Scrappy Stuff... CX dt projects and GCD Studios dt search!

It's finally the weekend! Wooo-hooo! Today's a lazy day for sure, but I have a bit of company. I'm doggy-sittin' for my doggy niece again this weekend while my brother and SIL are out of town. We kept her last weekend too, but she got really mad and persnickity because another little 2 month old puppy came to visit, and well, Princess Jenna didn't want to have anything to do with Molly the puppy! She was sooo jealous. But now she's all better... no lil' new puppy on the block to contend with, lol!

Anyway, I have alot of scrapbooking stuff to upload and share and I've even been busy scrapping this past weekend for the GCD Studios Design Team search!

First though, here's my CX dt projects from last month... I had to create 2 cards and one layout using the "Bazzill Fourz" cardstock color packs. I really had fun with all these because I focused on using cardstock for the majority of the product, when I usually tend to layer on the patterns in my work.

Again, if you click on the titles to each of the projects you can read the full tutorials for them over at my CX design team blogs... and again I thank you for looking!

"Cherish" card, (Bazzill Fourz assignment - Turquoise)

"Hello", Paisley card (Bazzill Fourz assignment - True Blue)

"Taking the Scenic Route", layout (Bazzill Fourz assignment - Turquoise)

And now for GCD Studios... yes, they are having a Design Team search and it ends today. I decided to finally hit "SEND". I know that my chances of making the team are as good as getting a winning lottery ticket (I read on their blog that they have over 350 some entries submitted), but hey... it got me scrapping this past week at least and I really like what I was able to turn out using the papers I could find of their's. Good luck to all the other talented ladies who are going for this too!

Here's what I did...

"New Home For the Holidays"

"Ginger"

"Santa's Helper"

I will say that I do think the GCD papers are beautiful, and they are definitely top-notch quality! Give them a try if you haven't already!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! :)

Exactly a year ago to this day...

all was happy in my world! It was Easter Sunday and we were so very excited to be breaking the news to my family that I was once again expecting! If I had known then, that two weeks later my dad was going to die and that 2 months after that, we would be losing yet another daughter... I would have thought it all to be the cruelest heartbreak of anything that could be thrown my way... and well, it is, and that's how I feel a year later. But, we are doing well. Some days are just down right crazy hard to deal, but for the most part, we forge through. I am still so appreciative of all the people and friends who continue to pray for us and keep us in your thoughts, and I just want everyone to know that we rely on those P&T to help us through those hardest of days! :) In the midst of it all, we are still blessed!

I am ever so happy that Spring is finally here and that in this part of the state, it does seem to be getting warmer! Although... it can warm up a significant amount more too! I really wouldn't mind! I was busy last week changing out the clothes in my closet in hopes of preparing for the warmer weather. I packed up the majority of my long sleeved sweaters and turtlenecks in totes and brought out other totes with my Spring clothes. I'm still working on getting most of it all washed. I am most excited to break out all my Birkenstocks! I hate wearing socks and shoes and having my toes all trapped... they are eager to breathe!

Not too much has been going on here, thus the lack of updates on this blog. I haven't even really been doing much at all in the lines of scrapping... except for design team work. Again, can't wait for it to warm up so I can finally get back to working in my scraproom in the basement. The only time we are down there now is usually when we have people over to play pool some evenings and then we have the wood stove roaring! I don't light up the stove down there during the day when it's just me here, so it's too too cold for me down there right now. Such a pain because everytime I want to scrap, I have to go down and bring stuff up!

So for now, I'll end this with a few more scrapbook layouts that I did for my assignments at CX for the month of February. For these I had to design my pages using the design principle of "Asymmetry". You can view my full project tutorials over at my CX project blogs when you click on the title to each page here. These were both fun to do and I used the Basic Grey "Offbeat" collection for both. Thanks again for looking :)

Wii Golf & Wii Bowl!

Skloosh, Wet n Wild!

Imaginisce!

I am so far behind in updating my CX DT assignments here...

so that's what I'm gonna do!

These are all projects that I did for the month of December, and I got to create with the new whimsical Twitterpated paper and embellishments from Imaginisce!

I have to admit, this isn't really a collection that I would normally gravitate to,

but I actually found them to be so fun and versatile to work with.

With these assignments I also had to focus on using my Cricut and Cuttlebug to aid me in creating fresh embellishments to work along with the Imaginisce.

So here's what I created...

Spring Day in the Park

Here are close up shots of the detail for the floral and butterfly embellishments I made using the Cricut "Storybook" cartridge. Storybook is my favorite... if you are a Cricut user and you have yet to get this one... it's a MUST, IMO! I used the "Textile" Cuttlebug embossing folder for these...

I also did two different cards for this assignment...

All Creatures Great & Small

This card was designed as a general "all occassions" themed card. Again I used my favorite, "Storybook" cart for the sweet owl scalloped frame.

So Mushroom In My Heart

I love the look of shaped cards, and this was so fun for me to create. I got the inspiration for creating this mushroom card from a sheet of mushroom patterned paper and mushroom chipboard stickers that are included in this Twitterpated collection. With the "So Mushroom" ("So Much Room"), I created a clever play on words for the card's sentiment.

I could not find a mushroom image in my Cricut collection of carts, so I improvised by finding other images that I could put together to create the mushroom design. A flower vase image transformed easily into a mushroom stem and the body of a ladybug was used to create the mushroom's cap. Both images were found on the "Walk In My Garden" cart, and both images had to be tweaked a bit, but it worked!

To view complete product lists and tutorials of any of these projects you can click on the bolded titles to take you to my CreativeXpress blogs.

Well, it's now March already and it's almost Friday too... how time flies! Hope everyone has a great weekend! I think it's supposed to be sunny and warmer here, so it's all good ;) Enjoy!

Hmmm... did they take away the space for titling posts here on blogger? I don't see the title field anymore... ahhh well!

Anyway...

OKay... I have tried not to be vocal about my true feelings pertaining to "Octo-mom" and her babies. But as I keep watching report after report about them I keep getting more and more pissed off. These babies are innocent in all this, but Nadya is not... she knew she was playing with fire when she decided to have another 6 embryos implanted AT ONE TIME, knowing full well that she couldn't even support the 6 kids she currently had. So now there are 14 beautiful children and she has no suitable home for them. She has no vehicle capable of transporting them. She has no income to support her family, as she has no job. Including brain cells, I could continue to list more and more of what she is lacking. So today I'm watching Dr. Phil, who has become somewhat of an advocate for this lunatic. At the end of today's show he mentions that the time is approaching for some of the babies to be ready to leave, but that the hospital will not release them to the care of Nadya until there are suitable living arrangements for the babies and the rest of her family. Dr. Phil says that he knows that people do not agree with the actions of this mother and people are fed up, but he hopes that people won't forget that the babies are the ones who should not be ignored in all this mess. Well, it is a mess, and I don't think there is an easy solution. So what's gonna give? Who's gonna end up paying for this family? I don't know, but I really don't think that she should be able to exploit these precious babies and children. In my mind, I feel as though she has been looking for all the hand-outs she can possibly get and it's criminal! Maybe she should be made to forfeit her babies...put them up for adoption. I won't lie, that may sound harsh to make her give them up. I know, I'm just thinking this because I'm mad and I don't really want that for her, but I thought of it nontheless! I mean, I wouldn't want to be made to give up my own children myself. BUT...how is she ever going to be able to take care of them physically and financially all by herself? I just feel like she is so selfish!!

Yes, I can admit that I have problems with this situation in that it's so hard for me to comprehend that this woman was able to carry and bring into this world, not just one, but eight babies at one time. I have asked God many times why something so miraculous can happen to another woman, while I have struggled so much just to have the chance to try to have my own take home baby! I have not gotten any answer. I don't think I will understand any of this... why I was chosen to experience the loss of my own baby, not once, but three times. But I believe that God has a just plan for me in all this and that he's guiding me onto something more grand... something more than I could ever imagine. At least that is what I hope.

I've Sluffed Off of the blogging...

and I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I posted any updates! I really don't have any good excuses except to say that the holidays probably threw me off a bit and I just haven't been feeling like doing much of anything these days. So, rather than come on here and moan and groan about how life sucks lately, I decided to stay away. But, I'm back.

Christmas was okay. Our lil' family all gathered here at our new home on Christmas Day and it was really nice. We all had many many thoughts of dad and happy memories of him circulating around all day long and I know that I could feel his presence here in spirit. Rather than having an empty space at the head of the dining room table where dad usually would sit, we placed a pillar candle in place of the plate-setting, and lit it while we were having our meal. My mom, my brother, my niece and I also received very special gifts that day courtesy of my sister-in-law, Wendy. After dad died and we had gone through his things in preparation of moving mom, Wendy saved articles of dad's clothing and gave them to her sister who makes quilts. So we were all very surprised Christmas day when each of us opened up boxes with our own lap-sized quilt made from fabric remnants of dad's clothes! She also included this framed poem inside the box with the quilt...

Little bits of fabric

Sewn into a quilt

Form a warm and loving blanket

From which memories are built,

And when you seek

Peace and comfort

In the quiet of the night,

It will keep you warm and snug

Until the morning's light.

All of the quilts looked different, as each was made using different pieces of his clothing. Mine is white, tan and blue... the blue from a pair of basketball shorts he liked to wear while lounging about the house. The tans came from some of his khaki pants and the white from his t-shirts. I just love this quilt, and we keep closeby on the back of our reclining chair.

A new Michael's Crafts store just recently opened up in our area and I am very excited about that! I haven't been close to a craft store since living in Altoona, and that's been almost 4 years already, so it's about time our area here finally got something. I NEED crafts and scrapbooking stores!!! I also applied for a job there too. I thought it would be perfect since I had 5 years of experience from being a Scrapbooking Dept. head at an AC Moore. I finally feel that I'm to the point where I can get back to working in the public again (most days anyway). I still have anxieties of being around people in public who have babies, and that is one of the things that keeps me from wanting to go back to work. I know probably most people can't understand that and may find it odd, but it is in a way, a disability for me (at least that is my view of it). I hate it, but it is now part of a process for me and I need to work through it. The grieving process and the cycle of re-grouping one's self after the loss of a baby sometimes feels like an eternity. Anyway, looks like I was too late to the party in applying for a full-time position as they were all filled right after the New Year and all that was left were part-time. I did have an interview but was not hired. After finally initiating that first step of wanting to get back to some normalcy, it was a bit disappointing not getting a job, but I'm already over it. So for now, I am still just working from home doing my Design Team work for Creative Xpress, and maybe when the time is right again, something else will fall into my lap.

Since I'm behind in my blogging, I'm also behind in showing my previous CX projects so I'll finally get caught up in posting some of those...these are my projects that were featured over there for the month of November. The scrapbook page is one of my all time favorites... it's photos from my wedding day of dad and I dancing. Such a happy memory!

My assignment this month was to create a Father’s Day page using embellishments created with the Cricut Expressions and Cuttlebug machines.

Having just recently lost my dad, this “Father’s Day” assignment could not have come at a more perfect time. I find scrapbooking to be very theraputic when dealing with a personal loss, and with this I was able to create a meaningful page about my father that I can now treasure.

A full tutorial with supplies and instructions can be found over at my CX BLOGS at Creative Xpress.

And here are 2 Mother's Day themed card ideas that I did...

“God Sent Mothers” Card

Because of the message of the quote that I used here for the card’s sentiment, I chose to create an elegant looking Mother’s Day card. Full tutorial can be found HERE...

Tic Tac Toe “MOM” Card

Again, you can see a full tutorial for this card HERE...

Thanks again for taking a look! :) Enjoy the rest of your weeek!

No, I know it's not Valentine's Day yet...

but I'm going to upload a Valentine's scrapping project anyway :)

I made this as my October design team assignment for CreativeXpress.com. This mini-book with pages and accents created using the Cricut Expressions and Cuttlebug machines, is a fun way for the kids to tuck a way their treasured valentine cards exchanged with their lil' "friends -n- crushes"...

Valentine Cards-Keeper Mini Book w/ Handmade Valentines (Oct.2008 CX dt assignment).

Even though I myself do not have school-age kids, I really enjoyed creating this Valentine Card memory book for young ones to display their treasured card exchanges! This book is very simple to replicate and utilizes a 7" scallop square design for the bases of the entire mini-book, cut from the Cricut Expressions machine. Each page I designed as a "pocket" format for which the Valentine cards can be tucked into.

- I first cut out my front, back and book inserts using a 7" scallop square from the Accent Essentials cartridge. I wanted the front and back covers to be a little more substantial in weight so I also cut out extra pieces from a weighter cardstock, then sandwiched and adhered them between 2 other cut scallop squares of cardstock.

- I then chose the patterned papers that I wanted to use from the Figgy Pudding BasicGrey collection. These papers are typically Christmas theme but I thought they lended very well for a Valentine oriented book! I also cut these papers into 7" scallop squares. These pieces are used for the page inserts and I cut them to alternate in the book as pockets, diagonally and horizontally. After cutting the pieces, I faux-stitched and inked around the edges and adhered to the cardstock page inserts.

- Creating the embellishments for this mini-book was probably the most fun part of this project. I used the clear product packaging that some of my Cricut cartridges were shipped in, and cut out clear acrylic heart and flower embellishments. For these, I used images from the Accent Essential cartridge once again. The heart pieces I even ran through the "Swiss Dots" embossing folder for added texture. Buttons, trim and ribbon, along with some other Cuttlebug die-cut and embossed hearts and stamped images were used to accent the book further...

- I also created two "homemade" Valentine cards using my supplies to show how adorable cards look displayed in this unique Valentine memoir.

Supplies from the CX store:

• 36-8240 - Pomegranate Trio by Bazzill • 03-0122 - Figgy Pudding Collection Pack by Basic Grey • 37-1604 - Swiss Dots Embossing Folder by Cuttlebug • 37-1540 - Deocrative Hearts Embossing Folder by Cuttlebug • 37-1115 - Hearts & Stamps Dies by Cuttlebug, 2 X 6 • 37-1092 - Heart #1 Two-Step Die Set by Cuttlebug, 2 X 2 • 37-1056 - Harmony Alphabet Die Set by Cuttlebug • 35-7638 - StazOn Opaque Cotton White • 03-0304 - Journal Block Clear Stamp by Basic Grey • 03-0033 - Infuse Buttons by Basic Grey • 03-0058 - Recess Ribbon by Basic Grey • 36-5169 - Vintage Hip Trims Gracen by Making Memories • 36-0427 - Embellishment Distressing Kit • 73-3848 - Brown Medium Slick Writer • 24-3072 - Terifically Tacky Tape® by Provo Craft, 1/2" • 31-1002 - 2-Way Glue Pen Fine Tip • 73-6937 - Extra Large Gromlet Cool Metals by We R Memory Keepers • 36-9552 - Crop-A-Dile Eyelet and Snap Punch by We R Memory Keepers • 29-0300 - Expression Machine by Cricut

Other supplies used:-ColorBox Chesnut Roan ink.-White Bazzill cardstock.-Accent Essentials Cricut Cartridge (Offered with Expressions Machine).-Clear product packaging.-Generic cardboard.-Binder ring.

So there it is! Hope you enjoyed the lil' break from Christmas, lol!

As for Christmas, it's approaching quite fast and I suppose I should get myself in gear and get out to those stores to finish up the last of my shopping. Christmas dinner will be hosted here at our new house this year, so that's got me a tad excited! I don't do turkey though so I'll be making my signature specialty, "Mushroom Wine Chicken", and mom's bringing the Prime Rib!

I'm not sure I'll be making another post by Christmas, but I will try. If not though, I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I hope that you really take effort in enjoying your time spent with your family and friends closeby! Make some special memories!

Trying Ohhh Sooo Hard!

That's me... tryin' so hard to gain some spirit! It's already the 10th of December, and I'm just not feelin' it. Where's my Christmas spirit? I do wish I could find it, but it's just too hard this year. I'm just kind of going through the motions right now and trying to make it to a new year. I just can hardly fathom that we will be having Christmas without Dad... he absolutely loved Christmas with his whole heart. As he stated in his family Christmas newsletter last year, "I am positively and absolutely, unapologetically a Christmas groupie -- not quite a junkie, but surely a groupie." And so he was!

I've put up some decorations, but that's about the extent of it. I am so happy that we now have our own home this year and I do enjoy decorating for the holidays, but I just can't seem to get the full-blown enjoyment out of it right now. At this time last year, we were spending time in my parent's home... we were away at friend's for the weekend and we had stopped into Altoona to see how my dad decked out their house for Christmas. I am just so sad and hurt that the "magic" that my dad seemed to put into our Christmas celebrations will never be embraced again. All we have now are memories.

Aside from the decorations part, Christmas Eve will forever be changed without my dad's messages. I looked forward to going home to church every Christmas Eve to hear my dad preach... and luckily we took the video camera with us to the service last year and did record some of my dad's very last Christmas Eve service. Now I can barely even make it into a church. I know it shouldn't be that way, but I believe it's just temporary as I continue to grieve and let out my frustrations. Afterall, I don't go to church to worship my dad... I go to worhip God.

And, then there is Amelia. This was to be our first Christmas with our new baby Amelia. Again, this just doesn't seem fair. But, we will make it. We might not have everything that we had hoped we'd have, but there is still so much that we DO have, and I know that we are blessed in many ways. So with that thought, I will just say that God is good and merciful!

So like I said, I have put up some decorations and I'd like to share them of course! I didn't get around to any of my usual cookie baking or card-making for this year, but I always decorate.

I love that we now have a fireplace mantel to embellish...

The carved angel with the nativity scene is a Jim Shore collectible piece that we actually gave as a present to my dad last Christmas. He had just started collecting some of the Jim shore pieces about a year before. I think it's beautiful on our mantel, and I can't help but to think of him every time I look at it!

The metal silver tree is also from my parents collection. I've decorated it with all old glass ornaments from when my mom and dad were kids. The Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus wall hanging is actually a pastel drawing/painting that I did one year for them as a gift.

I decided that this year, the only tree that I wanted us to put up was the babies' tree. Last year I had been wanting to get a small white tree to hold all the ornaments that I was collecting in memory of our first baby and of Ava. I found a cute pre-lit white tree the day after Christmas. Since we now lost Amelia too, I thought that we could honor their remembrance this year by putting up their baby tree only, and I think that is what we'll do now every year until and "if" we welcome home another baby. Here's the tree and a few close-ups of some of the new ornaments for this year...

And last for the time being, my wonderful hubby brought me home a beautiful surprise the other night. He got these three sweet bear stockings embroidered with each of the baby's names! I was speechless...

He said he wants us to start our own new Christmas tradition of writing notes to our angels every Christmas Eve and putting them into their stockings! Isn't that a beautiful tradition?! I think so!