Before and After...

I've been learning how to fix cracks and flaws in old photos...love the healing brush on photoshop! I wish I would've learned this BEFORE I started all of the heritage layouts, but oh well... some of the cracks will just help give it character, right? This is a before and after of my Grandpa Mize's father & his dad's sister. Pretty crazy, huh? I couldn't quite get the ear cracks to go away right, so I left some of them in...I figured cracks were better than a distorted ear! :)

Well, I see that blogger uploaded the after one first and the before one second, but you get the idea! :)

My beautiful kiddos

I took some pictures of the kids yesterday...I had to try to make up for the ones I lost! :) They really turned out sweet, so of course I had to scrap them! Yes...I'm addicted! I stayed up late working on them & finished them during their nap this morning. I'd love to know what you think of them! (Just click where it says 0 comments below this post)



Isn't he sweet?!?


Our beautiful little girl! Millie's layout uses sketch by Gina Miller & Sarah Batdorf's arboretum kit



Balancing act layout uses DDE's Lucky Star Kit & Michelle Coleman's Color Happy Kit



I had to throw in this layout, too. I think Mason is about 3 months old, here. Can you believe how big he's getting? Our future Illini star! :) Sketch by Shelley Rae & Michelle Coleman's Color Happy Kit

Another freebie sketch for you!

I've made another layered sketch for you! It's my "funky circles" sketch. It's in a .tif format and will be available for 7 days or 100 downloads...whichever comes first! Please leave me a comment so I'll know what you think of it!! Please let me know if you have any troubles downloading it. Thanks!

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=F59831B17716A880

Please leave me a link to your online galleries or blog so I can see the layout you made using it! Happy Scrapping!

Layout uses Lyndsey Deeds Just Boys kit.

I think I'm going to get sick....

I am so sick to my stomach right now...I thought I just downloaded all of the pictures off of my camera (like 140 of them), and I proceeded to delete them from my card in my camera. Only...I didn't actually save them on my computer and now they are GONE!!! I had the sweetest shots of Millie, the pics from going putt-putting tonight, super cute VBS pics, and pics of Mason playing outside. Those were all going to be great scrapbook pages, too! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO bummed about it! Lesson learned...make sure your pictures are saved before deleting them from your card. Ugh.

Isn't he handsome?

I just wanted to share this layout I made with you...isn't my little guy handsome? (Yes...his daddy is handsome, too) You are all probably thinking, "Does she ever scrapbook pictures of Millie?" I do...I just have a year and a half to get caught up on with Mason! So...here's another Mason page!

Layout uses Carrie Stephens Portobello Kit & sketch for butternugsquash challenge.

Ok...now I need to run and get a shower while the kiddos are sleeping! We've got a busy day ahead of us!

I got a CDL Driver's license!

Today I had to go to the DMV to renew my license (It was two months expired...I had no idea!) When I was there, they had me sign the computer and then they took my picture. When they were ready to give it to me, they realized they took my picture & signature & put it on another person's license who drives a semi! We were all laughing and they cut the part of the license with my pic & CDL stamped above it and gave it to me as a souvenier.

We also went to visit Grandpa Malone in the hospital today. Please keep him in your prayers...he seems to be feeling much better after getting some blood. He was in good spirits when we were there and was ready to watch the Cubs/Cardinals game. We received a phone call from Kay this evening that he was heading home tonight! :) We like good news like that!

I've also started scrapbooking the Malone side of the family, so you'll be seeing more pages. I'd love to know what you think of them! This is a picture of Grandpa Malone, his sister Audrey, and his brother Jack. Can you see a little bit of Mason in Grandpa Malone? I can also see a lot of Isaiah in him!


Layout uses Bad Candy's Vanilla Sampler

Sisters...

I absolutely adore this picture of mom when she was a baby. Can't you tell that her sisters loved her? Aunt Denise says that she was always very protective of mom...do you think that she's making sure Debbie is holding her correctly? :)

My heart is a little sad to when I look at this photo...it makes me miss my mom & Aunt Debbie. I know Aunt Denise sure misses her sisters, too. I'm sure they are having a wonderful time up in Heaven! I can just imagine the laughs that they share...mom was always so happy around her sisters!

(Layout uses a quick page by Lynnie Smith and the alphabet is from the Urban Kiwi kit from Shabby Princess)

Whoa!!

I can't believe the overwhelming response to the sketch that I made! Over 100 people downloaded it and I had tons of great feedback! I also realized a few things that I would do differently next time (like simplify the layers to make it easier on you when cutting/pasting your papers!) I've made a few more sketches that I'll try to post here in the next day or two! Thank you so much for the wonderful support! :)

My very first freebie sketch! :)

I've attempted to make a sketch for you all to enjoy. I know that I have used my fair share of other people's templates (thank you Jen Caputo, and many others!) and thought I'd try to give back a little. This is by no means as good as theirs, but I thought you might try it out and let me know what you think. All I ask is that you leave a comment on my blog if you take it! (and I'd love to see layouts that you do with it! Please leave links to those in the comment section, too!) I didn't know how to include a terms of use, but please give me credit if you use it.

**The download link has expired. Thank you so much for all of your encouragement! I can't wait to see how this sketch will be used!**

Thanks so much!

Kellie

Oh yeah...my layout uses Michelle Coleman's Color Happy kit! :)

The Great Crayon Disaster of 2006

I opened the door to Mason's classroom at VBS to snap some pictures of the kids in his class and this is what I found! He dumped out the crayons and was having himself a little crayon snack! It took quite awhile to pick up all of the crayons...partly because he was taking them out while I was putting them in. On the joys of toddlerhood!

Layout uses Dawn Wilson's Sketch & Christine Smith's Superstar Kit

Six years ago today...

Can you believe we've been married for six years?!? Crazy, huh? Tyler brought me these flowers today. Gerbera daisies are my favorite!

Six years ago today...
1) I threw up when I woke up and was nerve-free the rest of the day.
2) Abbie leaned in to give me a kiss on the cheek with her newly-lipsticked mouth...slipped...and kissed the front of my dress! Thank goodness Linda knew how to get make-up out of the dress...disaster averted!
3) The groomsmen were running around like crazy taking chairs from all over the church to fit everyone in the sanctuary...we weren't expecting almost 500!
4) Jake & Brian had to rent their "suits" because they were too cheap to go buy one...now they each own black suits. Should've taken my advice back then instead of giving me grief about it! :)
5) My bridesmaids serenaded me before we lined up to head down the aisle...and they serenaded me during the reception.
6) My cake toppled over on the way to the church and had to be re-iced when it got there...good thing I didn't know about it when it happened!
7) Corey put the ring in a cracker jack box and it took Tyler FOREVER to find it. He poured out cracker jacks on the stage...real classy!
8) Jessica wasn't loving the roll hair-do she had!
9) My dress got all stretched out from hugging everyone...who's brilliant idea was it to dismiss 500 people row by row ourselves? That took FOREVER!!
10)We got video footage of Uncle Tom Malone sleeping during the service!
11)We began our lives as husband and wife...six years ago today!

Can you think of any other memories from that day you'd like to add? I'd love to have you post them! (Just click below where it says 0 comments)

Sick again! :(

Poor little Mason is sick...again! We were supposed to get to go to Ava Hollis' first birthday party tonight, but he definitely isn't up to travelling. It's amazing at the fits one can throw when they don't feel good! He's about to wear me out!

Here are some more scrapbooking pages of the Mize side of the family....By the way, I'd love any pictures my relatives have of our family to scrapbook! This is really fun to do!


This is Grandma when she was in about the 8th grade. I used Rhonna Farrer's 2peas April Kit.


I LOVE how this one turned out of grandma & her sisters. I used a Jen Caputo template, Angie Briggs Homespun papers, stitching by Shabby Princess, & flower sticker by Rhonna Farrer.


I'm also in love with this page! Template by Jen Caputo, scrap artist flouish brushes, simply spring papers by Michelle Coleman.


This is Grandpa Mize's brother...papers by Kimberly Giarusso, inked edging from Gina Cabrera's lucky star kit, alpha by Debbie Fisher


See that comment button below this post? Use it! :) I'd love to know what you think...& to know who's visited my blog!

Mason's ever growing vocabulary

Mason is turning into quite the chatterbox here lately! His favorite words are...Tyler (Tywer), mama, dada, car(he sounds like he's from boston when he says car!), ball, baby, Millie (mimmie), Milk (I wish I could describe how he says this...it's hilarious!), no-no, bye-bye, all-done, all-gone, out (this word tends to mean up, down, in, & out), diaper, cracker, please (pwease), thank you, pray, and amen.

He can also repeat a lot of what you say, but those are the main words he uses on a daily basis. The other day, I said "Give mommy a kiss." He said "no" and turned his head. I said "Give mommy a hug" and he did the same thing!! He's too young to not want to hug or kiss his mommy!! Luckily that was a rare occurence...we get lots of hugs and kisses.

The other day at KFC, he said "pray" before the food came out. So...I closed my eyes and was saying the prayer and he leaned in and said "Amen!" before I finished. Everyone around us cracked up. He makes sure we say prayers before eating and before bedtime. Those are precious moments with him!

Here's a picture of Mason when he was just a couple of months old...it really doesn't seem all that long ago! Now he's big and having conversations with us!

Sketch template by Jen Caputo, Color Me Happy papers by Melany Violette

My heritage book...

I'm working on making a Mize family heritage book. I'm really enjoying going through these old pictures...and it's nice to learn a part of your history at the same time. I'm making a book for me and for Grandma (and if any of you other Mize's want one...let me know!)

Here are my great-great grandparents...Charles & Luetta Lindsey (Grandma Mize's Grandparents)


Here's Grandpa as a young boy...what a handsome fellow!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Daddy,
Happy birthday to you!

Love,
Mason & Millie (and mommy, too!)

Whew...I'm tired!!

We had the busiest week last week! Thankfully the garage sale at church is over! That was a ton of work...but well worth it. We raised almost $1000 for missions...that's about $250 more than last year. The kids and I are all trying to recover from lack of sleep!

Mason & Tyler have yucky head colds...I feel so bad for them! I'm just hoping that Millie and I can steer clear of it!

I had a little free time this morning and scrapbooked pictures from the Malone reunion. Travis took these super cute pictures...thanks Travis!

The boy and his bonnet...

Mason found one of the bonnets from Millie's shower and brought it for me to put on him. He wore it for quite awhile yesterday morning and again that night! He was cracking us up! He loves to find ways to make us laugh...and is good at doing it! :)

Books, books, books...achoo!!

I've been working on cleaning out the church library w/ Liz (don't panic...we have the permission of the trustees! :) haha) We went through tons of books that were so old and obsolete...we even came across the Jimmy Swaggert Bible & Commentary! You never know what you'll find in there! We definitely found a lot of dust...I kept sneezing and Mason would say "Achoo!" after I would sneeze. He is quite the character!

I went skating on a John Deere!!

Last night when I was heading to bed, I had quite a scare! I stepped on Mason's John Deere tractor that somehow made its way to our room and I glided across the room. I told Tyler, "I just skated on a John Deere!" That's a sentence I never thought would have come out of my mouth! :) The things you say when you're parents!