Warning!! Warning!! Major vent about to take place!!

Hello!! We made it home safe and sound and my life has been a total whirlwind since we got home! : )

My planner this month has been so full that just thinking about it makes me a little dizzy! I have had stuff scheduled every day and it feels like there are just not enough hours in a day! **Beep, beep, beep!! Disclaimer: This may sound like a giant complaint, but actually it isn't! : ) I prefer to be busy! I try to be a do-er and boy am I doing this month! LOL This is more of a gentle unloading of stress upon you, my new blogg-y friends! (Hey! Thanks for listening by the way!)

The biggest to do on my list, the icing on the cake is coming together this weekend! My oldest son is graduating high school! Sounds simple enough, I know! However, because we home school that makes graduation 'my' function! I am the teacher, principle, guidance counselor, career counselor etc... I co-run our communities Home School support group and in addition to my son we have three other graduates! We have been scheming and planning and making and doing for our own HS graduation all month long! There will be a graduation ceremony followed by a dinner followed by a prom! We are expecting approximately 100 guests! We have 25 teens that will be attending prom this year and they have chosen Masquerade Ball as their theme! So, giant masks...check! Huge banners...check! Music, balloons, table centerpieces, food, food, food...check, check, check! I will be putting the final touches on decorations today and hope to get everything done before our weekend deadline! I still have a to do list for today and tomorrow as long as I am tall though (which includes finding something to wear!)! I am starting to feel a little pressure! LOL Then on top of everything, my youngest son is sick! He started to feel bad Sunday night. I think it is a sinus infection, but after a very early morning trip to the doctor (an hour away!) he has been diagnosed with a virus that 'needs to just run it's course'. Sigh! There is NOTHING worse than when your kiddo looks at you with those eyes that say pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaase make this go away and all you can do is try to keep him cool and comfortable. His fever was 104 Tuesday night. Poor little guy!

Ok, so if you managed to make it through all of this dribble...thank you! Thank you for listening to me vent! Big cheesy grin! : ) Saturday is the big day! Think me some happy, good luck vibes if you would and wish them my way!

I promise to become a more regular blogger once May is behind me and June is here!

I have included some photo's of the graduation announcements I made for my son with the RSVP card. I used black 12 X 12 paper and silver embossed the hat and tassel and swirls! I used a silver pen to outline the rectangle on the front. This was my proto type and the pen smeared a little bit. I folded a flap up on the inside to make a pocket to hold the RSVP card and directions. I silver embossed inside and on the front of the RSVP card! These were so much fun to make! I added a little sparkle to each one and Viola'! Hope you like them!

More from me soon! : )

And finally...!

Here are some photo's of us goofing around! Photo #1 is hubby and I at the Aquarium! Photo #2 is he and I taking my famous reach your arms out and do a self portrait photo photo! (I have a ton of these and keep promising to put them all in one album!) I took about three of these, but he insisted on closng his eyes to aggrevate me! Photo #3 is of my oldest daughter and I using the same photo method! LOL
I didn't include any of the photo's of the graduation because I want to keep those hidden until I give them out as framed gifts. The graduation went very well! It was very entertaining and included traditional Louisiana jazz! It was held in the SuperDome (where all of the Hurricane Katrina folks were taken for several weeks after the storm).
I hope you guys enjoyed your virtual tour of Louisiana! : ) ((Hubby laughed at me today and told me I was such a tourist! LOL)) We will be traveling back home tomorrow! Think about us on that loooooong drive! Have a great night!

Even more photos...!

Photo #1 is of my kids at the Aquarium in front of a tank of fish! This place was soooo awesome! I could have spent all day in here watching the fish! Photo #2 is my kids on a giant frog! LOL Photo# 3 was a group shot in front of Camilia Grill. The graduate is in the center! Also pictured are my mom in law and her husband, my hubby and my kids! Photo #4 was a man painted silver! He was a hoot! Moving around like a robot and collecting cash on the street! He was pretty amazing! Photo #5 was of a statue in the park that I thought was just beautiful! What a fun day!

More New Orleans photos...!

Photo #1 is of Cafe DuMonde! We walked down Decatur street to get here! The street was full of souvenir shops, street vendors and tons of fun activities! When we got to the cafe it was packed! We got in the line and one of the employees came up to us and offered to sneak us into the cafe! Guess we were just in the right place at the right time! He saved us an hours wait in line! What a sweetheart! The place was really hopping! We ordered our breakfast and it was sooo yummy! Photo #2 is of our breakfast! Everything was covered in powdered sugar! I must have gained three pounds just sitting down there! Photo #3 is of my son, Daniel goofing around in Jackson Park! Photo #4 is of one of the many horse and buggy rides offered at the park. Photo #5 is of a store front in the mall outside of our hotel.

I am LOVIN' New Orleans!!!

I must admit...I LOVE it here! I do not think I would want to live here, but I have been so intrigued and fascinated by this place! The streets never seems to sleep and there is soooo much culture and excitement everywhere! We have ridden the trolley (which is actually called the street car by the locals!) several times! That fun thing will take you all over the place for just $1.25! We have eaten at some really neat places! The Camilia Grill and Sweet Fire and Ice have been my favorites so far! I got to try jambalaya last night...YUUUMMMM!!! We are going into the French Quarter in a few minutes to have coffee and beignets (pronounced been-yays!)! So excited about that! We got to see the Garden District and the houses there are amazing! Such beautiful architecture! We went to Tulane (the college my sister in law graduated from!) for a big Wave Goodbye party! There was lots of food to sample there and music! I have included some photos for you guys! : ) I will post again later today! We are planning to go to the zoo and aquarium and maybe take in an IMax movie later! Have a great day!

Photo #1 is of the street car driver! Photo #2 is my gang on the street car! Photo #3 is of Tulane University. (Gorgeous campus!) Photo #4 is of the Wave Goodbye party! Photo #5 is of the band Kermit and the BBQ boys! They were awesome! : )

Going on an outting...!

Hiya everyone! : ) I am writing from New Orleans!! My sister-in-law is graduating from college this weekend so we made the drive down yesterday from Virginia! 14 looooong hours, 8 of which were in the pouring down rain! Yuck-o!! My kids are great travelers though (not even one complaint or "Are we there yet!). We arrived safely and I wanted to share our trip with you! We will be here for a couple of days and I will post pictures each night! Hope everyone is having a great day! Back tonight with more! : )

The first picture is the New Orleans sign (taken from the moving car!)! Picture #2 is of the Mississippi River with some angry looking clouds hovering over! Picture #3 is of the street in the middle of downtown New Orleans that all of the 'notorious' streets (Bourbon, Canal, St. Charles) branch off of. It is quite different than our two lane tiny, curvy roads back home in the sticks! Look at those Palm Trees!! Picture #4 is of the Harrah's Casino sign (right across from our hotel!) and the last one is of a Mississippi River boat!

Happy Mother's Day!

Thought it was safe to share a couple of the Mother's Day cards I made! **Hopefully my mom received her card by now (in Alaska!)! Sometimes she gets my mail in three days, sometimes it takes two weeks! The first one is for my Grandma! I used butterfly scrapbook paper and soft subtle pinks. I added a few pieces of sparkle, but opted to keep this card clean and simple!
The second card is for my mom! That gorgeous stamp is from Rubbernecker Stamps . I only colored the blanket because I wanted it to really stand out! She will probably get a repeat card with this stamp later because she will really like this image! I will color the whole thing next time!

Happy, happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day paper bag album!

I am hooked on these albums! I am a mini album nut anyhow, but these are just so much fun to make! I made one for my mom and one for my Grandma! I have two more in the works today for my mom-in-law and my kids surrogate grandma! I used a hodge-podge of papers, punches and ribbons! I kept the color theme brown, pink, cream and green! (LOVE that combination!) I didn't photograph them, but I had my 9 year old draw pictures on the pull out pages! Makes it even more personal for the recipient! Also, we all signed the back pages with mushy love sentiments! I added these black and white photos of my kiddos! Happy Mom's Day, guys! : )

I am feeling like such a neglectful blogger!!

My poor sad blog! It seems that I am averaging only a post or two a week! I have just had such a busy, crazy and full schedule this month! I have about 12 different to do list going at once! My home school group is gearing up for our graduation/prom. My son is one of the graduating seniors! In the next couple of weeks I have two baby shower's to host, a yearbook to put together, an out of town graduation to attend, an art marathon to put together and several other smaller home school functions! My days are planned almost down to the minute to try to squeeze everything in! LOL I am feeling guilty about my neglected blog though, so I thought I would stop by and leave a little poem!

Oh poor blog! As you sit neglected
not getting the attention you expected
Getting bored and collecting cyber dust
Please understand my to do list is a must
I tried to post three times today
but that darn list kept getting in the way!
You see I am so busy with life
because I am a mother and wife
Laundry, dishes and cleaning house
no time left for that computer mouse!
I create and stamp and photograph
but finding the time to post just makes me laugh
Maybe one day things will settle down
I'll have the time to play around
Until then I will post when I can
Know full well it is part of my plan
Number 27 on my to do list
Please know however that you are missed!

LOL There is my Ode to my blog! I really do love blogging and plan to become much more faithful to it after the next few crazy weeks! Until then thank you for your patience! : )

Big hug!

WE DID IT!!!!!

I happen to have the most amazing little grandma in the whole wide world!!! She is going to be 91 years young this month! I had been wracking my brain trying to come up with the perfect gift for her birthday. She either has it, wouldn't use it or just doesn't need it?! I wanted to do something really special though and so I decided that I would try to collect 91 birthday cards for her! I thought she would really appreciate opening a box full of cards for just her from all over the coun try! I e mailed my mom and told her my idea and she started to collect cards too! I am THRILLED to say that WE DID IT!!! I put out a few notes in different places! E mailed some friends and made a few phone calls! It only took about three weeks to have 91 cards ready to go from ALL over the country! So, thank you dear friends soooooo much! YOU guys are the greatest! I will be mailing her box in the morning and cannot wait to hear her response!!! Here is a pile of the cards! : )

Tea bag folded flower!

I learned how to make these tea bag folded flowers in a class recently and am totally hooked!! They are soooo easy and soooo pretty! They really dress up a project! I put one of these on the covers of each of my paper bag albums (below!). I added a flower punch out and some icicle sparkles on the end of each petal!

The rest of the paper bag album!

These posted backwards, but I am sure you get the idea! : )

Paper Bag Albums for sale??!!

So, about a week ago I was approached by a super sweet lady in our community with a small request! She told me a a story about how she went to school (K- 12th) at the same school with the same 6 girls and how they have been out of school for 55 years now!! She said they meet once a year (every year!!) since school let out and always exchange little gifts with one another and share a dinner. Well one of the ladies has been diagnosed with leukemia and has less than a year to live. :( So this year she (the one that approached me) wanted her gift to the ladies to be super special. This is where I come in (LOL)! She asked me to make her 6 paper bag albums! She wants to puts photos in each of them and recipes that are special to them and little souvenirs! I left blank pages near the back so that they could write a little note in each others books! I also made a 7th book for her so she would have her own! She has offered to pay me, but I am sooooo bad at the placing monetary value on my work thing! : ) These are they!