A Pea Profiled

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from Ms. Mel over at TwoPeas asking if I'd like to be one of their user spotlights for the month. To participate, they sent me some fun MM goodies and told me to go to town. It was so much fun playing around with something quite a bit different for me and I just wanted to share. Pink - it's not just for girls anymore! ;)

Thanks so much for the honor, 2peas!


Supplies:
Making Memories Noteworthy Patterned paper and journaling sheets
Heidi Swapp Chipboard alphas
Colorbox (Clearsnap) chalk ink
Zig pen


Supplies:
Making Memories Noteworthy Patterned paper and pebble clips
Heidi Swapp chipboard stars and chipboard alphas
Colorbox (Clearsnap) Chalk Ink
Bazzill Cardstock

Here we go a-WASSAILing...

I mentioned a few days ago about BG's newest holiday line, WASSAIL, and featured the awesome card kit that is being released with it (which is by far my favorite card kit we've done to date!). But I also wanted to show some projects with Wassail that weren't just cards.

These layouts just happen to all be holiday-ish themed, but these papers are so incredibly versatile. There are gorgeous prints that are so victorian looking and quaint and could really be used on just about anything. And again, all these papers are double-sided so they have one of our beautiful coordinating solids on the back. (LOVE that!)

If you would like to see these images larger, simply click on them and they'll pop up for you. Also featured on these projects is the new Wassail Chip Sticker shapes, coordinating brads, buttons, and more of the white chocolate chip alphas.

Photos & The WINNER!!

As promised, here's the winner for my class kit from Creative Escape!
The random number generator picked #90, so Marilyn, that means it's YOU! Come on down!! Email me at kelly.goree@gmail.com to claim your prize! :)

Also, as promised, here are a few images from CE 2008 (including an embarrassed Tim Holtz!) I didn't take many pics as usual (what was I thinking?!) but I hope you enjoy anyway! :)
First I just have to talk about the incredible venue we had for this event - we stayed at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa which is situated on an amazing Native American Reservation. The view and decor were both spectacular! Check this out!

Then there were these decadent treats! The first was delivered to my room with a "thank you" from the CE staff the first night I was there (oh yes, it's all edible chocolate ;))...the 2nd picture is from the "Dessert First" tradition of CE at the closing dinner. YUM!

One of the best parts for me was getting to spend a little time with Heidi and get to know her better. The first night we were there, a group of us went to dinner together and on the way, we rode a little ferry boat along the "river" that flows through the hotel property. The first picture is Heidi, Liz (and Dax), and Mona and Lisa from Bazzill...the next is Janet Hopkins, Emily Waters and me (Photo courtesy of Heidi). And check out those cool bags the girls were holding. I'd been coveting one since I saw Heidi post about them on her blog ages ago...and she very generously brought one to all the teachers - ok, not Tim - all the way from China. LOVE it!

I just have to say how surreal it was to see *my* name on this sign at Trunk Show and how phenominal it was to meet all the people who took a minute or two to stop by, visit and look at some of my stuff. The enthusiasm in the room was just crazy!


After Trunk Show and a relaxing first night, it was time to gear up for an intense 2 days worth of classes! I loved meeting everyone and hearing their stories, see where they traveled from, spend some time with them...and just check out the people that sometimes show up when you least expect it. ;)

And here's one from Tim and Laurie at our closing dinner and another of me and two of the sweetest girls on the planet that I initially met at CHA - Kay and Lori. Love those two!

And last but not least, the amazing Tim Holtz. This man is all everyone says he is and then some. SUCH a dynamic teacher and genuinely nice person to be around. As we sat at dinner, Laurie and I both remarked on Tim's shirt (it has a custom "Creative Escape" logo on it if you can't tell) and he confessed to having it made for the event. Of course. And he mentions how everyone has asked the same thing about where he got it so he thought he might raffle it off for the American Cancer Society, the charity for the event. He modestly thought that it might bring in a few extra bucks for the cause, but I don't think anything could have prepared him for the final bid of $6000. Take a look at that face!
And sadly, the picture I took of Kolette and Jason Hall didn't turn out (bad horrid flash in their faces) or I would have posted it here because I can't close out my excitement over CE without mentioning them.
I had the priviledge of hearing Jason speak over 11 years ago at another event and even though I've heard numerous motivational speakers since then, none had ever touched my heart as Jason had. He has a God-given gift for humor, insight and public speaking that makes for an amazing combination. When I heard that he was going to be the keynote speaker and I finally made the connection that he and Kolette were married, I hurridly jotted off an email to Kolette (the amazing desginer of Studio G stamps) telling her that story. She was so gracious and when she came to CHA, she made a point of stopping by to talk to me and then share her awesome news that she and Jason were going to be first time parents! I can't even tell you how much I respect and admire these two and getting to hear Jason speak for a second time was such an honor. His speech was an amazing closing to an amazing event and I can't thank him enough for sharing himself with all of us.

Coming up: Some more WASSAIL and all that I missed when I was out of town and then I think I'll finally be caught up! HA!

God is so GOOD!

Alot of you might remember the story of little Jake - the sweet two-year-old who was battling cancer.

I just got word from my best friend that currently Jake is now CANCER-FREE! What amazing words those are! There is still a 50% chance the cancer could come back but right now it's a time for complete jubilation and praise! Thank you all so much for your prayers. I've always believed in the power of them and it's so wonderful to see them work firsthand.

One more thing - my CE kit giveaway ends tonight at midnight eastern! Leave me a comment in the post below to be entered to win! :)

Creative Giveaway!

There is SO much I want to say about Creative Escape 2008...so. very. much. That seems to be par for the course lately, I'm afraid, but honestly, I don't know where to begin. It just seems like I can't even scratch the surface of the impact it had on me. I loved seeing old friends and making new ones and spending time with all of you.

I just have to do this so I'm going to do it as short and sweetly as I can. I have to thank so many people for all they did to make the event a success.
First THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to Heidi and the entire Bazzill team - Doug, Marti, Lisa (my hero!), Frani, Mona, Carol - all of you. The event seemed practically flawless in execution and it was due entirely to you. You all made it so easy for us as teachers, and I was beyond thrilled to be included in such an amazing experience, to get to know you and your families, and see the impact you have on others.

For my fellow teachers, Tim, Janet, Jenni, Kolette and Jason, Jessica, and Laurie. Thank you so much for allowing me to spend some time with you and learn from you. You are all absolutely incredible and I have so much respect for each one of you.

To the amazing attendees of the event, the students - you were all amazing. It was so overwhelming to see how far you had traveled, what you had overcome, your generosity, your spirit, you smiling faces. Thank YOU so much for making it such a wonderful experience for me. I am forever grateful.

And finally to my above the call of duty room volunteers, Jeanne Wines-Reed and Susan Mast...you girls rocked so hard. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking care of me and giving me a few minutes of rest in between the classes and always keeping a huge smile on your faces. You were organized, professional, on top of things, and a true god-send. Thank you!

Boy did that sound like an academy awards speech or what? Sorry for blathering but I just had to get all that out and let those people know just how special they are.

And after gathering approval from the Bazzill powers that be, I am allowed to go ahead and post the images from my class. I did the layout track at CE. We did four layouts using BasicGrey's Sultry and the theme for the class was "Treasuring Today" and capturing the everyday moments. I hope you enjoy and should you want to create any of these on your own, detailed instructions and step-by-step photos are included in the Creative Escape 2008 booklet available at Scrapbook.com.



SO for your patience with all that, I wanted to do a little giveaway! An extra kit for my CE class followed me home and I'd love to share it with one of you! I know so many of you wanted to attend CE but couldn't for one reason or another, so if you'd leave me a little note between now and Monday at midnight telling me what you would have done/wanted to do if you had gone to CE and I'll put you in a drawing for my kit! :)

(And I PROMISE pictures will be coming - I didn't take many, but I did get a few good ones - including one of Tim Holtz getting stripped of his shirt in the name of raising awareness of Cancer. It was awesome!)

SOOOO Much!!

So much stuff to update on.

So.
much.
stuff.

And I promise I'll update with Creative Escape news in the next post (it was AMAZING - such a wonderful experience!) along with everything else that has been going on, but for now I just have to do this:

INTRODUCING BasicGrey's new holiday line, WASSAIL!!

Just LOOK at all that vintage-y paper. It completely wraps me up in memories of traditional holidays gone by! (Steph, this is calling you, I know!) SOOOO cool and the best part?? There are 18 PATTERNS with the back of each done in a rich coordinating solid. Oh yes, that's right! It's DOUBLE-SIDED! Yaaahoooo! :) This line also comes with the usual goodies like brads, buttons, chipboard alphas, element stickers, stamps, etc...AND a fun little holiday card kit complete with envies (see above!)

But wait!! There's more!! ;)
I also have to shout just a little for our brand new 2009 CALENDAR!! This calendar features pages (all 12) that are designed by me!! Not only does it include fun, pre-printed chipboard elements, but it also has rub-ons in my handwriting (very similar to the Blush kit from a couple years ago). I'm completely in love with it! There is room for one 4" x 6" photo per page which makes it an adorable 8" x 8" size (or rather 8" x 16" when it's hanging with the calendar at the bottom). I can't wait to get these and give them as Christmas gifts! You can see a sample page above. This one is for September and it's shown both blank and with a photo of Carson for a fun FALL page.

All these items are available for order beginning September 8th (TODAY!!!) and they'll start shipping in October. For a better look and more information, please click here!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy!

He's 5 today.

My youngest.
My little boy.

My baby.


Five years ago today I saw his beautiful, sweet face for the first time and fell as completely in love as I had with his brothers before him.

But with this one I'm quite certain that when he was born, he decided to take my heart with him.

And he hasn't given it back yet.

Just 2 minutes earlier....

...these two were wrestling on the ground and then crying because "he hit me in the eye" or some other similar catastrophe. Good thing brothers get over their mad so easily, eh? :)

Back 2 School

Does it still count even if it *was*, um, two weeks ago today??! Sheesh. Time flies especially when you're back to getting up at 6:15 so the kiddos can catch their bus at 7 am. Cripes - who in the world thought it was a good idea to have school start at 7:40, I ask you??

Anyhow. So two weeks in to first and third grades, I can safely say they are both really enjoying it and we are loving their teachers. We're finally settling into the routine. They're starting to get homework. We're trying not to have fights about it when they get home. Good times. If we've got any indication so far though, it seems like this year will be a fabulous one for them and I'm so excited to see it.

Label Tulip

I had the pleasure of being a guest designer over at Label Tulip for the month of August. Cindee put together an awesome kit and I had such fun working with some new products that I might not have chosen on my own. :)

This one was done for the "What I did on my Summer Vacation" challenge. For us, it was a bit of a summer STAY-cation and we spent every spare minute at the pool. The boys discovered the thrill of going down the slide on their own and they did it all. the. time.

Products:Bazzill CS, Dream Street PP, Scenic Route PP, American Crafts Puffy Thickers, Colorbox (Clearsnap) Chalk Ink, Zig pen (blue).

I don't often scrap photos of my husband, but I'm trying to be better about that. I took this picture on Father's Day. We try and get at least one every year with ALL the boys - sad, yes, I know! - as usually someone is missing or uncooperative! This layout documents how lucky my boys are to have him as he's an incredibly attentive and involved dad.

Products:Bazzill CS, Pink Paislee PP, American Crafts PP, Scenic Route PP and chipboard pogs, Pink Paislee Rub-ons, Jenni Bowlin PP and label stickers and bingo card, Heidi Swapp Alphas, Label Stamp created for Label Tulip, Houndstooth ribbon, Pentel Pen, Colorbox (Clearsnap) Chalk Ink, Creative Cafe (EK Success) flower

I couldn't help but go ahead and scrap this sweet photo of Carson and Miss Emma. LOVED the colors in this and when I saw this awesome paper by Alexis Hardy for Dream Street in the pack, it was the perfect match.

Products:Bazzill CS, Dream Street PP, American Crafts PP, Scenic Route Pogs (chipboard circles), Heidi Swapp Chipboard Hearts, Staples, Colorbox (Clearsnap) ink, Label Stamp created for Label Tulip

And finally, I was digging all the awesome yellows and aquas in this kit and finally got around to scrapping this awesome Peacock photo I've had on my desk for well over a year. These were taken on my oldest's kindy field trip (and he's now just started 3rd grade!). I just love the zoo! :)

Products: Bazzill CS, American Crafts Thickers, BasicGrey Brads and buttons, Creative Cafe (EK Success) trim, Scenic Route Pog, Colorbox (Clearsnap) chalk ink, October Afternoon PP, American Crafts PP

Thank you again to Cindee and the gals at Label Tulip for letting me play along this month! I had a ball! :)

Eight is GREAT!

How amazing is this man? It was unbelieveable to watch history made tonight. I've just been in awe of him all Olympics - of his grace, his speed, his strength, his sportsmanship, his dedication, his relationship with his mom, but most of all, his humility. Congratulations, Michael. I've been cheering for you with all of the USA.

We had a Visitor yesterday

My friend, Amy, and her 2 1/2 year-old niece, Emma, came to visit us yesterday. Miss Em was a bit slow to warm up but after she did, she and her "friend" (her name for Carson!) played really nicely together. And did I mention she's soooo stinkin' cute?


Anyhow, we did lunch downtown (Mexican - YUM!) with the kiddos and before we headed back home I had to get in a few shots of the two of them. Check these out...I was cracking up. Is this a layout waiting to happen or what? Carson totally wasn't too sure of her at first, but no one can resist the divine Miss Em for long! Well that and a small bribe was involved ;)

Thanks, Ames! We'll totally have to do that again soon!

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL??!

Oh Yeah! Forget Monday Nights....let's hear it for Sunday afternoons! Football season has officially started again and we're all very excited. Ethan entered the draft once more (Oh, yes, I said draft. Lest you forget, we take football very seriously here in Kentucky!) and was picked up by the Jr. Tackle Titans.
He loves his coach and we found out that his team was division champs last year just like ours was. It should make for another great year! So on Sunday night we headed over the the football field to gather our practice gear/pads/helmet and have our first team meeting.

Ethan's practice jersey is #4 - the same as his football hero Brett Favre, AND we went home with one of the biggest helmets they had as it was proved yet again that my son has a reallllly big head! HA! But E wasn't the only one excited. Check out little brother. He's so ready for next year!

WELCOME AUGUST!!!

ETA: And the Winner is:

Which means DAWN, you're the WINNER! Email me at kelly.goree@gmail.com to let me know if you prefer to go to Paris or London! Congrats!


All Right! Let's get August off to a bang with a little giveaway, shall we? I have to admit that I'm kinda lamenting the end of summer (the boys head back to school on WEDNESDAY believe it or not!) and I'm thinking that sharing some good stuff just might be a way to pick me up!

My sweet friends April and Scarlet from Studio Calico generously sent me an add-on from their July kit to share with you all. If you have never been to their site, you must go. Their kits are absolutely wonderful and the customer service is superb! Anyhow, the winner can pick which one they want from the two shown below - either London or Paris! They are both yummy! And maybe just maybe I might throw a couple other things in there for good measure.









To enter, leave your name and a little comment that's school-related...from your fave subject to back-2-school supply shopping. Anything is fair game! I'll pick the winner first thing Monday morning so no entries after Midnight EST on Sunday, August 3rd. Ok? Sound good? Good. Get to commenting!

Have a wonderful weekend!

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?