Ask Liberty

So, Liberty, do you have responsibilities around the house?

Huh? Who me?

Yes, what do you do to help your family?

Well, when I'm not chasing the cat or eating garbage, I like to pre-rinse the dishes before running them through the dishwasher. I feel like I'm helping the earth by removing any food particles that would take extra water during the wash cycle to remove.

I'm a green dog.

Homemade vintage chipboard buttons

I made my own vintage chipboard buttons. I love the look of Jenni Bowlin's, but I don't want to pay $4.00 a package. Soooooo....

I used a free image from one of my favorite places, Peggy Loves Vintage. I shrunk the image down in Word, printed it out and used a circle punch to punch out the image. I punched out 3-4 pieces of cardstock, stacked them together and then mod podged the image to the top. I added more mod podge to the image to give it a little gloss and then I used my crop-a-dile to punch holes in the center. Add some ribbon/string and...

Voila....really inexpensive custom made chipboard buttons. Thanks, Peggy!

Iron gate punch is from Martha Stewart.

Kat & Zoe

Kat! Why aren't you getting ready for school? Oh, I see. You're cuddling with Zoe.

Kat loves Zoe

and Zoe loves Kat

1st day of school

This was based on a sketch at AMLT.

BasicGrey Olivia
LYB
Glimmer Mist

Thanks for looking. :D

She refuses to look at me

anymore. The kids were done with First Day of School pictures by the time we got to Dairy Queen. Who could blame them? I still like this picture of her with her natural "I'm not going to look at Mom" smile.

First Day

I don't like this one bit. I miss my kids. *sigh*

The kids are going to really be upset with me because I'm going to make them take pictures again. The shot of them together didn't work out very well. I don't like it. I guess it's going to be one of those days.

So, the first photo was taken with custom white balance. I thought it looked too yellow on the camera so I took it off and did auto white balance for the rest of them. Looking at them now, I think I like the custom better. Ugh! This is going to drive me nuts. ;)

Waffle House

Since today is the last day of summer, we take the kids out for breakfast. It's a tradition we started several years ago. This year, they chose Waffle House. For whatever reason, Waffle House has become the go-to place for any special celebration. The biggest treat for the kids on their birthdays is when Grandma and Grandpa take them to get their chocolate chip waffles.

After Trent finished his chocolate milk, waffle and 3 pieces of bacon, he was still hungry. I didn't believe him. Later my mom told me that when they take him to Waffle House he gets the double stack of chocolate chip waffles. Who knew the kid could eat so much?

We also interview the kids about their summer. What was their best memory? Which was your favorite movie? Which TV show did we watch the most of? What are they looking forward to during the coming school year. Etc...etc... I write the answers down in the hopes that one of these days I'll do a page on it. I have the last two year's interviews in my desk. One of these days....

Also, BBTB2 has reached 1000 dedicated followers. I'm giving away something each day this week. Make sure you stop by and become a follower (if you're not already) and leave a comment for a chance to win some goodies. We're even giving away a new release cart!! Whee!!

Cosmo Cricket and Cricut

This week at Bitten by the Bug 2, we were to use the lizard cut from Life is a Beach. I used it and one of my favorite Cosmo Cricket lines, Snorkel.

Start watching BBTB2 tomorrow. We have over 1000 followers and I've been promising a party. We'll have giveaways all week long. :D

Vintage Basic Grey

Yep, vintage. I've been doing this long enough that collections are now "vintage".

Skate Shoppe.

One thing I love about my Gypsy is how easy it is to make titles now. The font is Cherry Limeade. I knew I wanted "Let's go" on the top and "swimming!" on the bottom. I typed it all out on the Gypsy and then just adjusted it until it fit the length of my photo (you can measure it out on the mat on the screen). If I was doing it traditionally, I would have to cut it out multiple times until I got the size right.

Day 74

of summer vacation. The kids are so bored. I heard Trent saying the other day, "I wish I could go to school. I feel like doing a little math".

This is 98% October Afternoon. It's nothing but scraps. I'm not sure what all of the different collections are.

Hand Me Downs

First, let me announce the winner of the blog candy. Lori was randomly selected as the winner. I'll get with you to get all your info. Thanks everyone for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. :D

Sassafras mostly Cherry Delicious.

DONE with swimming lessons

We're done.

24 hours before each lesson, Katrina works herself into a fit. She can't eat and she starts complaining that she doesn't feel good. The morning of swim lessons she can't function. I can't even distract her with TV. Her stomach hurts, her head hurts and she starts looking for any scrape or bruise on her body that might make it too hard for her to do swim lessons that day.

Trent has started with the anxiety, too. While his is not nearly as bad as Kat's, he's gotten to the point where he will just NOT do what the instructor asks him to do because he is too scared.

He wouldn't even swim today. Since it was their last day, they were to do one thing the instructor asked them to do and the rest of the time was going to be super fun time. Nope. Trent wouldn't do it so he sat out next to me.

So, I made the decision (with Erik's agreement) this morning that we were done.



You can see the relief on Katrina's face.

They CAN swim. I'm pretty sure if they accidentally fall into a pool, they can make it back to the edge. They'll doggie paddle back to the edge. That's all I can ask for. We'll probably pick up swimming lessons again in the spring but for now I'm just going to accept that my kids will not be swim team material...

just like I've accepted the fact that I will never have nice looking upper arms.

Blog Hop

Good Morning!! Hopefully, you've made it here from my buddy, Ms. Carole's blog.

Thank you for playing along with the blog hop this week. All you need to do to win the little prize package below is leave a comment in the comment section. I LOVE comments. :D Also, please sign up to be a follower on my blog.

When you're done visiting me, PLEASE go visit Marina for a chance to win something else.

Have fun!! We love visitors from BBTB2. :D

George and Martha

Why do you think the sculpter made Martha so old, frail and homely looking while standing next to her tall, strong and much younger looking husband?

I felt like rolling paper. I obviously need a little more practice. I'm not sure where I got the idea. Sorry if I'm lifting it from someone and not giving you credit.

BasicGrey Olivia

a few projects

October Afternoon. This was at Arlington cemetary. The groundskeeper sprayed the kids down with the sprinkler he was adjusting.

Mostly Pink Paislee. The kids at the Capitol building.

BBTB2 post. Shelly's Images hosted us this month. We also had to use the hinges from Fabulous Finds.
Thanks for looking. :D

Pics for my friends that aren't on Facebook. ;)

WW2 Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Ford's Theatre

Arlington. It was so hot and humid. I love that the groundskeeper sprayed the kids with water to cool them off.

Happy Birthday

This week at Bitten by the Bug, it was Reader's Choice. We had several requests to use the Going Places cart. I gave thd handbook to Katrina and she chose the dog or cat cut.

I decided to turn mine into a birthday card. I used the new Cherry Limeade font the Cricut Lite series for the sentiment. Be sure to visit the other projects on the BBTB2 blog.

Thanks for visiting! :D

Happy 4th

It is hot here! Whew!

Trent finally got his hair cut. He's not going for the Justin Bieber look anymore. I made the kids stand in front of the garden with their little flags for a photo op. They're both dressed in all the American stuff they could find.

Look at Trent's hand. Katrina wanted to hold his hand but he wanted nothing to do with that. I'm sure he's thinking, "If I keep my hand as straight as a board, she can't hold it".

Have a happy, safe holiday!

You & Me

The title is from one of my new Cricut Lite carts, Lacy Labels.



New BasicGrey Oliver and a little bit of Glimmer Mist.

Thanks for looking. :D