National Scrapbook Day is Saturday May 3rd

Mark you calendars for a fun all day crop! I have booked the private room at Sherri's from 9-4 on May 3rd and have lots of fun things planned for my fellow scrappers and papercrafters including gifts and prizes. Contact me for more info and to reserve your spot today

thankful

As I go through my days this is the feeling that i find myself feeling more and more often these days. There was a time when I had trouble believing i would ever feel thankful again.

Now I am thankful for the strength to do what I knew was right even though it meant taking a road filled with uncertainty and some very hard times. Thankful that I was able to listen to His voice and trust that he would not let me fall. Thankful that I can still continue to do what is best for my children even if it might not have been my first choice for myself.

So thankful for my children......... Amanda who has such an amazing faith and is one of the world's genuinely good people, Joshua who is struggling so hard to find his way and do the right thing and has such a good heart, Jeremy who is always so concerned about others and so often puts their needs and feelings before his own, and Ashleigh who still has so much learning to do but I have faith she can do it.

So thankful for my mom and dad who have been so awesome this last year and such a good role model for my children.

Thankful for church family for so many things....... an awesome youth pastor who has helped me guide my children along the right path, a pastor who always makes you feel like your needs are THE most important thing to him at any given point in time and can touch the heart of a boy afraid to trust, so many adults willing to step up in support of my children..... as a buddy, a mentor, a benefactor for church camp, anonymous gifts that help pay that bill you had no idea how you would pay, and daily acts that show my children that living in faith is something you do every single moment of your life and not just a Sunday thing. I like to think that I have helped to form my children's faith but I know in my heart the faith of these children would never be so strong if not for the prayers, support, and role modeling of so many people God has put into our lives.

Thankful for online friends. It is hard to explain how someone you have never laid eyes on can be considered one of your best and most trusted friends but it is true. My online friends have prayed for me, sent me words of encouragement and support, let me vent when i needed to...., all of the things my "in real life friends" also do.

And also thankful for the peace and relaxation I find in creating and sharing my love of scrapbooking and papercrafting with others. How many people can truly say they love what they do? I love helping others create and especially that light that shows up in the eyes of someone who is just "getting it" for the first time. I love that my children love and treasure their scrapbooks. I love that I can create gifts from my heart for others that they will treasure.

My oldest daughter

This is my oldest daughter, now 18 and on her own. I am so sad that she dropped out of school and will never have the fun and excitement of senior year. This is the last school portrait that she had done. I used one of Lucy Chesna's sketches as my inspiration and loved that I was able to use up scraps left from a CTMH level one kit that I received in my original consultants kit 2 years ago :-)

patterned papers, cardstock, paper flowers and brads are from CTMH; other paper flowers are doodlebug and prima; flowered ribbon was in my stash; title and monogram done using Cricut

How do you know?

As a lot of you know my oldest twin, Joshua, has been having some difficulties at school and with anger management and impulse control (but only in the school setting and actually only at recess times). We have tried counseling in the past but he flat out refuses to talk to anyone who he does not know and trust. On Thursday we began weekly meetings with our pastor. The first meeting started off rocky with Joshua burying his face in my side and refusing to even look at Marc, let alone speak to him. By the end of the session he was talking pretty freely. He made one statement that almost stopped my heart in mid beat. It helped me to believe that I am doing something right and my children do understand about unconditional love. Here is what he said

Josh said in our counseling session that one of the biggest comforts to him right now is that he knows without a doubt that even when I am not thrilled with his choices I will always love him. When the pastor asked him how he knew this he said "when I am in trouble the very first thing my mom says to me is Joshua I love you no matter what, then she talks about the bad choice and what would have been a better one"

April Crop night

I am looking forward to our second Friday crop night. The really big room we used for March's crop is already booked but there is another good sized room we can use that should be plenty big enough. More details coming as I get things set

March challenge

Better late than never. The idea for this challenge was shared with me by a scrappy friend at http://www.fromhere2scrapternity.com/ (a wonderful faith oriented scrappy spot). She found it originally at a blog she visits called Faith Sisters.

Share in a layout, altered item or journal how you have been redirected by following the spirit. Record a time in your life when God offered you redirection in, your career path, personal goals, family or altered your priorities in another way, to align more with His.

Here are a couple of scriptures that they recommended.

Psalm 62:8 "Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us."
Isaiah 30:21 (NKJV) Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NKJV) 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Crop night was a blast!

We had so many ladies come that we had to set up another table. We had plenty of space and I had a blast just watching and listening as a large group of scrappers created together.

I had some new ladies and even 2 brand new stampers who started doing my calendar create and takes and they did such an awesome job! It was so fun to see them realize how easy stamping is with the Close To My Heart acrylics and get excited with them as they created their perfect papers and embellishments :-) and since I have an area set up for the calendar creating at each crop with the demos and supplies for all pages so far it really is very easy to jump into it at any time.

My friend Charlotte won my door prize drawing from last month's crop and was quite excited with her prize........... a serendipty kit. I will be drawing for last night's winner within the next few days

Another layout :-)

This one still needs photos but I wanted to play around with one of the new CTMH paper packs called Good Times. I LOVE the colors in it and the stamp set I used here is also one of my new favorites call Magic Moments. I just love that it has 2 clock face sizes and you can stamp the hands to say whatever time you want! I might have to redo my children's birth layouts so I can stamp the time they were born on the clock face. How cool would that be?

My March calendar page

I am doing a calendar page per month with the idea of having a 2009 gift calendar completed for a christmas gift. Easter falls in April next year so I decided to do a St. Pat's day theme for march (My mom's family is Irish)

All products are CTMH: papers are Floral Tapestry; garden green ribbon and ink, stamp sets used are March Word Puzzle, Lucky you, Whimsy caps, and Playful. Also used Cricut cartidges: George and Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More

My February challenge layout

A little late getting uploaded but here it is :-) The pics are from my 3 youngest children's baptism days . The layout design is based on a sketch assignment from Lucy at http://mysketchworld.blogspot.com/ I have really enjoyed my time as one of her creative team members.

I used patterned papers, cardstock, and stickease from the CTMH "Free sprit" Collection. the title and sub title on the circles are stamped using CTMH sets Playful, whimsy caps, classic caps, and tiny typewriter. There is a pull out journal block under the largest photo.