Hi...Remember Me?

Before I get into the above layout, I just wanted to thank those of you who have been praying for my mom. Its with a heavy heart that I tell you that my mommy, my best friend, a huge part of my heart....went home to be with her God on October 13. It was sudden and unexpected and I didn't get to say goodbye. I talked to her the day before and she was feeling good. The next day I got a call from the hospital to get there right away. She was in an induced coma and on a ventilator while they tried to stabilize her heart but they were not able to do it. After two days we made the difficult decision to let her go. The last two years she has fought so valiantly against obstacle after obstacle. She was tired. I knew that. She had little quality of life. I knew that too. But still, I always thought she'd be ok. She always was. This time was different. She didn't suffer....but we are. I miss her more than words can say and I am having a very hard time getting through each day. They say time will make it easier and I know that its true, but my heart aches, the pain is relentless and the tears have no end. I feel suddenly alone and half the person I used to be. Thank God for my family....if it weren't for my kids and John, and so many friends....I don't know where I'd be right now. As you can imagine, the last thing I was interested in was scrapping.

The last few weeks I have found myself being non-productive in all areas of my life...except that I get up and go to work everyday. So this weekend is an online crop at A Cherry On Top and I decided that this was my opportunity to get my act together and get back to my hobby that love so much. I know that's what my mom would have wanted. She loved to see my layouts and hear all about the new goodies I got or what I was working on. So that's what I'm doing. The above is the first layout I've created in quite some time as I have taken a leave from my DT positions until I am sure I can fully commit. This is for Challenge #1 of the crop - Use Sassafrass Lass paper. I used papers from the Count Me In collection, chip letters from Colorbox, flower by Prima and orange gem flowers by Creative Charms. I will post more as I complete them but I have to admit...my creative juices aren't flowing quite as freely these days so they may not be my best work, but its serving a purpose....to bring me back to a new normal. Thanks again for all of your prayers. I am sure that God heard them and is taking wonderful care of my mom.

Time for each other...

One of the things I am most proud of with Susie & Matt is how they still, even at 12 & 13, don't mind just hanging out, taking a ride, or doing something silly with me. And even more, that they actually like each other and have fun doing things together. Now I am not naive, I realize that this can and probably will change (hopefully only for their teenage years!) but for right now, it just makes my heart grow with pride that I have been blessed to be able to raise these two beautiful human beings.

This layout sort of evolved. I was going with more of a "road trip" theme - hence the papers which are from The Paper Company Studio and their Spring Break line. But as I was thinking about a title, I just keep looking back at the photo which was taken on one of the early summer days when we had nothing to do and decided to hop in the car and take a walk around the Historic Village of Smithville. Now honestly, for a 12 and 13 year old - this is not something fun to do. In fact, even less so when you consider that we live one town away so its not even NEW to them. But it was time we got to spend together...just the three of us. And that was worth more than a trip of a lifetime could be. We stopped in the bakery in the Village and the kids each got a donut. They sat down next to each other on a park bench and even shared a soda! They still love each other....they just may not admit it!!

Other than the paper, the only thing I added was a Jillibean Soup journal spot and some black ric rac, and black letters by Luxe. I did this layout for the "September Scraplift the GCT" challenge at A Cherry On Top. Again, because its not my layout to post here, you can check out her work in her gallery at ACOT.

Therapeutic?

Phew, so this one threw me for a doozy. I have had this photo on my desk and love looking at it. Its of my oldest son, John, and my late husband, Michael, on Johnny's 6th grade graduation day. I was hesitant to put the journaling on it but decided that these are MY memories and my feelings and it was important. It could be that the anniversary of Michael's death is just over 2 weeks away and I have been thinking about him so much, but this layout...while happy and fun, just killed me inside. Michael was SO proud of Johnny. If I could have one moment that Michael missed out on since his death, it would be Johnny's graduation from High School. (Of course I think I will have that same thought on Matt & Susie's graduation, all 3 of their weddings, etc.) He was not Johnny's natural father, but his step-dad, but you would NEVER have known that. I have to believe that Michael has had a hand in the way Johnny has grown up. Its a struggle for all of us, but somehow knowing that he is up in Heaven watching over us gets us through.

I did this page for another challenge at A Cherry On Top. The challenge is to use product by Fancy Pants. The papers are all Fancy Pants and the chipboard star that I covered with FP paper is by Scenic Route. I edged the star with Faded Jeans Distress Stickles and the title letters are Thickers.

Last Minute August Challenges!

I'm working on getting a few more of the August Challenges done over at A Cherry On Top. The above layout is for the challenge to scrap something that is a summer tradition. For us, its naturally the beach because we live here, but more specifically is Grilling on the beach. This photo was from last summer and the grill in the photo is no longer with us. It WAS a boat grill that John adapted for use on the trailer hitch of his truck. But we've moved up in the world of beach grilling and now have a fancy Cuisinart grill that I got at a GREAT price at Kohls in the beginning of the summer!! Its a tradition for us and lots of others to get a permit to drive onto the beach and once there we set up shop! We are not as extreme as some....I swear they bring their entire kitchen with them and some of the food that is made on these grills is amazing...not your average burger and dogs! There are full racks of ribs, seafood in every form, steaks, you name it...its being grilled on the beach! And of course you can't forget the cocktails! I used nothing but leftovers on this layout. The paper strips are mostly Bella Blvd. All Inclusive except for the one orange strip which is WRMK White Out. The flip flops and sunglasses were leftover from a packagae of K&Co embellishments, the letters are leftover Bella Blvd. I didn't use a single full piece of anything! Love that!

This challenge was to use the word ALWAYS for your title. The photo is just a random snapshot I took while John was trying to fix the air pump for the kids bikes. I used a mish-mash of stuff on this. Most of the paper is My Minds Eye "So Sophie" with the exception of the white background one which is Basic Grey Oliver. The clock is by Jolees as is the journaling tag which was printed on the inside of the package of clocks! The brad holding the tag in place and the lettering is Basic Grey, the tiny bingo card I cut out of the packaging from a pack of JenniBowlin bingo cards, the leaves, key and butterfly are all K&Co.

Goofy Girls

This was such a fun layout to do. The bright colors of the papers along with the fun of the photo just made it come together so easily!! I did this one for the Supply List challenge at A Cherry On Top. You had to use 5 patterened papers, a button, chipboard and the color yellow. I knew this photo would be perfect and as I was going through my paper bins, this We R Memory Keepers White Out paper jumped right out! The rest was easy! The journaling card was a free download from Creativity Prompts. She has quite a few freebies so be sure to check her blog out! Letters are Thickers that I got from Crafty Steals . The photo is Susie and her bestie Emily in Busch Gardens. In every shop we stopped in they tried on all the silly hats. This particular one had me cracking up because they added coordinating sunglasses and stuck out their tongues which were BLUE from the Icees they had been drinking. Susie's hat had these crazy tube things all over it that lit up but you can't see that from the photo. Emily chose a lovely HOT DOG hat! LOL!

Creepy!! & Some News!

I'm in a great mood right now!! Its Thursday night....that means....ITS THE WEEKEND! Unfortunately, its almost my last long weekend of the summer. After next Friday I'm back to working Monday through Friday from 8am-4pm. Grr....as much as I will miss my Friday's off, it will be nice to be home by 4:15 everyday. The house is quiet right now with Susie up in her room with a friend, Matthew at football practice for another hour and John is out golfing with his buddies! Ahhh.....bliss! (Edited....it has taken me 2 hours to get this posted...house is no longer quiet, everyone is home and I am totally frustrated with Comcast.)

This layout I did for two separate challenges! The first one is Stacy's Weekly Stash Challenge at Sketches For You. The challenge was to scrap a holiday page. I had JUST finished Christmas 09 when she issued that challenge so wasn't sure what I was going to do and then I realized that I haven't scrapped Halloween 09 yet! I had this great My Minds Eye kit that I got at Crafty Steals and decided to use that, adding only some leftover flourishes from a sheet of Cosmo Cricket Blackboard and a few screw brads from Karen Foster. For the title I used some WackyTack to temporarily adhere the Maya Road Sheer letters to my background paper and then I misted the letters with Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist. I love the effect and since one of the August challenges at A Cherry On Top was to create a layout with masking on it, I got double duty!!! I really like how this page turned out...it does have a creepy feel to it! The journaling reads: "Every year there is a house in Absecon that goes all out for Halloween. Its fun but scary at the same time. This year there were zombies with chainsaws and this live man hanging there giving candy."

And now for my news....I've known for a few days now but haven't had the time to sit down and write a bio and send a picture off and wanted to do that before I announced it. One of my favorite sketch challenge sites for the last few months since they started has been Sketches In Thyme. The site is led by Kim Sparks and her team of "Mavens". I just LOVE that...Mavens!! LOL! Anyway, Kim emailed me that one of her mavens had to step down and she asked if I would fill that position. I struggled a little making the decision because of the way things have been going haywire here at home with my mom's health, kids activities, etc. but ultimately decided that I would LOVE to be a Maven. Part of my decision to join this team is because the commitment is not as heavy as on some site, but most of all because several of the closest blog friends I have made since I started my blog are also Mavens so I almost felt like I belonged there! So I will be joining Debbie, Barb, Brenda and Fern whom I already "knew" from blog-land and looking forward to meeting and getting to know Dawn, Diana, Penny and Tanya, as I become a Sketches In Thyme Maven.

Mid-Week Scrapping!!

I'm so happy I have actually scrapped last night and again tonight! OK so its just one page each night but I sure get bummed on Sundays knowing that I probably won't be scrapping again until the following weekend! But yesterday I was trying to think of a layout design for a challenge on A Cherry On Top to scrap a page with a Children's Song as the title. I knew I had the perfect picture and with a little help from Google, found the perfect song. I came home from work last night and immediately got this going! Since John was making dinner last night I had only a couple interruptions when I had to take and pick up Matt from football practice. The above layout was what I completed! I have wanted to scrap this photo of Susie and Matt forever but just never had the right inspiration until now. Look how sweet they are sound asleep in the rental stroller at Hersey Park! The good ole' days! Now they don't DARE even sit that close to each other and 12 and 13! LOL! Papers are all BoBunny, brads are Basic Grey, letters are Basic Grey and Bo Bunny and the flower is Heidi Swapp.

If you visit my blog regularly you will know that I have already scrapped the photos but honestly I didn't like the first layout anyway and when I saw the sketch contest on the Imaginisce Blog, I knew had the perfect papers to go with these pictures....the Splash Dance line! I had already use some of the glassy stickers on another layout but still had just enough left to finish this one! I LOVE when I actually use every single sticker or embellishment that comes with a package. Its not often that I do that!! I put my journaling all around the large circle using a white Signo Uniball pen.  Love my white pen!!!  The the letter stickers are Doodlebug.  All else is Imaginisce. 

I have dinner in the oven and a few more things to get going tonight so will hopefully see you all in blogland tomorrow with some exciting (well, exciting to me anyway) news if I can get my butt in gear!!

Those Eyes

I snapped this picture of Susie using my Blackberry while we were on vacation last week. When I looked at it after I had printed it out, it was just like looking into her father's eyes. Maybe its just that the anniversary of his death is nearing that really hit home with me, but she definitely does have her daddy's eyes. Both of my boys and myself have blue eyes, she has the exact shade of brown that her father had. Sometimes she doesn't like that she is the only one without blue eyes and I just remind her that its part of what makes her special. And special she is. As the journaling reads: "Every time I snap a picture of Susie I am surprised and amazed at how much of a beautiful young lady she is becoming. This photo was taken at Busch Gardens and is proof that she has her daddy's eyes." I used the sketch posted today at Practical Scrappers and used some new Melissa Frances papers and journaling spot, Thickers glitter chip letters, and the pearls, gems, butterflies and gem brads are Creative Charms. If you like them, I suggest you keep an eye out on Crafty Steals as you NEVER KNOW when something like that could arrive! I have also created this layout for the Color Challenge at A Cherry On Top. The challenge was really NO color....as in background. Your background had to be 50% white. Easy Peasy for me as I am still a fan of a white background!!

All caught up!

With this blog posting, I will have caught you all up with what I've created since the last time I blogged. As I mentioned, this past weekend was the Summer Crop over at A Cherry On Top. I participated in the games on Friday and Sunday (we had other plans for Saturday) and have been slowly working on the challenges which are due Tuesday. Because I had off today I was able to work on a few this morning before heading up to the hospital to be with my mom. I don't see myself getting any more done this week though. I have a bunch of stuff to get done with the house before we leave early Friday morning for a min-vacay to Busch Gardens, VA. So don't be alarmed if you don't hear from me again until middle of NEXT week! Good news is I will have lots of new photos to scrap!

The first project I am showing is an altered "S". Dontcha just love my "S"? HAHAH!! These letters are on clearance at Michaels (along with a ton of Prima and K& Co. stuff so if you haven't been there lately, check out your local M's! I think I paid 99c for the MDF letter. I used Girls Paperie paper and added some ball trim, flowers, glitter pearls, half pearls and flowers. It matches the colors in my scraproom for now. When we move I intend for it to be bubblegum pink and black! LMAO....we'll have to see....John says no but I say YES!

This next layout is a combination of challenges!! For ACOT you had to use a photo that was more than 5 years old. This is of Matthew's first day of Kindergarten! Can you believe I have never scrapped them yet!! I used Sassafrass Lass papers and chipboard letters from an upcoming steal at Crafty Steals. Make sure to check them out daily to see what the Steal of the Day is! And check them out on Facebook too!! Stephanie, the owner of Crafty Steals, is amazing and she has been such a pleasure to work with! I look forward to creating lots more during my term as Guest Designer for August! And finally, I used the weekly sketch Trisha at Sketch Inspirations posted. If you've followed my blog for a while, you know that there are a few sites that I consistently participate in. Sketch Inspirations is definitely on that list. Trisha always does a fantastic job inspiring me each week with her sketches!

And last, but certainly not least is this layout of Susie on her 12th birthday. I had printed the photo out back in June to use on a Sketchy Thursday sketch but ended up using a smaller print as this is a 5x7. So you may have seen the photo before but instead of going with the pink pulled from the photo, I went completely off of a choice of papers first. I used the sketch by PageMaps for Stacy's Stash Challenge at Sketches for You. I used SEI Happy Da

y papers, Doodlebug Flowers and white buttons and ball trim. This layout also qualifies for a challenge for the crop at ACOT. The challenge was to use a large number as a focal point. I used the "12", with no other journaling.

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Phew, that's it....you are now caught up on all of my creations!! I hope to get a little scrappy time in this week but I'm really not sure if I will or not. If not, I will see you all NEXT week after we return!!

Sketches In Thyme! (Post 2 today)

I love these photos of Susie! I took them two weeks ago while she was sitting with me in the playroom/scraproom playing on her laptop. I just kept snapping away and she started laughing because I was embarrasing her! There are at least 20 photos in the series but these three just stood out. I hope that she always keeps the sweetness she has right now. She's such a pretty and happy little girl who has just amazed me with her inner strength. Some of you may not know that their dad passed away suddenly a few years ago and I am so proud of the way my kids came through what will hopefully be the hardest time of their lives. I may be biased, but I have the BEST kids in the world!!

Anyway, I saw the sketch over at Sketches In Thyme using a sketch from Helen Croft. I have used Helen's sketches quite a bit over the last 2 years but don't think I ever did this one! I think it worked great with these photos! If you haven't visited Sketches In Thyme yet, you really should! The "Mavens" over there do some awesome work and several of them happen to be my very favorite bloggers as indicated in my post below!! The site is run by Kim and Debbie, Barb and Brenda are all Mavens there! I also created this layout with a Challenge over at A Cherry On Top in mind. The Summer Crop was this past weekend and while I couldn't be there for most of it, I am working on the Challenges. This one was to take inspiration from a piece of clothing. I used my daughter's Hollister t-shirt as inspiration.  Here's the shirt:

Flowers, Buttons and SILICONE?

I woke early this morning (5:30am) to the smell of coffee and sounds of John getting ready to go fishing again. I was sleeping on the couch because I just can't get comfortable in bed with the pulled stomach muscles I have now given myself due to all the coughing. I've stayed inside ALL weekend long...the longest I've been outside was to photograph layouts! I played around with different variations of this layout for hours. Just couldn't get anything to go the way I wanted. After doing so many layouts on Friday and Saturday that I really liked, I was a little annoyed that this was taking so long. Finally I just made myself start gluing...had it not been for that, I may still be moving things around! Now that its done, its one of my new favorite pages. All the paper is My Minds Eye Just Dreamy 2.

This page has a lot of dimension to it with the flowers, the leaves, the thick letters (which nearly gave my Cricut machine a fit!) and the chipboard heart raised up on pop dots with a flower on top of that. It was quite relaxing to sit in the quiet house while the kids were still sleeping, just making flowers. All the flowers and leaves, the heart and the title (both the pp and the chipboard) were cut on the Cricut using the Plantin Schoolbook Cartridge.  Using the Cricut qualifies this layout for ScrapFit Challenge 21 - Exercise Machines.  Some of the flowers have button centers, qualifying this layout for the Frosted Design challenge, and others have Dew Drops for the centers but you can't really see them in the picture. The flowers qualify for the Alphabet Challenge Blog: F Is For Flowers. I added some Stickles to the border of the heart which doesn't show well either. I had to wait for the kids to get up before I started distressing with the Distrezz-It-All. Believe me when I tell you it sounds like you are cutting wood on a table saw, its THAT loud!!

I've discovered a new adhesive that is perfect for pages like this. Its called Helmar Scrap Dots and I got it at A Cherry On Top in my last order. Basically its silicone for scrappers! Put a blob where you want your flower and gently push the flower into it. Once dry, they aren't going anywhere! I used it on the leaves as well along the fold so that both edges of the leaves could be raised from the paper. If you look closely at the picture below you can see the silicone blob under one of the flowers. John just shook his head when I told him I paid $3.50 for a small tube of the silicone glue. Told me I could get an entire caulk-gun sized tube for that at Home Depot! LOL!

I think I will go blop hopping now to see what everyone else has been up to since I don't feel too much mojo today and can't bear the thought of another 7 hour layout! Plus its Sunday....there's a few new challenges posted around the web today. I can make my attack plan for next weekend!