge inflatables for bouncing, a ginormous cake, pinata and huge goodie bags, but she also hired a balloon twister. Or as he likes to describe himself... a balloon ENTERTAINER! And truly that's a much more appropriate title.

Turner actually found him first and asked if he could have a balloon. So Gilbert (the entertainer) asks him if he wants to be surprised or if he knows what he might want. Turner is far from decisive so he asks to be surprised. And this is what he got....
ROOOOOOOOOOARRRRRR!!

Um, wait...do alligators actually roar? Anyhow, it was an alligator and sooooo stinkin' cool! Turner loved it.

Next up were a couple of other kids from Cub Scouts - the ball with a bat thing Jackson is wearing turned out to be the hit of the party, but I thought the Japanese bug thing-y was pretty darn cool, too! Gilbert managed to get a balloon made for each of the kids at the party in the just-over-an-hour he was there which was unreal to me! He was a blowing and twisting crazy man. (You can see him working in the background of the bug picture!)

The last two to get their balloons were Ethan and Carson. While Ethan asked to be surprised, Carson had a definite idea of what he wanted (I think anyone who knows him could guess that that was!). Gilbert suprised Ethan with this gigantic octopus (soooo cool!) and then Carson got this....HOLY BANANAS! It was huge! SO huge it was hard to get a picture of it so you could get some perspective! I made Carson take it off so I could show the monkey, but it was actually a hat...and hysterical when on. Check this out! ha!

Gilbert earned every penny he made, but he was worth every penny too, especially when I found out he uses his balloon and magic show money to fund mission trips. How incredible. If anyone in our area is interested in having Gilbert at a party or event of yours, just let me know and I can pass along his info. He comes with fantastic references - and is amazingly talented as you can see! :)
Off to get some work done on this gorgeous Wednesday! Happy Hump Day, all! I hope it's a beautiful one!

xoxo,
k.

ready, set....GO!

Ok, I had the best of intentions, really I did.

I totally was going to start out the week by telling you guys all about my weekend full of soccer games, birthday parties and play dates, but...well...it's Monday. And it's raining. Hard. So Mondays and I just aren't friends today and I haven't found the energy to get myself together. So I'm going to take the easy way out until at least tomorrow and instead post what is probably my "favorite mini album of all time."

I did this project for CHA Winter and it features BasicGrey's step album and the newest release, Lime Rickey! I adore how all these bright colors worked so well with the photos without being too overwhelming, even given the bold patterns.

Here is the cover:
I used just a regular punch to get that circle notch on the upper right - it made it a bit rough, but I just sanded it down and it worked beautifully.

This is the intro page telling about Carson's first bike ride:


And so it begins...with Daddy's help:

It didn't take long for him to get the hang of it all. He's one determined little man!


And check it out - he already has it. I swear it was just the space of 15 or 20 minutes total! Unreal!

So very proud of himself! (We were too!)

Supplies:
BasicGrey Lime Rickey collection, Lime Rickey chip sticker shapes, Blush alpha stickers, Lime Rickey Olio Rub-ons, Lime Rickey brads, Euphoria Chipboard alphas (Other: Chalk inks, black journaling pen, white cardstock)

I hope you all have a wonderful...and relaxed...Monday!

xoxo,
k.

Got Sketch?

Happy Tax Day, all!

Ok, so that's a huge oxymoron for a lot of us - me included! - but after today, it's all over, right? So it's time to have fun and move on to something a little more exciting!!

This month I had the honor of creating a layout based on this sketch by the awesomely talented Valerie Salmon for Got Sketch? - her fantastic sketch blog.

It's no secret that I adore sketches and Valerie is amazing at them! If you need proof at how fantastic she is, it's Got Sketch?'s 2nd Birthday and I am so honored to have been asked to be a part of the celebration along with these other incredible designers!

I hope you'll visit the site HERE to see the beautiful layouts everyone did with this sketch. (Mine, along with the supply list, is below.) The prize sponsor for this week's contest is The Scarlet Lime, Christy Tomlinson's wonderful kit club, so you know you want to be a part of that! And if that's not enough, Valerie is giving a lucky winner a LAYOUT PAGE designed by her just for them! I love that idea so much that I'm tempted to ask Valerie if I can be in the running just to get a page by her for myself! ;)

Have a fantastic hump day!
xoxo,
k.

Supplies: My Mind's Eye PP, Bazzill Cardstock, Heidi Swapp Acrylic Paint & Chipboard Heart, Uniball Signo Pen (White), Pentel Pen (black), Colorbox (Clearsnap) Chalk inks, WeRMemory Keepers 3-D sticker, Fiskars Punch (Threading Water), Scenic Route Chipboard Shapes, BasicGrey chipboard alphas, EK Success Alpha stickers, American Crafts chipboard word bubble

Realizing a Dream

As a parent I feel I have an awesome responsibility to encourage my children and build up their dreams in them as much as I possibly can. To this end, my husband and I are always finding motivational and inspirational things to show the boys so they can see that anything is possible if you never give up and keep on believing in your dream. Right now, Ethan's dream is to play NFL football...with the Green Bay Packers (don't gag on your coffee this morning, Becks!) and, well, while it might not be the most realistic of dreams, if it's something he wants I am 110% behind him. But he is also learning just how hard you have to for work it. (Just ask him about his first practice as quarterback and he'll tell you!)

So when I came across this clip from Britain's Got Talent (another Simon Cowell program) on Kirsty Wiseman's blog yesterday, I immediately called Ethan and my husband in my office to watch it. I was moved to tears because THIS was someone who never gave up and because of that was finally seeing her dream realized....after she had it in her heart to do since she was 12. She's now 47. Please click the link below to see this amazing story (YouTube removed the embedding priviledge).

Britain's Got Talent - Susan Boyle

Susan Boyle, you inspire me! The world is your stage now! :)

Have a wonderful Tuesday!
xoxo,
k.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

It's back to normal around here as the kiddos have returned to school after Spring Break. With just a yucky start to the week - weather-wise - it ended up being a spectacular Easter. It was sunny and in the low to mid 60's and truly beautiful.

The Easter Bunny was good to the boys (he even included a new Wii game in their baskets) and the grandparents were even better! We spent a wonderful afternoon at my parents' house eating dinner and hunting eggs. The boys were master hunters this year, especially Turner - he was on a mission and even found the coveted "golden egg", a prize worth a nice $5 bill! He was so very proud!





This year was the first year we were joined by these two little beauties.

Recently adopted into our family, the girls are just two and one and ohhhhh so cute! It was a ball having such wee ones around, and girl wee ones at that! Loved it! And the littlest, Miss Lynda, was ever so slightly infatuated with Ethan. I love these shots showing her as she managed to work her way in front of him on the stairs then proceeded to flirt as only a one-year-old can! The look on her face when she finally got E to look her way was priceless!


I hope your Easter (or Passover) was just as wonderful.

xoxo,
k.

Happy Easter!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Happy Easter and to announce the winners of the Coordinates Collections kits (sorry for the delay -see below!!)

We spent this beautiful day before Easter with a little football spring training (Ethan is being practiced as their quarterback right now!), a little yard work, followed by a little egg coloring. Quite the day, let me tell you. Here's a few pictures of the boys' handiwork. They got quite good, even doing multi-dipped eggs toward the end and then wondering why Mama didn't boil another dozen or so for them to color! (Um, because the one one who EATS them after we make them is ME??!)

Here's a little before:


Some during: (Carson was amazed - I think his mouth was open the entire time!




And then after - love some pretty colored eggs! :)


Ok, so on to the winners of the Coordinates Collections goodies!
The random number generator gave me these two numbers:



which means Shelley, you're the winner of the Puddles kit, and Danica, you're the winner of the Petals kit. CONGRATULATIONS!!! If you gals would email me your addresses at kelly.goree@gmail.com, I'll forward them on to Jamie at Coordinates Collections so you can receive your prize!

I hope everyone has a blessed Easter.
xoxo,
k.

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.