Card Making

I am off to spend the day making cards with my DD Amber! She is going to do a booth at the Asante craft fair.All day just playing, sounds good to me :) - I will post some tomorrow.

My Drive to work thru the Fall Splendor

This year the Fall colors seem to be extra spectacular! I took these this morning and just had to post them. It was still slightly dark out so I did have to lighten them a bit but other than using Tash's Defog and lightening them in photoshop I didn't 'enhance' the colors. This is the view from our deck over towards our nursery. A little closer shot of the Poplars, I just can't get over how gorgeous they are this year!
Driving thru the orchards, I kid you not, I drive thru here saying to myself. 'Oh that would be another great photo', if I stopped as often as I see things I would like to photograph, I would NEVER GET TO WORK!! :) lol The grass looks like a lawn in this photo but that is just an illusion. Don't really know why, must be the angle. It is nice and green but it is mostly just mowed field grass.
And finally across the valley, off toward Talent and over one side of the orchard.
Thank you Lord for letting us live here! Granted sometimes when the wind is blowing and the rain is coming sideways I am not quite as thankful but right now I sure am!

Up and Running week 2

The thing I am enjoying the most about this class (besides getting layouts finished) are the missing pieces. You know when you learn something on your own, you never really know what you 'don't know'. Does that make any sense at all?
For example
1 - I never knew that if you held down the shift key the hand would pop up and move things around, that is cool!
2 - I had never used 'stroke' and that is a simple cool feature
3 - The preserve Transparency in the fill, ok so that seems simple but I had never found that one before!

Ok those are the only ones that pop into my brain right now but I am totally loving this class!
I sort of felt weird taking a beginning class because I am not technically a beginner anymore, but I have soooo much to learn!


Kaylie is really 'into' making faces right now, the more reaction she gets the better. So of course she has fun making faces at her Daddy and gramma because we are totally entertained by everything she does! :)

Carson Paul

This is Carson, my niece's little guy. Isn't he just the cutest little guy and such a

sweet sweet boy. Happy as a clam and grinning from ear to ear, Cristin said one of her

friends said he was 'scrumptious, and I could just eat him up' Well I have to agree,

totally scrumptious! We loved being able to spend the weekend with family and

getting to snuggle this little one. But both grandmothers were there, so I 'watched'

most of the snuggling! lol As a gramma myself I can sooo totally understand :)

The roads were fine both up to eastern Oregon and back home. Even though they had snow this weekend, it was all melted off the roads. (thank you Lord)

Just a couple of shots of the Fall beauty in my Brother and Sister in Law's yard

Now you can see the reason I mostly 'watched' the snuggling! lol It was really great to see other grandparents act as totally crazy about their grandchild as we do! :)

Beautiful

I love getting layouts completed! I love the feeling of saving a layout as a JPG because I know that is my last step and my layout is finished. I have finished more layouts since I started doing digital than I ever finished in the same amount of time doing paper scrapping. I feel a bit free-er with digi since it is so simple and quick to 'un-do' or 're-do' something you are just not happy with. I love being able to bring colors from my photo into my layouts too!

This is the 2nd layout for week one of Jessica Sprague's up and running class. I am totally loving the freedom of having someone else choose the layout and I just get to play! lol

The journaling reads:

Could anything be more precious or more beautiful than the sweet innocence of such a cute little face! This picture makes me want to reach in and kiss those chubby little cheeks! I know I just need to enjoy you to the fullest right now because you are growing so fast!

We are leaving in the morning to head up to Prineville to visit my Brother and his family. My niece Cristin will be flying in with her little guy Carson who we have not had the chance to see yet and he was born in June!! So excited to see him and to see Cristin since we have not seen her in close to a 1 1/2 years now!

Amber is going to have Ashley (my other niece on my side) cut and color her hair. Ashley is in beauty school in Bend and has been doing a fabulous job!! So anyone looking for a new fresh look that lives in the Bend/Redmond/Prineville area, Ashley will graduate in January! I will post a photo of the finished product when Amber and Ashley are done. :)

Totally hoping the weather cooperates with us since we are planning on driving our Motorhome! This is a photo of the road this morning, we might have to wait till tomorrow and decide if we are driving the pickup or the motorhome. I am soooo spoiled traveling in the motorhome I really hate having to go very far in the car! lol

Week ONE of Up & Running with Jessica Sprague

Wow I want someone to walk me thru all my layouts from now on! lol I have NEVER gotten a layout done so quickly, and it is a cute one. Well anything is cute with little Miss Kaylie Sue, but this layout is great. Now I can say that because I am not the one who 'created' it I just put it together :) This is the layout from the 1st class and I was not sure I would learn anything in the 1st class from the description, but I did!! I changed the color of the grungy frame around Kaylie's photo. It needed a darker color than what we were given. Thanks to Kayla I now know how to do that!! :) Plus I ran atomic Cupcake's pristine chipboard action over the star element to give it a bit of a boost. I am really glad I sign up for this class, cause I know I will learn things I don't even know that I don't know! ha ha Did that make any sense?? Plus I will have layouts created by the end of class and that is a big plus in my book!! :)

My Weeds and Wildflower Challenge Layout

I really do like Challenges that push me, that make me try new things. Besides there was NO WAY I was going to let a SWEET freebie like this one get away either!! :)

Dream Metal wire words, Creating Beauty Buttons and wire flowers all by Gina Marie Huff. I tucked the word Dream between two layers of ribbon and down by the photo I used the tail of the word with the star to go into the bow.

I erased part of the pink background paper by Jomi Van Bekkum, ribbons & frame by Danielle Corbitt and put the light background with words on it on the bottom layer by Kris Meyers (it was a free download from way back). To tone down all the pink I used three different edge overlays by Diane Miller. I colored the overlays after reading on Kayla's blog how to do this. Man I have just been using hue and saturation which sometimes is hard to get it 'just right', this made it SO EASY!! I am all about doing things easier and her video tutorial sure simplified things for me! I did the same for the frame around the title which is from the Enchanted set by Erica Hite over at Scrapgirls.

I used parts of Flergs diamond swirls to add some bling to the top ribbon and also used the full swirl down by Kaylie's Mary Janes. The word sweet is one of Shandy Vogt's Assorted Swass brushes, which I simply love to use!

The heart was cut out of paper with a template by Thaty Borges of the Scrapkut team and then I ran Atomic cupcake's Pristine Chipboard action on it.

So I realize for most of you this is sort of 'remedial reading' but for those of us who are just learning and need to know the details, I thought step by step might be helpful. Besides it helps when I write something down for it to actually SINK into my brain! lol

WHEW I don't think I have EVER used as many pieces from different designers before!! But I am happy with the outcome and glad to have another layout finished for Kaylie's book!

These Freebies are just Too Great To MISS!!

Ok so normally I don't post things on my blog like this but Whoa Nelly these are simply

to good to miss!! 1st this one is from the Funky Playground Designs blog
I am sooo doing this one, after all we ALL have women in our lives that have

been Heroes to us in one way or another! I haven't made any layouts of my Mom

since she passed away, I miss her every day! This is one I am going to do for

her, talk about a wonderful role model and truly my Hero.

Although anyone who knew my Mom knows this layout should be done in RED :)

I just adore these flowers, they just jumped out and grabbed me :) Could be partly because

I have a cute little granddaughter that these will always work on layouts for or partly

because I simply LOVE flowers!! Gina is really on a roll with all these wire creations!!

The Meadow and this is the freebie you get created with Weeds and Wildflower designs by the Ikeagoddess! The catch is you have to have it completed by tomorrow but the

challenge is easy and the guidelines are simple (they have to be if I am doing it). lol
Ok that is all the eye candy for this morning :) get to creating!!

hee hee that last little bit was aimed at me too :)

Super Quick Survey

Kayla is doing a super quick survey with a great prize, so head on over and fill it out!

http://thelegacylady.typepad.com//the_legacy_lady_online/2007/10/freebie-friday-.html

Oktoberfest 2007!

Thought I would share some photos from our weekend. WHEW it was wild and crazy but tons of fun as usual! I love the Oktoberfest weekend, of course everyone loves a sale and it is always a good one. But more than that, it seems to me that people are a bit more relaxed and ready to enjoy whatever comes their way. I love that!

A quick shot of the driveway as I made one of the MANY trips from the house to the deck to get everything set up for the BBQ! WOW people were lined up clear down the Valley View Rd side of the Nursery. Yep the first 4 or 5 hours were a Mad House, but in a good way. I always get to see people who I have not seen for a while and that is another thing I love about Oktoberfest. Even if it is just for a short chat, I love catching up with old friends.

Mac was our official Cider Press Guy this year and he did a great job. It is a lot more work than it looks and you are pooped when you are finished! This year we let the public bring their own apples to press, I think I need to add something into the advertising to say you need about a box of apples per gallon of cider!! Yep, it takes a bunch so when some came with 8 apples they got a small glass to share. But they seems to have fun doing it and most said they would bring MORE next year!! I think we need to put it in a PRETTIER PLACE though, that background is UGLY!

Amber once again did the BBQ'ing of the German Sausages, she does a great job with a smile on her face the entire time. Saturday we had people lined up for their German Sausages a couple of times and I don't think Amber got a chance to sit down except to eat a really quick lunch! Since she spent a year in Germany everyone that knows German will speak to her in German. She can totally understand them but since that was close to 6 years ago she is not quite as clear in her speech back to them, which I know is a bit frustrating to her. She is more than ready

for a trip back to Europe with her hubby this time!

Bill and Cynthia from Hillcrest Orchard in Medford did Pear tasting on Saturday and had their info for Holiday Gift Baskets, which added to the festivities!! Right there with Hillcrest Orchard is Roxy Ann Winery so you get a bit of the fruit of the Orchard and a bit of the fruit of the Grape!! lol I love their Viognier, one of my favorite white wines and their claret is the one Red wine that I really enjoy.

Autumn from Paschal Winery took care of the wine tasting and we all know how much everyone loves wine tasting!! If you are ever in the area this is another fabulous winery to visit, they have one of the prettiest spots for their winery and the tasting room is fabulous! They also have some of the CUTEST TEE SHIRTS, one says 'Group Therapy' and it is 3 different glasses of wine! All done on a black tee shirt and the wine is done in those little crystals totally adorable!

Adam taking the Hyde family on a Hay ride. This is one of our favorite families!!

John out in the sales yard making either a list of plants we need to restock or a list of plants someone wants to buy, either way even though this photo does not show it, he is HAPPY!! :)

Paul taking the Ramrod up to load up a big tree for a customer. The weather is beautiful,

we are outside working together instead of chained to a computer and the customers are happy.

So yep Paul is a happy camper too!

Kids Club! The kids grew their own pumpkins this year and had an abundance of the mini pumpkins so they had some to sell. Here are Christopher and Samantha Hyde manning the booth, which they did the ENTIRE DAY! Oh my gosh what great little salespeople they were too! You could hear them up there hollering 'Mini Pumpkins for Sale' Now tell me who could resist that?? I think they should get the 'Best Pumpkin Sales' award!

Well there needed to be a bit of re-arranging done so it was Cynthia and Pat to the rescue!

Oh my this was a WONDERFUL addition this year!! Michele Scheffler played her accordion in the afternoon on Saturday and it was simply fabulous. She is such a sweet and easy person to work with and plays that accordion like a dream. It added such a nice atmosphere to the day. Next year I want her to bring her amp so we can hear her on the back deck. I think that was about the only place where the sound didn't carry, since we are behind the building.

TW Gourds, now these ladies just amaze me. These are natural gourds that they stain, paint, burn and simply make beautiful works of art out of them. I didn't get a close up but I have some at home I can take photos of to show you. Oh they are beautiful, if you ever get the chance to see their work you will totally understand what I am saying!!

Well this is the end of the photo show, if you made it this far you will know it was a fabulous day! If you are in the area and around next year, this is a day you will not want to miss.

I think we are going to try and add a pumpkin shooter next year

cause I think it looks like FUN :)

I will try and do better blogging this week than I did last week!!

Outside my box and a FREEBIE

Sorry it is 11:30 and I have to be up again at 5am, I just can not figure out why I keep getting a white background!! Anyone have any suggestions I would love the help! Night-Night

Ok, I am just sitting here chuckling to myself at the word FREEBIE coming from me!! There is probably no one who will want this but at least I am TRYING to share, hee hee hee

Even if no one wants it!! This just tickles me :)

This is once again the view off our deck. I just loved the rainbow and had such a feeling of comfort at seeing it, I always do.

While I was trying to remember the name of the song by Chris Tomlin. I was inspired to REALLY jump out of my box and work on this layout. I have been wanting to dry the photo blending and it was a blast!! Look out because I will be doing MORE of this :) and I know Amber is going to love it too. She has lots of photos with great backgrounds because they go 'wheeling' out in the boonies!

So here is my 1st attempt at sharing something with you all(hee hee all 5 or 6 of you!!). Since I don't have 4 shared figured out and it is just one png file I think (and the key word here is THINK) I can just have it in this post and you can 'right click' on it to save it to your computer. I will give Amber a call and see if she can test this for me. Oh it was created in CS2 but I think since it is a png it will be ok for everyone? Once again that ummm.... THINK.... word comes into play!!

*Edited to add: Just right click on the wordart and do a 'save as' to your computer. It is a png file so it should work. :) OOPS I forgot to save it with a transparent background!! What a dork I am!! I am at work but will fix it as soon as I get home, SO SORRY!!!!

Credits are:
Gina Cabrera: Extreme Grunge Paper Pack Essential which I just picked up because Kayla pointed it out to me!! I LOVE it, I re-colored it so the tones would match my photo but it was super easy!! :)
Jen Caputo: Triple hole scallops
Jen Wilson: 29 & Co Flourish Stamps
Kim Broedelet: Ribbon (recolored)
Natasha Whitley: Photo Action Retro Acid
Word art by me :)