Fish Kiss

This layout has been sitting on my table for 4 days. Why some are so hard to compose, I do not know. The original color scheme for this was purple, bubblegum pink, watermelon pink (playing off her rubber boots) and topiary green. It just wouldn't work for me and finally, I decided to use the colors in her life vest.

You absolutely must enlarge the right side of the layout to get a good look at the "fish kiss" picture. It is definitely the best part of the layout!

Liane is evil

I was tagged today by Liane. So here goes! A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning. B: Each player answers the questions about themselves.C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then go to their blogs and leave them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 years ago: I was teaching in inner city Minneapolis, Bilingual Ed and very happily being courted by Mark. I think I was also selling Mary Kay!

Things on my to-do list today: Work in the baby nursery at church, run the song projection for 2nd service, run Katie to a birthday party, serve lunch to my visiting Aunt and Uncle and see how the rest of the day develops


What if I were suddenly made a billionaire: Tithe (wouldn't they be surprised!), pay off the house, (and Mom's and Dad's and Sab's and Eden's and Matt's and Adam's and Scott's, etc. ), get Mark that boat he's patiently been waiting for, set aside college funds, create scholarships at a couple of favorite colleges, plan a trip to see our Compassion sponsored child in Indonesia, take lots of vacations, get a housekeeper...

3 of my bad habits: Diet Dr. Pepper, procrastinating by hanging out at the computer, never ever making my bed

3 places I have lived: International Falls, MN; Mexico City, Mexico; Chicago, IL


Some jobs that I have had: Christian radio announcer, DQ, IGA, K-Mart, Rainbow Christian Gift and Book Shoppe, Bilingual Teacher (Highland Park, IL and Minneapolis, MN), Spanish Teacher (Int'l Falls & Brooklyn Park, MN), Test scorer for NCS Pearson, Close to My Heart


5 things people don't know about me: I have a tatoo on my waistline, my great grandparents AND my great, great grandparents were first cousins (ewwww!), I skipped going to the dentist for EIGHT years, I built a grandfather clock in ninth grade, and my full legal name is KRISTEN LYNN BRADSETH CHRISTIANSEN (no hyphen!)


As for tagging anyone else...I can't. I don't have a circle of blogging friends to torture =)

Blooming Word Book-GAVIN

My cousin, Dan became a first-time daddy last weekend. I visited Dan in the hospital when he was born almost 26 years ago. Good grief!

Anyway, I tried my hand at making a "blooming word" book with the new baby's name to give Dan and Ramona as a gift. I think it turned out cute!

The patterned papers are from Creative Memories and the stamps from Close to My Heart.

Cooo-oool! (Owen's Art!)

I can't believe that I just learned the coolest thing that was so easy! I bought a copy of the February/March issue of Digital Scrapbooking and learned how to make a custom "brush." (If you aren't digital...it is basically a digital stamp that is very flexible.) Well, my practice brushes were made from my son's stylized drawings. These two are from his sci-fi collection =) An alien and a ship, I believe. I can't wait to use these in his scrapbook!

The Edge

"The Edge" is the name of the Wednesday evening youth activities at Park Free Church. I've gone as a youth sponsor (reasonably responsible adult who is willing to hang out with teenagers!) three weeks, now.


After the first week, I was speechless. I tried to blog about it, but I could not find the words. It was surprising, frustrating, and a tiny bit frightening. (Some of those kids are BIG!)


At week two, a set of rules developed by the "regulars" at the Edge was laid out for the bigger group. This helped me immensely. Knowing what the kids themselves needed for a sense of order allowed me to step in where needed and know that the other sponsors and the core group would back that up. After the teaching time, we got into small groups. My group was unusual and largely goofy. I left feeling like all I had gained there was knowing a handful of names...and I prayed for each of those kids BY NAME every day that week. Ironically (or providentially) I ran into one of my small group kids the following night at the YMCA. He got my attention and I made a joke with him...it was almost as if he was glad to see me! It made me smile over and over all week long.


The tenor of the group was pretty different by last night. There is at least a loose sense of order and the kids are starting to develop the expectation that there will be talk of spiritual things...not just basketball, swearing, and PDA. It isn't a complete overhaul or anything, but there is a little bit of improvement each time. As for me, I'm armed with a handful more of names and I am just going to keep praying and showing up.

Money Back for Taxes

No, our taxes are not done yet. However, I got a reward for just sitting down to work on them! I found a check for $43.00, a 20 dollar bill, six ones, and two gift cards in my "tax" files. I am not a business person. I knew I was missing the one gift card, but I had no idea about the rest. Plus, as I've been entering my deductible expenses for my Close to My Heart business, I see the sad, sad picture of me as an entrepeneur (sp?) I just spent, spent, spent and didn't much sell, sell, sell. I've considered letting my consultant status lapse and this would be one of the arguments in favor...I would save money if I did!! Oh, how excited I get with each new idea. But my attention span is SO short. I didn't really know this about myself for a long time and it doesn't jive with who I think I should be. Next step...acceptance.

Digital Art

To look at my blog, you would think I haven't been doing any scrapbooking lately, but not so! I've been working through old printed photos, as well as doing some digital layouts with more recent pictures. Here are a couple of layouts from this Halloween (yes, these are my "recent" pictures...don't laugh.)

What's with the pictures?

Just in case you are wondering if I mess up the picture placement on purpose...no. This blog gizmo just slaps them in and it is just not that easy to get them to appear where you want them. However, this shouldn't be such a high priority in my life, so I'm leaving them alone! (This also explains why my picture looks freakish on a widescreen monitor, you know...in case you're wondering.)

Handed Down

My sweet friends, Diana and Jay, passed along 2 of these chairs that they were replacing in front of their new fireplace. I've had them for several months and am just getting around to the slipcovers that I had always intended. Turns out, I have no idea how to do slipcovers this complicated! I started a mock-up out of muslin and was completely stymied. Still, I bought the cream-colored denim I wanted to use already, so I HAVE TO SOLVE THIS! (With my 40% off coupon, the fabric is still $60.) I had a revelation yesterday about changing where a seam would go, so I decided to get back to it today. I know it looks HORRIBLE now, but I think I can do this. (Or flop in front of my HUGE blog audience!)

HG Kris

I may have mentioned that I've been fairly engrossed in HGTV lately... (When we finally took the plunge to get high-speed internet, there was a deal to get cable t.v. We've agreed to keep it only for the six months of the special offer, so I'm getting our money's worth!)
So...here are my recent projects. The first picture is the "during" shot of my thrift-store ottoman re-uphostery project. Yep, that is blue vinyl. Oh, and my accidental splurge...the batting was in the wrong bin. I thought I was buying $7.99 worth and it turned out to be some eco-friendly $23.99 version!!!!

The next shot is a bit bright, but is shows the finished ottomans with our love seat and the final one is a close-up of the toile. (I hadn't seen it in more than two colors before, so I thought it was novel.)

The kids, of course, like them because they are on casters and they move about the room very easily. They are good kid-height for playing, too. Mark even liked them!

Cost:
ottomans $30
toile $13
batting $24
staples $2
fabric adhesive $6

I mention this because my great deal was really not that great =) Every do-it-yourselfer ought to know better!

What am I thinking?

A couple weeks ago, I realized that a little start-up church was sending people to work with the youth that are flocking to our church for Wednesday night activities. There is a long history here, so I'll tell the short version...these kids are from our community, they are not Christians and they are by-and-large "unchurched." And there is one person from our congregation who has stuck with them. ONLY ONE. I knew it was rough, but I didn't know how rough. I was spiritually embarrassed to realize that we have not cared enough about these kids to act. (As Mark and I talked, though...the group at Park is legitimately pretty tapped out.) Anyway, what am I thinking?

That I need to get in there and help.
Watch for details!!