And the Winners Are....

Linda from CPA and of Linda Jo's Obsessions
Tara from my church who does not have her own blog... YET!
Katie from CPA and of Ragamuffin Gal
Lori from CPA who does not have a blog that I know of
Angie from CPA and of ArtVisionz

Congratulations ladies!!

Sorry it took me a few days to get this posted - we had a family emergency on Monday, but I think everything has calmed down from that, and now we are all hyped up for my cousin's wedding tomorrow!! After the wedding excitement has died down a bit I will post pictures of my two little guys in their tuxes! SO Handsome!

C is for Cross

These are the Cross inchies I made for a swap on Christian Paper Artists. It is an Alphabet Inchie swap, so I made 26 1"x1" collages depicting my letter, which was C. The crosses are metallic silver, so the glare caused the picture to overexpose, but I think you can get the hint. I stamped a C, hand wrote "is for" and cut out the word Cross. All of the inchies and the cut-out words are edged in Creamy Brown chalk ink. There are 5 different background papers used, all from a new line of Crate Paper called Blue Hill. On the back side is the verse.

For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

- Galatians 2:20

I'm Giving Away A House!

Thanks to all who posted helps for my houses for the swap!! I found out that my houses did not meet the swap criteria, so I had to start over!! They were too big (supposed to be 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 INCLUDING the roof - mine were that size, PLUS the roof). So I started over and created new ones that are completely different! I will upload a picture of them later, since the pictures are on my mother's camera, not here at home. Anyway - I decided to do a giveaway with the "too-big" house ATC's! All you have to do it post a comment on this post before Midnight Sunday May 25th, and your name will be entered. To say THANK YOU to those nice ladies who helped me out with my first attempt, All of your names are already entered in the drawing, and if you post a comment here, you will get a 2nd entry. :)

Winners will be drawn on Monday the 26th.

Good Luck!

Help my House!!! Vol. 2

House ATC -- Round 2! I have added several elements to the house, and am liking it better already! There is now glitter on the roof, a design over the door, a door frame, doodles around the doorknobs (sounds like my 4 year old helped!), ink edging the roof, house and doors, plus words, blush & lipstick inside! :)
She says "Tell me you love me" and he says "my darling..."
This photo shows some of the background detail a little better. I think the door frame helped a lot.

Any other ideas floating around out there??

Help my House!!!

Ok, I need some help here.... I am in a house-themed ATC swap on the Christian Paper Artists list. This photo is of my project at the moment -- but it still needs something. Keep in mind, these did not scan very well. The background is stamped in gold with antique gold pearl-ex dusted over it. The couple inside is not as pale looking as in the scan, but I think I am going to add some color to them-- lipstick maybe? I'm just not happy with them yet... please post any ideas you may have!!! thanks :)

I've Been Tagged

I was tagged by Linda...

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Now, as for 6 things about me....
1. I lived in the same house from the day I was born until the day I got married.
2. I have my boys' closets ultra-organized, but my own is a mess. How does this happen?
3. I hate getting dressed for semi-dressy things, like church or weddings. I would rather be in jeans than anything, but I do enjoy getting REALLY dressed up for super formal events too. It is the in-between stuff I don't like.
4. I hate doing housework, but I get really cranky when the house gets messy. (I think I need a maid...)
5. Speaking of cranky, I get REALLY cranky when I'm hungry.
6. When I was pregnant with my 1st, I told my hubby if it was a girl, I wouldn't have any more kids.

NOW --- Here's the really fun part -- the RULE BREAKING!!!!

I refuse to get started in an endless trap of these silly things (I told you I was a control-freak & a rule breaker!!!) so I am NOT going to tag 6 other people to carry this on (See Linda's Blog to see what I mean). Sorry for the disappointment. But hey, you still get to read the 6 quirky things about me, so it's okay, right???

Our Weekend in Tulsa

We took the kids to Tulsa this weekend to see some long-time friends. My hubby & these guys were like the 3 musketeers from about 6th grade on, and the other two musketeers moved to Tulsa in October. We have really missed getting together with them. When we all lived close, we spent a lot of time together. The guys were all in each other's weddings. I remember when the 6 of us would go out for dinner, then meet at one of our houses & play games until midnight or so. Now, between the 3 couples we have 3 boys & 2 girls. The oldest is 4 and the youngest is 14 months... what a houseful when we all get together!!

We left Friday afternoon, and of course had to stop at the McDonald's that goes over the highway. If you've ever driven from Joplin into Tulsa, you know exactly which one I am talking about... it is pretty cool, but for a 4 year old, it was REALLY cool! We got some popcorn and chicken nuggets & sat by the windows so we could watch the traffic zoom by underneath us. Now does that sound like heaven to a kid or what?? When we got there, everybody got together at a Mexican place called Abuelo's that was really good. Now for me, that is saying something because I don't care for Mexican food. Well, in truth I like it okay, but let's just say it doesn't like me. We were already geared up for Mexican though, because I had been telling my husband about this place I had been in Tulsa when I was in high school that was really fun, Casa Bonita. Unfortunately, we learned that they are out of business, which was really sad. They had little flags on the table, and if you needed your server, you just ran your flag up the little pole, and they would come by. The atmosphere was great too -- several different rooms, each with a different theme. One had an indoor waterfall & was decorated like you were sitting in an open courtyard. I still remember their sopapillas served warm with honey... mmmmmmm........ After dinner we went back to the house & got all the kids to bed. The adults stayed up talking & playing board games, Wii, etc. until 4:00 am. I cannot even think of the last time I was up that late! We all agreed it was probably because we had not seen each other in so long & we had a lot to catch up on. I vote that we get together more often so we don't stay up so late next time!! Our kids were up at about 6:30 Saturday morning, and the rest were up by 8:30. Ugh!

The two girls had their first ballet class on Saturday morning, then that afternoon we took the kids to the Tulsa Zoo. They loved the petting area and riding the carousel! Everybody loved the train too, except the baby -- he was great with it until we went through a tunnel, which he didn't like at all. It was pretty crowded, I guess because the weather is finally getting warm. We were going to eat dinner at an Italian place called Jonny Carino's, but when we got there, we discovered it was Prom night! The wait for a table for 11 was almost 2 hours long... and with 5 young kids who missed their naps, we all agreed that was not going to happen! We ended up at another Italian place called Carrabba's. There were some Prom-goers there too, but we got in within 15 minutes, so it was perfect. I think everybody had a great time, but we were all exhausted at the end of the day! We left Tulsa at about 9:00 pm, which put us home at midnight. Praise the Lord for getting us home safe on so little sleep! Then we were up early for church on Sunday, since DH is on worship team and I am doing drama for children's worship. Naps for all on Sunday afternoon!! All in all, it was a good weekend. It was great to see everybody again... we will have to do this more often. Minus the 4am part...