Hit the books!

Our oldest daughter is venturing off to college this summer, hoping to get a jump start on her studies and acclimating herself with college life.  We have spent a lot of time, and prayer, with her as she filled out the applications like a child with a Christmas list for Santa :)

Thanks to my husband's foresight to pre-pay our children's colleges at birth, we knew she would stay somewhere in Florida.  Unless, of course, she scholarships to any of the out of state Ivy League schools all her friends are clamouring for :)   Praise be to God, she received her 2nd acceptance letter to both of her top 2 choices just on the heals of yet another 'Dear John' letters from the others.  Even though they weren't her top choices, those letters are never nice to receive and I knew it was heavy on her heart.

So what's a momma to do?  Plan a field trip!  She had a day off of school last week and we planned a "mommy and me" playdate.   I asked her to locate the school on her GPS, hopped into the car (as a passenger, yes ma'am, I could get us to this!) and she found the campus spot on.  We took the morning to wander leisurely through the vast campus, walk through the hospital, visit the 'hot spots', and of course, one of the book stores.  It was the size of a mall!  

I looked around and told her with a campus this size, and this energetic, you'll have to hit the books - at home! 

I could tell in her eyes she felt 'home'.  At one point, I stopped walking with her and slowly walked off to the side.  There was a smile peeking out from the  normally neutral and unabashed look on her face.  From the smiles and waves she received from other students, I could tell she knew - this is it.  We had a wonderful lunch on the lawn by one of the lakes, laughing and having a good time.  

I'm so proud of her :)

In my Operation-Pack-Up-the-Cabana, I've stumbled up on all kinds of fun things I forgot I had found laying around :*)  Like this image!  Pre-colored and all!  I have been in several image swaps in the past few years and can't remember where this came from or who the maker is, but it was a just too cute not to make a card with :)  Since I had previously colored it, I used papers that would be a good match.  And as you might have noticed from my rounded cards lately, yes, I found my corner round punch, too!  Hee hee!

And twine.  I feel very lucky that my kids get a kick out of a 'special mommy card' so I just had to make this for my daughter.  Her favorite color is purple, unlike her mother! ;)  I'm also back on my twine kick again ~ saw it, loved it, had to have it, bought it in every color, then it just sat.  It's nice that it gets to come out and play again!

I pray you have a safe and warm weekend ~ some of the news footage we see of the storm heading East has been frightening.  Stay safe!

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Entered into:  Addicted to Stamps: Make your mark!
Oozak:  Favorite Color Combo (daughters!)
365 cards - Girly

I can read in Pickle Color! :)

 Hi there!  If you've ever visited my blog before, you'll probably already know that I am a voracious reader!  Books are one of my greatest loves :)

And I just think this world was made so much brighter thanks to Dr. Suess ~

 I think every day should be a little Suess-ical! 

So imagine my glee when LJ's (our hostess this month!) Dueling Darling kit arrived in my mailbox with the wonderful theme: 

January is "Book Blitz Month".....use a stamp with books and/or reading as a theme.  We would also like to then add in your post who your favorite author is, or your favorite book and why. 

:::: Squeal! ::::

I just love this kit so much! Thank you, LJ!  The Dueling Darlings are back again!  The Divas received this wonderful image & papers and I tried to use as much of the dsp that you sent, along with a small card which reminded me of the library cards of the past :)  *Raise your hand if you remember the library card catalog file drawers!* I chose the stamped image in rich cocoa to keep the colors uniform and added the leftover smaller pieces to the inside, keeping it blank.  I adore this image + old fashioned look to it :)

card front!

card inside - left blank for future use!

Answering who my favorite author is a little bit tricky for me ;) 

 That's like asking which of my 4 is my favorite child, LOL!! (I jest!) 

Being an English Lit minor in under-grad college, I adore authors like

Charlotte Brontë and Jane Austen ... 

I secretly grew up wanting to marry Mr. Darcy :) *swoon*

A few from my list of favorite authors:  

I love books that make me cry (Nicholas Sparks, Kristin Hannah),

 books that I can't put down: (Suzanne Collins, John Green, John Hart) 

books that make a statement:  (Jodi Picoult, Mitch Albom, Lauren Oliver)

books with a foreign theme: (Lisa See, Adriana Trigiana) 

I could go on and on!

But instead, how about you see what my team Divas created using this identical image and paper!  You can find them in my sidebar as well as the girls of team Dazzlers!  You won't be disappointed!

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Card Deets:  Stamps: ABC Primer Collection // Graphic 45. Image  stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa ink on PTI White. All DP & smaller tag piece :This & That Charming Collection // Echo Park.  Accessories: 

 brown Gingham Ribbon (American Crafts).  Brads - Basic Grey, Buttons (PTI and Amuse)

Riley's Favorite Fairy Tale! :)

This week at Riley and Company is all about Fairy Tales!  The challenge is to show us your creations with your favorite Fairy Tale!

I’m an avid reader – I read pretty much a book a day.  Yes, a day! :)   I have a voracious appetite for books and have since I was a little girl.   Whenever we moved, which was often, the first thing I’d do was peddle my bike around town to find the library and join up!  Books are truly one of the most magical gifts we can give ourselves.

Truly, my ideal Fairy Tale would be a stack of ‘to be read’ books beside me on a chaise lounge at the beach under the first palm tree I find!  You can have the Castles and Prince Charmings (I already have one of those, too!) and I'll take my books!   I take a weekly trip is to the library where I’ll browse through the selected titles of the books on my long list, usually from my Goodreads lists.  Yes, I am OBSESSED with Goodreads and have been since I joined a few years ago :)  I spend hours at the library and browsing bookstores – new and secondhand – for hours on end just getting lost in the books  … some of which just happen to jump into my basket :)

Okay, I digress!  For the new Riley and Company Challenge this week, the theme is Fairy Tales.  I made 2 different types of bookmarks ~ one corner bookmark for the books I read in vast quantity and one kid's bookmark for my son. 

I used Sophie's waiting for a prince.  And my son is so crazy about Riley - he always asked me to stamp out a few extra images for him to color up as well so I created a bookmark of his very own.  He loved it!  We read every night without fail and it's a joy to pass on the baton of reading to my little ones (and the teenagers that aren't so little!) :)  For this one, I used Riley and the beanstalk.  

If you want to add your card to a gallery, please use the codeword Riley1712. And to see what the rest of the DT have created, please see my sidebar!  TFL!

Happy Reading, Happy Crafting!

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Entered into:  Pile it on Challenge:  Cuddly Critters