A few more cards to tide me over...

Oh yeah - it's true - I got myself on some sort of Card kick... actually, what started it was a challenge from SketchThis:Cards! It is a three week challenge featuring a new Sketch to copy each week... it's been fun and I have one more sketch to work on this week! I love that they are cards because who doesn't need a few cards on hand!? Too fun!

So - here are last week's cards:

I am actually getting ready to order all those Italy papers... we are going with the Basic Grey Stella Ruby line and I am so excited about it!!! So - within the next couple of days - I will place my order and begin the background work (the journaling and organizing per page stuff... etc.) I also need to order our custom printed album! I will share what the final result is with that! I love the idea... so I am really hoping and praying that it will work out as good as I envision it!?

Also - I just got another job doing a Family Vacation to Disneyland, Universal, Sea World, and a wildlife safari place (?) - I suppose I should know where that really was!? Anyway - I have the photo's already and will be able to shop for specialty papers in a couple of weeks!!! I have never really looked at the Disney papers because we never went to Disneyland and - well, we are just not cartoony people... but I am so excited to use at least SOME of their specialty papers in the album!!! We bought a great red album and I am planning on adding some mouse ears to the cover... too fun!

So - two paid jobs at once... praise God! (Plus my Karianna's wedding album one day soon! - which is a gift, not a job - but will be FUN nonetheless!!!?)

I have my Scrap group tomorrow night, and we have our sister in town from Tenn for a week... her hubby couldn't come - but she has her two youngest ones with her... the youngest is about 16 or 17 months and we have not yet met him!!? So - we will be busy with family and getting to know the kids again...

I am also in the midst of planning our main summer vacation... yeah - I know?! It's a little late... we just sort of kept everything up in the air for some reason... we have decided to go to Port Angeles and see the Olympic Nat'l Forest... visit the beaches there and the rain forest... can't wait! The scary part is trying to find a place to stay... (I am not so much a camper... so I am looking for a hotel or BnB or something...) There are only so many 'chain' hotels - and those are a bit out of our price range for 4 people... so - I am searching the net trying to get info on a couple of locally owned places that are open/for rent!?

Kaye and I are almost done with Atherton and I can tell already that it will be a cliff hanger and I can't know when the next book will be out... at least we still have the interactive CD to listen to when we are done with the book!? I also bought "Closer - a book for mothers and daughters" that we are going to read ...plus about 4 of Susie Shellenberger's teen girl Bible study books... Oh - and Hairspray opens on Friday... seems like we will have to see that... who doesn't love a musical!? I mean, come ON!??!?!!?

Until next time!
Scrap On!

~Karrilee~

Instant Gratification

Oh yeah... It's true! One of the many reasons why I LOVE making Cards is they are just like mini- layouts and yet - you have almost instant gratification! PLUS - who doesn't love getting a letter or card in the mail... yeah - the actual SNAIL MAIL way... old fashioned, I know?! But still - it seems to happen so seldom! Sure - I LOVE my e-mail... and I do use it more than any other form of communication... but to take the time to sit down, and write something out... and then WAIT... I'm not even talking about birthday cards or Christmas cards... I am talking about those Just Because (as Brian Regan would put it "Blank Inside...{...I feel that way sometimes, too!} cards") The ones that are little blessings full of words of encouragement and love! Aaaah yes... so - ya know - if you can't GET them, I say MAKE them! LOL! So - since I am having to P-A-I-N-F-U-L-L-Y wait to do any scrapping with the Italy pictures (as I am needing to special order the papers, etc?!) I decided to make a few cards!

So... here are some cards that I made last week...

Scrap On!

~Karrilee~

All Caught Up...

...and Just In Time!!!

Yes - it is true... I am, once again, all caught up on my own personal scrapping! I worked pretty much all day scrapping on Saturday! I got this great huge pad of papers from Costco... and boy - can you ever tell!? But - oh well!? I love them all!

I am not so sure how soon my niece will decide on photo's from her wedding to me so I can make her wedding gift... I know I took nearly 300 photo's - and there were at least 3 other people with camera's (that were SUPPOSED to be there with camera's)... so I am guessing that I will have some time before they mail me the photo's!

However, when I got home today from Prayer... there was a lovely little white UPS box waiting for me... It is FULL of Italy pictures!!! Yay!!! I am so excited to get to work on this album! AND we found a place that makes CUSTOM Albums... so we are custom designing a cover with one of the best photo's and "Italia 2004" on it! Can't WAIT to see how well it turns out! Now, I need to order all the papers and all... we are thinking of using the Basic Grey - Stella Ruby line! LOVE that line!!! Too fun!

So - here are my latest Layouts...

Next up... ITALY!!!!

Scrap On!

~Karrilee~

...and then there is the collective Sigh of Relief...

Yes... the Wedding is over!!!

... it was magical, breathtaking, gorgeous, perfect... I mean there is no question that this marriage is blessed by God... from the very (short term)beginning of planning the wedding - God has blessed this Bride and given her the desires of her heart and the culmination of the all last minute hectic detail work that needed to be done manifested in a Fairytale Wedding that you would have thought had been in the planning stages for at least a year...


...simply blessed!


Of course, if you all went to their website (http://www.Kariandon.com) then you already know their love story... what that doesn't necessarily share is that they had fallen in love so fast, and so deep - and yet Karianna knew that they were not ready for marriage... being a Christian - she wanted to do things God's way - and she knew that if they stayed together, it was only a matter of time before they either married, or went against God... so - while it broke her heart, and his - they broke up... it was a long and painful separation. However, their friendship continued to grow... they spoke nearly every week and in the process, both grew and matured. All the while, of course, Brandon's intent was to win her back... little did he know, he never lost her!


From the wedding date having to wait until they knew his Leave time, and then finding it out and securing the one place that Karianna has ALWAYS wanted to get married (the Wedding Fountain at Pioneer Park)... to finding a gorgeous dress at David's Bridal - on clearance, for only $99 and having it fit her like a glove - no alterations needed... everything just fell into place for them.

Of course - we won't go into the details of that final week and my travels there and home, and back again to make sure that all our lists got checked off... but all of it was worth it!

The only complaint or regret is that I was one of three photographers that they had taking pictures, and somehow - a good portion of the guests brought camera's too - so I had a hard time getting the shots I wanted, with everyone looking at me, (the photographer) and not getting in front of me when I was trying to take pictures... now, in the digital camera age, apparently everyone brings camera's and stands in the aisles and walks around and takes pictures all on their own!? With the three photographers present, we should have made it clear somehow to everyone who the photographers were... mostly because the newlyweds didn't want to be taking pictures the whole time and end up missing their own reception - and we had already preplanned the shots that they wanted! Even with that, I came home with over 300 photo's... and many are gorgeous!!! Of course, the newlyweds will have to pick about a 100 or 120 for me to make an album for them - and I know that the other photographers had to have got shots that I didn't get... they'll have a hard time picking out their favorites out of so many choices!!!


Anyway - I DID do one 2-page layout a couple of days before the wedding - at my Scrapbook group... and I have several more photo's to scrap... I will get back to that this week and then within the next week or two, I may have the Italy photo's to play with... not to mention all these breathtaking Wedding photo's! I will just show a few... I can't wait to play with them!!!










Scrap On!
~Karrilee~

Wuv... TWUU Wuv....

Aaah yes... we women - we love everything Wedding, don't we?! There is a magic that comes to life in the midst of planning for such a memorable, special event... and our romantic hearts get all tied up in the fairytale of it all! Well - let me tell you, if ever there was a Bride worthy of celebration and honor, it is my niece. She is such a treasure, so pure and honest and transparent... so fresh and fun and deserving of happiness and romance. She is like royalty - honestly - among her friends and even among her parents friends - so this Shower was so much fun to prepare for and plan. And the wedding is just two weeks away!!!

I will share a few photo's of our Shower... but mostly I would ask that you all would pray for this young couple in the next several weeks... Pray for great weather, pray that her fiance will arrive on time and that he will have safe travel... pray for a calm rehearsal and a smooth lovely ceremony... pray for the photographer and that we will be able to get the pictures taken in a timely manner so they will have time to visit with their guests for a bit before they rush off to start their honeymoon... pray that they will have an enchanted magical first few weeks of marriage before he is shipped off to his second deployment in Iraq... pray for them both, as they are married, and yet forced to be apart - and all that that may entail!

I encourage you to read their Love Story... you can go to their website at www.kariandon.com and read all about it... (HINT: Click Refresh on your Browser to see more photo's of the adorable Couple on their website!) They are an honorable beautiful couple full of integrity and grace... and they are so in love... and they have waited for this time, this season, this moment for their entire lives... pray blessings over them and the next few weeks with me! I am sure I will be scrapping soon! Oh - I did make a birthday card the other day... here is that:

Also - I have unofficially started another job... I am (going to be) an assistant to two local Real Estate agents... working from home - in my jammies - doing computer stuff.... not a bad gig at all!

Anyway - the Wedding is now two weeks away with much left to do... I am not sure how much I can help from here... so we may be making a few trips 'there' to Wallyworld!!!

I pray you all are enjoying Summer... tomorrow marks the official start for my dd... Wednesday we will be sleeping IN a bit and hopefully not going anywhere!?

Scrap On!

~Karrilee~

Tulle, and Ribbons, and Bows, OH MY!?

So... it's been forever since I have even sat down at the computer to just read all of YOUR Blogs, not to mention update my own... but here I am, stealing a minute or two to say Hey! I have not done ONE THING scrap related for weeks... so not like me... even though I am normally 'caught up' I usually have cards to make or something to alter... something?! But - no... my scrap table probably actually has dust on it!?

But - I have been having fun none the less planning and prepping for my niece's Bridal Shower this weekend! I haven't thrown a Shower for over a decade... I forgot how much goes into it all... of course, lucky for me, my niece is anything but traditional - so it will not be a formal affair... but still - I want it to be fun and a blessing to her... Don't tell Na - but I even have a little notebook... OK - well - for those of you who know me very well - you know that while I lack in any competition with Na - she ALWAYS wins, hands down... I am a Notebook-type of person myself... so when I stepped up to help plan the wedding, and asked my sister (the mother of the Bride) and my niece (the Bride) to bring their Notebook with them when they came a few weeks ago so we could go over the plans... and they openly laughed at me and said, "UM.... a notebook?!?" I panicked a bit... it's true!? Then, over the course of that weekend, I did in fact supply them with color coded lists and a notebook to take home with them! LOL!? Yeah - I know - it is probably under a couch or bed or in some drawer somewhere - but still - it made ME feel better?!

So - this weekend is the Shower... and then in two more weeks, we have the Ceremony! I am the photographer for the Wedding and am so excited!!! Anyway - the shower is first so my focus has had to been on that... I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow and pack the car and then I am ready and can't do anything until the actual day! Oh yeah - my husband and my mother talked me OUT of attempting the cake on my own?! I could have done it - but they saw my eyes glaze over when I recited the menu and they made me stop! Literally - they both said no to half of my menu plans?! They also reminded me that I planned the Shower at 2pm so I wouldn't HAVE to serve a huge spread... but, you know how it is... once the planning starts, and you find all these yummy new recipes... Yeah - I said it... new recipes?! What!? WHAT?!?!? I can do it... I never use a 'tried and true' recipe for a special occasion!? LOL!? OK - well - sometimes maybe... but I had too many fun ones to chose from!!?! Anyway - it will be great! This weekend also happens to be a Crop Retreat weekend... they do it every other month and I cannot go... I even have PICTURES to scrap... but I can't possibly squeeze it in!? I mean - I could try... but... ?!?! I have been fighting off a bit of sickiness too - am feeling MUCH better - but I figure I better not push it too much!

So - hopefully I will have pictures of the shower, or some new lo or SOMETHING to post next time!!!

Praying for you all!
Scrap Happy!
~Karri~

Scrap Happy and sticky fingers

Hey there...
Yes - it has been a crazy week or two... I had a great turn out for my Scrap Happy Scrapbook group last week... almost all of the ladies that came are actually from other Crops I have gone to in the past couple of months... only one gal was from our church. But I love that... I think that is great and so in line with what I envisioned when I started the group anyway! It was a fairly productive evening for everyone at hand! (AND Connie had just rec'v a shipment in from Prima - so she brought in her flower of the month kits and some other fun stuff too...) As you can see... we had lots of fun!

I worked on Italian cards... I finished up that order the next day! Since then, I have done nothing scrap-related! I have however been elbow deep in Bridal Shower planning and prep! I made all the Party favors yesterday and my fingers are still a bit sticky from all that floral tape... I have pictures to print out of a few events... the above Scrap group, my daughters days and days of birthdays... some garden shots... so I will have some stuff to do whenever I have some time!? I need (well, 'need') to finish a book that is due back to the library on Friday... so I am hoping to get some sun/reading time this afternoon after my Bible study. I need to work on a few things for the Shower and Wedding soon - but it is not urgent... I get to go 'babysit' my nephews tomorrow for a few hours... and Dave is playing a gig at The Depot on Saturday too!

My thoughts and prayers are with my friend Corinna this week... I am praying that the Comforter is beside you, strengthening you and holding you close! His Love and Grace is amazing! I pray that even in this time and season, you feel His Presence!

Scrap On!

~Karri~