A Weekend At Kellie's

Last weekend I had a rare chance to scrapbook with my buddies. We usually go to the Little Red River Retreat and scrapbook together, but the past 2 years I've not been able to go with them...and I've missed it! So, last weekend was our chance to hang out and scrapbook.

I mainly worked on Mallorye & Matt's album telling the story of their relationship from beginning to now...I'm hoping to keep it up and be able to present them a current scrapbook on their wedding day :)

The essential mess....cell phone, Dr. Pepper, tons of paper & glue...and in the background you can see the other project I was working on...I'm making my 2nd set of wedding invitations (150). The 1st set was for Brittany & JR and was more of a vintage look...these are for her sister Katie & fiance Jon and is more modern look with a splash of funk. And yes, these sisters are marrying in just a few months of each other...Brittany's is Friday, March 12th and Katie's is May 22nd.

My friend Kellie, who was kind enough to open her home to us and offer up a bed! This lady is super fun, incredibly talented, creative, godly, and just one of the best friends you could ask for. She's working on her calendars that she gives as gifts at Christmas....they are amazing!...and she pours a ton of love into them..

This is Michelle {who will probably kill me that I put this on here} who came to scrap, but ended up not feeling so hot...so this was her position most of the weekend.

Kelli's main squeeze, Terry. He tried to tune us out...I think tried being the key word here. I give him kudos for allowing us to invade his home and weekend.

And no weekend at Kel's is complete without Maggie. Isn't she just the most adorable thing?! She's getting a bit older {notice her gray whiskers} and was having a rough weekend, but she's still as feisty as ever.

It was nice to just relax and be creative. I'm looking forward to our next scrapbooking date :)

Vacation Day 5/Day 6

The view at Surfside Beach

Day 5;
Sightseeing day!! Ok, remember...we didn't PLAN anything for this trip, so we spent alot of time today driving up and down the road.

We drove down to Myrtle Beach (crowded) and then back to Surfside Beach where we got out and I walked along the shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean. I was in awe at the vastness of it! Just the magnitude of it and all the sand that was packed so hard. I serve an awesome and mighty God!

God made the ocean and all it's power

We walked along the Pier at Surfside and just took in the sights...the parasailers, the fisherman, the families, the sharks...oh yeah...there were sharks! I had never seen a shark in it's natural habitat (not sure I ever desire to see another one).

SHARK...need I say more

We got some awesome ice cream..."Bunny Tracks" ...in a waffle cone, and ate it along the beach. It was so carefree and peaceful...even with the waves crashing in I felt a very certain calm.

Me and JoAnn on the Pier...don't you love our windblown hair?


JoAnn gettin' her feet wet

Then we went on a souvenir hunt. I got Mal a very kewl shirt from Harley Davidson and Blake and Q just a shirt. We spent hours looking for Christina (JoAnn's daughter) a shirt. She wears a small, which you'd think would be easy to find, but wasn't! We finally found one in Myrtle Beach at one of those road side souvenir shops. We shopped a little more...bought more scrapbook supplies...cause you know we didn't have enough;)...we drove to Pawley's Island to find this cute scrapbook store, but it was closed (we'll try tomorrow). The trip wasn't wasted though. We found an awesome store called "As For Me And My House"...everything was embroidered with scripture. I'm talking everything...sheets, towels, aprons, even upholstery. I got me a really cute apron and some dish towels.

Day 6;
We went back to Pawley's Island to check out the scrapbook store (they were open!), stopped by the neat Christian store, and then went back to the beach house for more scrapping!! We got some really neat pictures of a pelican playing in the water and just tried to soak in everything on our last day!

Me and JoAnn at Scrapbooks By The Sea


Just a sign I've never seen in Arkansas...lol...did I ever tell you I have this thing about signs?

One more day to go...stay tuned!

Vacation Day 1/Day 2

Ok, so I have had an amazing week! I have so much to tell you guys and so many pictures to share and have no idea where to start....so, I'll start at the beginning (good place right?)

Day 1;
We left Paragould around 9am to travel to Alpharetta, Georgia (outside Atlanta). Pretty uneventful trip, but we had a really awesome hotel that JoAnn got for us for only $59 that had a great hot breakfast. We did a little shopping at the mall (I was good and didn't buy a thing)...we got lost trying to find Target. We could see it, but we could never quite find how to get to it. Luckily, Garmin helped us out!!

Day 2;
My first experience with a mega church! It was amazing! I was privileged to hear Andy Stanley preach in person at Northpoint Community Church. He spoke on the power of ideas and how the most powerful idea is "forgiveness." He shared the story of the Rawanda people and some pictures from a trip that he and his family just went on. It was so amazing!! These people fought against each other and killed hundreds of thousand of their neighbors, yet somehow found the compassion in themselves to forgive one another and live peaceably together as brothers and sisters in Christ. The Worship Team was pretty amazing too...actually, they were flawless. I have to admit it felt a little like a concert, but I was able to finally focus and get over the shock and awe, and just worship God.

After church we headed to Greenville, South Carolina to drop Christina off at the Bob Jones University Drama Camp. It's a very conservative school and I thought she was very brave to go to a camp where she knew absolutely no one.

On the road again. A little more eventful. We stopped at this gas station where there was an irate customer. He was peeved about the price of gas and I really thought for a minute he might pull out a gun and start shooting. Freaky! We got our gas and got out of there where it rained for the last 2 hours of our trip. We arrived at Murrels Inlet, South Carolina and met our hosts for the week, set up our rooms and crashed!!



The beach house on Waterside Lane that we stayed at! Isn't it cute?!


One view of the back porch...we did most of our stamping and scrapbooking right here!


Ok, this is already long...so I'll post some more tomorrow. Consider this your teaser!

Wedding Album

This is what I've been doing the past few days....a friend of mine hired me to make a wedding scrapbook for her to give at a wedding shower this weekend. She called me Tuesday and asked if I could have it done by Saturday! Whew!! My first "for profit" scrapbook..and a super tight deadline!! Here's the finished product...

Retreat (part 3)

These are the last of my retreat layouts!! Yeah! These first two are of a pageant Mallorye was in this past November...Carson (Amy from work's little boy) and Karena (Amy from high school's little girl) were both in it also.


Pictures of the first Welcome Home Banners!! The stars were made using my new Stampin Up star punches in both the large and small size and then layering them.


Blake's school made posters to decorate the armory for when the soldiers came home...this was so sweet and they worked really hard on them.


I hope you've enjoyed the last few days of walking through some of my layouts...hopefully, I will get more consistent with my scrapbooking and have some to post each week. I tend to work in spurts.

Retreat (part 2)...Layouts as Promised

This is an 8x8 album (I don't use this size often)...the River Retreat title was made by using a photo I had taken of a sign that hangs outside the crop lodge and cutting it. I love the way it turned out.

I wanted a page to highlight my "cabin mates"...I have another layout with Doy & Michelle that is pretty much the same sketch.

Just a fun page that highlights the chaos & laughs!

Laurie made this cute basket with ONE piece of 12x12 cardstock!! Isn't that amazing?! She's a Close To My Heart consultant and originally from Wisconsin. Super Fun and very creative!!

A close up view of the basket

My "Guts & Glory" layout highlighting my football star, Blake

This has to be my FAVORITE layout!! I love the layering technique that I used, the colors, and just the way it all came together. And yes, this is my daughter Mallorye...and she's only 15!!

Hope You Enjoyed!!

River Retreat (part 1)

River Retreat began on Thursday when I met up with Michelle at her house...we were supposed to leave at noon...but finally pulled out of town around 1:30pm, in the rain. We took her Tahoe, which I drove, and managed to run over her driveway curb (sorry Michelle...are you sure you want me to drive??) She was sure, so off we set on our weekend adventure. Of course we had to make a little pit stop in Searcy at a new scrapbook store that Kellie had told us about. They had some really cool papers....religious themes, heritage themes, sports of all kinds...I was in scrapper's delight! And, I hadn't even made it to Heber yet!!

We did finally reach Heber and the Lindsey Resort where Kellie already had our cabin waiting on us....cabin #27...3 years in a row! Memories. After a quick update on everyone's life...and I do mean quick...we only see each other a few times a year...we headed to town for supper and to meet up with our 4th and final cabin mate, Doylene, who travels the farthest of the four of us...all the way from the Sooner State...Oklahoma! We had a great first night catching up...it was like a bunch of giddy high school girls at a pajama party. I guess we were all pretty wiped out, or at least I was, because I didn't even hear the hail that accompanied the rain AND snow! No, none of it stuck around, but really, how wild is that??

Friday morning...official retreat opens and we unload all of our supplies and get busy crankin' out those pages. I'm telling you...it is creative chaos at it's best!!

Friday night brought great BBQ and the Dirty Scrap Game! We love this game and this year Jen didn't steal my gift...she promised...although I think she regretted that later! I ended up with a great camping album complete...just add pictures! How great is that?!
Saturday was more scrapping, more food, and less sleep!! We played a really neat game where we were in groups of 6-10. Each person got out a 12x12 piece of cardstock of their choosing and passed it to their left...that person added two 4x6 photo mats and passed it to the next person who added a journal block. It then passed to each person, each adding a different embellishment, until it reached its owner. So much fun! I was a little afraid of the results, but look! They turned out great!!!



Ok...that's enough for one day...I know you're wanting to see layouts, but you'll have to wait till tomorrow. If you just can't wait...check out Lisa's blog...she posted a couple of my layouts from this weekend.

Home Again, Home Again

A picture of my "cabin mates"...(back row) Kellie, Baby, & Michelle..(bottom row) Me & Doylene.

I'm home from my scrapbooking retreat...completely wiped out! I had a blast hanging out with old and new friends, had some great food, got several layouts done, and a ton of laughs. I promise to post pix in the next day or so...complete with a rundown of our fab weekend...but for now...I'm headed to bed!!

Update...then break...

It's that time again....the annual "River Retreat" for scrapbook fools such as I! Just finished packing my supplies...waiting on my clothes to dry, but really, who needs clothes. I could just stay in my jammies all weekend and scrapbook with my friends.

The weather is looking a little worrisome. We're due to get hit with ice during the night which will not make traveling much fun!!

Anyway, I have a ton to do tonight and just wanted to let you guys know I'd be out of pocket for a few days, but I'll be back on Monday with a full update of our scrapbooking weekend...complete with pictures!!

Hugs!

Addicted To Scrapbooking

I admit it...I am addicted to scrapbooking and rubberstamping! This past weekend I had the privilege of spending the day with one of my very best friends, Lisa, in Memphis at the newly opened Arhiver's store. Oh, let me tell you...I was in heaven!! So many things to choose from and the paper choices...I'm a bit of a paper addict in case you haven't noticed. They also have a sweet little spot called the $1.99 Spot....which is as it's name declares, whatever you find in that section is only $1.99. I found several good bargains in those bins, but couldn't outdo Lisa...she bought every K&Co Mini Album they had...for...you guessed it...$1.99!!! How awesome is that!! They have classes and workshops going on all the time, so we took time out from shopping and made some cute picture frames. Will definitely be CASE'ing these babies! Too cute and so easy!

After spending 3 hours in Archiver's we stopped for lunch and I had the best burger at The Red Robin! Even my mouth wasn't big enough for this big bad boy...I think it was called the Whiskey BBQ Burger...something like that. Anyway, it was yummy.

Then on to more shopping at another scrapbooking store called Eclectica. We didn't purchase anything here...not that they didn't have plenty that we liked....we just spent way too much at the first stop!! I'm sure I'll be making many return trips to Memphis for some retail therapy! It was just great to hang out with my bud, no kids, no hubby, no stress...just us and our favorite hobby!