Balloons and more balloons

Once a year the "Spirit of Boise" happens. This is a big gathering of hot air balloons and they launch for four mornings (weather conditions allowing) from a park in town. They let the public down in the launch area and it is AMAZING!!! In the past I have gotten the boys up and we have sat by the rim that surrounds the park and watched the balloons go up. This year we went into the park and were right next to the balloons as the inflaited and took off. So very, very cool. It was worth getting up super early and being exhausted now. The colors were breathtaking. I hope some of the pictures turn out. You can view photos from the event on the website. The 50th anniversary Mickey Mouse with the golden ears was there as well as the Energizer Bunny (HUGE!).

More cards!

I had a great time making these cards from a single sheet of double sided paper. I was so happy with how they turned out and the owner of the store where I purchased the paper had asked to see them when they were completed. She was pretty thrilled with how they turned out as well and asked me to create a set for store display. This exact paper was sold out, so we selected something similar and I had a ball playing with that paper as well :). Of course I forgot to take pictures of those as I was so excited to deliver them. She loved them and that did my creative soul good.



Now, to decide what pictures to trade out for the Trading Faces Swap. I am having a very hard time deciding which to either let someone do or ask for help with. Think anyone else wants to do some of my 47,000 Christmas photos? LOL!
Hmmmmmmmm, must decide soon, the deadline is looming!!!

Father's Day

This is a tough one for me. I am married to a wonderful man who is a fantastic father to our boys. I am so grateful for this and words can't express how blessed I feel. I try to make certain he knows this as well not just today, but everyday.
I also miss my own father a ton. April was 8 years since his death which was very sudden and unexpected. I am glad it was fast and there was no suffering involved. I do hate that I never got to say good-bye. I have many wonderful memories and I am in the process of trying to document some of them to share with my children and others, but it is a long and at times painful process.
So, today I combine my love of both my father and my children's father and try to make certain my husband knows how truly special he is.

"Fathering is the most masculine thing a man can do." Frank Pittman

gowns

These are two burial outfits that I mailed out to TLC today. It has taken me months to get them completed due to some pain issues in my wrist and joints as well as just how crazy life has been in general. I am excited to have them finally done and mailed. :)

ATC

I joined an ATC swap and the theme was birthstones. Basically, just use the color of your own birthstone. This was super fun!!! If you have any interest, I suggest giving ATCs a try. Remember, the only rule is 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches and not so lumpy bumpy so that it wouldn't fit into a trading card holder (but dimension is fine). They also can not be sold, but only given away or traded. Pretty cool :).

Be nice to the crazy lady

For those of you that scrapbook, have you ever had a layout that you worked on for days? You wanted it to be just right and it took some time getting there? This one is mine. I spent almost all of last week working on it in bits and pieces. I would leave it on the table and look at it as I went by. As an idea hit me, I would give it a try and then accept or reject (mostly reject) it. I am very happy with my final product. I was shoving it in everyone's face at the crop on Saturday and just telling them to tell me they liked it :). Thank you ISers for your patience!!!

Bird Intelligence

There is this bird couple at my house and I can not decide if they are really stupid, super smart or just plain lucky. I have hanging baskets of flowers that hang from the covered area of the walkway to my front door. Every year I fill them with flowers, attempt to remember to water them and hope they look as good in real life as I hoped when the project began. The last two years this bird couple has built a nest and raised a family in one of the baskets. Since they are high up, the first year I didn't know this until the babies started making noise. I had been watering not only the flowers, but the nest, the eggs and the babies! Year two I knew what was going on and was more careful, but something scared them away from the nest when the babies were just hatched and so no baby birds :(.
To this year-I got lazy and decided I wanted the baskets to look good and less stress so when Michael's placed their silk baskets on sale, I bought some. I have beautiful flowers and if someone has a problem with them being fake, turn around and walk away from my door. The birds are back. I thought for certain the would pick another place for their nest after last year. Nope! And, they are better off than ever because I won't water them and there is this great fake moss stuff in place to start the nest building.
So what do you think, stupid, smart or lucky? My vote is a little of all three!

Recent Comforghans

These were sent out last week. They should be comforting someone by now:).
Thank you square donators! These contain not only squares from members of HMB, but also members of CrochetList and readers of The Crochet Dude.

Completed LO

I have completed two more LayOuts to sell at the Charity Crop. I don't yet know what Charity, but I do know myself well enough that I would do it regardless and that I better make them when I have the time/inspiration!
This does bring up the point of photo quality, however. It is pretty sad when a scrapbooker can't post decent pictures on her BLOG. That digital camera is moving up the priority chain very quickly. Summer vacations are playing a part in that as well. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I do know that whatever I get, it must have a bunch of optical zoom. That is the one thing I don't love about my film camera. The zoom is almost negligible and since I keep the same camera forever I intend to fix that issue the next time around.

Doesn't get better than this

I know that tomorrow is Mother's Day, but today was really a fantastic day! It didn't start out that way and it was about 3:00 before I could move much without feeling sick. Once I felt better though, I was all better and the weather was fabulous! It got to mid 80's, Woooooooooo Hoooooooooo!!!
We went to the garden store as a family, that was nice!, and got what I wanted to get the garden in. Then my youngest actually helped me get it done! So, the garden (not a big one, but still) is in and I got to spend the day outside! GREAT DAY!!!

National Scrapbooking Day

First- My final is FINISHED!!! I am soooooooooo excited. I was so sure I was going to have this on my shoulders and giving my guilt all weekend, but it is DONE!!!!
Since I finished it, I took some time in honor of National Scrapbooking Day and worked on some pages. I have another layout completed for the charity crop (once I get some repositionable adhesive that is) and one finished for my family. It was great fun! I hope you are taking time to play with some paper :).

Final

I am working on my final for my American Sign Language IV class. It is all video taped. We have been given a list of assignments ie: described your first car and your car now and compare them, etc. and then we videotape ourselves doing the assignments. There are 16'ish items. I am about half way through and taking a breather. My forehead hurts!!! For any of you that know ASL you understand what I am talking about. If you don't, then even if I explain it will still seem strange so just trust me on this one :). Wish me luck on this final. I really, really, really would love to get an "A" this semester. I know that whatever I get is what I earned, but I have been doing my darndest so I hope I am earning an "A"!!!

Eye candy

My copy of Altered Arts arrived yesterday. Now, I should be doing a million things but what I WANT to do is look at this. I always find some amazing things to ooooooooh and aaaaaaaaaaaaah over. The articles are nice and short, but full of information. The adds always have neat project ideas and things to look at.

I didn't always like this particular style. The collage style seemed a bit "odd" to me. Over time, I have come to really like it. It seems to hold so much of a person's soul in the work. I even enjoy pieces that are not done in colors or styles I am particularly fond of (the item on this month's cover is a perfect example). I still appreciate the work and the creativity and the vision in the item. I want to create things like this. I am just so intimidated. It all seems like something I should make in a studio with paint splatters on the walls and shelves lined with all sorts of goodies and since I don't have a studio.................

I need to just get brave and start a project. I know if I began one, I would do great things (for me anyway). Sometimes the getting started is what is intimidating. Know what I mean?

Another completed comfortghan

This is the one I just completed and it is heading out to provide comfort to a person in need. Many thanks to those who contributed squares. This contains squares from members of HMB, members of Crochetlist and also those who answered The Crochet Dude's call.

Thank you all!!!

Playing with paper

Last night was a crop with the local group. I had so much fun!!! I knew I needed to play with paper, but I had no idea how much! Thank you to the group for a wonderful time and to Mare for letting us play in her store! She has soooooooooo many new things and they are beautiful. Her store, World Class Scappers, is amazing. I was good and refrained from purchasing much in the way of unneeded (although it was no unwanted) supplies. There certainly is some pretty paper out there. Since I have two boys, it is a good thing I have nieces to scrap and cards to make!! :)
Look at this pretty stuff by Paper Adventures. There is sparkle on most of it which you can't, unfortunately, appreciate on-line, but trust me, it is gorgeous!

Anyone Home?

So, have you given up on me? Guilt is a funny thing. I was feeling guilty that I hadn't posted in a while. So what did I do? Not post! The next day, same thing. Well today, I procrastinate and avoid no more~!!! Nothing witty or adventurous, just letting you know I am still alive.

Oh yeah, I found my stamps!!!!

Most recently completed

comfortghans. These are the two that I have completed most recently. The yellow one contains some squares that were sent in during The Crochet Dude's call for squares. Thank you to everyone who made squares to help make these possible!!

ACCEPTANCE

Acceptance. The word is defined as follows:

acceptance

n 1: the mental attitude that something is believable and should be accepted as true; "he gave credence to the gossip"; "acceptance of Newtonian mechanics was unquestioned for 200 years" [syn: credence] 2: the act of accepting with approval; favorable reception; "its adoption by society"; "the proposal found wide acceptance" [syn: adoption, acceptation, espousal] 3: the state of being acceptable and accepted; "torn jeans received no acceptance at the country club" [ant: rejection] 4: (contract law) words signifying consent to the terms of an offer (thereby creating a contract) 5: banking: a time draft drawn on and accepted by a bank [syn: banker's acceptance] 6: a disposition to tolerate or accept people or situations; "all people should practice toleration and live together in peace" [syn: toleration, sufferance] 7: the act of taking something that is offered; "her acceptance of the gift encouraged him"; "he anticipated their acceptance of his offer"

#6 seems to be where I am right now. I have accepted and resigned myself to working again. Now, I know I am fortunate because I truly love my job. I love what I do everyday and work with and for some wonderful people. I really don't like what I feel I am missing. I had just started to feel like I was beginning to schedule more effectively, make some real progress with my home and housekeeping, spending more time with each of my children on an individual level including time at their schools, and starting to spend some time on myself (I know, I can hear you all gasping now). I have watched all of this disappear. Some of it gradually and some of it immediately. I don't like that, but after 5 months I believe I have now accepted it. The anger and resentment is less than it was even a few weeks ago. This is an improvement. It was only Monday that it dawned on me that I had reached this point. Perhaps I will advance to the next step (whatever it may be) and perhaps I won't. Not being angry all the time is nice.

Your Hidden Talent

Your natural talent is interpersonal relations and dealing with people. You communicate well and are able to bring disparate groups together. Your calming presence helps everything go more smoothly. People crave your praise and complements.

What's" Your Hidden Talent?

Where O Where have my little stamps gone?

Where O Where can they be?

Seriously! I have two different little alphabet stamp sets. The ones that are perfect for stamping on ribbon or just little generals "things" on scrapbook pages and cards. I have two because they are different fonts. One is pretty generic and one is a bit curly. Well, I can only find the generic one! I wanted to move the storage of the curly one into a bullet holder (yes, a bullet holder) because they are the perfect size. Originally I only had one of these and it currently holds the generic alpha set. This weekend I was given (THANK YOU!!!) a second one and I have spent the last three days looking for the alpha set! I swear I knew exactly where it was, but now, I have searched everywhere I can think of and no alpha so I have this poor lonely bullet box :(.

Here alpha, alpha!!