Its 9:47 am

So its 9:47 am and I can already tell its going to be 'one of those' days. Sigh. And it totally my fault.  The boys are leaving for the month of July tomorrow, so I really wanted to have these last days as ones filled with fun and laughter. Things have been kinda heavy here lately and I am just ready for it all to lighten up.

I have learned a hard lesson yesterday. One that I will make sure never happens again. No, I am not going to share the lesson I have learned, but just know, that there is going to be a bunch of changes coming in the way I view this hobby of mine.

Ok, enough gloom and doom. I have the power to change my day and right now, I am changing it. Remember I told you I had more to share? Well, that goes for today as well! (and ha! I just realized I shared the same two layouts twice. Thats the blonde in me!) So, with that....I present more layouts! :)

This page just makes my heart smile. John was in 1st grade and they had a play where he got to be a penguin. These photos were sitting in a pile, I was not sure how to scrapbook them. But then my Studio Calico Lawn Party kit had this cute orange polka dot paper in it, and it was all I could think about!

 This card was for my niece Jogail. She was home last week without her sister and I thought she could use some mail. Too bad I forgot to stick some $$ in there. Maybe next time :)

Ha! My daddy sitting in our hottub. He cracks me up :) This is sooo him.

 Back in April, we went back home to Lousinia to see my grandmother. Gosh I miss her. Growing up, we moved a bunch, and since graduating, my parents have sold that house as well. So this is home to me. I love being there & am glad we went back to see her.

This is MeeMaw, Alex's grandma. She had dementia really bad and can no longer remember who we are. Its hard. Really hard. My heart breaks for Alex because he sometimes viewed MeeMaw as a Mom.

I love these photos. They were taken on the lawn of the old historic Library, here in Amarillo. Ben loves history and I wanted to document it. These photos catured Ben perfectly at twelve: book in hand, happy. This page isn't technically perfect but oh how I love this page. 

A couple of these the lighting is bad...and I know I should fix it, but not today. I have just decided we are going on a field trip today. That will be fun :)

Happy Wednesday!

So happy today is Wednesday! This has been a looooong week - we've had tempatures over 110 and now a water leak in the upstairs - Friday can't come soon enough!

I have 'officially' killed my Lawn Party kit from Studio Calico! I am so happy! I *think* I might have 2 whole sheets of paper left, but I will add those to my stash for later. I have created over 10 layouts with this kit, and that makes me happy! What makes you happy?!!

These layouts make me incredibly happy as well...each one for their own reason! The last two - the ones with Alex and my Dad with Marcy - these I just love. I have such a hard time scrapbooking Marcy, that when I do, it just makes my heart happy.
I am scrapbooking today. I will be finishing up a thrift store find re-do. It's cute, if I say so myself!

Sunshine

Meet Jo Gail. She's my niece and a little 'mini me'. She loves to bake. And craft. And dress up. And wear sparkle-y things. She can make me smile on the worst of days. Gosh I love her! These photos are from our trip to Louisinia back in April. We stopped and had dinner with her, her sister Grace and their parents.

I used my Studio Calico Lawn Party kit on this page. Love the colors. This kit just keeps giving and giving, LOL. I bet I will have 12 layouts from it before I am all done. Gotta love the bang for your buck effect of the Studio Calico kits! Of course, I bought one add on and then had several pieces from the other addons already in my stash, so I had a bunch to work with!

Making this page was a breeze. Heck, I even drug out my sewing machine and added a little stitched border around the edge. For the clouds, I used my Martha Stewart stamps and American Craft embossing powers to heat emboss a pattern on the chipboard. I love the effect - subtle, but definately noticeable.

John is leaving for Cub Scout camp today...we have been trying to get him all packed. I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about him. It is to be 110 degrees this weekend and he isn't the best about drinking water and adding sunscreen. Oh, well. He will either do it or get a real life lesson!

Living The Good Life

Life has been good here. We took our mini vacation to Dallas (GO RANGERS!!), then came home and gotten into the groove of summer.

It's been nice.

I have been scrapbooking like a mad woman - I have, like, 14 layouts to post here! We have been eating snow cones, sleeping late, baking cookies, and hanging at the pool.

Life has been good.

BUT now the boys are leaving for camp and then to spend the entire month of July with their dad. So that means more scrapping and blogging for me. I will miss them like crazy, but I would be lying if I said that I don't somewhat enjoy have some peace and quiet around here.

Hey, I am hosting a 'Kit Killer' Challenge over on the Studio Calico website. You should come over and play. There are a bunch of women getting pages made in anticipation of the kit coming out on Monday. I am debating on making it a regular monthly challenge. What do you think? This week alone, I bet I have made 8 layouts. It's fun sitting down, getting things made, and feeling accomplished.

This is the first layout I made this week. I love it. The story behind this page is that on Sunday (Father's Day) I was feeling kinda mopey for Alex. I know he dreads Fathers Day because of not having Marcy with us...so that night, we were talking (ok. I was crying) and he said he didn't understand why today had to be the only Fathers Day. He told me that the day he really, really got to hold Marcy in the NICU (it was dress up day) - that was the day he would always consider his Fathers Day. He said he could never be more proud of her than he was that day....

Seriously, that right there is why I love him so much. This photo in the layout isn't the best...the NICU had really bad lighting...but this photo just melts my heart.

This page is for my Daddy.:) My dad is like most men, and was afraid to hold Marcy when she was in the NICU. At just over three pounds, he was afraid he would hurt her. When we finally got him to snuggle with her and hold her, she wrapped him around her little fingers. He was happy and sooo in love with her!

That's all for tonight-I will share my other layouts tomorrow. My goal is to have them all posted here before the new kit goes on sale! We will see!

Holden Uganda

Remember this post about Holden Uganda? We had chosen Holden Uganda as a way to help leep our daughters memory alive...and to help drive clean drinking water to the people of Uganda.

I am proud to announce that Holden Uganda Well # 26 is complete!

I cannot tell you how proud we are of this well. While it may not look like much to some, it looks like HOPE to us. We pray that this well can be used to give other mothers a chance to have healthy babies, and a chance to see them live full lives. We also pray that those who seek water from this well, ultimately find that the only true one who can quinch their thirst is Jesus Christ. As a momma, I have always prayed that my children would get to travel and see the world. And Marcy is getting to do just that, in a way I could have never dreamed! God is so incredibly good!

I actually sat down last night, and scrapped a layout about Marcy's Well. I used a sketch from Creative Scrappers #159 for this page. Loved how simply this all came together. 

Journaling: Marcy's well was #26 to be dug in Uganda by the Holden Uganda Foundation. This single well will help 2000 people have access to good, clean water. They will also get hope and a chance to live a long, full life. Our God is so incredibly good!

Pinterest & a DIY Project

So, I am guessing you know about the website, Pinterest. I love pinning...I could spend the whole day pinning goodies I have found on the web! Very addicting, that website is!

On day, while playing around on Pinterest, I saw this amazing homemade 3-tiered tray/organizer.

Lovely, huh? There is a how-to, found here. Well, me being me, decided to make my own, using what I had (or what I could find cheap). After some searching, I headed to Walmart with a goal of recreating this lovely organizer, for less than 10 bucks.

And I was successful! Where's what I found: two clear glass candle holders (2.97 each on clearance) and then for the metal trays, I found two Pyrex bowls. Now, I would have rathered had the metal vintage-y trays like my inspiration, but there were none to be found. The cost for my Pyrex in all, was $9...and I already had one at home. So, in all, I was over my ten buckaroos budget by a smidge, but, I am OK with it! The final product:

What do you think? I like them. Not too big, not too small. I used Gorilla glue to glue them together...works like a charm.

That's all for today :) We are leaving early this morning for Six Flags....should be fun. And hot. And more fun :) Hopefully I will have lots of photos to share when I get home!

Your Silly Grin Is Perfect!

True Story: John HATES his front teeth. More specifically, John hates his gap. Me? I love his gap. It's quirky. It's fun. It's John. After taking some photos of the boys for their birthdays, I knew I had to use this photo of John documenting his smile. Why? Because I love it. And because not a day goes by that there arn't fights at our house over Ben calling John "Gappy".

Keep'n it real, folks.

For this page, I used sketch #159 from Creative Scrappers to make this page. Awesome, huh? I loved all the colors and patterns in May's Lawn Party kit from Studio Calico...but I just wasn't sure that I would ever use them all on one page. But I did. And, oh, how I love it!

Once I saw the sketch, I knew I had to scrap it. I even stayed up late, mixing my papers, daydreaming (hee hee, or night dreaming, as it was!), making it all work. And the outcome? One of my favorites!

That's all for now. Tomorrow Alex, the boys, and I are heading to Dallas for a couple of days of relaxing. Texas Rangers Baseball, Six Flags Over Texas, shopping, Legoland, and just vegging. We are excited! Don't worry, though, I have blog posts planned to keep you entertained while I am away!

The Reason

I haven't blogged in awhile - especially since I've moved to my new blog. What I have been doing is a bunch of thinking. And thinking. And wondering. And then some more thinking.

What was I thinking about, you ask? I was thinking about why I scrapbook. Who do I scrapbook for? What stories are being told? The ones I want to be remember, or the ones that seem appropriate to tell? Sadly, I had lost sight of why I truly loved scrapbooking - to make something beautiful (or atleast to something beautful to me) and to record our stories. Somewhere along the way, I fell into the trap of trying to creating what others deemed beautful, and I got lost. I lost the stories from my heart, the stories of my family. All in an attempt to follow the trends...to create something that someone else would like.

Not anymore. I am determind to create from my heart....using my creativity....being authentic to myself. Even if no one likes it or cares about what I am doing.  So, dear blog readers, I am making a promise to you. And to myself....good, bad or more likely somewhere in between, I am going to scrapook my way, with my stories, using my heart. I just want to create.

Did you miss me?

Huh? Huh??? I missed you! We've been enjoying life around our house lately. School is out, and the warm weather has hit the Texas Panhandle! The boys have been home a week, and we are settleing into a routine that is nice - sleeping in late, watching movies, playing outside, and of course, scrapping! I have been super busy lately in the scrappy dept. - so have been picked up already for publishing (yeah, baby!) and some I have decided to post one here!

Can I just say *how much* I love this layout? I'm not talking about the papers, or the embellishments - but the photo. My husband has this grin that just makes my heart skip a beat. And his eyes. Oh, how they have me wrapped around his finger. He can grin & flash his baby blues, and my whole spririt just picks up.

His grin is truly the sunshine to my soul.

For this layout, I used Studio Calico Into The Woods main kit and the Babbling Brook add-on. I'm pretty sure both are sold out now :(

I've got posts scheduled all week (I know, huh? Impressed??!) so be sure to check back later this week!