paulabarber

Taking part in a Texas Tradition

So the state flower of Texas is the bluebonnet.
There are fields of them growing all over the
place right now.  They are growing, because you
are not allowed to mow until they are finished
blooming, if you have them on your land. 
Yep, you'll likely get a larger fine for mowing
bluebonnets than for running a red light here in Texas. 
That's purely speculation mind you, but my dear
Noah did ask what the bluebonnet police would do to him if
he picked one.  I have no idea who gave him that
idea.  (she whistles innocently)

So, every year thousands of families dress their
children and head out to find the perfect field.
Somehow, we have never managed to get sucked
into bluebonnet-mania. . .but this year, I was
determined to change that.  Kris found a beautiful
field that wasn't directly attached to a major
highway.  (I refuse to park on the side of a
Dallas highway, no matter how amazing
the photo op.)  This field, you could see from
the highway, but it was off of a not-so-
easily-accessed service road.  PERFECT!

Here are a few of my favorites.  You'll have
to forgive the angle on this first one.  It
totally hurts my brain, but it turned out to
be one of the better shots of Noah that I've
gotten a long time.  I'll probably have to
just crop it WAY in and loose all proof
of bluebonnets.  Oh well, doesn't it hurt
your brain?

I had a little trouble with the sun reflecting off of my
little pale, cotton-top.  This one is a bit blown out on her
face and hair.  I'm going to have to really work on that.

And just as a little heads up, NSD (National Scrapbook
Day) is coming up May 3rd.  Scrapsupply.com has
LOTS of amazing  planning in the works for the
whole weekend.  If you are looking for a little inspiration
to help you get some of your photos out of your
"need to scrap" pile and into your albums, stop by
Scrapsupply on Friday, May 2nd to get a jump on
all of the challenges, make and takes, projects,
games, and PRIZES that will be going on
all weekend long.

Here's another one of my layouts from the
April SS newsletter:

 

Email troubles.

My email provider upgraded our service this week.
So now it's not delivering some of my messages.
I just love upgrades.  :o)

It's not delivering any of my the messages from my hubby,
from his business account.  They aren't even getting to
my junk  mailbox.  Apparently they have implemented
a REALLY GOOD first level spam filter so that lot's of
stuff doesn't even come through. 

Anyway, if you have emailed me, and I have returned
your message, would you please post in the comments
here.  I'm trying to figure out what to do to fix it,
but until then. . .

An Update and a Layout!

Well, as usual, I have been so completely humbled by the generosity of the scrapbooking community.  The donations for my "Diapers for Christy" project are still coming in.  You guys are just amazing.  The spirit of giving that is instilled in scrapbookers seems to just be universal.  WOW.  I'm going to continue to accept contributions through PayPal until 11:59pm Friday night.  So if you would like to pitch in, you can send it to the PayPal account linked to my email address at krisandpaula@tx.rr.com. 

And seriously, no amount is too small.  If every person that read this would just send a $1.00, we could diaper those precious bottoms for DAYS!!!  Thank you all SO MUCH!

OK, I have to ask. . .
Is your family counting down the days until the release of the movie WALL-E yet?

Oh, we are.
I even made a layout to commemorate the certain impending demise of Noah's favorite toys once the robot commercialism hits the local Target. 
:o)
It was for the scrapsupply.com newsletter this month.  Tania Willis did a wonderful tutorial on using plain chipboard.  ("necked" chipboard, as I like to call it.)
I used several leftover chipboard shapes to make my own little Wall-E.
The teardrop shapes and the small circles used for the eyes are Maya Road Flower Petals and centers.  The body of the robot is a 4" Bazzill Chip and the neck is a piece of Making Memories moulding. 
And yes. . .those are Making Memories Hinges from like the 1930's that I used for his "hands".  OK, I guess it was really maybe 2003 or so. . .but man, in scrapbook years that's like 75 year old product.
No?

ETA:  the Journaling reads:

For almost 2 years now,

the cars from the movie Cars have been Noah’s go-to toys.

He has crawled miles on his hands and knees

pushing these little guys around. 

Lightning.  Mater.  You boys need to watch out. 

In true, 2008 over-commercialized movie fashion,

the trailers and commercials for Wall-E

have been going strong since last June. 

And, since spaceships and robots have crept into

Noah’s pretend play after our trip to Disney anyway,

I fear that your fate is inevitable. 

The Robot surely cometh.