Happy Belated 4th!

Good morning, all!

I hope all my US friends had a wonderful, safe and dry (because ours wasn't!) 4th of July! We attended the annual party of some good friends of ours and had a fabulous time, rain not withstanding.

Here are a few of my favorites from the day...

The gorgeous family in red are the Prehers. Amy and I have known each other since we were freshman in high school. Now her son is that age. Uh, yeah. I'm in denial! The cutie with his dad is Jackson. I've known Jackson's mom since she was 3...again, not helping!

These are my hot friends, Ange and Stacy. Stacy is REALLY hot like a firecracker. Her t-shirt says so and while I have the proof, I am electing not to share it here because a- Stace would kill me and b - I'm paying it forward! Nuff said ;)

These cuties are Joanna and Olivia. They go to school with Ethan and are good friends. They very sweetly asked me to take their picture...because they wanted to be in a magazine! Hee! It was getting really late by the time I took this, but I tried, girls. We'll see how it goes!
Here is one of the few I got of my own kids - this is Turner getting some of his 4th of July goodies 9like the necklace...and a tatoo..and a whistle..and tons of gum!) and Miss Sara. Sara was in Carson's preschool class and he just loves her.
Then it was time for fireworks. The kids got started with more sparklers than you can count while the big people went down the hill to set up the larger displays. Don't worry...Scott's a fireman so we were plenty safe with buckets of water everywhere for used sparklers and in case of a spark...not that the rain wouldn't have taken care of it but that's another story.
This is Isabella. I loved watching her face with the sparklers and then I caught this really cool blue light as she was waving it. I have NO idea how I did it and will most likely never be able to replicate it, but I thought it was soooo darn cool! And then finally it was time for some fireworks. I only got a few good shots as the rain really started to come down then, but they were gorgeous. Thanks again to Scott and Amy for a fantastic party and we're already looking forward to NEXT year!




This week is a busy work week for me and then I head out of town to Hotlanta on Thursday but I'll be back with some shares as soon as I can!

Have a wonderful Monday!

xoxo,
k.

And the Winner Is...

Sorry for the delay in announcing the winner of the Studio Calico add-on from their Birthday Celebration! Clearly I got wrapped up in something...sadly it was just a massive spreadsheet rather than something good! ;) So without further ado, the Random Number Generator selected number 224 which means, JENN, it's YOU! Pleas email April at april@studiocalico.com to claim your prize. Just mention you're my winner and she'll get that right out to you!

Congrats and Happy 3-Day weekend, all!
xoxo,
k.

Giveaway Reminder!

*****CONTEST IS NOW OVER. THANK YOU FOR ENTERING. WINNER ANNOUNCED SOON.*****

Just a reminder that tonight at midnight is your last chance to enter for the Studio Calico Add-on giveaway! It's loaded with good stuff, so get on over to this post and put your name in and your favorite thing about summer! :) I'll be posting the winner in the morning and then announcing another special giveaway (what can I say, it's summer!?!)later in the day!

And because I can't post without a photo, here's one that just cracks me up - T and one of his birthday presents (a goggle, flipper, snorkel set!).

Happy 2nd Birthday, Studio Calico!

*****CONTEST IS NOW OVER. THANK YOU FOR ENTERING. WINNER ANNOUNCED SOON.*****




I just have to take a minute to wish my friends April and Scarlet a very, very happy two years with their amazing kit club, Studio Calico! Those two ladies have worked so hard into making their vision a success and I'm just so proud of them for all they have accomplished in just 2 short years.

I'll never forget the day that April, Shannon and I were having a little girl's nite at California Pizza Kitchen. After some general catching up, April turned to the two of us and said, "Let me tell you about what we're wanting to do." And right before us, she outlined an idea for a kit club that was all about service and style. Genius! My jaw hung open hearing all she had planned. I am honored to have been a part of it from the beginning and even more thrilled to see how it has grow even beyond their wildest imaginations.

In celebration of their anniversary, April and Scarlet were kind enough to send me their amazing July Main Kit, DOCUMENTARY, to play with. Even though the colors were much more muted than what I normally use, I shouldn't have even batted an eye because April and Scarlet are so skilled in putting products together that these layouts literally fell together.

This first one is of our summer "stay-cation." I have so many photos from the summer so far and can't possibly do a layout with all of them, so I picked a few of my favorites and put them all on this one layout. To give it a little more of a vacation feel, I added the raffia to the tropical flowers and created a fun fringe that frames the photos!


Supplies: Studio Calico (destination circles), Jenni Bowlin(yellow) and Scenic Route (green) pp, Bazzill Cardstock, Making Memories flowers, Studio Calico stamps and fab-rips, K&Co. alpha stickers

Here are a few detail shots so you can see the fringe and flowers a bit better.



And this one is of Carson and Shannon's son, Eli - we never can get over how much alike they look, right down to the same size, too! I took this photo when we had lunch earlier this month.

Supplies: Scenic Route PP, 7 Gypsies tickets, Bazzill CS, buttons

And again here are a few close-ups so you can see the details a bit better:




So here's the most exciting part for all of you. April and Scarlet have very generously given me one of their Director's Cut add-ons (shown below) to give away to one of my lucky blog readers! Whooohooo! So here's what you have to do. Just leave me a comment about your favorite part of summer or your best vacation ever on this post between now and Wednesday, July 1st at 11:59 pm Eastern time and you'll be entered to win!!



Good Luck and have a wonderful Monday!
xoxo,
k.

Our Summer in Pictures (and Week I's winner!)

Hello, all!!

Before I forget to do this, let me give a shout out to all the awesome people playing along with Jennifer McGuire and her "Thinking Inking" class over at Two Peas! I have seen some seriously amazing projects! Fifteen of you left your links here to be entered to win week I's give away and the lucky lady was Carolyn. Carolyn's was the 14th name I wrote down and the one the random number generator picked!

So Carolyn - please email me with your address at kelly.goree@gmail.com and I'll get your prize out to you! Thank you all so much for playing and please, keep creating! I'll be putting up another announcement for this week's giveaway hopefully tomorrow when Jen does Part II of Week II!

Since I don't have much time for posting this week - CHA prep is in full swing here (just you wait!) - I wanted to at least leave you with a few pictures. Summer has been in session for over two weeks and here is what we've been doing to keep us busy...

Let's see...first we went to the library and got official library cards, then promptly brought home as many books as the library would allow. ;)


We started spending many evenings at our local park which is completely amazing...


Then our dryer decided to break down so we spent many evenings at our local laudromat which is not nearly as amazing...but we made do. ;)


We had lunch with my dear friend, Shannon and her cutie look-alike son to my son, Eli, at one of our fave restaurants...and even managed a Football Hall of Fame QB sighting in Phil Simms. Shan and I had salads, but Phil opted for grilled chicken and broccoli. (Not that we noticed or anything...my dad would have been so proud!) Btw, I love this photo of the two of them - darn if they aren't photogenic! (Lucky for us, I'd say!)


We enjoyed alot of "just being outside" and walking around before it got too blazing hot and after our van decided to blow up it's engine. (Oh yes, indeed...but it's all in the perspective, folks, it's all in the perspective.)


And once it got so blazing hot, we enjoyed many afternoons and evenings our our pool - which amazingly enough is in the same amazing park I mentioned before. Gotta love that.



Turner's really learning how to swim and showing so much grace at it - so much so that when he decided to go get all big and turn seven on me the other day, his grandmother bought him swim lessons as a present! I can't wait to see how he does!



And speaking of turning seven, we celebrated in style with cupcakes, presents and balloons galore...


Then that Daddy of ours had to go and have a special day all to himself so we were forced (ever so willingly ;)) to celebrate it with him. And that we did.

So that's been it in a nutshell. Whoever said summer break was relaxing??! So tell me - what have YOU been up to this summer??

Hope you're having a wonderful time at it, whatever you're doing.

xoxo,
k.

Happy Father's Day & a REMINDER!

I hope all you awesome dads out there are having a fantastic day! We're enjoying the afternoon at the pool with ours :)


I just wanted to give a little reminder - you have until 11:59 pm eastern TONIGHT to leave me a link (anywhere you might have it) to your Thinking Inking projects (the class taught by Jen McGuire at Two Peas in a Bucket - see posts below) to be entered to win this week's stamps and inks! Hurry, Hurry! I think you'll be glad you did!

*Turning 7* - a celebration in pictures!

Yesterday was such a fantastic day for my boy. Birthdays are great, anyhow, but when you're the middlest, you seem to have an extra desire to have a day where all the attention is on you. And so it was. And he milked it. Completely. But we loved every second of it!

The day started with the singing of "Happy Birthday" (add the cha-cha-cha if you please)- his request - followed by "Daddy made" pancakes complete with a candle for him to blow out (the boy got 3 birthday wishes in all!). Unfortunately the morning was verrrrrrrry rainy so it canceled out our plans for a day at the pool, but video and board games and a little drawing time took care of that.

He picked his lunch (a ham sandwich and doritos...um, yeah, that wouldn't have been my choice either!) and after a quick "quiet time"/nap, he got up to a plate full of cuppy cakes, another wish and a couple of presents from his brothers. Let me tell you anyone with seven-year-old boys need to know that Bakugans are HUGE hits. Seriously. He just loved them. (Thanks, Glue!)


Dinner was at Red Robin (yummmmmmmmmmmm) where the actual Red Robin came out with the waitstaff to sing to Turner. He absolutely loved it. I think the kid was floating the rest of the night! Yet MORE candles and another cake here at RR....many more birthday presents....and we were spent! What a fantastic day for my boy. (And I know it was because he told me so ;))



I'm so glad you had a wonderful birthday, Turner. I hope this year is your best one yet!

And for me, today starts the beginning of my work for CHA. I see quite a few hours holed up in my teeny craft closet coming up, so I wanted to put this up. Again, I'm doing my best to follow along with the amazing Jen McGuire and her "Thinking Inking" class over at Two Peas! Jen is amazing and this class is NINE weeks long! So much wonderful information and fantastic techniques!

As a reminder, I will be giving away some stamps/ink each week that she's doing the class, starting with THIS WEEK! If you will link me up here by SUNDAY at 11:59 p.m. eastern, you will be entered in my drawing! It doesn't take long - it's just a "little" messy ;) - and I hope to see your creations! In the spirit of it all, here was mine from week 1, part II. Part III goes up today and can be found here!



Happy Friday, all!
xoxo,
k.