Well, this is it.

As a lot of you have heard, my time with Bare Branches is coming to a close. As I sit here and try to type out my feelings...I don't know where to start. My time with this band has been sweet. We had some wonderful times, and just like any other band of brothers and sisters, had some hard times. I will always cherish the adventures we had.

I know, I know...you're all asking WHY? Well, I can't give a real answer. Sometimes in life, God leads you in different directions. Sometimes, he opens and closes doors...and we're not sure why. All I know is, making the decision to leave the band was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made, but I know it was the right one. I don't know what God has in store, but he has a plan and only time will tell.
Thank you so much to all my friends and family that continually support me, and my brothers and sister within Bare Branches. I love you all SO much!

My Memories Suite Review and Giveaway!

Stephanie and Caleb

I was recently contacted to do a review and giveaway on My Memories Suite, which is a digital scrapbooking software. It also does things like cards, calendars and more! I decided to do this review with guest post with my dear friend Stephanie, who is an avid scrapper! She is a proud mom of twins, so she has a lot to scrapbook about! :]
Here's what she had to say:

I have been scrapbooking since I was 17. I LOVE scrapbooking. I know it isn't everyone's forte but there is just something about it that I really enjoy. In recent years I haven't really had the time to scrapbook and my craft room often becomes the "catch all" room instead of the inviting crafting room I always dreamed of. So when Marcia asked me if I would be interested in trying out My Memories Suite I was delighted. I was very pleased to see how easy it really was to use. They have two options on how to make a digital scrapbook, design your own or designer template. In the designer templete they have available to you a ready made template and all you need to do is click the pictures that you want and it fills it in for you. When I used this option just to try it, I had a complete scrapbook in less than 10 minutes. I also really like that you can also embed video and sound into your scrapbook for the option of making a slide show. It really is a nice program for these features. 

Some of the cons are that I wasn't thrilled with the graphics that they have. They seemed a little juvenile to me. But they do have a lot of graphics available to choose from all varying in prices. They even had a lot of free graphics to choose from that you can download. The other con I had was while they made it easy to burn your scrapbook onto a CD/DVD I had wanted to email the completed project to someone and I was unable to do so. This may partially be because I am not very computer literate but when everything else is so easy I wish this feature was just as easy to use. 

While there are some cons I believe that over all My Memories Suite is a nice program and had some features that I really appreciate.

Here's where the giveaway part comes in! 

Win your own copy of My Memories Suite, a $40 value. 

Here's how:

Visit www.mymemories.com, and leave a comment on this blog

telling me your favorite digital paper pack or layout.

Be sure to leave your email address so I can get ahold of the winner!

More entries? Of course!

Do each of the following and leave a separate comment for each,

stating you did so. Don't forget to leave a way for me to contact you!

Follow the My Memories Blog

Like My Memories on Facebook

Follow on Twitter

That's it! Winner will be announced Monday October 1st.http://twitter.com/#!/MyMemoriesSuite

Random acts of inspiration

I hope something this beautiful is sent your way today. 

Lomo Saturday

More Lomo Saturday here:

Initiator Anki - Nikki - Casper - Iris - Mireille - Marrit - Aujke - Judith

Six years ago today.

❤

Donora! They make me so incredibly happy. Last Friday was their CD release show at the Rex Theater.

It has been over a year since I saw them last, so I was extremely excited. If their music doesn't make you smile and want to dance, I don't know what does! 

Here's their latest music video...I can't get this song out of my head! 

Here's my other favorite videos of theirs. SO CUTE!

Lomo Saturday

More Lomo Saturday here:

Initiator Anki - Nikki - Casper - Iris - Mireille - Marrit - Aujke - Judith

New "Untitled" Painting - HELP!

Hi everyone!

Remember THIS post way back in April of 2010? Well, the painting is finally here.

Talk about a long time coming. I'm so excited...but what should I name it?

"Untitled"

18x18

acrylic on canvas

Please post your title ideas in the comments!

If I choose your title, maybe I'll send you a prize! :D

From the sketchbook...

Even when I walk

through the darkest valley,

I will not be afraid,

for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
protect and comfort me.

Psalm 23:4

Lomo Saturday

More Lomo Saturday here:

Initiator Anki - Nikki - Casper - Iris - Mireille - Marrit - Aujke - Judith

18 years ago...

Dustin was born!!!

September 7, 1993

7lbs 15oz

19" long

1:07 pm

Ok...I couldn't resist this picture with Dustin and his "Uncle Brian"...CUTEST EVER! 

Dustin a few weeks ago, with his sweetie, Miss Holly!

Talk about feeling blessed. Dustin is my one and only child...and I couldn't ask for a better kid! He's loving, kind and confident. He's turning out to be a wonderful young man, and I couldn't be more proud. 

❤❤❤

a relaxing weekend...

Hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

We went to Seneca Hills Family Camp, which is always wonderful.

Long walks and beautiful scenery. . .

I can't believe how many different mushrooms there were! So many colors and textures. It's been really wet around here lately, so they were plentiful. :D

Lomo Saturday

More Lomo Saturday here:

Initiator Anki - Nikki - Casper - Iris - Mireille - Marrit - Aujke - Judith

Happy Weekend!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend! I'll be camping at Seneca Hills 

...doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I can't wait.

I've been obsessed with this song lately...and today I came across this video. Adorable!

    

shirt surgery!

The other day I bought this terribly large and ugly shirt at the thrift store. The floral pattern was really cute...but the shirt was not. So, I decided to try and  make it into a dress!

I don't have a step by step tutorial, because I really didn't know what I was doing.

Basically, I just found some other dresses I had, and used them as templates! 

Ugly shirt:

Cute pattern:

 

Using another dress that fit me well, I just used it as a template and cut around it.

I cut it slightly bigger for seam allowance. 

 

Next I finished off the edges.

 

 I realized I would never wear a dress with a button up collar top, so I decided to cut that off too!

I found another dress I had to use as a template. 

Trust me, I did not know what I was doing.

I just took those two dresses, and tried to duplicate them.

Cut, and finish off edges.
I added some elastic in the back of the dress...just like the template. 

Next, I took the left over sleeves, and made the straps!

Attach straps!

So, after I constructed it...I think I tried it on, and did revisions at least 10 times.

Mostly around the top, so it looked and fit right.

I also ended up sewing the entire dress shut where buttons were. It's just safer that way! Haha!

Add belt, and there you have it!

 

Dustin took the pictures for me...so he wanted to show what he was wearing too. ^_^