Monday Morning Surprise!

We got home from the lake yesterday...and of course had a wonderful time! I'll post about that later and get some pics up :)

For now...I want to tell you about my wonderful surprise I got when I awoke this morning. I've been featured on the front page of My Handmade Registry!!! What an awesome website!

And I want to give a thank you shout out to April of MooreMagnets for adding me to their favorites and getting me featured!!! Check out her cool Magnet Boards!

Happy Birthday Jesse :)

Today is my boyfriend Jesse's birthday...the big 3-3! Okay, so that's not very old, but I can still give him a hard time :) He'll always be older than me...hahaha!

I have to admit that I didn't really get him anything for his birthday! I know...bad girlfriend! But he's been living it up regardless. His air boat was sort of his birthday present. Plus we went to the fair and the lake...what more could a guy ask for. Plus he's got me...lol :)

He wants to send out a special thanks to my parents for the $ for the prop job! (For those of you who don't know...that's to get the prop reconditioned on the air boat...a little inside joke!)

New Roof-Part 1

We FINALLY got started on our new roof!!! We had hail damage back in March and things have been so drawn out! I'm so glad we're finally getting started!

I took a before photo of the house so I could remember what it looked like before all the changes. The roof is actually just one step of our house upgrades. We are putting on a metal roof in charcoal gray. Then we are putting in all new windows and new siding in light gray. It will be so nice once it's done :)

Here's just the start to all the work yet to come. I want to take pictures every step of the way and make a mini album once it's all done! Can't wait to get started on that :)

We've run into a little trouble already though! I set some things on the couch the other day and wondered why the couch was wet. Then I remembered that they had to cut out a dormer on the roof and it had rained that night! The cut hadn't been sealed up properly, so the rain made it all the way through the house into the living room! Not what we were looking forward to! So that's why there's a tarp on the roof in the photo. I'm hoping for no more surprises...but I think I'm hoping for a lot there!

I'll post more photos as we get more done. And of course you'll see it when it's all finished :)

Friday Features-At the Lake

We left for the lake yesterday and right now I'm probably enjoying the sun, the water, and a cold refreshing adult beverage (depending on what time you read this, I guess...lol!)

I'm loving these Friday Features and think I might have to make them into a weekly post :)

I came across this amazing Ozarks Sunset print at buddsphoto and knew I had to feature it. I am at the Lake of the Ozarks after all!!!

We may not be sailing...but we are boating :) And this cute little Sailboat Pendant from JesseJanes is so cute!

One of the best parts about being at the lake is grilling out and sitting around a bonfire! We would be in 7th heaven if we were sitting around this awesome Portable Bonfire Beach Burner made by John T. Unger! It's even made of recycled steel!

And what would time at the lake be without a cold drink in my hand! I've been looking for a cool koozie...and this Pink and Black DAMASK Can Koozie from PinkGasoline takes the cake! It may just make its way to my house soon!!!

Hope you're enjoying the start to your weekend and I hope you enjoyed these awesome features :)

Topsy-Turvy Goodness!

My Topsy-Turvy Tomato Plant finally produced a red tomato...and boy is it good! I never thought this little plant would ever make it. In fact I had quit watering it a while back and gave up on it. Apparently it was stronger than I thought!

Doesn't it look tasty :) And there are three more started too!!!

Wordless Wednesday-I ♥ My UPS Man :)

So Many Projects...So Little Time!

Gosh...where to start today? I have so many projects I want to work on and can't quite decide where to start!

I have two Family Word Albums covered in cardstock waiting to be cut out and decorated. Do I start there? I have about 20 more of these I'd like to do though and I think I'll do them all together. So do I start covering more of these with cardstock?

I also have about 5 pair of flip flops waiting to be worked on. I have all of the inside pages cut out and waiting to be covered in patterned paper and decorated. Do I start here?

My Recipe Books seem to be selling well, so I bought larger index cards to make some different sizes and different patterns of these. Maybe I'll start here.

I also want to make some Address Books to add to my Etsy Shop. I'm trying to decide what size to make them. The first one I printed is 8"x8", but I'm starting to think this may be too big. Should I do 6"x6" or 4"x4"? Maybe both?

While I was at the State Fair, I found these really cool agates that I just couldn't resist. (Sorry for the poor photos...they're really hard to photograph!) I'd love to drill holes in them and just add jump wires, but I'm not sure how to go about this without cracking them! So I was told to wire wrap them. Not sure how to go about this either! So with everything else on my plate I'm going to try and learn a new technique!

Where to start, where to start!?!

Fun at the Fair

Jesse and I had a lot of fun at the Iowa State Fair this past week :) I wanted to share with you some of our fun photos!

This is the butter cow. It's an ISF tradition. It is a cow entirely carved out of butter! There was also an astronaut, a TV, and some other small items carved out of butter as well.

I saw all these gorgeous beads and had to take a picture for all of my beady friends :)

The architecture of some of the buildings is really cool on the fair grounds. I thought this building was neat with all the glass.

Another great thing about the fair is all of the free entertainment! There are free concerts every night at several locations throughout the fair grounds. This band is Hairball and played all the great 80s hair band songs :)

And here we are almost to the front row!!!

And the best part of the whole fair...I was asked to be a vendor next year! I have to be there the entire 11 days, but how awesome would that be...11 days of selling scrapbooks! WooHoo :)

Back from the fair

Well...we survived the fair :) We got home this afternoon and had to do some relaxing! The fair can sure wear you out!

Jesse took a nap with Harley and I took a long, hot bath and shower! Of course after that, we had so much to do to catch up! I think I've already done 6 loads of laundry, checked and caught up with all three email accounts, plurk, about 100 blogs and my EtsyBloggers team! I've also got all of our other stuff put away and the house cleaned up from carrying everything inside! Whew...I need another break now!

I'll have photos up tomorrow of our great time at the fair. Until then, I'll leave you with these pics of our relaxing day :)

I don't think Harley gets much sleep at the kennel!

Creating from the Heart: ♥ Let's give something(s) away.....just because! ♥

Creating from the Heart: ♥ Let's give something(s) away.....just because! ♥ OMG...Completely awesome giveaway!!!

Friday Features from the Fair

Since I'm at the Iowa State Fair right now...I thought it would be fun to feature some Etsy items that represent what the fair is all about to me :) One of the first things I have to do when we go to the fair is eat a corn dog...man I love those things :) And this print shows exactly what I'll be looking for! We always enjoy a walk around the midway to see all the excitement! Rides, concerts, clowns, people...it's all there. And even though I don't ride the rides, this print caught my eye :) We always make a trip to Diamond Jack's while we're there too! It's a fun bar with live music and lots to drink :) And since Jesse's favorite beer is Budweiser...I thought these earrings were perfect :) And what would the State Fair be without camping. We're actually going to stay in a tent this year since the temps are supposed to be bearable. But if we had a cute camper like this bird house version...you know we'd take it :)

Hope you enjoyed these features as much as I'm enjoying the fair :)

I've been featured!!!

Okay, so I know I'm the featured EtsyBlogger, so I'm going to get featured right :) But I've actually been featured by some non-team members lately too!!! I thought it would be nice to feature all of the wonderful bloggers out there who have feature me :) http://aleximanievents.blogspot.com/2009/08/wedding-guest-books.html http://macaroniandglue.blogspot.com/2009/08/artisan-feature-memories-for-life.html http://etsybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/meet-edi-from-memories-for-life.html http://candycrackcreations.blogspot.com/2009/08/memoriesforlifesb-featured-etsy-blogger.html http://beth-sunshinedaydreamz.blogspot.com/2009/08/etsy-blogger-street-team-featured.html http://dorsethillbeads.blogspot.com/2009/08/etsybloggers-featured-artist-for-august.html http://magdalenejewelsblogs.blogspot.com/2009/08/blogger-of-monthmemoriesforlife.html http://patchfirstshop.blogspot.com/2009/08/wedding-tips-keepsake-wedding-with.html http://foxygknits.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/a-post-it-note-6/ http://fiveoclocksomewherejewelry.blogspot.com/2009/08/august-featured-etsyblogger-memories.html http://stockannette.blogspot.com/2009/08/there-can-never-be-enough-flip-flops-in.html http://sumikoshop.blogspot.com/2009/08/featured-etsy-blogger-memoriesforlife.html http://sobellacreations.blogspot.com/2009/08/memories-for-life.html http://cutyourheartoutstore.blogspot.com/2009/08/memories-for-life-scrapbooks.html http://danugs.blogspot.com/2009/08/memories-for-life.html http://twozanyzebras.blogspot.com/2009/08/augusts-featured-etsyblogger.html http://punkyjane.blogspot.com/2009/08/featured-from-etsybloggers-team.html http://meglittlestudio.blogspot.com/2009/07/fabulous-friday-feature-memories-for.html http://beadedtail.blogspot.com/2009/08/etsyblogger-of-month-memories-for-life.html http://roseworksjewelry.blogspot.com/2009/08/fridays-featured-artist-memories-for.html http://purrprints.blogspot.com/2009/08/fun-find-friday-star-shaped-scrapbook.html http://splendidlittlestars.blogspot.com/2009/08/memories-for-life.html http://patti-peacox.blogspot.com/2009/08/presenting-memoriesforlife.html I know this list isn't complete and I've missed some out there. I apologize for that. I got all the blogs from our team proboard and did a google search. If I missed your link...please add it in the comments for everyone to see :) Thanks to everyone who's featured me so far :) I think I'll post another list at the end of the month to say thank you again :)

Almost Wordless Wednesday-Iowa State Fair

We're off to the State Fair today. I have a couple of posts scheduled, so I hope you'll stop and see me while I'm gone :) Have a great rest of the week!!!

Produce Swap

My tomatoes have finally started to turn red...and now I've got 100s of them! There is no way we will ever eat them all and I didn't want them to go to waste, so we decided to do a swap! Jesse's mom had tons of green beans and we had tons of tomatoes, so we just traded :) We also gave some to Jesse's brother and will be taking another bag full to the fair when we leave tomorrow! Everyone loves home-grown produce...so why not share the love, right :)

Here's the bag ready to go with us tomorrow. Actually, I still have another picking to add to it before we leave.

And here's the bag of beans we got from Jesse's mom! There were more when we first got them, but we've been eating tons of them :)

And check out my Topsy-Turvy Tomato Plant! Three nice sized tomatoes just waiting to turn red and be eaten! I just can't believe this thing has survived and is actually producing! Yay!

So if you're looking for some fresh produce, look no further than your neighbor's garden and see if you can do some trading :)

Notebook Frenzy!!!

I'm on a notebook making frenzy! If you didn't already know...I just LOVE my new Bind-It-All and love making new things with it! My latest creations are notebooks...Super Cute Notebooks I might add :)

Check 'em out!

I also made a Recipe Book...but will have to make more because it already sold (insert dancing here)! So I'll be busy with those as well :)

What would you like to see me make with my fun new toy? I'd love to hear your ideas!

On Display at a Groomer Near You

Yup...you read it right...a groomer. My friend Brenda at Dog Dayz Grooming and Boarding is going to let me display some of my pet-themed albums in her shop :)

I wanted to make an assortment of different scrapbook items in pet themes...and here's what I came up with:

A Framed Page

A Name Album

And A Pet-Themed Simply Stunning Album

And if you wanna see how great of a job Brenda does...check out Harley's great new hair cut :)

Thanks Brenda :)