A Moment of a Lifetime

Have you ever had one of those completely serendipitous moments?
They're extremely rare, but we sure experienced one of them tonight and it was amazing!

Tonight as we were coming home from my parent's house (where we celebrated my stepdad's birthday), Ethan pointed to a hot air balloon he saw on the other side of the interstate. It was such a calm, gorgeous day and apparently the balloons were out in full force taking advantage of it.
The one E pointed to was hovering just above the ground, almost looking like it was going to set down just off the the road. I gave my sweet husband one of "those looks" (he knows them well enough when it comes to me ;)), and he took the next exit so we could do a little balloon chasing.

We stopped just as the balloon setting down. I jumped out of the car, ran across the open field with my camera (that I just happened to have for the Birthday party), snapping away. I know, you're shocked, right? As I get up close, I see other families that had stopped just as we had to admire the beauty. And when I was finally within earshot, I heard the captain invite all the children watching to board the balloon as they "hopped" it across the field to their other balloon for deflation.











ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

I waved the boys to come over and the next thing you know, they were lifted into the gondola and the smiles didn't leave their faces from that point on. Hoyte joined a few others in walking the balloon along to help guide it. Carson was hollering at him the entire time, "LOOK, Daddy! I'm FLYING!" It was unbelieveable - totally one of those moments I'll never forget!
(If you click on any of the images, you'll find 1 or 3 of my kids peeking over the gondola basket with a look of utter amazement! ;))

Hope you had a magical weekend, too!

(P.S. School starts in just over a week??! WHA'?! Can you believe it?

Just a little More BG Goodness

Ok, I forgot to mention that along with the awesome new paperlines we put out, there are a few other things that
I.
have.
to.
mention.

Let's start with FABRIC!

Oh, yes, that's right - finally, finally, finally, BasicGrey is now available in fabric. We've partnered up with MODA (the premier textile company) to produce some amazing fabrics featuring the URBAN COUTURE (note - the older Urban line, not Urban Prairie). To see more of it or order it direct, please go to ModaFabrics.com and search for BasicGrey or follow this direct link.

Also! (oh yes, there's more) - we've released some fabulous new chipboard including two microchip fonts available in white chocolate chip, milk chocolate chip and dark chocolate chip (um, that would be white, brown and black accordingly!). It's absolutely amazing to add with the new chipboard ALBUMS that were released. One of my favorite shapes is this "Lotus" shape - very floral-y and so fun to play with. I did this one out of Urban Prairie for our little neighbor/babysitter. Can you tell it's my favorite line?? SO fun! The best part are there are no rough edges to work with so no painting or inking needed! Here's a little peek at that...



And finally I have to show this photo and it completely cracks me up. I posted before about T's LO being on the cover of Scrapbooking & Beyond's summer issue. On the last day of the show, Jane Beard, the editor, stopped by to tell me that I could have the poster of the cover shown in their booth if I wanted it. WHAT? What poster??? So I had to run and look. CHECK THIS BAD BOY OUT! Have you ever seen anything so huge??? HA! Needless to say, I didn't take it back with me due to size (and the fact that having my son's head larger than mine kinda freaked me out), but it was awesome to see! (Thanks to Ms. Kayla Aimee who sweetly volunteered to take this photo as she was walking by!)

As Promised - NEW BASICGREY!

Whew! It took me longer than I hoped, but internet access was sporadic and let me tell you, I was wiped at the end of the show days. I finally arrived home lateeeeee last night, so here it is, as promised - the NEW BASICGREY! (Click any image for a larger view)

URBAN PRAIRIE

This is BasicGrey's new line URBAN PRAIRIE which is a folk art inspired line - complete with beautiful flowers, butterflies, bumble bees and birds. It's got a folk feel with a modern twist and has such wonderful colors as pinks, teals, black, yellow and a beautiful green.
The little sweetie on the left is Anna, my friend Shelby Valadez's little beauty (THANKS SHELBY!!!). I had such fun doing a little doodling with the frame and bumblebee trail and focusing on that sweet little face. Again there is our new microchip font in white (white chocolate chip! ;)) as well as some new buttons and chip sticker shapes from the line.
The layout on the right features my friend Jamie's little girls Hayden and Hayley. It uses the blue/green/yellow combination of the papers along with the new rub-ons, chip sticker shapes, buttons and again the white chocolate chip microfont.

OFFBEAT

This line is called OFFBEAT and it's one of my favorites! It's very hip and trendy and incredibly versatile. The colors are bright and happy primaries with a punch of brown and white which makes it really fun to work with. Also shown on these layouts are our new microchip fonts - the 1/2 - 3/4" size letters that take titling to a whole new level - mini stamp sets which I used to create a border for the "What you Eat" layout, element stickers and coordinating buttons. (I crack up that I had pictures of the boys as veggies that I've been dying to scrap but couldn't figure out how before!;))
The unique thing about the Offbeat line is that there are 18 PATTERNS and no official "solids" to this line though some patterns are tone on tone or a color with white only. I think that offers so many more options in your scrapping!

EVA

This new line is called EVA (soft emphasis on the "e"). Eva is a European inspired line from the time of Marie Antoinette. The color palette includes beautiful deep plums, pinks, gorgeous greens and touches of black. It's extremely sophisticated, romantic, soft and lovely.
The beauty on the left is my friend, Jamie Harper's young lady, Maddy. Isn't she a beauty? The gorgeous little girl on the right is my friend Jamie Cottrell's daughter, Hayden. Thank you so much ladies for lending me photos of your stunning daughters!
Featured in these layouts are our new Microchip alphas in black (Dark Chocolate Chip), the element stickers from the collection pack and a few Ambrosia rub-ons as well as some Sultry Olio Rub-ons (Sultry blends beautifully with this line).

(and yes, Aly D., we're so going to make sure you get a prize for your correct guess over on our Two Peas post!

AMBROSIA

This is BasicGrey's new line AMBROSIA! Ambrosia is a mix of warm oranges, reds and even deeper, redder reds (is that a word??!) coupled with the wonderful neutrals of cream, basic grey and basic black. The patterns all work so well together with some beautifully designed papers. For those of you that have been craving a "replacement" for Black Tie, Ambrosia is it for you!
On the left layout, I featured Ambrosia Rub-ons and a hint of the dark chocolate chip micro alphas. The layout on the right features more Ambrosia rub-ons mixed with a few from past lines and some coordinating brands.

GRANOLA

This is BasicGrey's new line GRANOLA! This is an earthy line full of rich textures and patterns including wood patters, animal prints, floral and rain patterns. The colors range from the deepest purple-y blue to a light blue, soft brown and cream. Perfect for photos of your little men or anyone that loves that earthy look.
On these layouts I have used not only Granola, but the brown microchip alphas (chocolate chip), the new granola alpha, Chip sticker shapes, element stickers,and more.

And please, for more projects/layouts created using the new BG, please also see the galleries/blogs of Nic Howard, Cindy Tobey, Tammy Tutterow, Marla Kress, Erikia Ghumm, Linda Albrecht, Margaret Scarborough, Allison Kimball and Becky Fleck.

As for CHA itself, it was such a fabulous time. I was completely exhausted after not sleeping at all the night/morning I was leaving and then having booth set up, but I loved meeting so many new people and getting to see so many old friends. I have to say after a few days/nights of it all, my voice is gone, my throat is sore, I have the sniffles and I'm glad to be home. But I can't wait to do it all again in a few months! Thank you thank you thank you to all who took the time to stop by, do a make-n-take, sit and chat with me or just rush by and give me a hug. And to Linda, Summer and Kelly, especially...save me a spot for the same time next show, ok?? :)

Cover Boy!!

Look at this!

My little man is the cover boy for the August/September issue of BHG's Scrapbooks Etc! What a ham, eh??!

The beautiful layout is by the awesome Jen Perks! (Thanks, Jen, for making my boy look so good!)

And I promise, this is my last post before I start flooding you with some BasicGrey goodness. Only a couple more days until I'm off to Chicago and CHA. But for now, back to work!

For you, Laura!

(WARNING: HEAVY PICTURE LADEN POST UPCOMING!)

<----Ok, so let me start by ratting out my friend, Laura. Laura always gives me a hard time about appearing on my blog - she says she's never on it, even though we attend many of the same events/parties. So Laura, even though I'm a week late, this one's for you, girl! :)

And speaking of a week late - can it be that the 4th was already a week ago? I blinked once too often, apparently, because I am in denial it's already the 11th and I haven't posted 4th pictures or mentioned anything about the holiday. I blame preparation for the CHA trade show, NOT my lack of organization, just so you know! And here's to hoping that I'll be sharing with you the results of all that labor in less than a week! (FIVE new lines - I'm SO excited!)

Anyhow, back to the 4th...again, this year we went to Scott & Amy's for their annual bash. It was so cool that it was actually ON the 4th this year, but not so cool that it rained off and on all day. How completely un-American! But we all did our best to keep it from dampening the party! Case in point - I











hardly saw my kiddos all day (note the lack of pictures of them beyond the one I force them to pose for each year!) as they ran around with all their friends and only seemed to appear when they were hungry or wanted some help opening packages that contained temporary tatoos, popsicles, candy or the like! I was much enamored with this little sweetie, Molly, a 10-day-old baby GIRL that her mama was so kind to











share. This is Ange holding her, but trust me, I got my fix in too! It was a wonderful day, but as always with these parties, it took most of Saturday for us to recover and get back into our groove. (Here are a few more photos from the day :))








This week was also the end of tball/baseball season for the boys. I'm not sure what we're going to do with the rest of our summer without having to be at the park at least 3 days a week. Ethan had a wonderful season - it was his first playing and I'm so proud at the effort he gave it and how good he was at it. He ended the season with a cookout with all his buddies and a trophy to mark the occassion. The littles also ended their season this week. Their last game was actually a make-up so they were 2 of 4 teammates that showed up. Because of this they got to play...a lot...and Carson actually got to field some balls without someone beating him to the punch. And he made SURE he did, even if it meant pushing his big brother out of the way! They too ended the season with a little token trophy - I love seeing Turner's smile here!











And finally to catch us all the way up..today we took the boys to the pool for an hour or so and C decided he wanted to go down the big slide (the swirly, whirly kind) all. by. himself. eeps! But once he made up his mind he was all set. He climbed up to the top all alone and slid right on down into his mama's arms! He was SO stinkin' proud of himself! I had Daddy catch him the next time down so that I could grab a picture of the event. This face just cracks me up. I think I'll keep it on my desk for a while because how can you have a bad day looking at that??

Ok, so that's it from me - what's going on with you??!

It's my BLOG-a-versary = FREE STUFF!

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WE HAVE A WINNER!! Thank you all so much for stopping by! I was floored by the response! :D



Big Congrats to Wendi!!! She was lucky number 58 as selected by the super cool random number generator! :)

wendipooh13 said...
hello and CONGRATS!!! you are super talented and love your photos too!!!! way to go, and thanks for the inspriation!!

7/01/2008 7:43 PM

Wendi, please email me at kelly.goree@gmail.com to claim your prize! :)

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Happy Blog-a-versary to me, Happy Blog-a-versary to meeeeee...(be glad there's no sound on my blog, people. Be very glad.)

And it all started two years ago with this post.

Unreal.

So now I want to party!! BasicGrey has generously donated a Euphoria Prize Pack valued at $30 retail for the occasion and I'm ready to give it away in celebration. I'm not exactly sure what all's in it yet, but I'm sure it'll be good and I might even kick in a few extras of my own! ;)


All you have to do is leave me your name and a hello between now and the 4th of July to be entered to win!