The Few. The Proud. The Marines.

My niece is a Marine! She graduated from boot camp with honors March 15th. We are all so proud of her. She came home after graduation for about a week.

All the family

My brother, youngest niece Destiny, Addison (the Marine), Taylor and their Mom Sherri.

This girl is dangerous!

We had a big family cookout yesterday to celebrate and learn the scoop. She headed out today for another month of training.

I made her this card.

These papers are Pebbles "Let Freedom Ring collection from last summer. I bought them to make some "AnyHero" cards to send to our troops. I used sketch#162 from Operation Write Home.

The flag is a Tim Holtz diecut. I paper pieced the flag and put foam tape behind it. The stars are out of some scrap self adhesive glitter paper I had in my stash. The sentiment is from Stampin Up also popped with foam tape. On the inside of the card I stamped the sentiment "God bless you for serving" from "My Hero Sentiments Set" by Stampers Best.

While I was at it I decided to make another card for a Hero to send to Operation Write Home. I changed a few things and actually liked this card better than the first.

I paper pieced the flag on this one too but used more colors to make the flag look more realistic.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a good one.

Hayride

I finally made a two page layout using Nanci's sketch she created that Cat drew on Corel Draw. You can see that sketch here.

This is the left side. I turned the sketch on its side to accommodate my horizontal photo. This is Remi and Kennedy along with a couple of friends at our church hayride in November. The papers are Reminisce "Fall" collection.

Here is the right side of the layout.

A couple of days ago Kennedy was here and we found a toad in my flowerbed. He was huge!

Kennedy wanted to touch him but she didn't like it when he hopped!

Her mother can't stand frogs! I'm trying to teach Kennedy to not be afraid.

The other night coming home from feeding Clyde I took this picture.

I liked the look of the clouds as a backdrop behind the church.

This one I took from my backyard. The color was almost gone then I saw the moon (upper left corner).

This one I took a couple of weeks ago with my Pastor's wife in mind. I make them a calendar every year for Christmas of photos I have taken around the county. The structure outlined in the photo is the Baker Hotel. A major landmark in our town. You can see it coming to town from any direction. It towers over any other structure in our community. It was built in 1929. Put Mineral Wells on the map. It has long since seen better days. She's still a grand beauty.

Have a good one!

Pumpkins and More

It's WOW Wednesday over at Cat's Creations Blog. I'm late but at least it's still Wednesday! I have a two page layout for you today.

For this layout I used a new collection Sugar Hill "Autumn" from FarmHouse Paper Company. I thought the pictures I took of the kids  in the pumpkin patch worked well with these papers. These pictures were taken last fall in October. First Presbyterian Church hosts a small "pumpkin patch" in their courtyard for free. They do sell the pumpkins which the kids got a few. This is the left side of the layout.

Here is the right side of the layout. This collection had chipboard embellishments that I used. For a closer look click on the photo or you can see it first hand at Cat's Creations Scrapbooks (aka "the store).

I also took some time to make a card for a friend's birthday.

I just LOVE this stamp. It is a Phyllis Harris design sold by Unity called "Easier with YOU by my side". My friend is a horse lover too so I thought this fit her perfectly. I stamped the image with Memento Black Tuxedo ink and used Copic Markers to color. Because the image is so large and I wanted more of the DP to show I cut away the top of the stamped image.

Leave me a comment for a chance to win a prize from Cat's Creations. She always gives away great prizes! A prize will be awarded to a commenter that is randomly chosen.

Kashton was 2 weeks old yesterday. He, Kennedy and Vanessa came by for a visit. I got to hold him for the longest time since he's been born!

Nothing quite like Grandma's touch and Mommy's warm milk to put one asleep!

Got a smile out of him too!

On another note of randomness on the way to our little corner store (about a block away from the house) Kennedy and I saw this huge moth! 

He was actually right outside the door at the store. I was afraid he would get stepped on so I moved him. I think he may have been injured because he didn't protest much.

Trees are budding leaves and flowers are blooming in our area. We've had some very spring like days and today was the official 1st day of Spring BUT...I've always heard it said that it's not really spring here until after Easter AND the Mesquite tree leafs out. Neither of which has happened...yet. In fact Weather forecasts are predicting much cooler days by the weekend and first part of next week. Blah! I'm ready for it to stay warm. Here's some flowers I saw the other day that at first glance I thought were our beloved State Flower the Bluebonnet

but upon closer inspection discovered it wasn't.

 Enough for today. Sorry I rambled on so long. More another time! Have a good one!

First Grandson

I'm two weeks late blogging about it but Kashton Doyle has arrived! We all thought he would come early like his sister but alas. Any of you who have had one more than one child can attest that each one is different and Kashton was no exception. While his sister was 3 weeks early he was one day late! He was due on March the 4th. I've decided he was waiting for his daddy to come home. He got home March 1st.

Kashton Doyle Bailey arrived Tuesday, March 5th at 9:34pm weighing 9lbs .28 oz, 21 inches long!

Mommy and Daddy are so thrilled he is finally here!

Sister is pretty happy too!

Granddad and Kennedy with Kashton the next day.

sleeping boy!

Home from the hospital and 4 days old. He always seems to have a scowl on his face.

Kennedy is still pretty proud of her little brother. Vanessa is really going to have to watch her!

I call this the "milk drunk"! Eight days old.

A little more Granddad time.

Here he is at 12 days old. First picture with his eyes open and no scowl!

Just for fun I did a little collage of pics of Kennedy and Kashton at about the same age.

Do you see a resemblance?
 Kennedy is in the bottom two photos.

Kashton's room all decorated and ready for him. I made the letters on the wall for him.

I think I've probably overloaded you with pics. Beware...there will be more to come. Maybe even some with me holding Kashton. I really have held him. I'm just usually behind the camera and well...others don't think about taking my picture. I do have a dear friend who is a photographer that Vanessa asked her to be there to take pics the day of Kashton's birth. She got some amazing pictures! If you're my friend on facebook you can see those pics as I was tagged in all of them. She has a blog too and I hope she will blog about them one day. She did blog the pregnancy photos she took for Vanessa. You can see those here. If you've made it this far, I thank you for taking time to look.

Have a good one.

Who says Halloween can't be PINK?!

This would be my Lil' Peanut "Miss Kennedy". Cathy (of Cat's Creations Scrapbooks) asked me to make a layout using the new Reminisce "Magical Princess" Collection.

To get my creative flow going I used the first exclusive sketch of 2013 from Sketch Inspiration for Cat's Creations customers.

Who says Halloween can't be PINK?! My daughter had dressed Kennedy as Minnie Mouse complete with a PINK pumpkin! This paper worked beautifully with these pictures! I used black and white card stock to mat the photos and the sticker which also comes with this collection. I put foam tape behind the stick to give it some dimension and what is a PINK girly page without a bit of ribbon?!

You know how most papers these days come with a strip for identifying the company and collection name. Typically scrapbookers just cut that off and throw away. The cool thing about Reminisce' papers is the strip with the bar code is decorative on the other side and can be used in your layout which I did! I used it as a frame around the 4x6 print. Way cool huh?! For a closer look at this layout just click on the picture or come see it in person at the store.

Here is another layout I made with pictures from my daughter's recent baby shower using the new Teresa Collins collection "He Said She Said".  I used the same sketch for the left side of this layout. I took some liberty with it because I had so many pics. I should have made smaller prints....oh well...hide sight! I did not get a pic of both pages together because one layout I couldn't stand up. I'll show you why in a minute. Here's the left side.

Instead of matting the photos with paper I chose to use the coordinating "washi tape" or tissue tape. I number the photos for identification purposes in my journaling.

Here is the coordinating page (right side). Because I had so many photos and I only wanted to do a 2 page layout I decided to use a technique I learned making a card a couple of years ago from Nanci Holtsford. It's called the waterfall technique. To refresh my memory on how to do it I did a search and found this tutorial using the technique on a scrapbook page. Just what I needed! You can see that tutorial here.

Here is a different look at the waterfall technique.

Of course the page will have to be removed from the page protector for this to work. I need to tweak this just a bit as it doesn't operate as smoothly as I would like. Not sure what I may have done incorrectly. Overall I was actually pretty proud of myself!

It's WOW Wednesday over at Cat's Blog. Leave me a comment for a chance to win some wonderful goodies from Cat's Creations. A random commenter will be chosen. If you have a creation won't you share it with us. Just link your blog to Cat's Creations so we can see! I am always inspired by what I see others do!

Have a good one!

Play

This will be short and sweet! It's been a full week and it's only Wednesday (well, technically it's Thursday). My grandson decided to join us Tuesday night at 9:34pm weighing 9lbs .28 oz and 21 inches long. Kashton Doyle Bailey. I've had his big sister whom I adore but she requires a lot of energy!

It's WOW Wednesday over at Cat's Creations Blog. This week I have a 2 page layout to share with you using the new collection from My Mind's Eye "My Girl".

To help me get started I used sketch#304 (from Sketch Inspiration 2012 published in volume  #3 sketch book) to create the left side of the page layout. You can pick one up at Cat's Creations for only $14. These are well worth the investment!

These are pics of the girls creating in my craft room! I am amazed at what they can do at the ages of 3 & 4! Remi absolutely LOVES to stamp and Kennedy LOVES to cut with scissors! I do keep a very close eye on them!

Here is a bit closer look at the left page. You can click on the photo to enlarge the picture more.

This is the right side of the layout. Next time you're at the store take a look. These will be hanging somewhere!

This is a great collection and I will be making some more pages to display.

Be sure to leave me a comment for a chance to win a prize from Cat's Creations. Better yet, go to Cat's Blog to see others who have linked up to share their creations and leave them a comment too. Greater chance for a prize! Cat's will be picking a random commenter.

Oh...I would be remiss to not at least share a picture of the newest member of our family :)

ok...maybe one more!

Kennedy is pretty excited about her new brother! I hope she continues to feel that way after he gets bigger!

Have a good one!

Sunset on the Brazos

A little over 2 weeks ago I decided I wanted a better view for some sunset pictures. I hadn't taken any in a while without all the clutter of city living. Doyle was at work so I loaded up Kaidence and we went to a place not far from where I live. It's called "Oaks Crossing". This is the name of the road that goes all the way to the river and crosses to the other side if you have the right kind of vehicle and know just where to cross! This is a very popular place during the warm months of the year but during winter I have the place all to myself! I like it much better that way!

We arrive and no one is there. I parked and I let Kaidence out to explore a bit. The sun doesn't set for another 30 minutes. There are some clouds giving me the hope for a colorful sunset. (For a better view click on the picture).

I see several vultures sitting in a tree with more flying in as the sun sets. They are such huge birds.

It's kind of eerie looking with the clouds behind them in the leafless trees. Then I hear a motor running. Someone is coming and they cross the river.

In the time I was there I actually witnessed 4 vehicles crossing here!

The sun is getting lower. I'm still not seeing the color I thought I would. I'm thinking that maybe there was too many clouds. It is kind of cool the hole in the clouds and the sunlight reflecting off the water.

It is so peaceful and quite. The only sounds are a few birds and the rippling of water over rocks .

I finally decide this is all I'm going to get tonight. I take one more shot before Kaidence and I leave to go feed Clyde.

A few nights before this I did get this shot while feeding Clyde. I just loved the look of the sun through the clouds and the "tail" from an airplane.

As of 11pm tonight we still have no baby! Vanessa went to the doctor today and said she is really close! Her water hasn't broken but she is experiencing some leakage. Kashton's heart rate has dropped to what is typical for a baby when Mom is in labor. She had some contractions today but nothing consistent or very intense so we continue to wait! Daddy made it home today so maybe Kashton was just waiting for him to be here! Maybe Kashton will come before the weekend is over!

Have a good one!