Here is the layout I just completed for my 2nd design team assignment. We had several things to pick from that we could use that were spring related. I picked these purple mats from Scrapworks. The papers I picked to use with it are American Crafts. This was a little different for me as I rarely like to work on white cardstock. It seems so bright or bare or something. For whatever reason though, this layout just seemed to call for it. I am pleased with the results. The beautiful little girl is my niece Lauryn. We were at an Easter Egg hunt at church and one of the activities the kids got to do was to decorate 2 cookies. After she frosted them, she sat there with her little bottle of colored sugar and shook it until she emptied every last bit of sugar on those cookies. It was so cute and so funny. She had the attention of everyone in the room. She just kept looking at us like what's so funny? It was adorable.

Well it's only Monday but the weekend was so busy and the week isn't looking much different. At least I can cross a DT layout off of my to do list right?

Hope you have a fabulous week.

Blessings!

So here is my pretty pink bowl. I made it at "Fired Up" which is one of those paint your own pottery kind of places. My Mom & sisters and I went there a week or so ago just for fun. We had gone the year before because I wanted to make a mug for my husband for a Valentine's Day gift. This year it was my sister's idea to go again. So, this time around I decided to make something fun for myself. Of course it needed to be pink, then I also decided I wanted flowers. The very first flower I drew on and painted in. Well it was immediately apparent that was going to take way more time and patience than I possess, so I quickly switched to just painting on the shapes as I went. When we had gone the prior year, I had bought a bottle of the dimensional pottery paint. I remembered to bring it back with me this year so I had some fun with that outlining my flowers. Yes, it is not so perfect and exact but that was the look I was going for... honest. I know, hard to believe if you know much about me. Now to decide where to put it. I am torn between my scrap room and my office at work. Maybe I will just have to go back and make another. I noticed they also had cute little post it note holders and things like that so that could be more fun stuff to go and paint pink.

Look at what was installed at church today. Our new church building is so close to being completed. This is a picture of the new chapel which is just outside of the sanctuary. Following the fire back in Feb 05, these stained glass windows were saved from our chapel at that time. They were very badly blackened and had some damage but we hoped to have them restored. They were taken to a place in a nearby town that had to completely take them apart, and by that I mean each little section of glass, clean them, repair them, and then re-lead them to put it all back together. Now they have the perfect spot in these windows that flank the chapel doors. I think they are so beautiful. They just exude peace to me and invite me to come into the chapel. What a blessing to have a piece of our former church home in our new home.

Did you have a good Friday? Mine went OK I guess. I was kind of tired and unmotivated. Early in the day some comments were made to me that hurt my feelings and I had a hard time shaking that off the whole rest of the day. I was feeling kind of emotional anyway....must be a girl thing right? Well my husband was very sweet in helping me to feel better. He gave me a foot massage when I got home and went and got us a pizza and breadsticks for dinner. We watched a movie and had dinner and have just had some relaxing time. It also didn't hurt to pop over to 2peas and pick out a few new sheets of paper....

Tomorrow we have a Seventh Day Slumber concert at our church. We are praying for a great turn out. I think it will happen and I think it will be a lot of fun. I plan to head for bed shortly so I will be ready for the big day.

Hope you have a great weekend. Blessings!

OK, I am being brave and sharing a rather personal LO here. This is my first assignment for my year long big picture scrapbooking Heidi Swapp class (boy that was a mouthful wasn't it?). The class is called "A Year To Remember" and is worked around a calendar album we are making for the year. For the 1st layout for January we were to pick a goal for the year and then create a layout with information about our goal. The layout was to have a light colored background, a strip of patterned paper, a target somewhere on the page, and then list our goal, the 5 reasons to achieve our goal and what we would tell ourselves each day to stay motivated. It was also to show the goal target date. Heidi also encouraged us to go outside of our comfort zone, I mean that would be the point of the class right, and add things like colored pencil, and different pens and just be more artsy. So this is what I came up with and I am pleased with it. I hesitated to share at first because it is personal. But you know what? I am happy with it, I am excited about it, so I am taking the plunge and sharing. ºÜº Hope you like it too.

It has been a very long day.... Just got home from work at almost 7:00 which is late compared to normal. I still need to find some photos I want to use on the DT layout I have due. I need to do some things to get ready for work tomorrow. I really should work on my other class. It's late though so I guess we will see what I have energy for. Maybe tomorrow I will get a picture taken of the bowl I made at one of those paint your own pottery places and post it. It came out kind of cool. It has pink of course and white and flowers...kind of cute. Now to decide where to use it.

Blessings!

I got my first shipment of Heidi Swapp goodies for my BPS A Year to Remember Class!! Yay. Very cool stuff. The large black box is the calendar album we are using for the year. The pink book is a Heidi idea book!! The left side is stickers, and then on the bottom some "bling" hearts and not sure what the little squares will be for. There is even a Heidi mechanical pencil. Nice touch. Heidi said she will be telling us all about what everything is for on this week's class recording. I am really impressed with the album. Nice quality and I think it will be sooo cool at the end of the year with all of the completed layouts.

I found this on the Internet today at CBD.com!! Charles Martin has a new book coming out at the beginning of April! I cannot wait. He is a fabulous author. I highly recommend checking out any of the books that are linked at the right.

Gotta run and work on my class stuff! Have a great day.

Blessings!

So did you watch the game? Colts won! Wow. It was an exciting game. I am not much of a football fan normally, but it was fun watching the game today and seeing our team win. My husband and I are originally from the Chicago area and the Bears won their game too so it's kind of neat for us to be from Indiana now and have a Bears/Colts Super Bowl. I think the last time I actually watched a Super Bowl game it was when the Bears won the Super Bowl in the 80's. My husband and I were dating at the time. So this year our church is having a Super Bowl party and Chili Cook Off on game day. It will be fun having that while watching the "home town team."

Call off the search! We found the pink curtains today at a Target about 2 hours away. We had to take someone to the airport and stopped and checked a nearby store. I was thrilled to see that they had exactly 2 left!!! So cool. I am now even more excited to get these up in our new bedroom!

We had a great church service this morning. Our Pastor preached about contentment and how that is not found in this world or things...only Christ. He did a great illustration to show how all the things around us are temporary. Only people, only our souls are eternal. He made some good points too about how our culture actually breeds discontent. You know how we think the car we have is great till we see the newest thing out, or how or computer is great until we see the new model, etc. It was really good. I got to sing a song I have been trying to do for about 3 weeks and that was fun too. I so enjoy singing and feel so blessed that God allows me to sing.

Well, need to take a deep breath for a busy week ahead. Need to work of course and its a busy week because we put a church Newsletter out the last full week of the month. Need to do 2 weeks worth of work on my Quick Books class, need to finish my work on my Heidi S. class so I will be current by the end of the month. Need to complete 2 design team layouts and somewhere in there I should probably actually like do the laundry, and some housework don't you think?

Have a great week! Blessings.

So I got my next design team assignment. We had to head in to pick from one of several "spring" items, pick out some papers ourselves to go with it, and then come up with a layout. So, several of the things to choose from were stickers. I am not a big sticker kind of girl, so I chose these spring mats from scrapworks. My search for papers to use with it led me to these patterned papers from American Crafts. So, we shall see what I can come up with from that. I also got some rubons, ribbon, paint and Heidi Swapp Jewels. I used a gift certificate my friend Lisa gave me for Christmas for that. I thought it would coordinate, plus I can use it on other stuff too. Now to find the time to get this done.

Life has gotten so busy. I knew January would be busy, but man.... I would like some quiet now. I thought January would seem more like the lull after Christmas. Not true. My husband and I have had several meetings at church because it is January and new budget time. We had a seminar at church about child protection in the church. We have a 7th Day Slumber concert next weekend. All those things in addition to normal activities. Add to that I started a online class to learn the Quick Books software, and another online class with Big Picture Scrapbooking for Heidi Swapp's "A Year to Remember." They just started and I am already behind. I hate that. Whenever I am behind I can literally feel that thing hanging over my head. So I think my last Blog entry said I was going to use some time that day to get caught up. Umm well that didn't happen so here goes try #2 today. ºÜº

I am having a serious curtain dilema!! I have been talking about this Simply Shabby Chic line at Target that I just love. Well we were wanting to get these long pink velvet curtains. I had them in my hand in December while Christmas shopping and put them back until I could talk with my husband........ Well, now Target is out of them in both of the stores near me and they cannot be ordered online! I am so sad about this. I really wanted these curtains. I only need 2 panels! Just 2! That isn't asking so much right? Well my wondeful sister found 1 panel on ebay so I am going to try and get that without paying a fortune. However I am worried I will end up with 1 and not be able to get another. We are going to be near a couple (ok, I just looked again and there are like 6! stores near where we will be tomorrow so maybe I won't panic just yet...) of other Target stores tomorrow that say they have "limited availability" so we are hoping (and yes, actually praying) that will work out. (yes, I know they are just drapes and life will not end... ) I am seriously close to calling on friends and relatives in other states to run and check the nearest Target store. I guess we will see what tomorrow holds and go from there. The one on ebay says it was a closeout so I am thinking it is not looking good for this being restocked. So anyone, everyone - help! Please let me know if you see 2 packages of the Simply Shabby Chic pink velvet drapery panels. (there is one in each package). ( I should add my husband went to a wood working show today in another town with a bunch of men from our church. The town they went to had some Target stores showing some in stock...now what do you think the odds were of getting a bunch of guys to stop at a Target store to let my husband look for pink curtains for his wife? I am thinking not too good. ºÜº)

Well I better get off of here and start all that catching up I was talking about right? Have a great weekend! Blessings!

Added a new video........is Michael Buble like the coolest or what? I had not seen or heard this rendition of "Spiderman" but thought it was too fun not to use! I dare you to sit still while listening to it. ºÜº

Not much time to Blog today. Trying to catch up with housework, My Quick Books class, my BPS class and get to a seminar at church tonight. I can handle it right?

Are these not the coolest curtain rods? I LOVE them. We picked them up last night at Target. I think I like everything in the Simply Shabby Chic collection. We are using these rods for our bedroom remodel. I love the vintage look, love the crackled glass and LOVE the pink. We are getting the Shabby Chic pink velvet drapes to hang on them. They only had one panel last night or we would have gotten those as well. I cannot wait to see how they look in the room. We also picked up another throw rug like the one I posted a photo of a few weeks back and another throw pillow for the bed. This one is a Shabby pink bolster. So soft and pretty and vintage looking. I've been looking at all the Simply Shabby Chic stuff online this morning and I think I could just about pick out one of everything! They even have cool pink containers, tissue holders, etc. Might have to check those out too! I keep asking my husband - are you sure you are OK with having this stuff in your bedroom. He says he is. The room is mainly sage green with some cream colors. The pink is meant to be more of an accent. Just trying to make sure I am not over powering the guy in the room. Ha. The room isn't even done yet and already the change is amazing and I am just so happy with it.




















So I finally finished The Dead Don't Dance by Charles Martin. Such a good book. I am a fast reader so it was unusual that it took me a long time to finish it. It wasn't that I was reading slowly, more that I just kept getting busy with other stuff and not picking up my book and getting it read. I loved the couple of Maggie & Dylan Styles and loved how Charles Martin wrote Dylan Styles as a man who loved his wife. Seeing a man who truly loves his wife just reaches me right down to my soul. I was talking to my husband about it and said to him that I realized there was a reason seeing that kind of husband and wife relationship in action reaches me like that. I think it is because that is 'how God intended it. How He designed it to be. I mean think about it. We are supposed to become "one." And the Bible says that men are supposed to love their wives like Christ loves the church. So seeing that kind of love in action should get to me right to my soul. I am so blessed to have a man who loves me that way. I have seen that kind of love in Darrel's grandparents. I've seen it in a man in our church as I watched him help his ailing wife take communion. I have seen it in a few men in our church who have lost their wives to illness. I think it will always bring tears to my eyes and like I said ealier touch me right to my soul. What an amazing God we serve that allows us to have that kind of love in our lives here on earth. How much more must He love us to create love like that between 2 pepole.

I would highly recommend The Dead Don't Dance. I have so many pages in my copy dog eared because of some part I loved and wanted to remember and re-read later. I shared tons of passages with my husband. Things like this: "I didn't know who to be till I knew where she was. I needed Mags to tell me who to be - because that would tell me where she was, and most importantly , who we were." That make so much sense to me because that is how being one is. Anyways that is how it is for my husband and I.

So the sequel to this book is Maggie. I started it last night and it is just as good. I have already gotten thru several chapters. He pretty much picks up the story right where it left off. I love that. Hope you will read all of Charles Martin's books.

I am headed to my scrap room today to catch up on some projects. I have a travel journal thing to finish that I started while we were on vacation. I also need to finish up on my Christmas journal. I need to do my Heidi Swapp BPS class assignments and get caught up there. Our first class shipment package should be coming soon. Can't wait to see that!! We have church tomorrow plus a new Coffee House Worhsip night. That should be fun. Hope you have a great weekend.

OK - I am very excited! This is my very first Design Team Layout!! Our assignment was to use some of the papers from the MME Magnolia Line. I chose the sisters papers and embellishments. This was so fun to be handed some paper, a title, 2 die cuts, and a transparency and have someone basically say, ok, let's see what you can do with this. It was fun and I enjoyed the challenge. A couple of things like the title and die cuts were not something I would probably normally buy, so it was fun to kind of make them my own. I am pleased with how it came out. The two beautiful young ladies in the photo are 2 of my nieces. Aren't they cute? They are very good sisters to each other too.

Well, pizza is ready! Gotta run for now! Blessings!

How cool are these Rhonna Farrer Stamps? My friend Lisa and I heard about them on 2 Peas. Someone had found them at Joann's for just $1 a piece. That is an awesome deal. Lisa stopped at Joann's in our town and they said they had them, but they weren't put out yet. When she went back 2 days later, they still weren't all out, but from what I understand they let her look thru the boxes. She is such a great friend she got each of us a set! I am excited to get to create with them. I think it is so cool about stamping and scrapbooking that 2 people can sit down with the same materials and end up with such different results. I love that.

So how has your New Year been so far? For mine, I have been sick! I got this cold/upper respiratory thing full force on New Years Day. Tuesday and Wednesday I was too sick to do much of anything. Thurs. I made it to work, but I was still feeling pretty bad. Started feeling better yesterday, but have been struggling with a cough and the loss of my voice for most of the week. I am still a little better today but boy this thing is really hanging on and just letting go of me a tiny bit at a time. I was supposed to sing at church tomorrow and it is looking pretty much like that isn't going to happen. I am bummed. I really felt like there was a song I was meant to do and I was really looking forward to it.

Today we are finally getting the Christmas decorations down. We also are trying to get unpacked from vacation and get the house back in order. We are wanting to get all that done so we can get back to work on the bedroom remodel. Can't wait to have that finished.














I got to go pick out my first Design Team materials. I need to get a layout completed with the My Minds Eye Magnolia Collection. The papers I ended up with are the "sisters" line. I think I have a photo of 2 of my nieces I am going to use.

My Heidi Swapp BPS class also started this week! I am so excited about that. Our first class shipment is supposed to include an exclusive Heidi Swapp idea book! Can't wait to see that. I haven't started on my assignment so I really need to get that done too. I don't want to start off in the first week being behind! We are supposed to set a goal for the year and take a couple of photos to go along with the goal. They will be used in a coming LO. Sounds so cool to me since I am such a calendar, goal, planner kind of a girl.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Blessings!