Friday, January 27, 2006

Stepping Out!


Yep! I am WAY behind! These are photos from over a year ago when my baby girl learned to walk. I completed the page on the left right after it happened. The pictures in the page on the right happened exactly one week later, but I never scrapped them. I was going back through last years pictures and found them and decided to do a page that sort of matched. I colored them in PhotoShop and then put the layout together in FotoFusion using the split frames feature which is kinda fun.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Been Scrappin'

I have been busy scrappin' and have neglected to post these on the ol' blog here.

I did this one for the digi-scraplift challenge blog: http://digi-scraplift.blogspot.com/ I've really been enjoying this scraplifting thing. It's helping me get out of my scrappers block! The original LO I copied was by Shabby Miss Jenn called Two Boys.
I used a mix of Mo Jackson's doodads on this and the foam stamp action from atomic cupcake for the "6"

Journaling reads:
6 bibles. The first items moved into our new home were each of our 6 personal bibles. Since we have discussed from the beginning of our building process that this is “God’s house,” Barry thought it would be good to invite Him and His Word into our house first. So, on the evening that we got possession of the house, each of us brought our bibles with us as we unlocked the front door and officially entered into OUR new home. We talked with the kids about how we want to seek God FIRST in our lives here and we prayed. Then each of us placed our bible in our bedroom. Now, the rest of the move could begin!

Feeling Springy

When I did this a couple of days ago, it was a really GREY day and I was craving some sunshine and spring! So, I dug out this photo from last year and created these petal pink and spring green goodies to go with it. At least it can be spring here in my cyber world!

Everything here was created by me. It was sorta inspired by a card that a friend sent me. Sadly, when I compressed and shrunk it for the web, a lot of the detail was lost. Something I need to work on, I guess.

The tag has Song of Solomon 2:11-13 and reads:
"See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me."

You may find this hard to believe, but this is a CHRISTMAS layout. But, of course, it is of my little princess, Anna, sporting her new hair jewels from Libby Lu's. I bought the jewel tool thing as an afterthought for her. I thought it was cute but not for the $25 they were asking. BUT I spent enough in there that I was eligible to buy is for only $5. LOVE a bargain and it is one of her favorite things!!!

Anyway, journaling reads:
I never would have guessed that Anna’s favorite Christmas gift from us would be the hair jewel tool from Libby Lu’s purchased as an afterthought because it was on sale. We have nicknamed it her “Bling Bling” and she has had a blast dolling herself up with jewels!

I used Doris Castle's Pink Frills quickpage and added the princess crown from her Little Princess kit and the alpha from her Paper Flowers kit!

Tagged

Something new for me - my cyber friend Lisa tagged me with this little quiz:

What scrapbooking lines/products/etc do you DISlike?
(Digital) Scrapbooking sets that look TOO computer generated. I prefer elements that have the look of real paper.

What is the hardest thing you’ve ever had to scrap?
When my baby girl had to go to the ER. Actually still haven't finished that.

What technique do you use more than any other?
That's hard to say because I tend to be pretty eclectic in my scrapbooking. I really enjoy tweaking my photos and colorizing them, but that is not really a style. I think I used to have more of a clean graphic style with few elements, but now since I am on 2 design teams and have access to many beautiful kits, I add a lot more goodies now.

Ever been published?
YES!
I had 2 pages in the MEMORY MAKERS Computer Scrappin Special Edition May 2004,
a page in WOMAN'S DAY Specials Scrapbooking & Keepsakes magazine Fall 2004,
a double page in the CREATING KEEPSAKES book, "30 Minute Pages" (June 2005),
and I will have 2 pages in the upcoming Memory Makers book called Graphic Scrapbooking.

What’s the smallest scrap of paper you save?
This doesn't really apply to digital scrappin', but back in my paper days, I would save anything an inch or larger. I think that is why I do SO much better with digi stuff - way less clutter!!!

Ever have any scrapbooking-related injuries?
Back in my paper days, I cut myself with a coluzzel cutter. Now I have to fight off things like my food falling asleep because I was sitting on it while scrappin' on the computer.

Give us your best storage or organizational idea.
Organization? What's that? Actually the best thing I do is organize my kits by designer. Each designer has their own folder. For individual elements, I sort them by types in folders (i.e. overlays, ribbons/fibers, tags, etc.)

You just won a week-long scrapbooking cruise for 4. Who’s going with you?
Wow - I don't do much social scrappin (no laptop), but I would have to invite my scrappin bible study girls, Chris, Angela, Cindy, Cory and Connie as well as my scrappin friends, Laura and Carol Ann. (Yes, I realize that's too many! I'll worry about that when I actually win one!)

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Age Gauge

I am:

52 years 5 months younger than Walter Cronkite, age 89
47 years 9 months younger than Nancy Reagan, age 84
44 years 9 months younger than George Herbert Bush, age 81
37 years 6 months younger than Barbara Walters, age 74
35 years 4 months younger than Larry King, age 72
29 years 1 month younger than Ted Koppel, age 66
25 years 9 months younger than Geraldo Rivera, age 62
22 years 9 months younger than George W. Bush, age 59
17 years 8 months younger than Jesse Ventura, age 54
13 years 5 months younger than Bill Gates, age 50
8 years 7 months younger than Cal Ripken Jr., age 45
2 years 9 months younger than Mike Tyson, age 39
1 year 4 months older than Jennifer Lopez, age 35
6 years 9 months older than Tiger Woods, age 30
13 years 3 months older than Prince William, age 23

This also means I was:
32 years old at the time of the 9-11 attack on America
30 years old on the first day of Y2K
28 years old when Princess Diana was killed in a car crash
26 years old at the time of Oklahoma City bombing
25 years old when O. J. Simpson was charged with murder
23 years old at the time of the 93 bombing of the World Trade Center
21 years old when Operation Desert Storm began
20 years old during the fall of the Berlin Wall
16 years old when the space shuttle Challenger exploded
14 years old when Apple introduced the Macintosh
14 years old during Sally Ride's travel in space
12 years old when Pres. Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Jr.
10 years old at the time the Iran hostage crisis began
7 years old on the U.S.'s bicentennial Fourth of July
5 years old when President Nixon left office
3 years old when Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot
not yet 1 year old at the time the first man stepped on the moon

Thought this was kinda interesting. You want to gauge your age, too?
Go to the Age Gauge page: http://www.frontiernet.net/~cdm/age1.html

Friday, January 20, 2006

News

I got some fun news yesterday! I won the Designer's Apprentice contest at Scrap Outside the Box! I get to learn the in's out's of the scrapbook kit designing business which is something I have been wanting to get into. I think this would go hand in hand with the digital art I create for worship services (powerpoint size backgrounds). I'm so excited!

So Sad


I discovered this website this morning: http://savejacksonbortz.blogspot.com/ It chronicles the struggle of a family to get their 3 year old son back home with them after the area DFCS (Dept. of Family and Child Services?) took him and placed him in a foster home. This happened because the boy's baby brother died after a terrible accident. I do not know the details of it, but one news report said that he died from having a fractured skull after his mother accidentally dropped him. As I heard that, a flood of emotions came over me for these parents - this mother. I do not need to imagine what she is feeling right now, I know.

When my baby girl (now 2 yo) was 4 weeks old, I accidentally dropped her. She was in a homemade baby sling and as I adjusted it, she dropped out onto my hard kitchen floor. I sensed something was really wrong when after about 30 seconds of extreme wailing, she instantly quieted and wanted to go to sleep and not be roused. I raced her to the ER where she had a MRI (not a pleasant experience for either of us). After waiting (and waiting and waiting) the doctor came in and told me that she had a fractured skull. I cannot tell you the amount of sorrow, distress and GUILT that I felt about this. The kicker was when the hospital's social worker came in and informed me that she would have to report the incident to Child Protective Services. She assured me that this was required anytime there was an injury of this nature on someone less than 2 years old and that she was not reporting that there appeared to be any reason to believe abuse was involved. Abuse! The idea that someone could actually think that this happened willfully horrified me!

I spent the night in the hospital with her (for observation) and we were able to return home the next day. Thankfully, an x-ray 6 weeks later showed that the fracture had healed. Praise GOD! The doctor could not even SEE where the fracture had been! It wasn't until after that point that I could start letting go of the guilt I had for allowing this to happen to my dear child.

So, I read about this other family in Georgia. Not only is this mother feeling this guilt, but it is exponentiated by the fact that her baby died. The loss must be incredible! Then her case is labeled a "non-accident" and her 3 year old son is taken away from her, too. Since this time, the family has been allowed 1 hour of supervised visitation with him and cannot see him for like 2 more weeks! They do not know where he is other than in a foster home and have heard that he is depressed, not eating and running a fever. I know how I would feel if I were in this other mother's shoes. I have been too close and I shudder to think of the what if's. What if my precious baby had died or suffer brain damage? What if our home life had been investigated and our other children taken away? I thank God that He protected us during this trying time!

My hearts aches for this mother especially! Even though I do not know the details of their circumstances, I do know that they need prayers. This mother (her name is Rachel) needs to be blanketed in the warmth of God's love through our prayers. They pain she must be going through has got to be awful!

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

must be ME


I did this for the scraplift challenge here: http://digi-scraplift.blogspot.com/

The small text reads:
LOVE [chocolate] + [coffee]
DEVOTED Wife
Servant of God
Must CREATE
I am a Princess (daughter of the King {Romans 8:17}
MOMMY x4

All of the papers and ribbons are by Doris Castle from her Naturally Sweet kit and Moods Paper Stack. The Antiquated Swirl brushes are by Michelle Coleman and the rest is my own.