family.

Sketch This #52

Lotus Paperie #74

I had such a great "weekend" with my Aunt Kay. My whole family was blessed by her visit. She spoiled the boys with love. She was right there with them, climbing trees, riding bikes and hiking. I don't thing the poor woman was able to rest much during her "vacation". I can not begin to explain how much it meant to me to have my father's sister here with me. The time that I was able to spend talking with her about my father is precious to me. I'll just leave it at that to avoid getting overly sentimental and making myself cry. ;)

On another subject....Susie, a friend from Memorable Seasons posted this blog challenge...Post about something you did as a child that now as an adult you are proud of!

Since this is so fresh in my mind right now, I guess I'll talk a little bit about when my father died. I was 13 years old. You have to understand first that he was my life. I was never very close to my mom but that's a different story. When I lost him my world was shattered. How I was able to stay so strong at that age is really beyond me. I tried for a long time to pick up the pieces at home. I was balancing a budget at the age of 14, trying to show my mom the simplicity of balacing a checkbook. I had two little sisters that desperately needed attention and for awhile I was really there for them. I must admit that it didn't last forever. I failed in so many ways at that time in my life. By the time I was 16, I was pregnant with Jimmy, married, and moved out of the house. I feel as if I abandoned my sisters but without going into details, I really felt that I had to get out of there. For my strength and determination at such a young age I am very proud. Don't get me wrong, in the same breath, I am ashamed. But sometimes that is just how it is.

a special visitor.

I probably won't be updating much for the next week. My Aunt Kay is coming to visit from Florida and I'm so excited. We don't have any specific plans other than to just spend time together and enjoy. My children can't wait for her to get here, especially Nick and Josh. It makes me so happy to see the love that they have for her. My kids have grown up not knowing any of my family, not even my mother. It's really sad. But anyway....Aunt Kay will be here and we just can't wait! :) So, if you don't hear from me for awhile this is why. ;)

I'll leave you with some new projects.

Sketch This 51

look at that face. :)

heehee look close at the bottom row of photos. These were taken 3-06.

These are my Mother's Day gifts from Nick and Josh this year. Treasures. :)

sick weekend.

Not much going on here lately. Andrew has been sick. He coughed all night on Thursday and neither of us were able to get much sleep. Friday afternoon I was able to get him in to the doctor and he was diagnosed with croup and tonsillitis. Poor baby. No wonder he would cry every time he would cough. His poor little throat was super sore. He is finally feeling some better after antibiotics, steroids and round-the-clock nebulizers.

I didn't get much of anything done scrappy wise this weekend with a clingy baby but hope to be able to work on something today. We'll see. :)

my big announcement....

I figured it was time to clue everyone in on the big secret I've been keeping. (and NO I am not pregnant again. lol)

I am proud to announce that I am going to be coordinating the newly developed Hometown Bloggers Crew for Croppinsville! This Crew is a wonderful team of talented designers and writers, brought together by Croppinsville to bring you the latest news, fun product reviews, exciting challenges and dynamic designs. Together we are going to tune you in to terrific tutorials, sensational swaps, and some super fun memes. We'll also amuse you with games and reward you with lots of Blog Candy, Raks and Prizes!

Croppinsville is a new store just starting out that will have some awesome prices, spectacular sales, super great customer service, a fantastic customer rewards program, and free shipping with orders over $60. Make sure to come check us out! http://www.croppinsville.blogspot.com/

Make sure to check out Croppinsville's latest contest. Allie Gower is the owner and she is one awesome lady. Right now to be entered for a chance to win one of FIVE prizes all that you have to do leave a comment telling Allie your opinion on what it takes to make the best scrappin' store on the web. What makes you keep coming back? Here's the link.

Of course, I have to leave you with a couple of recent layouts. :)

Sketch This # 50!

The Sketch This blog has hit it's 50th sketch this week! How exciting! To celebrate there are a couple of great RAKS to be won! Check out the details here. I can't wait to see what you will do!

happy mother's day!

I just wanted to wish all the moms out there a Happy Mother's Day! We are going to be taking my mom to lunch tomorrow afternoon and Nick's mom to dinner in the evening. Then, it's the Survivor finale. lol What are you plans for the day?

Today this arrived in my email box. It's the first Cranio Kids newsletter. How exciting! There has been so much going on lately. A couple of the ladies have talked to photographer Rick Guidotti and are trying to set up a time and place for him to take photographs of our cranio children for an awareness campaign. Here's his site.... Positive Exposure . His work is just amazing. This is a very exciting step for us!

Well, I'm off to relax some. I've been fighting a migraine all day today. (yuck) I hope everyone is having a great weekend and will have a wonderful Mother's Day! :)

great news.

ok, so the top journaling stip is crooked in this pic.

As soon as I realized it, I did fix it.

I'm just too lazy to take a new pic. ;)

This is my card for this week's Sketch This blog.

sketch #49

I went to see the endocrinologist yesterday and I have wonderful, fabulous news. My A1C was 3.8. For those of you that might not know, an A1C is a test that tells you your average blood glucose level over the past three months. The average reading for a non-diabetic is somewhere between 4 and 7. So....I guess this explains all of the low sugars I've been having. Doc wants me off my insulin (oh darn) and wants me to monitor for two weeks to see what my glucose readings are. Ideally he would like to just put me on glucophage (pills) but I can't take that while breastfeeding. Anyway, I'll be testing 4 x's a day and hopefully all will be well enough that I don't have to go back on the insulin.

In other news, it's the weekend again. Yippee! I have a wedding shower to go to tomorrow and church on Sunday but no other plans. I hope the weather is nice. Maybe we can get out the deck furniture and lounge a little. :)

why?

I was asked recently, "Why do you scrapbook?" At first I felt kind of defensive because some people just don't understand. But that's okay, I just don't "get" other peoples hobbies sometimes either. I mean look at my husband, how many non-running cars does one man need?

This weekend, for the NSD crop we were challenged to make a layout telling why we scrap. There are many reasons why I do, one being that I absolutely LOVE the creative aspect but here is the main reason...


Jounaling reads:

Why do I scrapbook?

This photo is the perfect example.

I know that this is my mom.

I know that it is probably in the 70's.

I do not know why she is smiling.

I do not know who took this picture.

I do not know what she is cooking.

I want my children to KNOW these things.

more NSD projects...

Not much going on today. I'm caught up on laundry for at least the next hour. lol The house could use some straightening but not too badly. Maybe I will scrap some. I didn't do anything scrapbook related yesterday besides clean up my MESSY table from the weekend. I should of taken a pic - it was horrendous! It's never ever looked like that. I must have been in the zone 'cause I'm usually quite OCD about cleaning it up after each project.

Anyway, I'm almost ready to reveal my new scrapping venture with a new store... It'll probably be just a few more days. But I'm super excited. Stay tuned. ;)

wow. wow. wow.

Just a few of my NSD creations....

the challenge was to use an imperfect photo

This was a vintage photo challenge - very new to me and way out of my comfort zone

This one was a scraplift challenge with Hilde's gorgeous work as inspiration. :)

I am a tired lady. This weekend kicked my butt. I scrapped like I've never scrapped in my life. I hosted challenges at Memorable Seasons and also participated in challenges at A Million Memories. I scrapped a total of 10 layouts and 12 cards. I was so exhausted while making the last card that I don't know how I didn't fall asleep and impale myself on my scissors. ;)

I decided not to "torture" you with all the pages now. I'll just do a few at a time. :) What did you guys do this weekend?

Happy NSD!

Okay, I know there are some of you wondering what the heck is NSD....It's National Scrapbook Day. :)

Today I'm busy hosting challenges at Memorable Seasons and trying to jump in on some great challenges at a few other places. Nick took the boys out for the day and I have my scraproom to myself. WooHoo!

Here are some projects that I did ahead of time...

This one is for a *clear embellishment* challenge.

I used Poly Shrink for the flower (think Shrinky Dinks)

These cards are for my *use your stash* challenge

Look at that old Chatterbox

This layout is also for the *use your stash* challenge.

Do you recognize the vintage Basic Grey?

I made this card using the Memorable Seasons Logo as inspiration

Happy NSD to those of you celebrating! :)

design team projects...

Yesterday I received my first package of goodies from Jill at Memorable Seasons. Fun stuff! Love the White Out Collection by We R Memory Keepers. It is perfect for me. :) I also received some Little Yellow Bicycle, Sharon Ann. It is very pink and girly so it'll be more of a challenge for me. Maybe I'll use it for my Mother's Day cards.