CHECK THIS OUT...

Hello everyone!

Been a bit since my last post.(be prepared for lots of goings on with pictures!!!..i've been a bit busy between doing a bit of art and working...to do my regular posts...

(remember you can click on any of the pictures to see it REAL BIG..LOL)

Here is a gothic arch i did for Mzzzzzzzzzzz...jahoodee (theme is turquoise and brown)

FRONT



BACK



This is an 8 x 8 tip-in for Patricia...her theme is pastel ballets

left page



right page



This one is for sweet Caryl (theme of PINK AND ORANGE...lovin that combo!)

left page



right page



This one is for Peggy..(theme of famous couples...)


If you remember i did a famous couple theme for her of Lucy and Desi a couple months back...Well one of the girls in the group has been a bit sick and had to drop out of the swaps (both the gothic arch and the 8 x 8 tipin) and she was sooo saddened that she wouldn't be receiving her bits of art each month..well hands down I knew I needed to do the work for her and still have her receive her art bits each month..(and no...i'm NOT doing anything that others in the group wouldn't have done if I wouldn't have stepped in..I've had many offers to help out...we are just a very giving and loving group and that's what makes the world go round and round.....so judy's gothic arch above and peggy's famous couples are kind of from Dorothy..just using my hands...

left side



right side



gotta love Clark and Vivien!!!

I did another batch of scrapbook pages..here is one of my favs...
Back in the spring maddy had gotten some bean seeds that they planted...three plants grew but only one made it...maddy wanted her teacher to see how it grew during the summer so we scrapbooked a page in her WHAT I DID OVER THE SUMMER JOURNAL...and i printed off an extra copy for her first grade teacher!



My sweeties went to the Walworth Co. fair yesterday...Maxx got to ride his first pony!


Maddy got to do that bungee jumping thing...so she could FLY!!!!



and the two of them got to dress up and pose for an old time picture...



Kaleigh got her hair redone at her new salon...(here she is with the little CHEESER...maxx...(he sees a camera and does a cheesey face..lol)



Kaleigh and her boyfriend, Richie...went to the 105th Harley fest..



...(mainly due to the fact that Kaleigh's ultimate fav band, Blind Melon, was playing...AND THEY GOT INVITED ONTO THE GROUPS TOUR BUS!!! she was just estatic!!!



Did i tell you that i now have two purple streaks in my hair? I have had strangers come up to me to say how great they looked!!! (both young and old!!!) In a hurry I just took a snapshot of my streaks...ya know it's HARD to get a good picture of your own head...lol



I passed out kaleigh's new business cards!!!



Tomorrow we have a family get together picnic with David's side of the family...

and then TUESDAY..SCHOOL STARTS!!! WHERE DID THE SUMMER GO?

Did i tell you that we got a SUPRIZE?...

We went for school registration last week and found out that Maddy is in a first second grade split class...(8 first graders and 11 second) and the big news is that Xander is IN HER CLASS!!!!



sending my hugz and love...to you all

and one other note...

My brother-in-law and his partner have opened an etsy shop called CERAMIC GIRAFFE...if you get a chance check it out...AWESOME ART PIECES!!!

HUGZ!!!

28

twenty-eight years....who knew...
a chance meeting
on a friday night
at a bar...
if i hadn't drunk too much
i'd probably not have gotten the courage
to ask you to dance...(oh i was shy, don't laugh)
...or if i'd have listened to the others
say that it wouldn't last 5 months...
then my brother...
that upon hearing you drove a
1974 Camaro AND a motorcycle...
said i had to keep you around...
yes, who knew

it would lead to....



and gotta add in Richie now...



happy anniversary, sweetheart!!!

friday stuff (aug 22)

what an honor!

Sandee gave me this award!



I'm supposed to pass this award onto 7 people...so here goes

Carol
her blog rocks...and there is always something really special to see!!!

Elizabeth
A visit to her blog never ever ever disappoints! She is one of the most creative beautiful people!!!

Fran
Fran is a doll artist extraordinaire! Her dollies are sooo beautiful!!! (and i am proud to own one!!! hee hee)

Vivian
Vivian is one of the most talented bear artists! Just look at her blog!!! (and she has the most creative swaps...check back often as they fill up FAST!!!)

Megan
Megan is a fantastic artist and friend! I simply love watching her babies grow!

Jessi!!!
Sweetest gal around!!! truly a Barbie girl!!! Just look at her sweet creations!

Rachael
Take a trip to Rachaels sweet blog! I just love taking a moment to visit! Such a treat!!!!

and then i was surfing a bit on the internet...and i found that I WON!!! on Pilar's blog!!!
JUMP JUMP JUMP...up and down...sooo exciting!!!

WELL TOMORROW (SAT) IS OUR 28TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!!! WOO HOO...and people had bets when we met that we would last MAYBE 5 months...lol...

and monday i begin my new job!!!!

big hugz and love...

did you know that maddy went...

to the OLYMPICS???!!!

Peanut butter, Alfafa and yarn over kind of Monday

Hello friends and sweet angels in blogland (not that there is a distinction between the two!)
We are preparing for the special day tomorrow! MADDYSEN TURNS 7!!! So very hard to believe how much she has grown! She enters second grade this year and is very excited that her cousin, Xander is also going to attend her school, in first grade! His school was changed into a middle school in a district reassignment. She can't wait to introduce him to all her friends...lol...he will be an instant "MAN ON CAMPUS"..LOL...

I am working on her summer scrapbook on how i spent my summer...

here are a couple of pages that I have added...







I've done about 14 pages thus far...

Auntie Kaleigh has to work tomorrow all day so she brought over a gift for maddy a bit early...(maddy said she wished kaleigh could be there for her birthday but welcomed an early PRESENT!!!! (and maybe uncle richie will still be able to come tomorrow!)





of course we had to put on our new outfit RIGHT AWAY!!! ...and give some HUGE THANK YOU HUGZ!!!



Maddy also got another suprize today....for awhile now maddy shannon and i have been watching the TLC show Ashley Paige: bikini or bust...(this show was also the inspiration for maddy's little knit dresses that she made for her doll!) She wanted to knit like Juan, Ashley's knitter extraordinaire!...Well this last weekend we sent an email via her website to tell her how much we enjoyed the show and looked forward to it each week! Well lo and behold SHE REPLIED!!! Maddy was in such awe AND HAD THIS LOOK was it REALLY ASHLEY?...!!!! Well today Maddy got to talk to Ashley Paige on the PHONE!!!! SHE WAS SOOOO EXCITED...SHE WAS LITERALLY JUMPING UP AND DOWN!!! then Ashley asked Maddy if she would like to talk to JUAN!!!! Oh what more could a 7 year old fan ask for!!! Ashley's store is in Hollywood, CA...1616 Cahuenga Blvd. (Just in case anyone is in the vicinity..hee hee..stop and tell her how happy she made one special little sweetie!)...and if you get a chance to check out her show...it's on TLC...(the learning channel)...Ashley also runs a doggie rescue from her shop too!

Well once again inspired by the show...(and the phone call helped too...lol)
Maddy got out her little knitter machine (as opposed to the big machine that nonnie would have to bring up from the studio) and made this sweet little anklet for herself to match her birthday outfit from auntie kaleigh and uncle richie...






....now she wants me to find some buttons and shiny things to put on it...lol..
she may have to open her own etsy shop!

Maxx...dined on a peanut butter sandwich for lunch...oh just look at that face! Then we noticed that he has this qwirky little ALFALFA spike (thinking it was peanutbutter induced..lol) going on on his head...



And speaking of Maxx...he just turned 19 months...and is quite the character! Oh can you just tell the boy is FULL Of energy! and a bit of mischief!!!??



no call about my friday interview...and she said i'd hear by this last saturday...
past the point of frustration...on to the next...

Well until next time...hugz and love!

swaps....

couple of pictures of a couple of swaps that i sent out this week and late last...

here is another fairy pincushion...this time i used a vintage baby pic and added some heavy lace wings and floral accents...







...and here is a heart pinkeep that i embellished with vintage sewing goodies...there is a pocket on the front and the back...i left the items that i tucked into the pocket loose so they could be removed.

thursday...

month of august started with robbie calling to say he put a little scratch on the car..."but don't tell mom"...like DUH...I WOULDN'T NOTICE!....this is the beginning of the scratch...goes back behind the tire to the bumper..he was backing into kaleigh's driveway and scraped it on her stone wall...



I received my sweet gift from ms. patti and found the perfect place to hang it!!! It is soooo beautiful in person!!! As you look at this picture the trio hanging behind it the top and bottom ones were made by paula dion and the middle one is one of patti's too!!! The sweet fairy tag living in the lower righthand corner was made by sweet Martha Brown!!! The sweet little bear is from the wonderful Vivian!!!



Before kevin left for his training for iraq last week...(he'll be gone most of august and will miss maddy's 7th birthday on the 19th...sniff...will be the third year he has missed the actual day)he went to donate blood...they said he was not eligible to donate due to him being in iraq...(as a side note...none of us can donate blood either, except for robbie, because we were all stationed in germany during the mad cow disease time and they are worried our blood is tainted...omg...just such an uneasy feeling about that...we were also there during chernobyl too...they had to do a daily air check and measured the particles of nuclear waste...yep...they found some...some days we couldn't go out...) well i digress...kevin went to give blood and they didn't allow him to give any...but they gave him some tickets to the state fair...he couldn't go since he is gone..so we went...
...kaleigh colored shannons hair...with a touch of red...(david is a redhead so it works!) here are maddy and shannon with the fair tickets moments before we went into the fair!



last nite was maddysen's last soccer game...while she loved the sport...she just loved to come and see her friends..(and do a bit hopping and dancing on the sidelines....they really didn't get into the whole rigors of the game...they didn't win any games...and last nite the score ended up 12-1...but that one score brought HUGE CHEERS FROM THE CROWD! And maddy KICKED THE BALL!!!

mute the music before you watch the videos...for the full effect!!!



Maxx was there in true form...he is such a papa's boy...papa got up to go have a smoke...(which you can't do on school grounds so he had to leave for a bit)...maxx GUARDED papa's chair while he was gone...this little girl kept coming over and trying to "touch" the chair...that would be PAPA'S CHAIR...and maxx wasn't going to let anyone else do that) at one point it sounds like he says..."where'd he go?"...and he kept calling for his papa...he shook the chair and the little girl ran away..(wonder how things would change if it was about 13 years or so from now...(i think papa would be out one chair...lol...she's a little doll!!! (her brother is in school with maddy).....lol...Maxx squealed with delight when she came back...



hugz til later