OK, so it's Thursday night...

and I'm headed out of town. :) It's been a really busy week! I'm headed to the WOMEN OF JOY conference in Branson, MO, and then Kenn and I are going to take four days and remember what it's like to be a COUPLE. :) So, I'll see you sometime next week - I MIGHT try to post while we're gone, but not sure.
Have a WONDERFUL week! I want to hear all about what you've been up to!!!

Have you missed me? :D

PHEW, what a week it's been! I'm sorry we were out of touch so long; there's not much Internet access in the middle of corn- and soybean fields! :)

I just get more and more amazed, every time I go back to Richmond, Indiana, about how much heritage is being lost. When I was young, those of us there wanted to leave as soon as we could - and didn't want to appreciate much around us! There's so much history, and small-town culture, and life lessons we could have absorbed if we'd paid attention. :)

SO. I'm back - and I'm stampin' - but my secret sister for Tennessee Stampers has to get her cards, or I'm going to be in trouble. :D So expect to see stamped things here tomorrow - but for today, enjoy the field corn, and look around - I bet you'll find lots of things to enjoy in your little corner of the world!

TAKE TIME TO STAMP SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Happy Thursday! :D

Phew, what a week it's been! Can you believe I've been home just over three weeks already? Time is FLYING - can't I get back on the plane?? PLEASE? :D

ANYWAY. Enough whining from me. Tonight is my "Shake, Rattle, & Roll" class; this card design is one of the five we're doing. I don't know; five MAY be way overboard. They took me a lot of time to do - but maybe it won't be so bad for my customers, since I had to figure out what the heck I was doing. :D This card is a slider card; you can see a fantastic tutorial here - http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/spinner.php - the only difference is, I used my Word Window Punch for the spinner channel. (Sorry the scan is crooked; the bed of my scanner is difficult to work with when the thing I'm scanning isn't perfectly flat!!!) The set is POLKA DOTS & PAISLEY, from the Spring Mini Catalog. It's an unusual color choice for me, but I find this one refreshing, somehow - Green Galore, Glorious Green, and YoYo Yellow. I widened the channel a bit to accommodate the Stampin' Dimensionals, and had to use a NICKEL to put behind it! :D It's a HEAVY spinner, for sure! I finished it up with the ticket corner punch and the saying. The class is more about the TECHNIQUE involved, not necessarily the design - but I like both! :)

Congratulations again to Cheryl, our contest-winner from the May Scrapbooking Contest! Your prize went out in the mail today! (Speaking of which, this is my first time to send out anything via USPS since the postage hike. And I thought that paying for GAS was ridiculous!!!!) Anyway. :D I hope you enjoy your prize; please let me know when you receive it!

Only five more days to enter the Birthday Card Contest; see previous posts for details! I want everyone to have a chance to win! :D

Off to work some more! Have a wonderful evening, everyone!

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!!!!!!!!

Please pray for our friends!

Hi, friends! I have a very special request for you today. Greg McDougal is a dear friend of ours; he is the person we use at our house for our contracting work, but he's also a daddy who has three kids with a Cystic Fibrosis diagnosis. And one of them needs your prayers badly.

Sean has been in the hospital for quite a while now. If you go to his website, www.ahouseformykids.com, you can read what's been going on with Sean. There's now a possibility that he may need part of his right lung removed - which is NEVER a good thing for a child with CF.

PLEASE pray for this family, if nothing else. Let Greg know you're praying for them. And if you feel led, buy his CD - all proceeds go toward building a clean house for his children to live in, to give them the best chance of a longer life.

If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them to the best of my ability. Greg, if you read this, know we're praying for you, friend. We'll see you when we get back to Nashville.

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! :)

Life is good!

I wish you could see the things I've seen this weekend! We've had an incredible time; we went to Saturday Market in downtown Portland, and to Rocky Butte where we could see Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens. Yesterday, we went to pick up our friend, Corrine, and went to the Cedar Creek Grist Mill in Woodland, WA. WOW, was it something else! Not so much for the mill, but for the beautiful creek! What do you think???

In upcoming days, I'll get the contest for the scrapbook page entries up and running, and we'll see who wins! :) Those of you who entered, know that you have a great chance of winning - there weren't too many entries. :)

I'm going to post another blog in a minute; please be sure to take a look at it, and let me know if you're interested! :D

Have a wonderful day, dear friends. The sun is shining, so I won't be sitting at this computer much longer. :D