The Arch (no, not St. Louis)

We took the kids to the Kearney Archway this past week and they LOVED it!!!! I have to admit that I had fun too :)

Here is what it looks like from the side of I-80.
Here is where you enter the arch. The screen at the top is playing like a movie screen.





There were all sorts of displays and you wore headphones to hear what was going on. A lot of the scenes were narrated by people that were supposed to be the people in the displays themselves. When you went to different parts of the arch, the narratives changed to suit the locations.

In the first area where the covered wagon and store front were, a thunderstorm took place! It got darker and lightening flashed and thunder roared, the kids thought that was amazing!

One thing that was nice about the displays was that you could walk right in them, they weren't out of reach.

In this pic it looks dark, but I couldn't use the flash and get the screen behind the house to show up. You looked into the room which was a pony express rider's room, and behind it on a screen it showed a scene with express riders and the narrative talked about it. That was pretty neat.

Alexis thought it was awesome that the floor in this diner was the same as in our kitchen!
And this was only part of what was in there, it's really kind of amazing how much room is really in that archway!

New LOs

I finally got some photos developed so I had some new fodder for scrapping!

Introducing Scrap 'N Art eZine!!!!

I'm really excited to be a part of this from the beginning, and I can't wait to share this with all you scrapbookers out there!

Scrap 'N Art eZine is debuting in mid April and this awesome new online magazine is totally FREE! It's going to be a fun mix of sketches, techniques (with photo tutorials), product reviews, Layouts, Cards, and other projects. We'll also be highlighting up and coming companies and kit clubs, and delving into fun new territory, but you'll just have to come and join us to find out how cool this really is! :)

I'll also be doing a Card Corner in the eZine, and so if you happen to have any Vintage or Collage style cards, let me know, this might be your chance to be published in our first issue! Can't wait to see what you come up with :)

Come and register ASAP because there's a HUGE secret that I can't reveal quite yet, but let's just say, you'll want to register... ;)

http://scrapnart.com/news.php

February Cards Class!!

For February, I'm teaching a fun new cards class at The Little Scrap Shop! For all the details, go to the forums! Here's an example of one of the cards we'll be making:

The cards are beginner to intermediate, so everyone can participate. All the product info is on the forum thread.

Hope to see you there!

Fun in the snow!

We took the kids sledding this week at a park right outside of town. We all had so much fun!

Altered photo frame

Here is an old wooden frame that I altered this afternoon. I used Prima Paintables, Pebbles chalk, Stickles (blue, yellow, pink), and Tattered Angels glimmer spray in bronze. The flowers are from Walmart's fake flower section.

One Day at a Time...

This LO shows all the things that have changed about my life since we moved here last month. One thing still stays the same, I have to take it one day at a time.

Here are some ATCs I made for a swap on scrapbook.com.

This is an altered journal I made this past week using some of the new 7 Gypsies rubons!

Published again!

Well, after a few months of not submitting anything for publication because I was so busy with my design team and moving, I finally submitted a Valentine's day card...and it will be getting published!
It's going to be in the Ready-Set-Create! Valentines' edition.

Several of the ladies on our DT got accepted to Ready-Set-Create! this time around, so we'll be taking over the place~ should be fun to get it when it comes out and see all the familiar names :)

Flat Butter, Diarrhea and Cracking Up

Lately Alexis has just been on a roll! A week or so ago, she made some toast for herself (she's 5) and I told her that I would let her butter it by herself. She was SO excited! I went into the dining room to eat my toast and drink my coffee and she comes in and says, "mommy, how do I get the butter flat?" I told her to use the knife, and she said that she did, but it wasn't flat. So I go in to see what she's talking about and see this...

On Thursday, I had MOPS and we made altered journals. I made mine for Alexis because she LOVES to draw and write in journals.

Well, she has shown me some of her masterpieces which include a hairy cat's ear (just the ear), A book about underwear, an angry pickle with a sword, and fairies with pizzas. She came running down the stairs yesterday and proclaimed, "Mommy, I decided that I'm going to call this my diarrhea instead of my journal."

ummmmm....

"Honey, diarrhea is...well...poop. I think you mean 'diary' instead."

"Hehehehe! yeah, I mean a diary!"

And just now, we were talking about eye color. She asked how daddy got green eyes if papa had blue and nana had brown. I told her that another relative may have had green eyes, and she said, like his sister Julie? Julie is his step-sister (and doesn't even have green eyes, but she thought she did ) and so I tried to explain why she wasn't related biologically to daddy.

I talked about how Papa and nana used to be married, but then they got "un-married." She jumped right in and said, "Yeah, because they cracked up!" After I finished laughing my head off, I said, no they got a divorce and Alexis says, "But they cracked up, that's why they don't live together!" She meant "broke up" but "cracked up" was SOOOO much funnier! :)

I'll be teaching!

I'm pretty excited! In February I'm going to start teaching classes at my local scrapbook store! I get to pick what my classes are on and when they will be and I get a portion of the class fees. The store will be providing materials and tools!

My first class will be on making floral embellishments using die cut and punched flowers, Stickles, jewels and pearls.
I also will be doing layout classes and kits, as well as cards later on.

hooray! :)

Congrats Winners!

Congrats to the winners of the December challenges at The Little Scrap Shop!!

Our Challenge #1 winner is Scrappin Makes Me Happy with her layout, ‘You Are 5′. Look at all that bling and sparkle! A beautiful page for a beautiful birthday memory

Our challenge #2 entry (card/sketch challenge) is sally_flower for her lovely Christmas card! The eyelets and felt snowflakes are the perfect addition to the great paper choice!
In addition, Sally_flower has been chosen by random to win the mystery gift for entering the December challenges! She’ll be receiving a beautiful 2 page layout donated by Anna Cammille Scrapbook Studio (watch out for their online debut in a couple months!). It features beautiful Prima crystals & flowers, copper foil paper and glittery embossed patterned paper, shimmery ribbons, and more!

And the January challenges are underway, and you DO NOT want to miss your chance to win the prizes! Cosmo Cricket was so over the top generous with us, the prize for that challenge is just crazy!

*PRIZE* for the 2nd challenge is a lovely stamp assortment, donated by Lea, who is a Stamping Up representative from South Australia! Use these stamps to get started scrapping those Christmas pictures from last month, or get an early start on some beautiful cards for the next holiday season! Those in Australia who are interested in Stamping Up products can visit Lea’s website at http://stampingstorm.blogspot.com/ or email her at http://www.thelittlescrapshop.com/blog/Mitchden@adam.com.au and for a limited time, receive 10% off your order, just by telling her you saw her here at the Little Scrap Shop blog!

pics!

Here's some pics of the main floor of our new home, 2nd floor and basement will have to wait till later :)

We're here!

Well, the move went really smoothly, and we're here in Kearney, NE!

We packed up the truck with the help of our awesome friends Lauren and Ryan (and Lexie!) Herman and the Pastor at the church I worked at and were on our way by Saturday afternoon. We stayed the night at about the halfway point and were on our way again by Sunday AM. We left Missouri in beautiful clear weather and didn't even wear coats for most of loading the truck. When we got to Kearney, there was a foot of snow! The kids were just thrilled :)

We absolutely LOVE our new house! It's just perfect. Pics of that to come. Micah will be starting his new 1st grade class tomorrow morning, his teacher's name is Mrs. Powell. Alexis will be staying home this semester with me as we didn't want to stick her in preschool here mid year. She'll be in kindergartenn in the fall.

Some not so great news, we won't be getting internet at our house, so that's one reason I haven't updated this sooner. So you won't see as much of me, but leave comments and I'll get back with you!