Well... it's Friday and I thought I would have some time to post earlier in the week, but I was mistaken. We have had another way busy week. I have been pulling kits together for the site and have also been putting my own kits together for my weekend getaway next week. I so need the break.

I went to the dentist yesterday, I know, ya all REALLY want to hear about that..... so, 1700.00 later, I have a crown. I guess Creative Escapes isn't in the cards for this next year. Well, I was feeling kinda down and I came across Robby's Utube post of a song he has been working on. I just want to share it with you and think you will enjoy listening to him. He has such talent. This particular song, he wrote himself, while just sitting at the piano. He seems to have a knack for compossing... without further ado.. I leave you with, Rob Chapman at the piano...

Hope you enjoy,
Love ya.
Mary

The Plains are Alive with the Sound of Music.....

We just returned from the High School and were treated to a wonderful Fall Chorus & Orchestra Concert. Robby and Andrew both sang with their groups and did incredible jobs. Rob was singled out as making All State and Mr. Gauger stated that making All State in small surrounding towns isn't like making All State in our town. He emphasized the competition and talent that is here and that if a singer makes All State from Watertown, it means the student is a great singer. It really made us feel good knowing that Rob is good enough. And to think, I didn't even know my son could sing until he was asked to sing the National Anthem at a school event. lol... It just goes to show that a lot of the time moms are the last to know.

Another surprising thing happened to me today. I have decided, as I posted yesterday, to skip HOF this year. Just when I decided that I received an email from Creating Keepsakes informing me that one of my albums is on their site as the tip of the week. This is the fifth time they have used something I have made on the website for the tip of the week. I am wondering why my things are good enough for the website, but not enough for the magazine. hmm.

I also decided to put in for Daisy D's Design Team call. They are, by far, my favorite scrap paper/embellishment company out there. I have loved each and every paper line they have. I don't know if this is a God thing or what, but their sub heading on their blog is a statement that I have been droning into my children for years. It is: Everyone Has a Story to Tell, I follow that up with... so what's yours? I wanna hear about your day, I wanna hear about your thoughts, I wanna hear about what's on your heart and mind." The kids know that I value communication and recording today's events for tomorrow's reflection. So... what I am asking is that you would all pray that DDs likes what they see and think I am worthy enough to be on their team. Well... I think everyone has headed off to bed..... and I should get upstairs as well...

Oh..... some news on the Megan front. Still enjoying Northwestern and is asking that we pray for direction. God has placed Israel and Africa both on her heart and really needs to work this out between her and God. I am sure she will make the right decision with His guidance. I cannot tell you how proud I am of her and how happy she makes us, knowing that she doesn't do things rashly, but with forethought and lots of prayer. So, if God is telling her something, we have confidence that she is listening to Him. She has an interp meet tomorrow, so please pray that she does well.

Love you all...

Mary
Just finished "Swan" very late last night...I couldn't sleep well and scrapped til 2 am..Shhhh don't tell Bob...heheheh
blogspot isn't uploading files properly so I will post photos in the am... nighty night

It's Sunday and.....

I am home with a sore throat..oh well... I guess that means I get to scrap! I am sitting here in the Library/home art studio, looking out a window at the trees. Some are a beautiful shade of orange, others are brown, light green/yellow, rust, and peach. What strikes me the most is that they are all fluttering in a crazed dance that reminds me of the warped speed of the events of this past week.

Last Sunday we came home from the cities and seeing Meggie and drove through two awful thunder storms. Monday was a holiday so Bob and the boys kept busy getting some stuff done in the garage. They donated a sofa to the thrift store, which is good. I want to park the cars in the garage. It seems that with the veranda restoration, Megan's Grad Party, and the Parade of Homes Tour, that we accumulated a bunch of things in the garage leaving no room for the cars.

Tuesday I started having a tickle in my throat that I just chalked up to eating some popcorn. As the week progressed it got worse and now, here I am on Sunday, home feeling just awful. But that's ok. I had planned on working on my CK HOF entry, but then some interesting events popped up over at Creating Keepsakes that leaves me disappointed, frustrated, and yes, even angry. It will be interesting to see what comes of their policies and rules in the future. I have decided to NOT do HOF this year. I really want to focus on positive aspects of creating and having fun teaching others to tell their stories.

Speaking of teaching, here are a few snippets of what I will be teaching on www.creativityunbound.blogspot.com this next Tuesday....

































These four layouts have a couple things in common. Since I know how smart ya all are I won't insult you by pointing it all out... What I am going to be teaching is the art of graffiti. It's so much fun to just doodle and let go. I love to color outside the lines and do things that aren't expected. Maybe they are expected, but I am not with it enough to know the difference?
I promised a look at "Science" so here it is. I think you all know that we homeschool. It was
while doing a science project that I snapped a few photos of the kids examining an ant farm they put together. It's super cool because it doesn't take dirt, but a jell-like substance. Now we have a mini garden growing in the ant farm and six happy ants that have burrowed holes in the blue stuff. For this layout I purposely chose papers that have a science feel and threw in some vibrant blues and some great reds to pull it all together. I just love the little chirping bird on the "e". Well...thanks for looking and check out www.creativityunbound.blogspot.com for further instructions on how to doodle. Better yet, post some photos of your doodling for us all to admire.
Love ya!
Mary

I bet you are wondering what all this is.....hmmm. Well, it's my first kit that I put together for Swap4fun. Swap4fun is a scrapbook element swap site that encourages scrappers and sets up swaps for it's members. We have about 600 members who love scrapping and swapping items that they make for their scrapbook pages. I have been asked to put together a kit for the month of November. If you are interested in getting a kit you have to go to MSN and apply for membership to Swap4fun. It is a closed group because we really want serious scrappers and no lookie loos..Although once you join there really is no obligation to swap. It's really a fun site.















This kit is loaded... seriously loaded. It has 88 pieces of fun including 13 papers (scenic route, imaginisce, cosmo cricket, Tinkering Ink, A2Z, and Bazzill)
5+ yards of ribbon and fibers (at least 1 yard of it is luxury velvet ribbon)
1 fancy fold box
2 match boxes
1 mint tin
12 buttons
22 brads (fancy, shaped, and autumn colors included)
3 manila tags
2 natural envelopes for our card makers
4 misc. chipboard pieces (shapes vary)
4 silk flowers
2 silk leaves
6 felt adhesive backed leaves
4 paper autumn leaves
6 eyelets (autumn colors)
and... 1 photo turn

I am not making any profit and just put the kit together to have some fun with all our scrappers. If you want one they will go fast and are going to be around 25.00-30.00 depending on what I can do about shipping costs. Well... that's what I have been up to. I am still working on "Science" and will post some interesting angles of that later.
Love ya!
Mary

It's already Tuesday... wow.

We spent the weekend in the cities, visiting Meg at school. It was a beautiful weekend. The weather was simply perfect and we were treated with so much beauty while driving. All the trees are in the midst of changing so we literally drove through a rainbow of fall splendor. The only snag in the whole trip was driving home...we ran into some pretty ugly weather and drove through two large storms complete with rain, thunder, and lightning. I love that kind of weather and love hearing the crashing of thunder, but it's only fun when I am curled up with a good book, not while driving across the midwest.

Robby and I had our first rehearsal this evening and it was pretty fun. There are so many kids in this play. I felt odd, being the only adult on stage at all times, but I am sure it's going to be just fine. well. I will post more tomorrow along with a fun layout that i am working on called, Science". love you!
Mary

Today really felt like fall and I feel so sorry that summer is gone. The warmth of the sun on the back of my head while I sip ice tea on the veranda reading a good book is long forgotten as the leaves on the trees all fall around me. I love fall, too.. and I will lament it's passing as winter sets in here on the prairie. And then when the trees start to bud I will think of the promise of a new season. God is pretty amazing. I love the colors that He has chosen to paint the canvas of the world. No matter how hard I look in stores and online for certain colors to replicate, there are simply a few that can never ever be copied. Take for instance the perfect color that peaches turn when you know they are at their sweetest and you can imagine the wonderful taste and texture when you take your first bite.

This past summer we bought fruit literally by the case because we don't get very good fruit here in South Dakota. We order it from Washington state and it is so very good. Last month, Anabelle was helping me in the kitchen and she was putting peaches and nectarines away. We ran out of room in the refrigerator so we had to eat a bunch of them. I had some errands to run and I left Belle home with the boys and asked them to finish taking care of the fruit. Anabelle lined a few nectarines and peaches up on my kitchen window sill and when I came home the wonderfully sweet aroma of fresh peaches greeted me as I entered the back door. I followed my nose to the kitchen window about the sink area and leaned forward to experience that great smell a bit closer. It was then that I looked down the ledge from an angle that I knew I needed to capture that moment on film. I wanted to preserve that instant when the whole summer could be summed up with just a smell. For some it's the smell of the beach, or woods, or campfires, or even sulfur from fireworks that were shot off on July 4th, but for me, this summer was captured in the scent of "Summer Fruit"





I love the look of sepia photography.

Have a wonderful day, Love you all,

Mary

OK.. this is going to be short and sweet... I simply can't sleep. I hate when that happens. I know I have to get up early with the kids so why am I up? Well...

something really cool happened last night and I want to see if I think I did what I think I did..lol

About two years ago I let one of the boys do a load of dishes in my new dishwasher and they accidentally locked the settings. I have been pushing buttons for two years to get the machine to wash on any cycle other than "normal". I wanted "Pots and Pans" or "Quick Rinse" or how about "China"? or any of the other settings. So...last night I was loading the dishwasher and I hit the start button like always and it didn't come on.... the delay wash light came on...hmmmm I am thinking "what the heck is wrong now"? So I got mad and rather forcefully pushed every button and yelled at the machine.. and guess what???? It's working correctly..... I washed a load on "Pots and Pans" last night and everything came out sooooo clean. So I wanted to make sure it wasn't a fluke. You know it would be just my luck.... So I put a 3x5 index card and wrote, "DO NOT TOUCH, OR YOU'LL REGRET IT!" on the card and taped it to the machine. Everyone stayed away from the machine like it had the plague..and I am highly suspicious that they stayed away from it in fear of knocking the sign off and then thinking they had to wash the dishes.....Well...I'll tell you, I am sitting here listening to my machine, which cost 3 x as much as a regular one, just because it's stainless and has computer something or another in it...that sure didn't stop it from screwing up now did it.... oh my I am digressing....
Back to the point of the post... it's just that when you think you know something and how it's going to respond, it doesn't do what it should. In this case it was good instead of having my machine decide to break down, it decided to mend up...is that a proper analogy?

At any rate... I thought many of you would enjoy hearing about my dishwasher..hehehehe.. Night all.. oh wait... it's morning... Good Morning... I love you all!!

Mary

Life never ceases to amaze me.....The other day Anabelle asked if we would let her audition for "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever", which was being cast by Town Players. So, we said, "sure, Honey". Then she told me that she didn't want to do it alone so I loaded everyone in the van and took them over to the theatre to audition. I was sitting there watching the kids and thought, "heck, I am forcing them all to audition just because Belle doesn't want to do it alone", "why am I sitting here being a poor example?" I filled out the call sheet and sat back and watched all the 50+ kids audition. Rob just hammed it up and had a blast. They didn't have many males audition so he had to read for two parts and ended up having a conversation with himself. It was hilarious and those in attendance we laughing quite loudly. Belle auditioned with a group of girls and did a great job. She has an incredible memory.
Andrew and Nathaniel did not want to audition and their read through showed their lack of interest and then they called me to read with an adult British man for the parts of the mother and father. I wasn't nervous at all because I just read it like I would have for the kids when running lines with them. Then we went home. I couldn't get Bob to audition and I have a feeling Oklahoma was that last time he'll be on stage for a very long time.
Yesterday the cast list was posted and........Belle got the part of Jaunita, Robby got the male lead, and I got the female lead of "mother". Too funny. I haven't acted since we did "Run to the Roundhouse, Nellie". I think being a mom is going to so much more in my comfort zone than being a can can girl/call girl and the costume has to be better..lol.

The other fun thing that has happened around here is....
Memory Makers' 601 Great Scrapbook Ideas hits the stands the beginning of November and "Ready-Set-Create, October Issue is out. They picked up the altered prom dress and matching shoes and is on page 90, if you get a chance to see it that's great, if not, here's the dress and shoes..

and Meggie wearing the dress. Until next time. Mary