Army Updates

So my husband has been home exactly a year today from his deployment to Iraq.  It's cliché but it's true, time flies! I can't believe it has been a year and I am so thankful as I reflect back over the last year we have had together as a family. I am guilty perhaps of perhaps not appreciating the fact that he was HERE as we live the past year, which is a shame because it was so hard when he wasn't here. I guess it was back to normal for me, but as a military family you have to be even more thankful for those "normal" times you have together because things aren't always that way.

Anyway, this post really isn't intended to reminisce but to provide an update on the status of our Army life.

We actually thought Jon was going to deploying with a small group of soldiers to Afghanistan in January but he was bumped from the mission. He of course is bummed and I am of course relieved...weird huh? So for now he is home but we will see how Obama's stance changes things in the year ahead, it's like we are braced for the orders to come at any time.

Also Jon got PROMOTED! He is now a Sargent in 142nd but he had to transfer to the Springdale Battery to accept the promotion. I guess that makes it bittersweet because he was just settling into his unit, but I know that making Sargent was one of his goals he has had since he enlisted 3 years ago and it means a lot to him to achieve it.

Can you believe he has been in for 3 years?! The 3 year mark also means his initial commitment is up, he would go into reserve status only in February if he didn't re-enlist. However, I am resolving to myself that he is probably in for life! He re-enlisted for 1 year, he would have done more but bonuses right now are pitiful which may change so this leaves him open to snag a better option if it becomes available.

Jon is also considering going to college using some of his military schooling benefits. We will see how it pans out, he hasn't been in school for a long time and he's not sure what he would go for yet. I think he will start slow and see where it goes.

Anyway, that is the udpate on the Military aspect of our life right now...we will let ya know if we get orders!

Christmas all thru the house...

Christmas is of couse my favorite Holiday because I love Jesus! There are also lots of other reasons I love Christmas, a major one being how cozy our home feels during this time of year. So our decorating expidition began with decorating our NEW house...I have to admit it was a bit stressful adding Christmas on top of moving but it was worth it. Jon was actually gung hoe about getting the lights up on the STEEP roof peaks and they look amazing although I am not sure I agree with him risking his life for the beauty of it. I enjoyed decorating the mantle, staircase and big front window. Here are some photos to enjoy, we are sure ready to enjoy the holidays in our new home.

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We are moving!

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Our new home in Bentonville.

So we have riden the roller coaster of trying to sell our home...

Are we going to stay?

Are we going to move?

We have lived in our home for 4 years and done lots of remodeling which was a huge amount of stress and the market is down...on and on...the bottom line is we are ready to move on to a house that better suites our long term needs so we are moving ahead.

We are taking the risk of moving without having sold or leased our exsisting home but we are relying on God that things will work out just how he plans and it will all end well.

We are very excited about our new house in Bentonville on 5 acres. More pics to come as we get settled.

Scrapbook News & Review

So I am just tIcKLed and have to share with someone...or everyone...

I am going to have 4 layouts published in Scrapbook News & Review coming out October 24th!!! I recieved an email yesterday regarding the publication and while I am so excited to be a part of it, I am bummed because my husband is out of town for a 3 day drill weekend and left his phone behind. So of course the one person I want to share with most isn't here to cheer me on. Bittersweet I suppose.

Anyway, this is only the 2nd online submission I have made so I was excited to be selected for the issue. From my understanding it is for an article revolving around different scrapbooking styles from Modern Clean lined, to Shabby Chic, Digital or Ecclectic. I think I am falling into Shabby Chic, maybe Ecclectic though. We will just have to see. But they picked 4 out of 4 of the layouts I sent to them for consideration.

Like I said I am just tickled because I have won a few contests before but this is my first publication...look out Lisa Bearson here I come!!!

BTW, I of course can't post the layouts as they have the rights for them for the magazine but I will scan pics of the magazine once it comes out to share. Kaia is also excited to be the model in the magazine since she is in most of the pics but Blaklie, Boston, Chelsie and myself as well as a huge family group shot will be in there.

NWA Craft Fair Weekend

It's official craft fair week in the Ozarks! There are craft fairs at Spanker Creek, War Eagle, Bella Vista, Embassy Suites, Clarion, and Frisco Station Mall. Definately enough crafts to keep anyone consumed for days browsing, seeking and being iNsPiReD. The website to get all the details is http://nwacraftfairs.com/. Of course beyond the crafts there is always the FOOD. You MUST buy a  large bag of Kettle corn to share and bring home. You must consume a Funnel Cake while you are there as well as a jumbo corn dog. We also did yummy egg rolls at the Bella Vista Craft fair and Fried Pickles at War Eagle both of which we delightful! No "real" food I suppose, but great snackies.

One of my favorites this year was at Embassy...since I have a little girl I am biased because they had so many booths of frilly pink things it just made me hApPy! Check it out if you have a girlie girl for sure.

I also grabbed cards from some of my favorite booths so here are Katie's top 5 booth.

Tammi Crystal Designs (tammy crystal designs.com)

Trendy Glass Soldered jewelry - shhh...this is a secret I would rather keep to myself but I am going to share since they are so aWeSoMe! These items make fabulous personalized gifts for all the women in your family. Buy a few of the chains and you can buy the charms for all seasons and mix and swap them out depending on the time of year.

Southern Traditions Woodworking (southerntraditions.ar.com)

Furniture - I guess because we are considering moving to a new home and needing massive amounts of furniture this appealed to me. You could add personal touches to the furniture for your home at a very reasonable price.

 Dumpster Divas

I got so many ideas while weaving my way thru these ladies little booth at War Eagle! They had lots of Zebra, Shabby Chic, Hot Pick, Repurposed items that were eye catching and well priced. My daughter was going nuts over the Twilight props they had on their vanities! Again if you have a girlie girl this was a place to be! They also had a massive antique trunk that would have loved to go home with me, but maybe another time : (

Cherry Apple Berries (cherryappleberries.com)

Clothing - These are trendy, affordable and personalizable items for everyone! Stocked with hit t-shirts and available to order any logos you would like.

Lollitops (lollitopsusa.com)

Children's Items - no matter how many times I see this product I can't get over how clever it is! It is a fashion invention for little girls, great for gifting and available in an array of options. Check them out for any little girl in your life.

Honorable Mention:

My Hodgepodgerie (www.myhodgepodgerie.com)

Gifts/Goodies - while there were several booths doing the embellished diaper wipe cases this booth also had some adorable wristlets I fell in love with as well as a tie tshirt for little boys that was rockin'.

Another Las Vegas Trip...part duex!

Okay so a trip to Vegas would not be complete without the dressing up each evening to hit the town for the fabulous dining and nightlife! Here are some of our favorites...

We hit Freemont street one night which is so old school Vegas, and Jon's favorite...Andy got hit on (or made fun of, not sure which) for his BOLD paisley top! It was a biker rally in town too which made for a very interesting mix of crowds.

 

Another evening we went to dinner & show with the whole crew which was hysterical to use one word! Half of us stayed at the Encore (part of the Wynn) so we went there for dinner and to see Le Reve. The show was like nothing I have ever seen before! Amazing acrobatics, music and multi-faceted performers doing water trips, diving, gymnastic and more...blew my mind![gallery columns="4"]

 

Another Las Vegas Trip!

Wow, I can't believe we made it to Las Vegas twice in one year! I know we just went in June for our anniversary but we couldn't pass up a trip to go with the Tillman's on their anniversary as tag alongs...then our boss and crew decided to tag along as well so it was the whole gang! Here are some of our favorite pics from the trip. We did a lot of hotel hoping, great dining out, saw the show Le Reve, visited hoover damn as well as the Boneyard (the place where all the old Vegas neon signs go to die).

 

Hoover Dam & the Boneyard

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Hoover Dam was one of those "must see in this lifetime" places so I am glad we went. The views and lanscape were breathtaking. We could see fish from the top swimming in the crystal blue waters. We enjoyed listening to the Dam Gift Shop employees jokes about the dam this and the dam that...play on Vegas Vacation!...one went something like this...

"Did you know someone threw a dog of the dam yesterday?"

"No, really?"

"Yeah, they said it had too much dam mustard!"

haha...it was a great atmosphere and work enviornment I imagine getting to joke all the time!

 

As for Boneyards, it surpassed all my expectations! We got some amazing photographs, it was so insipiring and colorful. But we also learned a ton of Vegas history which was enlightening as well. It sounds like they will be continuing to work on establishing a more formal museaum for these signs (rather than the rough fenced parking lot it is currently housed in!). I would add this to your must to in Vegas list for sure!

I will work on a second post of other Vegas pics soon.

Enjoy

Acrylic Album

My favorite gal  pal, Katie Jo, did this AmAzzzInGG acrylic album for a baby gift for another friend. I think you will agree that any new mama would love to get a gift like this!

The album is over the top girlie with pastels, bling, butterflies, flowers and everything to showcase the perfect little girl poses.

Thanks for Katie Jo for letting me share with everyone on my blog as well![gallery]

Crafty Flowers

[caption id="attachment_163" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="My handmade flowery things"][/caption]

As usual when I find a new crafty thing I dive right in - buying all the necessary STUFF to conquer a new craft project. I've done it with paper-pieced t-shirts, tutus, haloween decorations...I just get myself into all these new things... and that is just what happened this weekend!  I became obsessed with fabric flowerly things. It started when I saw these outragious flowers on a cardigan at NY & CO. and then my brain starts going...hmmm I could make those (and cheaper than buying them at $4.50 a pop). Then the next thing I know I am searching u-tube for "how-to make a fabric flower", "retro hair accessories" and anything related.

Nothing great there so I surf over to etsy.com and find some flowers I like and just start cutting out scraps of fabric and guessing how they made their lovely flowery creations. I used hot glue  (cuz I am far too impatient for sewing!) and some scrapbooking buttons I had around, and before long I have some flowers of my very own.

 

However, my next trip to Hobby Lobby of course included Organza, Fabric Stiffner spray, fun fabrics, more buttons and various attachment devices costing me nearly $100 so my effot to save $ by making the flowers myself is shot down and I have a kitchen island completely covered in hot glue and fabric scraps but they are OH SO CUTE!

Obnoxious Shirts

So I just have to add another pic from the CK Tulsa Convetion...this is actually in my driveway once Katie & I have returned home with an SUV jam packed full of scrapbooking goodies! We are worn out but still smiling. The big sunglasses are oh so typical of us and the Paper Ho shirts just top off the weekend. They make me laugh, while I am sure to others they are just obnoxious but OH WELL!

[caption id="attachment_158" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Paper Ho's are finally home...with more than 100 sheets of new paper each!"][/caption]

CK Convention Tulsa

[caption id="attachment_149" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Tillman driving...which is an adventure of it's own!"][/caption]

So Tillman (the other half of KT2) and I have made an annual trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the Creating Keepsakes (CK) Convention for the past 4 years. We anticipate and plan for this trip for months! We have googled all the newest paper lines we want to search for, we have saved up extra cash, and booked a room & classes months in advance...all in preparation for "OUR" weekend away.

 

This year, some of the aspects of the actual convention were dissapointing BUT a weekend away with a great friend and more scrapbooking items than you can fathom always equals FUN! We left on Thursday and hit a local scrapbook store in Claremore, OK. This is a great little store and we found some great lines from Collage Press we hadn't seen before - so many cute CuPcaKeS!!! I was very inspired before we even got to the convention. Anyway, we got checked in at the Renaissance Hotel where the convention is held. We realized we are becoming PROS at this!!! We arrived before the crowds of scrappers showed up, getting a primo room with a refrigerator so it was a perfect start. After our smooth check in we hit some of the other stores in the area as well as Michael's.

[caption id="attachment_150" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Buffalo Blasts from Cheesecake Factory"][/caption]

One of our other favorites to do while in Tulsa is to EAT at Cheesecake Factory, so we did - TWICE! It was so yummy, everything they make is good. Perfection even. Our personal favos are Buffalo Blasts, Sweet Corn Cakes, Orange Chicken and Strawberry Shortcake. Those are our recos for your next visit to the Factory!

[caption id="attachment_151" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Very messy but creative class!"][/caption]

Back to scrapbooking...we took classes on Friday & Saturday and shopped the Vendor Fair filling our minds with new skills and plenty of ideas. We headed home Saturday afternoon after hitting "A Memory to Scrap" in Broken Arrow, OK, it was a fabulous store with a friendly and knowledgable staff. We purchased our last scrapping goodies before heading back to Bentonville, AR. Another great year of friends, fun and scrapbooking!

Las Vegas Album

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The Vegas trip I blogged about back in June now has an album to record all the great memories! It is a fresh and young album that is outside my own box. I went with an unusual 11x8.5 landscape chipboard album from Rusty pickle that I painted and then added my pages too. I used a lot of the "saved" items from trip like ticket stubs, napkins and cards, it was a challenge to incorporate them but I like the results now that it is all said and done. Enjoy the ablum!

Me

I know most of us scrappers don't do many pages about ourselves, the one behind the camera taking the photos! I am in the same boat as many of you, I do try to include one picture of me at each event I scrapbook at least. However for this page I did it just about ME. It's simple and bright and there is a page two...maybe it will get posted when I get organized enough to photograph and upload it too.

Enjoy.

[caption id="attachment_97" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Me @ 25 Layout"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_98" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Close up of Layout"][/caption]

Pink Paislee Virtual Warehouse sale

Hopefully many of you scrappers out there were able to take advantage of the virtual sale on pinkpaislee.com where they cleared out their warehouse in preperation for the upcoming launch of their new lines at CHA Summer 2009. The grab boxes were $55 and worth EVERY penny - here is just SOME of what came in my box:

[caption id="attachment_70" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Pink Paislee Stamps"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_69" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fascinating Line"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_68" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fetching Line"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_66" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pop Fashion Line"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_64" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Office Lingo Line"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_62" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Spring Collection"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_63" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Christmas Collection"][/caption]

Can't wait to get to scrapping with these goodies, which will surely be posted here too!
Enjoy.

Summer Vacation

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So I can honestly say this was out FIRST all out Tennis Family summer vacation where we completely got away and just relaxed as a family. We have taken many small weekend getaways, visited family all over the country, and traveled to see Jon wherever the military took him before but this is the first time honest to goodness we planned and went on a vacation for ourselves and it was AMAZING!

We spend 3 nights in New Orleans, staying in the French Quarter (long story but we came in late Friday night to cop cars surrounding the hotel, not a great first impression but it turned out to be a great little place). We had been to New Orleans last spring for just one day and all loved the city so we planned to the 3 nights prior to the cruise there to explore. The first day we did a Airboat Swamp tour and it was so much fun. It's one of those things I did because I knew Jon and Kaia would really enjoy it and of course them having fun makes me happy but this one I ended up liking too! I learned bunches about the history of the Pirates of the Louisianna swaps, got an education of "Coonass", was 2 feet from a real like 'gator and much more. It was well worth the money and I highly recommend it for other families traveling that area of the country for all ages.

The only downside to New Orleans was that a chunk of the second was spent at their lovely Children's Hospital ER! ug. It a bad Mom moment I neglected Kaia's complaints about her ear bothering her the day prior and ended up with a night full of screaming and a sever ear infection. Being that we were out of state that left us with the option of the ER. Anyway, she did get plenty of meds and we spend the remaining mornings and evenings of our vacation creativly getting her to take them. No fun but she is 100% recovered now.

Moving on...Monday mid-day after a horse and carriage ride around the French Quater we boarded the Carnival Fantasy!!! We had a great embarkation and were quickly on board eating lunch on the Lido deck. We set sail for Progresso, Mexico. Being a planner, I have been reading message boards on cruisecritic.com for weeks (okay, months) and got numerous recommendation to take the double decker bus tour thru the little port town. We did so, and other than very low hanging electrical lines it offered a great overview as promised by the other cruisers. We spent the remainder of our afternoon in Progresso on the beach, collecting shells and warding off all the salesmen and women! The beach was fairly pretty, not blue water but the ocean nonetheless which is much better than we get here in Arkansas. We then grabbed lunch at a quant little restaraunt and headed back to the boat off to our next adventure in Cozumel.

I can say that all of us were looking forward to Cozumel the most probably because we had planned and booked a Swim with the Dolphin adventure excursion. The Dolphin Swim didn't dissapoint, it was truly a highlight of the trip. We got to kiss, high five, belly ride, and boogie board with the dolphin which was a once in a lifetime exprience. The Cozumel water was prestine blue and breath taking...you could see to the bottom everywhere! We say a stingray and tropical fish whiel snorkleing around with the dolphins.

My only other note to self for future visits to Cozumel is to bring more $$$$ to jewlery shop! I had no clue it was a destination for cheap diamond and silver etc. There were jewlery shops everywhere.

Anyway, back on board we enjoyed our last day at sea & Kaia's Birthday! Kaia loved the Camp Carnival for kiddos as they were always doing something exciting like dance parties or exploding volcanos so she spent some of the day in there and the rest between the pool and water slides on board. At dinner we once again enjoyed a great meal with our 9 other table mates and a great Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate cake for Kaia's birthday. It was a great way to wrap up our vacation as it was already time to start packing up and dembarkation!

We have to remember to do this type of REAL vacation thing at least once a year.

Pirate Party

[caption id="attachment_51" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Close Up of Masked Skull on Wrapping paper"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_95" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Birthday Package "]

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Just a quick post about a birthday party we are headed to this afternoon. It is a pirate themed party for a little boy named Parker, whose mom I am good friends with. She is definatly the modern mom and has great style. So maybe there isn't many mother's of 2 year olds that appreciate this but I think she will love it.

I used my faithful Cricut and the Indie Art cartridge to create a mask on the wrapping paper which I painted around and did some splattering on. It definatly pops with the lime green and black! For the card I used the same cartridge to cut out another skull and then I did his name on the Stamped cartridge to create a simply but dimensional personalized card. I added Crystal Laquer to the white parts of the card and a bit of Lime Green Stickles (again, my favorite product right now!) to the card for some sparkle. For the vellum envelop I did another mask with spaltters and rub-on of the #2 for his special day so they coordinate. It should be cute and I am looking forward to a fun party with Parker!

Mini Acrylic Album

 

 

 



[caption id="attachment_22" align="aligncenter" width="112" caption="Cover"][/caption]

This is a cute acrylic album I out together for some summer fun photos. I'd been dying to do something with acrylic and LOVE Stickles so much right now that I combined the two. I was amazed by how the Stickles look on the Acrylic from both sides, they are better than I imagined - DeLicOuS! I'll add some pics to the album soon and more ribbon to see how it all comes together...look for the completed album soon.

 

 



 

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Life life. Scrapbook it.

 



CropChix

4Ever Layout

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So this is one of favorite and simple scrapbooking layouts. I just wanted to post for your viewing pleasure. It features a photo of my hubby and I on the steets of downtown Chicago just after Christmas in 2007. It is muted and urban in feel, featuring Rusty Pickle paper, stickers & packaging even. I added some Say it in Crystals for dimension and bling.

Live life. Scrapbook it.

Cropchix

Twilight

I haven't been into a book series so much since I was a teenager! This may be a series meant for that age group but I am addicted. Initially I wasn't really thrilled about it, didn't even see the movie in theaters but I did rent it later and I was sucked in. I adore the characters, (Edward is even MORE DelIcOuS in the book) the passion and love story plotted out in the story. I got the books a couple weeks ago and gobbled the first one up in 3 days. It provided the backdrop and thoughts behind the stares of passion in the movie. it was AWESOME. Now I am on to New Moon.

***Warning***STOP READING HERE if you don't want any part of the plot spoiled!!!!

New Moon starts out awefully slow. It's almost painful that the prince leaves his princess and the book draaaagggssss on and on. Come on! I get that Bella's depressed, hearing Edwards voice and enjoys Jacob Black already. I was just about thinking edward and Bella would never re-unite but I am not done with the book just yet and it looks like there is hope. It's heating up and I once again am being pulled in. I have high hopes for the movie too, coming out in November, which I already have plans to see with my sister for her birthday the night it comes out.

 

yes, it may be a weird teenage thing but I dig it.

[caption id="attachment_20" align="alignnone" width="435" caption="The poster for the first movie"][/caption]

Hello blog world!

So after avoiding the blogging scene for years because of being intimidated by the whole thing - many blogs seem (not as a critisism to anyone, I just don't have to0 much to offer on just one subject) single focused - directed towards either family life, crafts, business etc. None of those single categoies seem to fully encompass the topics I'd like to address.

There was also this overwhleming stress of thinking I needed to capture EVERYthing that is me in one place...I am releasing that and jumping in! It may be scattere and random and touch on all sorts of things but that's me so oh well!

Las Vegas Anniversary Trip

[caption id="attachment_122" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="My hubby & I in Las Vegas"][/caption]

We had one heck of a trip for our anniversary this year!!! Jon & I have missed being together the past 2 years on our anniversary since he was deployed so we had to make up for those lost celebrations. So for our 7th wedding anniversary we took off for VeGaS!!!

We flew direct from XNA to Vegas on Allegiant Air's first flight which started off things right. "Elvis" gave away free t-shirts and decks or cards as we boarded the plane and there was even a showgirl there to greet us at the airport. We were so excited to get there! We arrived in Vegas about 10pm and took the shuttle down the strip to our hotel. The strip is so amazing and alive with all the lights and people and excitement, it was the perfect time to arrive. We were blessed with a anniversary gift of a swanky suite at the Palazzo for our stay which was so awesome. The views were of Treasure Island, the pools and strip. It couldn't have been any better!

I won't give a play by play of the entire weekend but just some of the highlights...

One of our families favorite things to do, especially me being in the food business, is try new restaraunts. Vegas did NOT dissapoint with providing tons of options for dining at new places. We did sushi for lunch one day at RA in the Fashion Show Mall and it was amazing. Great music, staff and vibe along with the BEST sushi we have ever had. Jon ordered their special Las Vegas roll which was better than any desse

rt you'll ever have! For an appertizer we had these one of a kind Spicy Pineapple Cream Cheese Wontons which I am now struggling to re-create at home. Anyway try RA for sure if you are into Sushi.[gallery columns="2"]

My favorite place we ate the entire time was Yolos, in the Planet Hollywood Hotel. It was an upscale and super yummy mexican restaraunt. They had superior Chips and Salsa that were so beautifully presented as well. I ordered street tacos that were dIvINe! We MUST eat there again when we go back.

Overall, out trip to Vegas was a great trip exploring a city together just Jon and I. We have been together for 9 years total and 7 years of marriage...of course they haven't been perfect but I wouldn't want to share my life, or this trip with anyone but him. He's the best! I am so blessed and lucky (since we are talking Vegas) to be able to call him my husband. He is a great husband, always seeking to make me happy, but he's also an awesome dad, man of God, provider and a great soldier.