Fun Projects .....

WOW things are finally calming down in the Dak department. At least kind of. He calls today to find out what day he starts work. He is so excited!!! He hopes it is the sooner date. The boy is ready to make some money =)

Well, I wanted to show you a few things I have been working on in "Sunrise Designs". There are so many things I've been doing, but I wanted to share a couple of fun sewing projects I worked on yesterday to add to some of my up coming Scrapbook projects and then wanted to share some of Dak's Senior Memory Scrapbook Album with y'all.

First of all, I found a youtube tutorial for these CUTE, CUTE birds. First I made a couple of folksy flowers and then tackled the birdies. I used for the flowers a snowflake cookie cutter as my template and made it work. I think they turned out really cute.
















This is the snowflake cookie cutter I used.....















For the birds I went back to the youtube video and since I didn't have a template like she did, I decided to freehand it. I really like how they turned out and Dak LOVED them!! He wanted to know if I could use one on one of his pages. How sweet is that?!!

Now here is the really great part. The outside of the birdies are material of course, but in between the cloth are three layers of paper towels. Yep, just regular paper towels that you have in your kitchen. And you just rough up the edges with a little sand paper and it gives them such a vintage look. LOVE. I used a little bling for the eyes and added a little material and paper towel wings and there you have it. Easy-peasy and oh so cute!! (I'll add the video to the end of this post, so you can try it yourself =)















I am taking a Scrapbook class "May with May" from Big Picture Classes, the entire month of May. Everyday I get a new e-mail with a challenge or tip or layout, etc. It is really cool and I'm learning SO much!!

Here is one of the first layout challenges that I did. It was a challenge to use paint on your pages. So that is what I did. I painted green paper brown. It was so much fun, so then I tore the corner and used a distressing ink and made it look vintage and used a ribbon for my frame. I love how this page turned out.

And what a great picture of Dak and Alyssa!!!















Here is another layout of Dak and I that I just loved as well. Again I used ribbon as my frame and used a Prima flower that I distressed and then added a bling brad. So cute!!!















This was a challenge page I did on National Scrapbook Day (a week ago). I did a free all day class that had 12 challenges. It was so fun. This was a 10 10 10 page. 10 elements, 10 techniques, 10 words. Okay so it was more than 10 words (go figure =) but I love the quote.....
















"Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs, since the payment is pure love." by Mildred B. Vermont

LOVE this quote and SO true!!!!!















Fun page.....
















Simple, but fun family page.....
















I LOVE this banner I made out of just some fun elements I had laying around.....

I wanted to show you this page for the edge. I am now sewing on my scrapbook pages.

Who knew? How cute!! Today I think I'll try some zigzag stitiches on my pages.

So fun!!

I also added some shiny Stickles to my page. It brightened up everything and gave it a little more dimension.

This is still a work in progess. I'm wanting to get a bottle of royal blue Stickles to add to my distressed letters. They are not quite the right color blue.....

Here is a little chipboard tage I covered and stamped on, and then added a Thickers "D" for Dak on the side of the journaling..... OOPS Blogger just lost this picture, but please look up at the bottom of this page, so cute.....

I'm showing you this undone page because of the stiching on the top and bottom of my journaling. This was handstitched with embroidery thread. I love how it turned out. It isn't perfect, but it adds dimension and interest to the page. I haven't finished this page.....

Please let me know what you think. I'd love to hear your feedback or questions. I'll do my best to answer.

Also, for a GREAT story of love and God's redemption in a young person's life, please read the post directly after this one that I posted last night.

(I tried to post the youtube video but it wouldn't let me. If you'd like to see it email me and I'll send it to you that way.)

Love you all ~~ have a Blessed day ~~

Sunday Letters ~~ Project Grad Edition

My Dear Dak,

What a week it has been. On Monday, May 9th 2011, you graduated from Clever High School with honors. We are SO proud of you!!!

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of fun activities. Now that it is over, I feel like we can breathe and enjoy the next three months before college. I'm so proud of you my boy.

On Monday night, after graduation, we went to Project Grad. What a blast!!!

Here is Miss Alyssa being beautiful on the bus. You took this picture. What a GREAT picture. It captures her foot-loose-and-fancy-free spirit perfectly.
















You and Alyssa rocking it out =)



















~~ Graduated Seniors Class of 2011 ~~




















Pizza ~~ need I say more .....















Some of the girls hanging out!!















Me and Alyssa ~~ she is so mean to me =) hahaha
















You and Kaili ~~ What a sweet girl.....















Okay, really? heehee















Okay, so this totally and completely cracked.me.up.
You have a lot of aggies in your class who apparently wanted to play basketball and didn't bring (or don't own) tennis shoes.

So what's a boy to do? Play in your boots, of course!! =) hahahahahaha heeheeheeheehee
















Okay so Airelle's swimsuit wins BEST swimsuit of the night in my book.
So pretty and modest. Loved it and LOVE her!!!!!

















You had such a fun time. I'm so glad things went SO well!!



Well that was Monday night. We slept Tuesday, and then Wednesday here I come!! I went in your room and told you graduation was over and now life begins. You need to get up and get to looking for a job. hahahaha



You obliged and on Thursday found a job at Price Cutters in the deli department. You will be training in the cold meat deli first and then you will go to a different store and train in their Bistro and then you will be trained in both, because the PC that you will be working at is building a Bistro as we speak. So proud of you!!!



(You call Tuesday to find out what day you start. It will either be Next Sunday or the following Saturday, depending on payroll.)



You've been enjoying BBQ's and hanging out with friends and lots of Tennis Districts. Things will be slower for you this week.



I found a quote that I will be using in your Senior Scrap-Memory Book. It says:



YOU ARE CAPABLE OF DOING AND BECOMING

MORE THAN YOU REALIZE ~~



I love that quote!! And it is so true son. THE SKY'S THE LIMIT!!!!! With God ALL THINGS are possible. You can do ALL THINGS through Christ!!!



I Love you for always ~~ mom



************************



My Dear Sir Cuteness,



You are SO hilarious!! Yesterday you even told me something was hilarious. Cracks.me.up. to see such a BIG word come out of such a little dude =)



You have been sick this week and even ended up at the hospital. You have a really bad cold that went respritory, so you are now on breathing treatments for a while. You have a dragon mask that is so cute. You told your mama that you wanted "to wear it forever" =)



So we were playing outside this week and I had to come in and get something. When we came in you were wheezing, so I told you that you couldn't play outside for a while. So you crawled up in my lap and started tugging at your mouth. I asked you what you were doing, because it looked like you were trying to pull a hair out of your mouth. You looked at me with all seriousness and said:



"I'm trying to get the wheeze out my mouth."

hahahahahaha You crack.me.up.



You've gotten to where you like PaPa to start our evening prayers at bedtime, but then you take off and say your own. It is the sweetest thing I've ever seen, Sir Cuteness. You kneel on our bed and bury your little head in your hands and pray for Granny (my mom), Papa Wesley (Dick's Dad) and then last night for Frosty, as in the Snowman. LOVE that and LOVE YOU!!!



Love you to the moon, Moon, MOON ~~ Gamma



*****************************



My Mr. Winslow,



You are on 7 10's again. WOW that is a lot of hours. You are working so hard, and I'm so proud of you. You have a hard job, but NO ONE does it like you!!!



You are coming home a little early today. I hope you can rest.



We ordered you a couple of books yesterday too. You love to read. I hope having a couple new books will also help you to relax =)



Thank you for all that you do for us.



You are my hero.



I love you Sweetie ~~ Petrii

Graduation Part 1 ~~ The Baccalaureate Edition

Whew ~~ it has been a crazy few days..... There are SO many pictures and fun stories associated with the past few days, I thought I'd share them in 3 editions.

The first one being Baccalaureate on Sunday. Please keep in mind that Prom was Saturday night, Baccalaureate on Sunday (Mother's Day), First Round Tennis Team Districts (which they won by the way), Graduation at 8:00 PM and Project Grad Bus leaving at 9:30 PM. WOW!! Yep I am tired. Not even playin' =)

So I posted about Prom in "Sunday Letters" so we'll move onto Sunday, which was Mother's Day. I went and spent some time with this pretty lady....my mama.

My mama is 71. Isn't she just beautiful?

















I had called before I came over and asked if she'd do my nails for Graduation (next day) and she quickly obliged. My mom is a GREAT nailist!!! She's done her own for YEARS!!

Not only did I get a mani, but I also got a pedi. Thanks mom!! It was a huge help and they looked SO nice. Matched my dress just beautifully =)
















Well, you know Mother's Day gave me a reason to make my mom a pretty little card.

I LOVE these papers!! And you are not going to get to see it because Blogger just deleted that picture. Oh brother. I will try to remember to put it back on here in another post. It was really cute.

anyway.....

I found some quotes about prayer and mother's and so I included those in mom's card, and thanked her for always praying for me, and all her kids. I told her it definitely has made the difference in our lives. And to keep up the good work =)

"If you have a mom, there is nowhere you are likely to go that a prayer has not already been."
Robert Brault

This one is a Abraham Lincoln quote. I love AL quotes. This one may be a new favorite of mine.

"I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life." Abraham Lincoln.

Love it.

Then this sweet boy and I went out to eat. Yep, we kept the tradition of trying a new place neither of us had been before, so this year it was Red Robin.

(He's so tired. But he said Prom was SO fun!)

Me waiting for.....

This beautiful thang.....my vegan burger. Get out of town!!! I know. It was SO good too and they let me build it just the way I like it, complete with quacamole. Oh my, it was SO good!!

I don't know. =)

Look at this HUGE burger, Dak ordered. It was SO good!! (So he told me =)

They have endless fries at Red Robin's so we decided one of us would get the fries and one would get onion rings. Look at this babies............. Dak said they were delish!!

Here is Dak enjoying his Mint Cookie Shake and he is so mad at me right now.....see his face. Because he was SO full, but he wanted it, so I made him drink it. I am so mean =) heehee

So full.....

Then that evening we went to the Clever First Baptist Church for Baccalaureate. They did a really nice job.

My girl, Trisha, sang an Audio Adreneline song: Goodbye - Goodbye

She did good!

Here is Chazlin reading some Scripture.....

The speaker was the Youth Leader from a neighboring town. She was really good.

She read out of the 139th Psalm. Yes, I was overjoyed!!! Those of you who read my blog regularly know that Dak and I read the 139th Psalm on the first day of school. It was a fitting close to his High School career. God ALWAYS knows what He's doing!!

She also gave an altar call. I'd never been at a Baccalaureate that an altar call was given. Apparently there were some mixed emotions by at least one of the parent's, but I thought it was terrific. Anytime that Christs' Name is glorified and people who don't know Him have the opportunity to know Him, I say ABSOLUTELY!!! It was terrific!!!!!

Here are the kids that attended. Such a good group of kiddo's.

Here is Dak and Bobby. Bobby is a good kid. He's going to be a diesel mechanic.

Me and my girl Alyssa. She looked SO pretty!!

Ummm, yeah.

The church really made it so nice for us, complete with sandwiches, relish trays, nuts, mints, cake and drinks. It was really great!!! Then they donated the balloons to us for Project Grad. It was a nice touch.

Look at these tables.....really pretty.

This is Marlee. Such a sweet and pretty girl.

It was such a nice evening. And we really appreciated the church for hosting this.

And tomorrow, onto graduation!!

Sunday Letters ~~ Prom Edition

My Dear Sweet Dak,

You are just the sweetest thing ever!! I am so proud to be your mama. "Your a standing ovation after years of waiting.... Everyone calls you amazing.....I just call you mine."

Last night was Prom, and son, you and Liza were just stunning together. She looked so beautiful and you were SO handsome, I could hardly stand it =) You make me smile and cry, but I guess that's your job, right?

You are so cute!!!





















Here you are with your new Prom kicks. You make me smile =)



















You looked so handsome and you were so nervous ~~ it was cute!! I love it that you care about things like this so much. You just want things to go well. I love it.
















Ahhh, you are so sweet.















You and Eliza Anne, looked just beautiful together.



















She looked just stunning.
















So nice.















Beautiful.

Such a pretty girl!!

This picture is so funny. You and Liza got in the car and she was
texting and you were getting your Pod hooked up. It cracked me up. In my day, we turned the radio on. That's it. Just the radio.

And your off =)

and there you go.....

You had such a good time. Y'all danced and "kept your distance" and you had a GREAT time!!
All the pictures are just so good and funny. Y'all ate at "Nonnie's". You said it was delicious and expensive =) You loved it though.

Then you went to an after party at Melissa's and your allergies went crazy like they always do at Melissa's =) but you still enjoyed yourself immensely.

Tonight we went to Baccelaurate. It was so beautiful. The speaker was great and the reception was delicious. They really did a good job for you all.

Son, tomorrow night is graduation. WOW!!! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!! I know that most people do graduate from High School, but you are graduating with honors and scholarships. You have worked so hard. I love you so much. God has so Blessed my life with you, my dear child.

So, onto Monday now. Tennis Districts at 3:00 PM, Graduation at 8:00 PM and Project Graduation after that. Busy day, busy time with you my dear boy. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I love you so ~~ Mom

*****************************

Sir Cuteness,

You have been so sick this week. You had to go to the hospital. You had to have a breathing treatment and steroids, but they gave you a dragon mask to wear with your nebulizer, and when you got back to your mama's you told her, "Mama, I never want to take it off!" =) You crack.me.up.

I love you to the moon, Moon, MOON ~~ Gamma

******************************

My Mr. Winslow,

Things has been SO crazy around here for the last few weeks, but it is about to calm down. You are working seven days a week right now. Thank you so much for all you do for us.

You are my hero.

I love you Sweetie ~~ Petrii