Happy Halloween!

Next to Christmas, I think this is my favorite holiday! We carved pumpkins last night, listening to our Halloween CD on the stereo and roasting pumpkin seeds while Joe worked his magic. He is so artistic...my talents are limited to cards and scrapbooks, I'm afraid. I promise, tomorrow I will post pictures of everything I have written about lately! Stay tuned...and in the meantime, have a Happy Halloween! (If you have any extra Heath bars that no one wants, you can send them my way).

P.S. Thanks for the Happy Birthday comment, Michelle!

Birthdays!

Yay, today is my birthday! I'm not sure how old I'll be when I don't want to celebrate this special day anymore, but I know I'm not ready for that yet. I love being 25! (Ha ha). Really, though, I have had an awesome day, and it's not over yet. Joe and the kids were off school today, and Kay was off work, so we headed to Cracker Barrel this morning for a yummy breakfast, then to my favorite store, Hobby Lobby, to spend my giftcard. Then, we took the kids to a great pumpkin patch and picked out two pumpkins to carve, took some great pictures that I'm hoping to use for my Christmas cards, and had some delicious apple cider slushies...YUM! Tonight I get to go to the Outback for dinner with friends, then to Kings Island for my first ever visit to Fearfest (or whatever it's called this year). Elijah is afraid that a scary creature is going to take me away...sure hope not. I feel so blessed to have so many people who love me and want to help me celebrate my birthday.

My camera is dead right now, but I'll charge it up for Halloween, then I'll download some pics. Have a great Autumn day!

Busy week!

I cannot believe it is already Friday! This week has flown by, between Isabel's jazz class, stamp camp on Wednesday (thanks to everyone who came over, hope you had a great time!), and taking Gabe to Shaw Farms for a hayride and pumpkin patch yesterday. Now here it is almost time for me to go back to work for the weekend. I hope all of you have a great weekend, especially Michelle and Morgan. I read your comment, Morgan, and I am searching for just the right photo for my blog. You may have to send me one on my email, then I will paste it here. Something sophisticated and brilliant, okay?

So, my friend, Jen Campbell, is having an Open House in Anderson on November 30th, and she has invited me to take part. I am thinking that since my scrapbooks sold better than my cards at the last open house, I am going to focus on making gift scrapbooks and similar items. Still some cards, but not as many. I will keep you posted on the details, if you want to attend.

Have a great Friday, and I'll post more later!

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Open House on Saturday! (A big thank you to my sister, Michelle, for coming with me and helping me set up and supporting my business just like she always does...I love you!) We had a great night, with wine, great food, even better company, and lots of goodies to buy and order. I met so many neat women, and it was fun to just have a night out! Thanks to Cheryl and Jenni for hosting...can't wait to do it again next year!

Another Open House Sneak Peek

Just a short note today...things are a bit crazy around here. I have made over one hundred cards and three custom scrapbooks, plus door prizes for the Open House tomorrow night. Here is another sneak peek of a Christmas card. Love to see you tomorrow!

Rain...yay!

Finally, some much needed rain! I love staying home on a rainy day, baking and scrapping and playing with Gabe and the puppy. Once I got Elijah and Isabel off to school, I made a yummy breakfast for me, Gabe and E.T. (for some reason, Gabe decided that our 3-foot tall talking E.T., a gift from my dad, was going to be his best friend today). E.T. has gone potty with Gabe, played army guys, got dressed, and is currently eating Hot Wheels cookies and watching Scooby Doo Zombie Island. I got some cute pics...I'll share them at a later date, when I have time to download them. Right now I use Adobe Photoshop, which is okay. What other programs are good for downloading pics? I have a birthday coming up, and that may be a good gift to ask for from Joe.

Anyway, here is another Christmas card idea. I just bought a new magazine, so after my open house this weekend, I'll make some cards from there. CUTE ideas! It is the new Holiday Cards edition from Paper Crafts. I picked it up at Michaels yesterday.

Enjoy your day!

Open House Reminder

Just a reminder that this weekend is the Lebanon Open House that I am a part of with several other direct sales merchants. It starts at 6pm and lasts until 9pm. I am making white chicken chili for a hearty appetizer, and there will be plenty of other snacks to munch on while you're browsing the tables. I have made lots of cards, both Christmas and all-occasion, and lots of other items as well. There will be door prizes given away every hour from each vendor! Hope you can come! Here is a sneak preview of one of the cards that will be for sale!

Monday, Monday...

Mondays are my tired, not-quite-in-my-right-mind days, but it's hard to stay that way today when it is such a beautiful day outside. I had a great weekend at work, working with friends and not being too busy at the hospital, and this morning we went to First Watch for breakfast. Yummy! Bacon cooked perfect and banana chocolate chip pancakes...can you tell I'm hungry?!

Anyway, I hope your Monday is a great kick-off to your week! Take care.

Happy Friday!

Although for me it means laundry, cleaning, and going to work tonight, I'm sure lots of you are glad it's Friday, so...Happy Friday! Since Gabe is working hard at making a big mess in the living room, this is going to be short. Here are a couple of cards to inspire you for the weekend. Have a great one!

Criss cross card

For this technique, log onto http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ and go to gallery, then techniques. This is a fun card to make, and even cuter in person. Don't be intimidated by the instructions...they are really quite easy to follow. Good luck!

Just a short post today; I have to go to Christ for Education Day this afternoon, and have a lot of errands to run between now and then. Have a great day!

It's Here!

What's here? Fall!!! I finally turned off my a/c, and I refuse to turn it back on until next year! The temp is 67 degrees and we are finally going to get some rain today. Yay! Gabe and I are putting on our hiking shoes and hitting the hills (in our backyard, anyway). I love crunching leaves and windy days.

Okay, I'm going to try to post one card a day for the rest of this week. Hope you see something you like!

Enjoy the day..."this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!"

Halloween and Fall cards

Finally, I have downloaded some of my cards, and I have been busy making Christmas cards, too, so those will come later. Enjoy!

Global warming

Okay, so it's days like this that make you believe in global warming. My thermometer on my deck says it's 99 degrees...isn't it October 8th today? It looks like we're in for a reprieve after tomorrow, and it can't come soon enough. I just hope we get a little bit of fall weather before the cold hits. Although right now, even 30 degrees sounds great!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Elijah had his first flag football game this Saturday, and they won! The YMCA league doesn't officially keep score, but you know those boys do. They scored three touchdowns, and the other team didn't, and that's how you know. It was fun to watch, although Gabe yelled at me to stop screaming in his ear (I get a little excited, I can't help it). Kid sports are so entertaining, when it's your kid out there on the field. Maybe we have a future Carson Palmer on our hands :)

Does anyone out there know a good family physician located in Lebanon? We are in the process of changing insurance (oh, goodie), and I would like to find someone closer than Cincinnati. I still have my pediatrician, so it's really just for Joe and me. Post a comment or email me, if you know of anyone. Thanks!

Have a great day! Talk to you soon!

Eleven Years!

October 5th, 1996, 1:30 pm. The day I began my journey as Mrs. Joe Kelsey. What was I thinking?! Just kidding. I truly do love married life, despite or maybe because of , all the ups and downs. We have moved a dozen times, but are finally settled here in Lebanon. We have three awesome kids, a cat and a puppy. Our cars are almost paid for, we are all healthy, and we have lots of friends and family close by. Lebanon is a great town to live in, and I am so glad we moved here. Eleven years have gone by quickly, yet it feels like such an accomplishment to have made it this far. When God is involved in your marriage, it is amazing what can be done! Here's to another year!

Happy October!

Since I don't have any pumpkins yet, I opted for this picture of Elijah posing in his orange shirt with Ellie. Note the grass that was still green...obviously this one was taken before the drought!

I don't know about all of you, but October is my absolute favorite month of the year! Probably because it is my birth month, but there is not one thing about fall that I don't like. My dad the pessimist would have found something to complain about (leaves in the gutters, raking up the leaves, cleaning pumpkin guts...), but thank God that I did not inherit THAT gene. No, for those of you who know me well, you know I am optimistic almost to a fault. I can't help it. What is there not to like? Get a gutter guard, hire a kid to rake, paint your pumpkin and get out and enjoy these beautiful days and cool evenings!

I got out the fall decorations this past Friday, and Isabel and Gabe were so excited to see the pumpkins, witches, and ghosts scattered about. Some new apple and cinnamon candles to set the mood, a pot of white chicken chili and cornbread (anyone want the recipe? just leave a comment and I'll email it to you) and we were ready to kick off another autumn.

So many fun things to do...keep checking for some new pics of our fall activities. Also, check out one of my very favorite Christian songs "Sweetly Broken" on the Youtube player at the right. You'll love it!