A sad day..............

So we had a really sad day at our house on Saturday. This cute dog - our buddy - passed away. He was 12 1/2 - so he lived a long full life and died peacefully in his sleep. Somehow it didn't make it any easier though. We got buddy when he was 6 weeks old - 1 week before our wedding day. He actually was at our wedding - running around for a bit - till he annoyed everyone to death and then ended up in the kennel - but he was there. He has been there since the beginning........so it was really hard. He hunted alot with Dean when he was younger (wish i could find some of the puppy pictures) - then he kinda just mellowed out when we had kids. He was so good with the kids - always loving on them....he will be missed.

Buddy soaking up the attention while Ethan pets him. This was the saddest part - Everytime Dean mowed the lawn - buddy followed along, he's done this since he was little - he followed till the lawn was completley mowed - it was kina thier thing. So when dean mowed on Saturday it was really really sad. They were best buds. Baylee giving him luvs - buddy never ever jumped up or made the kids feel scared or uncomfortable.Even the cat tortured him. They slept in the same bed for along time until about 6 months ago - but became kinda senile, lost his hearing and could barely see - whe had to start putting him in the kennel because he would wander. But they were buds - olive would sit there and play with his tail - and buddy just let him do it. I love this picture - buddy had to be a part of everything - here - he couldn't get a good view of the fishing so he stuck his head between deans legs so he could see better.
He is actually asleep in this picture - too darn funny - he always slept this way. He didn't have the prettiest coat - it seems like he would finally loose all of his winter coat once it was time to grow it back again.The kids cried alot - Dean cried alot (more than i've ever seen), i cried alot. But i think we are all okay with it now. We took him up to the property on Saturday night and buried him there. The kids each drew a picture for him and gave him something special and we put thier stuff in before we buried him and then they each put a flower on top of the grave. Dean said a beautiful prayer blessing his grave - and we will be able to visit it anytime we are up there - it is a special place - a place where he had alot of memories too - wow - who would of ever thought an animal could have such a big impact on your lives - you don't realize it till they aren't in your life any longer.

On a happy note - If you havn't been over to GCD's Blog - there is SUPER big news over there. Melody Ross (from Chatterbox) - has joined forces with GCD studios and has come out with a beautiful vintage line - here is a sneaky - go check out the blog for all of the pictures - your not going to beleive how much is in this collection - tons and tons of embellishments!

thanks for stopping by...........

Brenda

Another GCD day.....

remember tomorrow they are doing the $100 giveaway over on the GCD blog tomorrow. But for now i'm just going to share the rest of the Grafix/GCD projects i did. The first card i used the Grafix shrink plastic - the first time i've ever tried something like that! I cut this tree out using die cut machine - then added alchohol ink - put in the oven and whala!! It really shrinks! Kinda fun.

This is using transparancy - which everyone loves! I printed a nursery rhyme onto the transparency - Somewhere over the rainbow! Then used my die cut machinge to cut out the bracket frame!

Did the same thing on this card - cut out circle and bracket on die cut maching. I forgot to finish tracing the flower - just noticed that! Haha! So thanks for stopping by - hoped you enjoyed the blog posts this week - and don't forget to enter for the big giveaway tomorrow~

hugs

Brenda

Altered with Audrey

So this month over at Lily Bee Designs we have been focusing on the new Audrey line the came at at CHA this summer. The colors are serioulsy fabulous. I had to come up with an altered project - and i have to say - unless i have an assignment - i usually don't alter - but i had so much fun with this canvas - if you want to hear more about how i created the background - head over to the Lily Bee blog to get the details! The background is a little on the bright side - but IRL - it doesn't look so orange.

We had the annual Walkathon last night for the kids at the Elementary school - so we were over there for 3 hours while the boys literally ran the entire time - a few breaks here and there - but not many - they both wanted the Panther medal - and they both reached their goal. I was so proud of them! Baylee on the other hand - whined most of the time. Thats about the only hard thing that comes with having her go to bed at 7:00 - when we have plans at night - she is a train wreck because she's so darn tired. But all in all it was a good night.

And i still have about 10 more of each - goodie bags and kits by Wendy Sue - so if your interested - send me an email - help me get these babies to a good home and raise money for a good cause - check this post if you want more details! And how cool is this - Megan at Creating Keepsakes posted about it on the Creating Keepsakes Blog and P. Kelly did the same over at the Paper Crafts blog - so thanks ladies for the support and helping me spread the word!!

There is some SERIOUSLY AMAZING good news on the Cystic Fibrosis front - and i will give you details soon - just to show you where your money is going and that it really does make a difference - i have a cute video of Ethan that i need to uplaod to youtube and then i will post about it!

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

Brenda

Another GCD week!

This month GCD Studios and Grafix teamed up to make some fun projects. All week long there will be fun projects and at the end of the week somebody is going to win $100 in product! How cool is that! This is my first project - beleive it or not - the picture was created with the Rubon's. This stuff is so fun to work with - you can make a rub on out of any image you print off of your computer - so i figured i should be able to do a picture too - i tried it and loved the way it came out - you just have to remember its going to come out backwards - so printed text needs to be printed in mirror image. The picture didn't really matter which way i printed it - the aged affect is just awesome. Patterned paper, chipboard and letter stickers are GCD Studios. Make sure to check out the GCD blog to see what everyone else has created - and keep checking back for more fabulous projects created by the team!

Thanks for stopping by and i will be back in a few days with more GCD goodness!

xoxo

Brenda

GCD giveaway!

If you like free stuff head on over to the GCD blog - and enter to win an AMAZING KIT! One lucky winner will receive the entire Yearning kit from Scrapbooking from the Inside Out! Just leave a comment and you’ll be entered into the drawing. The winner will be announced on Friday. Good Luck! All the pictures I used this time around are older ones of Baylee - i was pretty proud of myself for pulling from the stash - and it just reminded me of how darn cute she was when she was a baby. The first ones are my all time fave! That hat!! So i used paper from Sunny Days and the orange dot is from an older line but one of my fave papers. The green flower and swirls are from a pattern in one of the Sunny Days papers.This is from the Morning Glory line - i tried to mimic the circle pattern below with stamps - i don't know how well i accomplished that - but thats what i was trying to do!
Thisis a mixture of 2 lines too - the blue is Morning GLory and th e red is Sunny Days! Die cuts and ribbons are GCD also.
So Dean and Mason are off antelope hunting - it feels strange with one less kid. He's my easiest so its not any easier! I took the other 2 to Toads with my sister in law - her hubby is out of town too - so we just ate pizza and let the kids run wild for an hour - it was great because they were trapped in this place - and there was harldy anyone there - it was perfect.

I got a terrible letter in the mail yesterday too - mother's of kids who aren't bus would know how this feels - My kids are currently busers (SP?) - but the letter said - we are right on the border of legal bussed children and starting Monday they are no longer allowed to ride the bus! What? Are you kidding. That just totally sucks - so i measured the distance today and i am 1.5 miles right as you pull into the closest school parking lot - sooooooooooooo i called today - and made my case - hopefully it was a good one and we'll be back on the bus - she said she would call me back monday!! So cross your fingers for me.

Don't forget about the post below - if your still interested make sure you email for a kit by Wendy Sue Anderson or a goodie bag - i can't believe how many have gone already - so make sure to do it quick if you want one!

hugs!
Brenda

still want to donate to CFF???

If you weren't able to attend the crop - you can still help us reach our goal by purchasing either one or both of these. This first one is an awesome 2 page layout kit that was designed by Wendy Sue Anderson . She was sweet enough to do this for me, she designed the layout, got the product together and put them in kits for me. Its very simple - its pretty much all cut for you - you just put it together and add your pictures! It comes with an entire package of the white thicker letters. Terri from O'Scrap sponsored the Kit class and i'm so grateful for her and her generosity!! You can get the kit for just $10.00 and that includes shipping - remember - its going to support a great cause! You can also purchase the leftover goodie bags that i have. They come in these fabulous Studio Calico kit bags (the contents in the picture are not what is in the bag). Every bag is a little different but the sponsors for the goodie bags include GCD Studios, Fancy Pants Designs, A million little things and Little Yellow Bicylce + some other randomness!! These will also be $10.00 including shipping. Email me at bhurd1976@msn.com and i can paypal you! Super easy!

Also wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who did support and took time away from thier busy schedules to come play and hep raise money for Cystic Fibrosis. WE had a great time! Lots of raffle prizes, laughs and good company! Thanks again to the sponsors who were willing to donate and help us out too!!

Okay here are just a few pictures from the crop - i was really bad with my camera - last thing on my mind - but i did make sure to take a few pics. Here was a super fun table - full of laughs i could hear from accross the room - from left to right Roxanne B. , P. Kelly Smith from Paper Crafts Magazine, Megan Hoeppner from Creating Keepsakes Magazine who brought some great raffle prizes to the crop for me - thank you!!, Me, Becky Olsen my cute scrapping buddy.This is Wendy Sue Anderson who designed the layout and Megan!Me and my cute friend Katie who i just adore - she's been a great friend of mine for years! Love her to pieces - just wish i could get her to scrapbook more - she has the nack - very talented - just not the time - one of these days your going too see her name in mags - i told her i was going to start taking pictures of her stuff and submitting them myself!! Cute Sierra and her friend Whitney - Sierra babysits my kids and they LOVE her - she's such a cutie - she came with her mom who has been a great friend and supporter too!My little sis in the purple and her friend Mindy - Karie (my sis) brought her cute baby Hudson down - he was a trooper - i got to hold him - and hand him back if he pooped, then hold him - and hand him back if he cried - just the way i like it!Just a pic of the Silent Auction items.........i raised ALOT of money off of the silent auction. A ski coat that was donated raised $230.00 by itself. My awesome friend Bobbie (who couldn't be there because her tough hubby was riding in Lotaja this weekend) got alot of great auction items for me - including the jacket.

So there it is - its over and finally - right this minute as i type this - i am feeling the relief of it being over and turning out as well as it did. So i'm off to go to bed and finally get some good rest without lists running through my head! THanks again!

Brenda

a day of firsts.......

So yesterday and this morning were big days for Baylee and I - my baby is growing up! Its so sad - i love to watch her grow - but knowing she's my last makes me kinda sad. Yesterday we got to meet Baylee's new pre-school teacher Mrs. Andrea. Baylee really wouldn't look at her the entire time we were there - but after this morning - her first day of pre-school - she warmed up to her well.

She also had her first dance class yesterday. It was soooooooooo darn cute - all of the little girls lined up accross the bar - just darling. Baylee did so good - she jumped right in and wanted to learn..............the getting ready part was the best.
She couldn't stop admiring herself in the mirror - and telling herself how pretty she was (thats okay for a 3 year old to do - right?)

Of course we had to get more pictures out on the porch - here she is twirling away!
More twirls!
And here is my cute girl on her first day of school this morning. The shirt is from my cute friend who started her own little boutique. Its called Bella-Boutique - she has the cutest stuff - very unique and she'll make pretty much anything!

She wasn't even sad - she just said "Bye Mom" like it was no big deal!

As for the crop - i will be lucky to still be standing the day of the crop - its taking every ounce of energy i have .........my poor kids are bieng neglected because Dean never seems to be around when i need him to be because he's so busy with work and life too....so needless to say i am ready for the day to just come so i can stop stressing about it! I do have to say i am happy with the turnout - the donations have been fabulous - so there is lots to give away. I ended up with 60 people - even though you can still sign up - so i may get a few stragglers - but from the first year - thats down 30 people - i'm sure the economy has something to do with it. So hopefully we still make alot of money for the foundation.

Have a great weekend - i'm sure this will be my last post till the crop is over!

Hugs

Brenda

the Show............

So the show is done - and i'm really happy the way it went. I was so uptight and nervous about the project when I really wanted to focus on the Crop and CF - so i didn't sleep for 3 nights just trying to figure out what to say - and Marti - the hostess who helped me - made life easy - we didn't even finish the project because she made sure to talk about Cystic Fibrosis and the crop that we are doing - so that made me happy. So here is the project - and you can watch the segment and see the instructions HERE. So the idea behind the project was to be able to remove the 8x8 layout from the frame and put it into an album - then make a new 8x8 layout to replace it with the new school pictures. I have always just stuck my kids school pictures in the cupboard and never looked at them again so i thought this would be a great way to dispay them. The frame is from Fancy Pants Designs - and the inside is Acrylic - so i was able to just attach the layout with brads and when the time comes to remove the layout - its easy peasy! Obviously with Ethan in school now - i need to make one with both of thier pictures on it! Here is a picture of me with the Hosts - Nicea, Marti, Reagan then Me My good friend Bobbie on the right came down to support me - and Amy on the left is the one who put the whole thing together - so thanks to them!! Me with the projects Marti and I while filming.So it was an awesome experience even though i was a ball of Nerves. I will leave you with with a link to the LILY BEE blog. Make sure to go check it out - we are showcasing the Audrey line this month - think Audrey Hepburn - if you love her- you will love this post by one of our newest members of the team Jill Sprott whom i adore already! Make sure to go check it out - there are going to be 2 lucky winners this month that will recieve the entire Audrey collection! Go check it out!