MDS Monday - My Love

Welcome to Monday! :) It's a challenge, to use hearts in your layout. So, I did. :D I love this photo of Kenn; this was the day I flew back to Oregon last summer. It was June 3, and because of the time change and the awful hour I flew out of BNA, I was back with Kenn before noon. We ate lunch, then headed out to this rose garden.

It got quite warm that day (for OR! :D ),  and there was a nice breeze when you were in the shade. It's just one of those days that I look back on with a great fondness. Do you have those days? It wasn't a fabulous day, but it was a GOOD day. :)

I LOVE MDS. If you haven't downloaded and tried the 30-day free trial, you're missing out! :) Want to learn more about it before you do? Ask me questions! :D

Today is the day that we start our Bible study at my house, JESUS THE ONE AND ONLY. If you can't make it today, but want to come the rest of the time, just let me know! If you can't come, and would say a prayer for us when you think of it over the next three months, that would be wonderful, too. :)

It's also the start of SALE-A-BRATION!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll get a link up to the mini catalog as soon as I can; in the meantime, you can find it if you go to my business site and, on the pull-down menu for PRODUCTS, click on CATALOGS. :)

OK, I'm outta here! Have a wonderful day - and be sure to make the time to stamp something!!!

MDS Monday - Long May It Wave

 

Good Monday Afternoon!

Sorry it's not this morning; our internet connection is rather fitful sometimes.  

This traveling memorial really touched me; it was beautiful, and made a huge impact with no words. So I wanted to scrap it for you for MDS Monday. :) It has been simply incredible here this week, with weather y'all in TN could only dream of at this point. :D

So. Besides coming home early, I'll be home for about three weeks to go to my clinic and get some insulin, then fly back to Portland to do some final things with Kenn before we head for home. I'm looking forward to being able to get some stuff done for blogging - it's been really impossible to stamp much here, and that fish card I created is one I'm going to use for a hostess club while I'm home! You'll see it eventually. :D ANYWAY. The new IDEA BOOK comes out while I'm home; I won't have any new stuff to show off until the end of JUNE, so I'm going to do my OPEN HOUSE then. If you want to come get a book, LMK and we'll schedule it!

Now, then. GO STAMP SOMETHING. :D

MDS Monday - Welcome to Reedsport!

It's STILL Monday here! So, posting MIGHT be a little sporadic for a while; things are really up in the air. And if you need anything, PLEASE let me know. We are in a financial crunch, so if you need invitations or announcements designed or made, or know someone who does, I'm your gal! :D

Anyway. This is Kenn at our closest beach; I took this picture two days ago. It's so fun to get things scrapbooked right away. :)

Have a WONDERFUL day - and be sure to STAMP something!!

MDS Monday - Kenneth Keith Stilger

Happy Monday Morning! Welcome to MDS Monday! :D Did you have a good weekend? I'm blogging way ahead, here, so by this time we should be in Northern California, I think. :) Check on Facebook, if you want to keep up with me! (We're going to try to keep in good touch!)

Here's the page that inspired this one. :) It was still a challenge from SUDSOL, but the challenge was to find a page on the Net and do your own. Again, this lets me get lots of pictures on one page - and I don't think a lot of journaling was necessary for this one. :D It was fun using different shapes and sizes, too. And, of course, it's one of my favorite subjects.... :D

I'm going to get these all printed one day, into a book. One of the things I love about My Digital Studio is being able to move pages around inside the book until I'm satisfied. That way, I can continue to do different pages of my family, and when I print them out, make sure that Kenn's are all together, and my mom and dad, and sisters, and.... :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a wonderful day! Be sure to take the time to CREATE something!!

MDS Monday - Birthday Flavors

Good Monday Morning! Welcome to MDS Monday! Did you enjoy your weekend? We finished our week with my family yesterday, and are now out on the road. If you think about it, would you say a prayer for us? Safety and anything else that God puts on your heart. Thanks! :)

So, I can't believe I haven't shared this with you before, but I can't find it as a post! I don't know if you remember my birthday post(s) last year, but - well, I'll admit it. I'm a foodie. :D I LOVE trying new things, and although it's a challenge, trying to balance keeping healthy with what my taste buds crave. :D As you can read in my journaling, I was blessed to celebrate last year with friends and food, for almost the whole month of June. And it's making my mouth water now.... :D

Simple layout, using Night & Day DSP and Whisper White photo mats. Sometimes, simple is best. :D

I'd love to hear if any of you have taken advantage of the free 30-day trial, and what you think of the software!

Have a wonderful day! Make the time to CREATE something!

MDS Monday - Home in the Fall

Good Monday Morning! Welcome to MDS Monday! :D I have to admit: I find it ironic that I'm blogging this page the day after we left for my family reunion. :D I won't be home again until the house looks like this. It's hard for me to comprehend!!

Before I forget: I'm doing projects with my nieces and nephews this week. I'm going to share the projects themselves off and on for the next couple of weeks, until everything from them is shared. Except for MDS Mondays, of course. :D

OK. This page is another challenge page, but I simply love it. It shows off my parents' incredible mums, and the welcoming entrance to our house. I'm sure I'll love it even better when I see it again. :)

Do you have ANY questions?? I'd love to answer them! :D

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL day - and be sure to take the time to CREATE something!

What a Wednesday! :D

It's a beautiful, sunny day here in Middle Tennessee; it's supposed to hit 40° today! Woo, hoo! :D We're in a warming trend this week, so I expect no complaints about the weather near me.... :D

Don't forget! Today is the LAST DAY to enter for the BLOG CANDY for 15,000 HITS!!! Read that post for details!

I haven't shown you anything I've done with MY DIGITAL STUDIO (MDS) lately, so I thought I would. :) This is my beautiful stepdaughter and her husband on their wedding day.

Using MDS, I created an 8.5"x11" scrapbook page, then chose an Always Artichoke card stock layer. Because of the printing border, I made the AA 1/2" smaller all the way around than the Whisper White background. Next, I chose the Medallion stamp - which is available as a separate download, in case you, too, love the stamp and use a different program! - and shrunk it to the size I wanted, and colored it with Mellow Moss. (AA and MM are one of my favorite color combos!) Kaisa's heritage is very Celtic, and I feel like the color choices and the font reflect her and her personality pretty darn well. :D

Oh, and the three Whisper White brads in the top left corner are to balance the page. I'm afraid I'm not very frilly when it comes to my stamping OR scrapping - but I really love this page. Kenn took the shot; it was the last time we were in Oregon.

What do you think? Do you like the page?

OK, I'm off - I have many things on my TO DO list, and Kenn's not feeling well now. :( Please pray for him!

Have a WONDERFUL day! And please, take the time to STAMP something - or use MDS!!! :D

WHAT a weekend!!!!

Those of you who are friends of Ken's know that yesterday - 10/14 - was his birthday. It was a big milestone for him. so it was a big day! :)

To start with, our Sunday school class threw a breakfast pitch-in to celebrate - we had quiche, sausage casserole, venison sausage, chocolate chip cookie bars, biscuits, apple slices with pumpkin dip, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something, and I made homemade cinnamon rolls. They were yummy - I used to make them a lot, but we're trying to be more careful with carbs around here. :D They were a great treat...!

Then, Lee (Ken's best friend since kindergarten) and Corrine (Lee's wife, who are celebrating their third anniversary today) flew in to surprise him - I led them in during the welcome time, and his face was PRICELESS!!! :D

For lunch, we went to El OK Corral, not far from our house. I tried, DESPERATELY, to discourage this - we'd been for lunch the two days before, and his surprise party was going to be tacos - but that's where we ended up going. :D They sang "Feliz Cumpleanos" to him. (For you gringos y gringas out there, that's Happy Birthday in Spanish! :D) We had a great time, and he was starting to come out of the shock.

We went home, and Lee & Corrine went to take a nap - they'd been up over 24 hours except for small naps they could catch on the plane - and I headed off for a baby shower stop. I wasn't gone long, but had a chance to finalize everything with Angela. She and Cris P. had planned all the decorations, etc, because I just couldn't get away to do anything! THEY ARE AWESOME - thanks SO much, girls!!!!! Anyway. I came home, and we rested and talked for a bit.

Mom & Dad took off "to drop off food for the church" at 5, and we were "going to meet them at a place that was supposed to be a big surprise" for Ken. :D At 6, I took him out to the car and made him wear a blindfold - NOT a fun thing, but he still had no clue about a party. ROFL! I told him Dad wanted it to be a big surprise!! :D Lee and Corrine had changed into their costumes, and we took off and drove around for about 15 minutes - the church is 4 minutes from our house. :D I dropped Lee & Corrine off so she could get photos, and told Ken I was taking him to park. I drove onto the grass, and parked the car. I made him stand up out of the car and turn to face everyone before I took off the blindfold. He was AGAIN shocked!!!!!!!!!!! :D

This is Lee and Corrine in their hippy costumes; it was a HIPPY BIRTHDAY party. :D SUCH fun to surprise him!!!! We had just about 30 people there, including Greg McDougal and his family.

While Ken was cutting the cake, Greg went to get his guitar - and borrowed Lee's wig. Here's what HE looked like!!!

I honestly think it needs to be his next album cover....:D

Towards the end of the party, we had Ken open his "gifts". Unknown to him, we'd asked everyone to bring salt shakers as a gag gift - Ken LOVES salt, and basically owns the shakers around here. :D But we couldn't just let him open them. Oh, no! We had to serenade him with

MARGARITAVILLE! :D

It was a wonderful party. He received phone calls from his brother in the afternoon, his daughter during the party, and several friends throughout yesterday and today. I think he was absolutely flabbergasted by the surprises throughout the day - and we had a lovely day today with Lee & Corrine. They will be flying home tomorrow, but it was a great day - and we celebrated their anniversary all day, too!

I do have ONE last photo to share. This is his cake; I had the Hermitage Bakery do it, and I was THRILLED!!! They did a great job! :)

Change of pace!

I don't feel like showing anything I'm working on today, so I decided to switch it up a little. :) This dog lives in Newport, Oregon, one of my favorite places on Earth. Oh, if I could snooze in the sun in Newport today!!!! :)

This is one of the photos we used in a devotional a while ago; I just love this dog. :)

Tonight is our church's craft night; I'll be stamping and scrapping and socializing for six hours!!! Gosh, I think I need a nap. :D

Actually, I need to get busy; I'm having a party here tomorrow, and Amy is having a party at her house on Sunday. Got to get this place ready for company to come stamp with me tomorrow!

Until next time, dear friends. Make some time to stamp today! And bless someone with a card you made!

As I bid farewell to Oregon...

I'd like to thank all the new people I've met this trip. We'll be back!

These guys in my photo this time are Dungeoness crabs, everyone. They're the best crab I've ever had - and they're getting to be expensive, too. :) But they're worth every little penny.

Today is our last day in Portland. We went to the rose gardens - Portland IS the City of Roses, after all! - to the Chinese Gardens, and to lunch in Chinatown. Then we took a nap! :D We're going to our friends' house tonight to say goodbye, then coming back to the hotel to finish packing and get some rest. We'll be up early in the morning, winging our way back to Nashville! Amy, my best friend, will pick us up and take us home - where I'll dash around to get things ready for Laura's Stampin' Up! party tomorrow night. It will be a BUSY day, and I'm looking forward to jumping into stampin' again. :) I've MISSED it - and, as you can tell, I've got lots of scrapping to do, too! :)

Until Wednesday, faithful readers! I'll see you then!

It's our last full day at the beach.

And it is a BEAUTIFUL, AWESOME, GLORIOUS day here in Depoe Bay, Oregon. The water is a beautiful shade of Bordering Blue, the wind is blowing the sweet air inland, and I am so grateful for the rest we've been able to get!

Ken has gone to Newport again, to try and get a few more photos of the tall ships going out to sea. We purchased some fresh crab for dinner; it's record-breaking prices this year, but weve been very frugal all week so we could do this one thing. Dungeoness crab is one of the sweetest crabs I've ever eaten, and I'm looking forward to our feast tonight. :)

I'm going to have to start packing soon, and that always makes me sad - but we've had a wonderful time here. If you ever get to the Oregon coast, I HIGHLY recommend the Surfrider Resort in Depoe Bay. Tell them I sent you! :)

Please pray for Sean again; he went back to the hospital Friday. It's not as bad as first feared; they took him off an antibiotic a bit prematurely, from what Dad told Ken. But he still needs our prayers for healing! THANK YOU!

We had a funny thing happen last night. We realized that we aren't leaving until TUESDAY morning! :D So we get an extra day in Portland, to get those shots we didn't get. I'm glad; we're going to kind of rush to get out of here in the morning, to get to Vancouver to meet with the kids for lunch, and now we can take our time the NEXT morning, instead of rushing to get to the airport - and hurry up and wait again. :D We are so blessed!!!!!!!!

Starting the sad countdown until we leave.

It's Thursday. We leave the beach Sunday, then leave for Nashville again on Monday. I absolutely love it here; the temperature is perfect, the food is fresh, and the water has great moods! :)

If you think you MIGHT recognize this ship, it's probably true! :D There are two tall ships in Newport this week - and I THINK it's this one that was used in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN!!! COOL, huh??? They're in town to let people take a look at them - and some lucky people get to go to sea on them, like this voyage. The ship is on its way out the river mouth to the Pacific Ocean. We just happened to see it on our way to lunch today, from the Oregon State University ocean center in Newport. And were BLESSED to get some gorgeous photos!

I'm starting to plan my next 10/10/10 class cards; it won't be long after I get back that I'll have to get to work! If you have a type of card you'd like to see on my Stampin' Up! site - http://poohisstampin.stampinup.net - please let me know! I've got a party the day after I get home, and it will be jumping right back in with both feet! I'll also be scrapbooking a LOT when I get home; I've got both our and Kaisa's memory books to work on. :) I hope you'll check out the schedule on my site, and come scrap with me sometime!

A beautiful day on the beach!

It's in the mid-50s and sunny this afternoon on the central Oregon coast. This is Yaquina Head Lighthouse, in Newport. It was a little overcast this morning, but the sun broke thru late in the morning and it's absolutely glorious now.

We spent yesterday watching whales right off our deck. It was so much fun!

I have GREAT news to share with you today! Sean, the little boy I wrote about yesterday, went HOME this morning!!!!!! He still needs prayer, because his lung is getting more damage with each attack, but I KNOW his family is thrilled to have him home! Please keep praying for them, and support their project.

My mom called today to tell me my stamping area's redo is going well! I can't wait to get home and get organized - and start stamping again! I've gotten a sneak peak at the sneak peak brochure from Stampin' Up!; there are some really fun things, and I can't WAIT for the new Idea Book & Catalog to come out in July!!!!!!!! I also am looking forward to stamping when I get home. :) I just wish home were the Oregon beach....

Still in Portland, Oregon!

Well, today marks the half-way point for our trip. Yesterday, we went to the Japanese Garden in Washington Park (Portland, OR). It was a beautiful day, and a beautiful trip. Here's a link to their website, if you'd like to find out more: http://www.japanesegarden.com/

It was so peaceful, and so difficult to capture on camera. You can capture the elements, but not the FEELING of the place. Does that make sense???

I have to admit, I'm starting to look forward to getting back to stamping. I didn't bring anything with me to STAMP, because I couldn't narrow it down far enough. :) But I'm planning, and scheming.... Only seven more weeks until the new Idea Book & Catalog come out! :)