This an older photo that I never got around to scrappin'. It was taken over 2 years ago (4-4-04) and it's of my youngest daughter, Abi, at 5 months and my nephew at 8 months. They are both sleeping peacefully in their infant carriers. They have certainly changed quite a bit in 2 years and can't say that we have ever managed to actually get them to go to sleep in the same room since that time. Ü

This was created with a kit called Baby Love from Cottage Arts.

Pensive at the Park

I caught this funny little expression on my daughter's face when we were playing at the park a few weeks ago. Pensive is the word that comes to mind when I look at it. I played with it a bit in PhotoShop and decided that I loved it in sepia! I think it almost has a vintage look to it. When I saw Doris Castle's Cherished Moments page set, I knew it would be PERFECT for this photo! Love these colors with the sepia!

New Stuff

I actually have FOUR new items in the store at Scrap Outside the Box this week.. That is certainly a record for me! One is this kit pictured here. I think it is definitely "out of the box." I have my ultrasound next month and am hoping for some fun "baby" pictures (it's a 3-D ultrasound!) and I figured I had better make a kit to scrap them with.

I have been thinking about what kind of direction my scrapbook kits should take. There are SO MANY talented designers out there and there is a LOT of competition. I wonder what I have to offer that is special and unique. To be honest, I don't ever expect to make my fortune doing this. I do it because I love it. I have an inner NEED to create and design. I consider it a blessing that I have an outlet to share this and maybe make a little income to help support my family.

For years I have been trying to not only document our family's memories in our scrapbooks, but have also tried to document a bit of our faith, too. When a particular situation brings a scripture to mind, I am sure to include it. God has really impressed upon me that I should do this with my scrapbook set designs. too. I am going to be making a conscious effort to include a faith aspect to my designs. This will probably be mostly in the form of scripture, but I am leaving that open to God's leading. Everytime I think about this, the phrase, "Scrappin' the Scriptures" comes to mind. It's kind of corny, I know, but it works. From experience, I know that there is not much available of this nature in either the paper or digital scrapping world, because I have looked for it. So, I feel like I have found my niche - my direction. Although I hope this will have meaning to others, too, but I guess in the long run, it doesn't really matter. I will be doing this for myself and passing down a legacy of faith as well as a legacy of memories to my family.

This scrappin' set includes one of my favorite passages of scripture as I sit here thinking about this little child I carry. It is from Psalm 139:13-16. It reads:

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's
womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your
works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden
from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together
in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the
days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came
to be.

I am so amazed when I consider the fact that God already has this child's entire life planned! Wow - and I don't even know if it is a boy or a girl!

I also did the layout below using a newborn photo of my nephew born last year. Doesn't he look just SO sweet! I thought the kit and the scripture fit well.

Beach Bum

Look how little Abi looks here! This was taken over a year and a half ago (September 2004) on our vacation to Myrtle Beach. Embarrassingly enough, I haven't hardly scrapped these photos at all. When I got a chance to play with this Island Breeze kit from Cottage Arts, this was the first photo I thought of. It is one of my favorites - it just cracks me up. Abi was just determined, no matter what we did, to eat sand and sticks this particular evening on the beach. She absolutely loved the beach (as long at we kept her far from the water Ü). I think she looks just like a funny little beach bum with her 5 o'clock shadow and little stick cigar.

Just a note, I have been trying to be better about adding photos regularly to my "a Slice o' Life" photo blog.

Older pages

I have had these pages hanging round on my computer for months and forgot to ever post them. I think I was considering entering the Hall of Fame contest and, of course, those can't be posted. I don't know what I was thinking, because these really aren't my favorite pages. So here they are.

The tooth fairy page is actually a blog entry I created over a year ago lamenting how BAD the tooth fairies that serve this house are.

It reads:
"Is it possible to get thrown out of the Tooth Fairy Guild? If so, the little fairy responsible for our household is in jeopardy of being tossed out right along with her male assistant! These two have got to be the most incompetent fairies in existence. Their record has been tarnished by totally forgetting to look for teeth under pillows, falling asleep before children who have lost teeth and most recently, the inability to even LOCATE a tooth under a pillow. (sigh) After this most recent fiasco the other night, my daughter, Anna, sadly informed me that the Tooth Fairy had forgotten to come. As she said it, she motioned to the sweet little baggie containing the prize tooth that she had even wrapped a pink scrunchy around to make it look like a pretty bow. It was sitting smack dab on top of her throw pillow on her bed next to her regular pillow. I quickly covered for our incompetent tooth fairies by telling her that she lost it so late in the evening that the tooth fairy probably didn't get notification of the tooth early enough to come that evening - a believable story that seemed to make sense to her. Then, I have it under good authority that our tooth fairies FORGOT all about it the following evening. Fortunately, the one woke up early and remembered in time to complete the sneaky exchange of tooth for Susan B. Anthony dollar just as the sun was rising.
But this is NOT the first time this has happened. Anna's older sister, Elizabeth, has actually had her tooth forgotten for days on end until she finally gave up. When she lost her next tooth she carefully placed both teeth under her pillow. Fortunately, our dear fairies came through with a wad of bonus cash to make up for their indiscretions.
I suppose there are many excuses that can be made for our Tooth Fairies. They have to work really hard hunting for well hidden teeth. Our children often lay awake quite late in their beds making surreptitious tooth snatching quite difficult. But, they had really better get their act together or I really fear what sad disappointment awaits our other two children when they reach that stepping stone in their life of losing teeth. I overheard the our male fairy commenting to his associate that he really feels that there needs to be a new system. Perhaps a more obvious location for teeth exchanges. I don't know - I certainly hope they can get their act together, and soon!"

The other page documents my son's birthday present last year from us. It is titled, "24 hourws and 4 AA's later..."

It reads:
"I suppose that rapid battery consumption is a sign of a well loved birthday present. Because the mom of the house was tired of toys with many pieces, we opted to get you ONE nice item for your 4th birthday. We chose a Leapster which you can play learning games and do digital art on. It is similar to your sisters’ Pixters which you steal every chance you get. Your sisters were glad to help teach you how to use it and you were instantly hooked. You carried the Leapster around all day, playing it every chance you could get and even took it to bed with you. But sadly, by the next morning the batteries were worn out already :( I am hoping that once the newness of your new Leapster wears off, the batteries will last at least TWO days!"

It's your day...

Yes, Anna's birthday was last month, but I am just posting this page now. I have actually had this done for some time, but I had to wait for the release of the kit to post it. This kit is from Cottage Arts and is called Party Time.

I love this shot of Anna bathed in candlelight! This was the day we got the new Canon delivered, so we weren't yet comfortable with it. Very happy to have captured this!

One year ago today...

where I am sitting here at the computer was just a grassy pasture.
THIS was the scene one year ago today - official groundbreaking for our new home. Just looking at this photo reminds me of the tingle of excitement I felt watching this and anticipating the completion of our dream home. This was the point of no return; no turning back. So exciting!


One year later....this is what our grassy pasture looks like now. A lot less grass, (but hopefully that will change soon) and a lot more house.

It is just good to look back and reflect on how God has worked in our lives throughout the past year.

Pocket Cherry Pies

A couple of weeks ago, I had some refrigerated pie crust and some canned cherry pie filling to get used up. After dinner I proposed making pocket cherry pies out of it and showed the kids how and let them do it themselves. You would think that we created some gourmet pastry the way they carried on about how great these were! Too funny!

Anyway, these are a few shots of it and I wrote out the recipe (if you can call it that). Most everything here is from MO Jackson's Dorothy's Kitchen 1 and 2. The Stiches are from her Stitches 1.

Easy Button

Sometimes God is good and gives you an easy button. Today was supposed to be a long and exhausting day. I have been feeling tired and perhaps coming down with something and I needed to take my four kids to a 4-H work/service day at a local retreat center. This was an ALL DAY thing. Then tonight, their club is scheduled to perform at a big talent contest that will probably last late into the evening. Oh, and did I mention that the retreat center is over a 1/2 hour away and the talent thing is over an hour away? I was even more tired just thinking about the day! BUT...today dawned rainy and COLD. Just before we were getting ready to leave, the phone rang and it was an answer to prayer. The work day was cancelled! It's too cold and too wet. God just gave me an "easy button." Thank you God for cold rainy days! Recognizing this gift for what it is, I decided we were having an offical EASY day. I suspended schoolwork for the day and we are taking it EASY. Everyone (including me) is even going to nap today. Yeah! I am hoping that this is just what I need to get back on my feet and regain some of my much needed energy!

Hope you all get an EASY day, too!!!

Spring Swing

I haven't been scrapping too much lately. I just haven't been able to find the time and I was really missing it. So the other day, I decided to use one of my recent pictures and just do it. This is a photo I posted earlier and I thought this kit from Doris Castle called Doodle Bloom was perfect for it. The flower doodles are just too fun!

It is a dreary day and I would just LOVE to park myself in front of the 'puter today and just scrap. Unfortunately, I have many other things I should be doing instead. [sigh] We'll see.

Peace

These are more photos taken the other night at sunset. Patrick was dancing around and I was down the hill from him with the camera snapping these shots. I thought they made a perfect series and paired them with this verse because it is the theme for the Photos of Faith contest that our church is sponsoring. That last picture really ties in with "afraid" because there was a loud noise and I caught Patrick just as he was startled and jumped.

BTW, I just found out that the deadline for entering this contest will be extended. You can enter up until judging day (June 8). The only catch is that it may not make it into the photo book being made for the event. The prizes are great, too!

Also, a big thanks to everyone who commented or e-mailed such sweet compliments about the freebies (still available - see post below). Danni has already used one of them and it is posted on her blog and it looks great (if I do say so myself Ü ).

FREEBIES!

In honor of National Scrapbook Day, I decided to put together a little freebie to share. It includes a vintage photo matte, a slide mount, photo corner and authentic looking negative strip. These are designed with neutral colors to coordinate with any page. Hope you enjoy them!

To download, click here.

These are a few of the photos that I took last evening. I love the warm glow at sunset! The kids were having a blast rolling around in the grass and blowing dandelions.

Photography kick

We have been on a photography kick lately. Last night after dinner, we managed to take 384 pictures with the new Canon. I haven't had time to go through al of them yet, but her is one from a while back. It's a little soft looking because of the low light, but I think it is sweet. Abi had just awakened from her nap and was in a posing mood.