Isn't She Lovely?

I was challenged to use some song lyrics to title a layout. I love this pic of Kendra from our vacation this past summer so the phrase, "Isn't she lovely?" came to mind. Chalk it up to a prejudiced Mom if you want. :)

The card under the "K" lifts up to reveal journaling which says:
Our summer vacation this year included a couple day trips as a family. On this Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007, wearing her favorite dress, Kendra let me do a mini photo shoot. While she grows more lovely on the outside all the time, what the camera doesn't show is how lovely she is becoming on the inside. She has had a rough year physically. However, she's allowing the Lord to help her grow spiritually thru these tough times. It's exciting to watch her growing and maturing. We are looking forward to seeing how the Lord will use her and the lessons she's learning in her future. To us, she's very lovely.

Happy Fall Y'all

Happy Fall Y'all! I know, I bet you are wondering why a California girl would be saying y'all? Well, my Mom is from Texas and my niece is living there now (Hi Kelly) so my y'all is for them. I have been hecka busy as I have made a little change in my job. I have decided to take a break from the salon and have started working at our one and only department store through the holidays. The only bummer is the hours. Right now, I am working the 3-8 shift and have to miss being at home for dinner. With our busy schedules, dinner was one time when we sat down together. I am hoping to fill my daytime hours with stamping, a little housework, more stamping and maybe learning to use my crockpot a little more. My youngest son (Jon) likes to cook, so that will help some. If you have any good crock pot or make ahead casserole recipes I would love to have them. Now, for details on my card. The bird tree stamp and the swirly stamp are from Hero Arts. I stamped the tree several times on glossy cardstock with Versamark ink and then brayered my Kaleidacolor pad over the top. The card layers are Bazzill and the inks used were Versacolor. Tied the card with a little ribbon and added a mini safety pin to the knot. (Any hints on ways to use the mini pins would be greatly appreciated). Well, I am off to watch a little t.v. before I turn in for the night. Hugs to all.

God's Comfort

I've been working on another circle journal layout. This time, the topic is to scrap a time when we felt the Lord's presence in our lives. I chose the period of time after my Mom died. That was a time when I truly felt the Lord's presence, grace, & comfort. Here's my LO. The picture is from our wedding.



The journaling says: Feb. 23, 1992, God called my mom Home to be with Him. I had never had to face anything so difficult before. One afternoon, as I lay on our bed, I remember praying, "Lord, I can't do this by myself. You have to help me." And He did. I felt His peace like I never had before. I've never forgotten His comfort and it's helped me have the faith to know He'll help me thru other difficult times as well.

Words of Comfort Card Deck

I made a deck of "comfort verses" for a friend that is going thru a really rough time right now. These are the Scriptures I go to when I need the Lord's comfort. I also included the words to a song that I find myself singing whenever those tough times come. I'm hoping she will find comfort & encouragement in these cards too.


I altered some cards from a kids' deck of "Go Fish" cards to make my deck/mini-album. Some of the cards are blank on the back -- though they are covered with the patterned paper. This mini-album or deck does have a back cover. But since it's just covered with patterned paper and no ribbons or embellishments, I didn't include pics. I used a note-book ring to bind them together and tied ribbons on the ring to hide it & decorate it.














This is my theme song during the storms of life. The chorus has been my prayer on many occasions when I just didn't know what or how to pray.

Prismacolor Fence

Is this your fence? I don't know whose fence it is. I received this picture in an e-mail and couldn't believe how much it looked like my Prismacolor pencils. Now, if someone was creative enough to paint the fence this way, I wonder what kind of artist they are. I'm thinking this fence could easily belong to someone like Dave Brethauer or Karen Lockhart. Both are genius's in my book when it comes to coloring with pencils. Speaking of Karen Lockhart, she has agreed to come and teach next May (yes, not until 2008) at The Great Yosemite Stamp Escape. I am so excited about this because maybe (fingers crossed here) I will learn to properly color with my beloved pencils. I am almost embarrassed to say I have every color they make and don't really use them much. From time to time, I will use my pencils with Gamsol to achieve a blended/shaded look, but not that often. Come on May, I can't wait! If you are interested in coming to the retreat, click the link above for more info. Sharon should be finalizing the details soon and uploading the 2008 registration form. Aside from Karen Lockhart, the other instructors are: Michael Strong from Michael Strong Rubber Stamps, Lynell Harlow from Dreamweaver Stencils and Gail Ellison from ArtLenz.

On another front, I am looking for a new digital camera. I am looking for: simple, point and shoot with decent zoom. I want a camera that will allow me to photograph my cards/artwork and the beautiful nature/scenery around where I live. Any suggestions?

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by my friend Patter http://triplethescraps.blogspot.com/.

Here are the rules which must be posted on your blog if you are tagged:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Here are the 7 facts about me:

1. I do NOT like mornings. I can stay up late at night pretty easily but get up early in the AM -- YUCK!
2. My favorite drink is a mocha cappuccino (white chocolate preferably).
3. I'm a pastor's daughter, a pastor's wife, and a future-pastor's mother.
4. I really enjoy old classic musicals.
5. I love cats. My family & I are currently owned by 3.
6. My favorite season of the year is fall.
7. I love a clean house but do not like house-cleaning.

I now tag 7 of my friends:

Bethy http://scraps-n-such.com/scrapbits/?cat=3
Gina http://ginablogs-a-lot.blogspot.com/
Noel http://noelmignonlayouts.blogspot.com/index.html
Sabrina http://withallmyheartsabrina.blogspot.com/
Erika http://scrappycrafts.blogspot.com/
Sara http://rainbowcloudsbermuda.blogspot.com/
Erin http://erinbassett.typepad.com/


Have fun!

Sasha Belle

This was for Round 1 of the current Chinese Whispers game on ScrapJazz. It was just released to be posted today.

Journaling: We adopted Sasha on 1-26-06, when she was about 6 mos. old. Since that time she was brought lots of fun & playfulness to our home. She keeps the other cats moving with her love of running, chasing & wrestling. She hold the firm belief that anything & everything was meant for her to play with. She is our adorable "Sasha Belle."

Journaling around top pic: On my scrap chair waiting to scrap with me.

Journaling around bottom pic: Surveying things from the top of the cat tree.

Kendra-isms

One of the monthly challenges on Scraps-n-Such is to scrap an ISMs page. An "ism" is a saying that is unique to a family or person. Maybe something cute a child said when they were little or family expressions. Here is my page of Kendra-isms. The pictures were taken when she was almost 2. The sayings span a range from early talking to about 5.

Papa's Pumpkin

My dad decorated a pumpkin at his assisted living facility. He really enjoyed himself. Here's a LO I did of his pumpkin. Dad was a soldier in the Marines during WWII. He's still quite patriotic and carried that love into his pumpkin decoration.

Water

This week's weight loss card theme was Water. Do we drink it? Why or why not? What do you like about water, etc.? Here's my card:

Olivia and Friends

Wow! What a busy week. I finally made a little time to stamp using this cute image from Stampendous. I just love the "Olivia" stamps. This one is pretty simple, I just colored in with Tombow markers and added a little Stardust pen on the flower to give it a little bling, bling.Here is a close up of the flower. I used green Tsumugi cardstock, Bo Bunny Tuscany cardstock and some red confetti cardstock. The brads are from the We R Memory Keepers Hardware kit. Need the stamp? You can get it here.

I am sorry about the quality of the photo, I think my digital camera must be on its last legs! C'mon Santa, bring me a new camera........please!

Mini-Album for my new great-niece

I recently had a great-niece born (I have 4 great-nephews). I made a mini-album from envelopes for her. Here are some pics of it. All pages have a pull-out insert. Most of these inserts have space for her parents and other family members to record their thoughts about her arrival.

First Design Team Projects

I submitted my first projects for my design team. They were published in the monthly ezine on http://www.faithfullyyours.net/ this past Friday. I was given a kit of papers and some embellishments and was to make a minimum of 1 layout, one project and 1 card from the kit. At least 1 layout had to be with the theme of Pastor Appreciation. Since my hubby is a pastor, this was pretty easy for me. I ended up with 3 layouts, 1 project and 1 card. Here are my layouts and card.

More Weight Loss Cards

Here are my next two weight loss cards.

For this one, we were to journal about our feelings about exercising. What exercise do we do, do we like exercise, etc.

For this one, we were to journal about eating out. Do we eat out? How do we make sure not to blow our diet? Etc.

Oct. Card Buffet

We had a "card buffet" at church recently. A Stampin' Up rep came and set up 11 stations of cards. We could pick & choose which cards we wanted to make. I did all of them. LOL I like having a stash of cards all ready to be sent out. We also decided to decorate the envelopes to match our cards. It was a very fun evening.

I've entered a contest

Well, over at Art Impressions they have a contest 6 times a year. First prize is a $50.00 gift cert, 2nd gets a $30.00 gift cert and 3rd place gets $20.00. I had recently looked and saw that the theme for September was Black/White. I remembered that I had made a "victorian" card a while back that was done with Art Impression stamps. So I took the plunge and uploaded it. The only thing is most of the cards look square and a bit stretched out. Bummer. If you get a chance, take a look at the entries and vote for your favorite.