It's HERE!

Joe's new car finally got here.  He has been patiently waiting since June for his new Ford Edge to come in, and last week, it finally did.  He has spent a lot of time in it testing out all the new gadgets, etc.  It is pretty cool.  I even get to drive it to work later this week.  Yeah!

So here it is...

For the first several days he had it, it rained!  So this weekend he parked it out on the driveway to get some sun.  Unfortunately he noticed some damage to the room that happened during transporting, so he will need to take it back to get fixed.  Nothing major.  It has all the gadgets he wanted, and has Sync for his I-phone too.  It is pretty cool.

We were busy all weekend, but it was all low key at home.  It rained all day Saturday, so Hope did some crafts, while I finished up on this...

This is a sneek peak of my next project for The Scrappy Gourmet.  Watch for it here, when the kits are ready.

On Saturday, Hope decided she wanted to play with my old lego sets.  We worked on building a castle set, and started the train (but haven't had the chance to finish it yet).  Maybe later this week.

Well, I am off to clean off my scrapbook table now that my Christmas project is finished.  It got pretty deep during this project, which is pretty normal.  Now I need to start planning what I want to work on at the Wisconsin retreat in a few weeks.  I can't wait.  I always look forward to going to the spa and scrapbooking for an entire weekend with my friends.  So much fun!

Anyway, hope you had a great day and have a good night too!

Darla

Best Wishes!

My friend Kristi is staying with us tonight.  She is in town for a job interview and I hope it goes well tomorrow, because it is with the company I work for.  It would be great to have her living close, but it has to be a good fit for everyone.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

So here is a card...

This card was made from Fancy Pants Road Show papers and journal note, with a few extras added in.

I also had a chance to play around with PhotoShop Elements 8 on my Mac.  I have had full PhotoShop on my PC for a few years now, so things are a little different on the Elements version.  I finally figured out a way to do this...

I wanted a way to put focus on our daughter Hope up on the stage during the Children's live nativity scene during the Christmas Eve service.  I am actually amazed it turned out as good as it did.  The photo quality was not great to begin with because it was taken on Joe's i-phone.

Well, time to get Hope to bed.  Goodnight!

Darla

Fancy Nancy Tea Party!

Hope hosted a tea party for the neighbor girls.  We prepared chocolate dipped strawberries and tea (aka water).

Here are the Fancy Nancy party attendants:  Anna, Alyssa and Hope.  They had a lot of FUN!

They loved the strawberries.  They were pretty good!  I had to taste test them too.

They played for a while and then went to Anna and Alyssa's house to do an art project.  Speaking of being creative...

Here is a picture of my scrapbook desk right now.  I am deep in the creative process of a Christmas project for The Scrappy Gourmet.  If you look closely you can see a few of the pages I have done so far.  :)  I am a very messy scrapbooker.

Also, if you look out the window it is very cold and rainy out today, so it is a great day to get some work done inside.

Have a great night!

Darla

Over 100 Posts!

Wow, I have really picked up speed this year on my blog posts.  :)  I guess having a better computer helps with the process.  Anyway, this is actually my 102nd post to my blog, so I missed the BIG one!  Oh well.  Yeah ME!

We have a busy weekend ahead of us.  We are still waiting for Joe's new car, but there is a chance they might call tomorrow.  Keeping our fingers crossed.

I also won concert tickets from a local radio station for a small venue concert with Jason Brown (local Country singer) and Phil Vassar.  I think it is going to be a really great show, and it was FREE!  :)  This was the first time ever I have won something major from a radio station.  It was kind of fun.  Now, keep your fingers crossed that when Carrie Underwood comes to town in December that I can win again!!!!!  The Eagles are also coming to town, but heard the tickets for the Hy-Vee suite were $135 each.  Yikes!  We passed on those.

Today was picture day at school.  Hope looked so cute.  I hope she smiled at school better than she did this morning for Joe when he took these pictures.  :)

Anyway, on to some scrappiness...

This card base is actually one of the journal book pages folded in half.  I used a coordinating paper to cover the center markings.  I threaded silk ribbon through clear buttons and added a sentiment.  Really easy!

I had actually used up most of the papers I had from the Fancy Pants line, but still had some misc. journal pages and scraps left.  I will share a few more I put together another time.

It is time to head off to bed!

Goodnight!

Darla

Flip Notes...

Here are a few more cards I created recently.  I love how easy these cards were just by adding a Pink Paislee flip note.

I am keeping this short tonight, because I need to get back to working on my Christmas project.  I will try and share more soon!

Goodnight!

Darla

Monday play date!

Well, Hope is off on a play date for an hour (or longer if it is pouring down rain when she is supposed to come home), so I thought I would take the time to post a card I made.

I actually made several cards from some Pink Paislee goodies I bought a while back.  I had a need for a sympathy card, and I thought these papers were so subtle for Sympathy cards.  And this card was really easy using a flip note and two scraps to make the card front.  The only other thing I did was add a rub-on.  

On to other silly stuff...

I mentioned the other day, that Hope had fun playing with a bucket of worms she dug up while I was planting some fall mums.  Who knew worms could be so FUN!

Anyway, she was pulling each one out of the bucket and telling me their names:  Daisy, Tom, Daisy Junior, etc.  I was just cracking up, especially at the Daisy Junior name.  She used to have several Fisher Price babies that were all almost alike, and the first one she name Baby (original right?).  Then as she got more of these similar babies, she would name the next one Baby Junior and Baby Junior Junior, etc.  Too Funny!

Then she was putting them all over herself and giggling because they were tickling her as they wiggled around.

Eventually, she decided to put one on my leg too.  Luckily, I am ok with worms.

Then, later in the day, she had the twins and the neighbor girl helping her find more worms in her secret hiding spots under the walking tiles in the back yard.  They had a lot of fun.

Alright, that is all I have for tonight.  If you haven't checked it out lately, go to The Scrappy Gourmet for all the latest products from your favorite companies.  I just ordered a LOT of the Pink Paislee stuff.  I can't wait to play with it.  

Darla

A house divided...

Today is the Iowa/Iowa State football game and I always root for the Iowa State Cyclones, but Joe and Hope always root for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

We got this cheer outfit from a friend of ours, so of course she had to wear it today.

Tonight, we will all be rooting for the same team...my UNI Panthers play tonight and they are even going to be on TV.  Yeah!

We drove up to Ankeny this morning to check on Joe's new car and it looks like it will be here on Monday.  YEAH!  They will do their internal inspection and get it all programmed.  Then hopefully Joe can pick it up on Wednesday on his day off.  

And since we were in Ankeny, I got to visit one of my favorite scrapbook stores, Memory Bound.  They had lots of new things that I picked up, but I had to walk away from the MME Lost & Found display.  They didn't have the entire line.  That was very difficult because I want to buy it all, but I am waiting for the ENTIRE line to come in at The Scrappy Gourmet.  Oh I hope it gets delivered soon!  :)

Speaking of MME product, I have been working with the Holly Jolly line this week on a project for TSG.  It is a Christmas mini album.  It is in the very early stages, but I have lots of ideas I want to put in it.  

Well, I better go get ready for the game!  Go Cyclones!!!!

Darla   

Meals from the Heartland

What a way to start Labor Day weekend!  On Saturday morning, Joe and I had the opportunity to volunteer for Meals from the Heartland to package food packets for starving people all over the world.  Most of the meals we made today will be shipped to Haiti and Africa, but some will also stay here in the States too.

Before we got started we checked in and watched a short video of how to prepare the meal packets.  They had examples of a village in Haiti of the living conditions, tents, etc. and lots of photos from the devastation from the earthquake.  It was very emotional.  Then we got sanitized and fitted with hair nets and aprons, etc.  Then we each took a station and started our work for 2 hours.

We volunteered with a group from Hy-Vee, which is Joe's employer.  We had a lot of fun.  Here I am with Josh, the son of one of the Hy-Vee employees.  We were a pretty good team sealing the bags, stacking them up and then loading them into the boxes.

I think we completed about 10 boxes, which will feed approximately 2,160 people.

This is a view of just a small area of the tables set up to package the meals.  It was amazing, and I think i heard the surpassed what they had hoped to get done this weekend.

Here is Joe and I in our gear!  Not too flattering, but we had so much fun I can't wait to do it again next year.

Here are the statistics...

On to other activities of the weekend...

Joe's sister and her family came to visit us for the weekend.  Mike had never been to Des Moines (grew up in TN).  We made a stop out to the Bass Pro Shop.  They had a family obstacle course set up, which included being able to shoot a paintball gun.  Here is Joe and Hope waiting to get into the tent.

Here is Hope in shooting the paintball gun.  At first she didn't want to do it, but they guy ended up talking her into just pulling the trigger while the guys held the gun.  After the first shot, she got this BIG grin on her face and then she didn't want to stop until the gun was empty.

We went out to eat at Joe's Crab Shack and walked around the lake at the mall.  Then we played Farkel (a dice game) the rest of the night.

On sunday, we went to the Blank Park Zoo.  Here is Kaylee and Hope riding a camel.

Well, I am off to get Hope in the bath (after playing with worms all day).  Long story short, who knew that a bucket of worms could entertain 4 little girls (the twins, Hope and the neighbor girl) for several hours.  They also played in on the swing set too, but spent a lot of time with the worms.

I also got to spend a little time scrapbooking this weekend and I will share when I can.

Good Night!

Darla