In good company

Happy belated Thanksgiving! I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since I've blogged. I thought that life was going to settle down after summer, but I was wrong. I've been busy! I'm working 4 days a week now, plus working on design work, plus working on several projects that are for Christmas. Eeek! I'm having fun though...lots of fun!

I thought I would share a layout I created a couple of weeks ago. This is a page about my Aunt Mary and I. She's so dear to me! I was inspired by a page somewhere, but I cannot remember where it was from. I like the simplicity of this layout. I really want to get into scrapbooking more, but I haven't really had the time. I need to figure that out because I have LOTS of pictures to scrapbook.

How has November been for you? In a few days it will be December, can you believe it?

Go! Go! Go! (it's here!)

Hello! Happy Monday to ya! My newest kit is in the shoppe! It's 30% off today through tomorrow, November 9th! You can get the full kit here, or you can just get the papers, or just the elements. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday!

Hello! Shortly after waking up this morning I remembered the time change and that we hadn't changed our clocks. Oops! But it wasn't a big deal. I know it will take me a little while to get used to the change. How about you? It's nice to have an extra hour today, but I'm sad that it's getting darker earlier. The long summer days are gone. *sniff*

Here is one last preview for the Go! Go! Go! kit that I will put into the shoppe tomorrow!

Snowscape snowflakes

Whew! It's been a busy last few days! I meant to post this yesterday, but I never got around to it. This weekend Little Dreamer Designs is having a 30% off store-wide sale to celebrate Digital Scrapbooking Day. Or is it international Scrapbooking Day? No matter, there's a sale! And I love sales! In honor of the sale, I created a cute little snowflake package which will eventually become part of a collection called Snowscape. There will be different parts of it, but all sold separately. These are the snowflakes:


For more details, click here.

This is a layout I created using the snowflakes just as they are, but I can also change the hue/saturation to match any layout. I love that about digi!

For this layout I put a cream-colored layer behind the snowflakes so they would pop more. So they look more like stickers.

This is a layout Jessica created using the snowflakes and I just love how she changed the colors! It looks wonderful!!

Your Love

Hello! Happy Thursday...almost Friday! Here's another sneak peek of Go! Go! Go!:



I've been pondering a lot of things lately. Actually, it doesn't seem my mind has been at rest about the subjects it's been concentrating on lately. Maybe I'll share more about that later, but for now I think this sums it up:

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it all together.
You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it...

For you formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18


I love these verses because it proves right there that God is a personal God. He's right there. He knows everything about us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He created us on purpose.

Go! Go! Go! *sneak peek*

I have an official "sneak peek" to post! And I finally named the kit! When I first started this kit I knew I wanted it to be a boy theme. I quickly noticed that it was geared more toward the transportation part of it, like trains, planes, and you guessed it, automobiles. There will be more boy type kits in the future because I want to take all of the other ideas/suggestions and create more.

Go! Go! Go! will be released November 19th!



And I thought I would post another page I created using the papers/elements from this kit! I've had so much fun playing with this kit! There's more to come...

Gamma

Hello! Well, today didn't go exactly as planned because our hot water heater was leaking. There was no flooding, thankfully! I'm glad Quent noticed it this morning. I usually exercise almost first thing in the morning, but there was no chance of doing that without a warm shower to look forward to afterward. So I dove into design work and scrapping instead...and now that the repairman has come and gone, we have hot water again! Yippee! So right after this I'm going to work up a good sweat! *smile*

Yesterday, Oprah had the entire cast of The Sound of Music on her show. It was amazing! I think I sat there with a smile on my face the whole time. It's my favorite movie!! At the end of the show four of the 'real' Von Trapp great-grandchildren sang Edelweiss. It was so beautiful that I started to cry. You can watch it here.

Here's another sneak peek:

You are awesome!

Hello! I love Thursday because it's my "Friday". It means I can stay up late because I don't have to get up super early in the morning. Working at a coffee shoppe means people go there before work...so I'm up and at the shoppe before everyone else has left for the morning. I try not to think about it... So I'm up tonight playing (aka scrapping). I've also been putting more touches to the current kit I am working on that's all about boys. And I have these pictures of my nephews that are perfect for scrapping! I like to test out all of the elements and papers I create because I want them to be what I would use + to test the quality. If I'm not going to use them, I don't want to create them or include them in a kit. That's my own personal designing policy. I hope I'm not spoiling too much by showing these sneak peeks.

Samuel: Sneak Peek!

Another Sneak Peek! The kit is coming along very...slowly... Tonight I had a creative burst! Too bad I need to go to bed now. *sniff* I'm not sure when this kit will be live in the shoppe, but hopefully within the next couple of weeks. I have a few kits percolating in my brain. Ha! Goodnight!

Bulky Baby Blanket

Hello! I didn't mean to take so long to post again. I've been working on a design project, plus I've been knitting. Yesterday I finished the project pictured below after starting it two weeks ago. I don't think I've ever finished any knitting projects under two weeks (well, except for the ipod sock). This blanket was super easy and fun to knit! When I saw the project for the Bulky Baby Blanket by The Purl Bee, I knew I wanted to knit it and use the same colors they had shown for the project. The blanket is soft and it has a warm and slightly heavy feel to it, perfect for baby!

When I was taking pictures of it today I wanted to put something on top of the blanket for scale. My first thought was a cat, but we all know that cats never do what we want them to do, so I found a Hershey's kiss from a candy bowl on the counter. I set the kiss on the blanket (which you can hardly see) and started snapping photos. A few seconds later Tigger came over to check out the kiss...and there is my scale for size! Of course he's a big kitty, so I'm not sure if it's going to mean anything to you viewers. The last time I weighed Tig (years ago) he was 13 pounds. He's still probably right around that. I haven't witnessed the kitties laying on this blanket yet, but they have tried out all of my other yarn projects in the past. They all have passed the kitty nap test. *chuckle*

LOvE

Do you love sneak peeks? I do! This is a little sneak-peek of what's to come...


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Hope ya'll are doing great! Last night I saw lightning and heard the rumble of thunder. Whoohoo! We don't have that a lot here!

This was on my heart today:

"For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." (Romans 10:13)

Our Silly Faces

Happy Monday! It's a beautiful morning here! I hope you are having a blessed day! This morning I finished scrapping a page I started working on last week. It's been great to get back into a scrapping routine!


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Happy Fall

One of my favorite creative places to visit online is the Creative Inspiration Blog. Yesterday they came out with their 61st Copy Cat Challenge. I thought I would play along. I love the simplicity of this layout. I realize that I don't create a whole lot of layouts like this since I like to make the pictures bigger or put as many pics on a page that I can. It was fun and fast!



Yesterday I started working on the outside edge of the gray sweater I started a few months ago. I had to pick up 408 stitches along the edge. 408 stitches!! *faint* And there are to be like 34-36 rounds of that. *faint* I pretty much think it's going to take forever and ever and ever to complete the sweater. I'm glad I'm working on a few knitting projects right now because I have a feeling working in rounds like that will become boring pretty fast. But maybe not since knitting is [usually] pretty relaxing to me. Maybe it will be a project that tags along with me through the airports and jets along the way to Michigan in a couple of months?

I hope you had a nice and relaxing weekend!

FREEbie + sale

Hello! This morning after a walk in the rain with Quent, I spent a few hours at the yarn shop knitting, drinking a decaf mocha, and getting to know some of the other knitters. I feel rather shy, but I'm opening up more and more. *smile* Anyway...I thought I should post about the NEW freebie at Little Dreamer Designs and about the sale going on there.

When you spend $10 from now until the end of October, you will receive 5 free kits!! You can't beat that! The Subtle Memories Templates (NEW) is one of the free kits. You can get yours here!



Also, Little Dreamer is having a 40% off sale on the fall collections through October 17th. These two kits are in the sale!

Are you brave?

There's this scene on The Office where the ignorant boss, Michael Scott, is told by coworker Daryl that Michael is brave because he continues to get up and live his life everyday in spite of being himself. Although this is said in humor and Michael Scott is a fictional character, I find some truth in what Daryl shared with him.

Am I brave enough to be myself? That may sound like a funny question, but as I sit back and observe life and those around me, I think so many are afraid to be who they are.

I recently read this quote by Kurt Cobain (which I thought was interesting):

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.

It's so true! We can spend our life trying to shift ourselves to fit some mold. We can try to hide the real person inside of us. We can think we are not good enough because we aren't like someone else. Or we try to tone down the person we are, thinking we will be liked more if we do. But it's a total waste of time!

Maybe someone has told you in some way that you aren't good enough or that you need to be less of who you are. Maybe you feel like it's more safe to hide the real you. But isn't that trying to be someone you aren't?

Another thing I like about what Daryl shared with Michael is that he chooses to get up each day and to live his life. We only have this moment. It's called RIGHT NOW. This is it. Are we going to spend our moments in fear and pretending? No way! Let's be brave just like Michael Scott. Let's take this moment, and then the next, and the next, and so on to be who God has made us to be...with our quirks and all. Maybe you are afraid to be yourself. Maybe you are fearful of the "what if's" Why not be yourself anyway? Why not do it afraid? Worrying about the next 100 moments won't get you anywhere in life. Worry is like being paralyzed in your mind. It steals from your life. It's a waste of time!

I want us all to be the best person we can be, with no more comparisons, with no more fear. Be brave my friend!

Yarn: Next project

Hello! So...last night/this morning we had another big storm roll through. That's the third big storm this week!! That's not really normal, so it's been really strange. We are becoming accustomed to preparing for a power outage. Candles lit? (Check) Headlamp in pocket? (Check) Extra water in fridge? (Check) Computers shut down? (Check) Last night's forecast was calling for 90 mph gusts. That's INSANE!! I don't think it got that windy here, but I haven't heard the facts yet.

On Saturday I received an order from Jimmy Bean Wool. This is one of my new favorite yarn shops on the internet because they have lower prices and the shipping is cheap or free if you spend $75.00. And they don't charge an arm & leg for Alaska shipping. Whoohoo! I love love love this wool. When I saw the pattern and color samples, I knew I had to grab the very same colors. Orange and cream! Aren't they so yummy together? *smile*

The yarn brand is called Spud & Chloe by Blue Sky Alpacas. The orange yarn is called Sweater; the color is 'pollen'. The cream yarn is called Outer; the color is 'soapstone'. I'm about halfway through the project already.



Last Saturday morning I went to the local yarn shop to join the group of ladies who knit together there. I plan on doing that as much as possible. It really makes me miss Loretta, Katrina, and Nettie from Wrangell all the more. I miss our 'play dates' at the scrapbook store.

Well, this is all for now...until next time!

Friend:Sister

Can you believe it? Another high wind warning is in effect this evening until mid-morning tomorrow. Whew! Hopefully we don't lose power! Well, we are off to a friend's house for dinner. I'm bringing pumpkin bars! (Thanks for the recipe, Bek!) They smell (and I know will taste) amazing! Have a great rest of your day!

This is a layout I created a few days ago. I saw an idea somewhere on a blog or site and I was inspired. It's been really fun to just scrap!

Cupcakes

Hello! Happy Tuesday! Today we were under a "high wind warning" from 6:00 am until 4:00 pm. I arrived at work at 6:15 am. Five minutes later when I was counting the till, the power went out. Now, I had brought my headlamp with me, but it was in my purse in the storage closet. Oops! So I stood in the dark contemplating what I should do when I remembered there was a flashlight in the drawer. I felt my way in the dark along the counter, opened a drawer, fumbled around until I found the flashlight--er, the electronic screwdriver, and then I found the flashlight. The power came on after 15 minutes. It was an exciting way to start the day!

I've been scrapbooking more. Yeah! Here's a page I think I created sometime last week:


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I've also been reading a lot more. Yeah! And I started a new knitting project, which maybe I'll talk about more later.

Toodles!

Could you be any cuter?

Well, our weekend was pretty exciting. We basically had a category one hurricane Saturday night/Sunday morning and we were out of power for at least 22 hours. We had sustained winds of 80 mph-100 mph. Ouch! But I slept like a baby through it all...because of earplugs, which I need to wean myself off of since I didn't quite hear the smoke detectors going off downstairs (don't worry, there wasn't a fire, just a detector malfuntioning because of the power outage). And then it was also very exciting to have two bear cubs wrestling in our backyard, about 6 feet from our house last night. Baby Bear #1 must have won because he rolled around and chewed on our bird feeder. And as Quent let it know, "We happen to like that bird feeder! Get! Get!" Mama Bear was in the woods watching her children...eek! And tomorrow we are in for another big storm!!


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Quote

I liked this quote:

"Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."

William James