Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)

I did this quick layout this afternoon. The challenge was to use photos or product that had to do with sleep. I dug through my stash to find these pics of Chris that I remembered....he was about 8 months old. And then I kept thinking about a lullaby that I had heard the lyrics to & wanted to use on a layout, but never had gotten around to it. I googled & found what I was looking for. (Isn't Google awesome?)

Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)

by- The Dixie Chicks

Dragon tales and the "water is wide"
Pirate's sail and lost boys fly
Fish bite moonbeams every night
And I love you

Godspeed, little man
Sweet dreams, little man
Oh my love will fly to you each night on angels wings
Godspeed
Sweet dreams

Monday Morning Scrappiness

I wanted to share a few of my most recent scrappy creations with y'all this morning. My days have been really busy & I haven't been getting as much scrapping done as I'd like to, but anyway.

For October, the Master Chef Design Team at Cookin' Up Creations chose to scraplift this layout by BETH CAMP:

And here's the layout I created using Beth's layout as my inspiration:

First of all I turned her design 90 degrees to the left so it would better fit my photos. I used layers as a photo mat under my focal picture. I also really loved that awesome trim she used & so I mimicked it by using a scalloped border down the edge of my page. Thanks so much for the inspiration, Beth!

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For this next layout, 3 of us DT girls were sent the exact same product & asked to create a layout. It's so cool to see the different layouts created from the same product. I couldn't get to the other ladies' layouts this morning, but I'll show you what I was sent & then the layout I created.

This is what we were sent:

2 pieces of bazzil cardstock

1 pp fancy pants

1 ABC large scenic route

chipboard frames Teresa Collins

Ribbon Teresa Collins

Black silk flowers Doodlebug

'The Birthday Girl'

Photo taken on Ashley's 18th Birthday.

Ashely's Photo Shoot

Ashley came home with us after church this afternoon. She needed to get some pictures for one of her photo assignments & so while I did her laundry, this is what she & her siblings were doing. She got some pretty awesome shots!

Love the reflection of the trees in the windows here.

Such a cool shot.......

....but I have to say this is one of my favorites! Just look at that pose....those cute little barefooted toes....I love it! I NEED to print some of these!

LU Homecoming

Jon & I headed off to the Homecoming game this afternoon. As we were coming up the bypass.....just before you get to the mall, I saw this blue car come onto the highway & I said to Jon that it looked like Chris' car. He said yeah, but thought it was a newer model. Then I commented on how weird it was that there were sunglasses hanging from the rear view mirror like Chris hangs his & there was a sticker in the back window too. So, Jon tells me to speed up a tad & get closer. And sure enough, it WAS Chris. He had left NC early enough that he figured he'd meet up with us & go to the game. What a coincidence.

That's Chris there in the black shirt a few rows down & Jon's beside him in the RED. LOL

The band playing at half time. Phantom of the Opera!

The Joker

 Some LU media guy asked this couple behind us if they were Alumni because he was looking for folks to interview. They weren't......& when Jon heard this (he was sitting on the end) he told the guy that we were Alumni & since Chris was closer than me, he asked if he could do a short little interview & ask him some questions. So I snapped a few pics of the guy interviewing Chris. How cool is that?!

It was a really fun afternoon. LU won, beating Coastal 63-21! Ashley left right after halftime so she could go eat & whatnot...she & her roomie were going to ScareMare tonight. I left a little after she did so I could get on home & get supper fixed. Jon & Chris ended up staying for the whole thing & even watched the fireworks afterwards. So glad for fun family times like these!!

NC State Fair

Chris went to NC yesterday.....he & Ashley had tickets to the NC state fair & more importantly, to the Skillet concert. I snagged just a couple of pictures from the ones Chris posted on Facebook....thought I'd share them with y'all here.

My Fuzzy-Feel-Good Stories!

I've had a busy couple of days. First of all though, I must share some critter cuteness.....

I thought this was so funny.....Rocky usually chases Gibbs & she tries her best to hide from him, but I walked into the living room yesterday afternoon & found them sleeping on the SAME couch! Granted they were at opposite ends, but still......very picture-worthy, I thought.

Mr. Cuteness peeking at me.

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After taking pictures of my cute critters I had to hustle & get ready to go meet Ashley. We were going to grab some supper at Subway before going to see 'Oklahoma' at the LU theater. About the time I came off the by-pass heading to the college, it started POURING on me. Thankfully, it had stopped by the time I got to her dorm. As we were walking back to the van.......this is the sight we saw.............

It was the most beautiful rainbow. And someone pointed out later in another photo that there was actually a double rainbow. The second one was just above this & much fainter.  After a quick bite of supper, we made our way over to the theater to see none other than Rodgers & Hammerstein's......

They did an amazing job, as usual! I've still got some of these songs running through my head two days later. * O, What a Beautiful Morning *  The Surrey with the Fringe on Top * People Will Say We're in Love * Oklahoma *
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As alot of you know, this weekend is LU's Homecoming weekend. 40 amazing years! When I got home from the play the other night I was going through the mail for the day & there was a Homecoming packet in there addressed to me. I was just half-heartedly flipping through the stuff before I tossed it....& boy was I glad I did. In the packet were vouchers for FREE tickets to any athletic event!! We had been debating over whether or not to go to the Homecoming game (Clay is working & Ashley had some homework to do & wasn't sure if she'd go or not) but this made the decision for us. FREE TICKETS! Why, of course we are going now! Supposed to be a beautiful fall afternoon with temps in the lower 70s! Go Flames!

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I had another 'Fuzzy-Feel-Good' moment yesterday too. It seems to me that's it's always the seemingly 'little' things that can really bless your day. After picking up my FREE football tickets I headed up to the Alumni center set up for the weekend in the Barnes & Noble bookstore to check about getting Scare Mare tickets for this coming week. It's kind of a long story....with a couple of misunderstandings/miscommunications that come when emailing instead of talking person to person....I had been trying to find out if I could get a discount for our small Homeschool group. But anyway, I went under the impression that I could get an alumni discount on my scare mare tickets (because I have an alumni card that gives me discounts to various things). I bought tickets for me & my kids for $5 (instead of the regular $8 price) & as I was leaving, I noticed the dates on the tickets were ONLY for this weekend. Oh great! But after much explaining & one VERY NICE, SUPER SWEET girl in charge who made a couple of phone calls on my behalf.........I was able to keep the tickets I had just purchased at the discount price & use them next weekend when we go. I was SO thankful & SO very blessed by this girl's kindness & how she went the extra mile so-to-speak to work things out in my behalf! Such an amazing testimony of God's love to others & what a blessing in my day!

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How about just one more 'Fuzzy-Feel-Good' story? Ashley was sharing with me Thursday night how somewhere along the way in a conversation, her room-mate,Emily had told Ashley & Taheshah how glad she was to have them as roomies this year. Seems she had a few rough years with some room-mate problems before & had been praying for better roomies. My jaw just dropped when she told me this because I was telling Ashley how hard I had prayed ahead of time for her to get good room-mates....just the right ones that God had picked out for her......so they would compliment & bless one another. I prayed that she would have awesome roomies that would become close friends just like Chris, Matt & Damian. Ashley said she had also been praying back in the summer for just the right room-mates. It so amazing when things like this come to light & you can see how so many different ones had been praying & how God worked all these things together for good just like He promises to do!

Boo Banner

I made this little banner for Ashley's dorm room. Think she'll like it?

Latest Homeschooling Project

Let's see....would you label this as art or home ec/sewing? Whichever you choose, I think it's pretty awesome!

Alli came downstairs last night with her guitar strap & proceeded to gather up some embroidery floss, my circle stencils, tape, needles, etc.

And this is what she's working on right now....she's hand-stitching these pretties on her guitar strap

Jon calls them her Bubbles of Color!

I just love it that the kids actually have time to come up with projects like this & the 'what for' to follow through & complete their projects. It was so cool sharing the couch with her last night.....watching '19 Kids & Counting'.....she was embroidering & I was crocheting. Sweet times!!

Crochet Sugar Skulls

I just found these little crocheted skulls over Tangled Happy. Aren't they just the cutest?!

  I just might have to make a few of these!!

Just a quick little sample of some Halloween cards that I made today. Jon is hovering over my shoulder waiting for his turn on the computer.

This little 'raven' pattern was found online at Scrapbooks, Etc.

This cute monster pattern was found in a Scrapbooking & Beyond magazine.

And lastly, this Wicked card pattern can be found in the latest Paper Crafts magazine.

Journal Spilling

Couldn't wait to share. I'm SO excited. I had seen this book on Sandee's blog & had also thumbed through it at AC Moore. I really liked it, but it was $22.99! Just a tad more than I wanted to spend on a book.....even if I had used a half off coupon. So I decided to look for it on 'half.com'. Now that's more my speed. I was thrilled to find it for $2.87.....even with the shipping it was just a tad over $6!!

Some Hooky Fun!

I found the cutest little Halloween bracelet pattern online the other day & have been just itching to try it out. I ran by Michael's today while I was in town & found little bags of Halloween colored beads for just $1. So, I snatched up two bags & came home anxious to try out this simple pattern.

So, here's my first attempt at these cute little bracelets. Turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. I just need to sew a button on now for the closure.

I decided to make a plain black one & I LOVE how it turned out! This one's mine.

Yesterday, while out shopping with the girls, Ashley found this adorable crocheted head band at Target for $12.99. I was totally going crazy saying how simple that would be to make.......that's what Maw always used to tell me, BTW, whenever we were shopping & I found something cute.....I'm turning into my mom! But seriously....I could make this!

So I whipped out my camera & started snapping away so I'd have something to look at.

I also pulled out my trusty little keyring tape measure & jotted down a few measurements. ;-) Will post pictures as soon as I give this a try.

Fall Break!

Well, actually....let me back up a few days. I found a couple pictures on my camera that I forgot to share.

Rocky's new thing is that he wants to sit with whomever is at the table working. Monday he just happened to be sitting with Michael 'helping' him with his math.

My meager attempt at some fall decor outside. I need to gather a few more corn stalks & some pumpkins would be nice.

Ashley is officially on Fall Break now. So nice to have her home. As you can see, it was HER lap that Rocky cozied up in today. He looks like he could fall asleep.

And here's Michael showing off his new talent. Juggling! He & Jon were messing around with the walnuts the other day & Jon dared him to learn to juggle. And so he did.

Homeschooling at it's best!