New Year, New Start

2007 was a whopper of a year at our house! In April we found a church that we love and then later that month my husband lost his job. We were blessed that he found another (and better) job within two months and things have settled down on that front. I always wanted to be one of those people who could sit down at the end of the year and list their accomplishments, then decide on goals for the next year but that's just not me. Maybe I should make that a goal. ;-)

We had a wonderful Christmas and I was thrilled to be part of the Praise Team at church and participate in the Christmas program. In fact I got word yesterday that we are going to start casting our Easter program at the end of January. I love to sing so you can bet I will be there for that! My mother spent the week of Christmas with us so that made it even more special.

At any rate, we made a trip to snowy Wisconsin the week after Christmas and we got to enjoy sledding, which is something we don't get to do much in South Carolina. My girls (all three of them) had a blast in the snow and Jon and I were right there with them. I got some great pictures of all of us so I'm sure you will see them scrapped here soon.

In the meantime, here is another brag book page using the Elegant template sent from freestylemama's creations. I used papers, borders and a tag from the Dog Days of Summer kit by Digital Divas Designs. Paper and borders are by Caz P. Hanmer and the tag by T. Campanale.

Here Kitty, Kitty!

I bet you thought I was never going to get around to it, but I finally put together a layout using Cen's Perrfect Kit. This is our cat Sally Hannah Juliana, named by and after my six year old daughter, whose middle name is Juliana. She has apparently never heard that curiosity kills the cat because she is in everything!

We went to see Amy Grant in concert last night and it was wonderful! She was doing a benefit for the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind and the venue was small, so it seemed more intimate. Amy had a lot to say and she sang most of my favorites, including Tender Tennessee Christmas, which just made my night seeing as I was born and raised and lived in Tennessee up until a year and a half ago. I kept hoping she'd bring Vince Gill out, but oh well. ;-) Before the concert we passed the time at the Krispy Kreme across the street. Is there anything better than a warm, fresh Krispy Kreme doughnut? I don't think so. :-) Tonight I'm headed to a women's event at a local church featuring Lisa TerKeurst and I can't wait to hear her speak. She's with Proverbs 31 ministries and I get their daily devotions by email. She was in town for a conference last month and I wasn't able to go because of that darn Fall Festival. I feel like God is giving me a second chance. :-)

So..... here's my layout using Cen's Perrfect Kit. Until next time....

Scruffy Kitty Update...

So I go into the foyer and look out the window by the front door and who do I see but Scruffy Kitty!


I'm seldom wrong (;-)) and even more seldom like to be wrong, but this time I'm glad I was wrong. So we got her some food and clean water and then I snapped a couple of pictures. And yes, those are old Halloween pumpkins behind her. :-) Back to trying to "tame" her....

Hey, I did something new!

I made a layout using the Elegant Brag Book template set by freestylemama's creations, which you can see below. I haven't done much in the 4X6 size before now but I think I'm hooked! I can see myself making a whole book for my mother with themed photos for each page.

It felt really weird to work with July 4th pictures when it's so darned cold here in South Carolina. I think it was only about 55 degrees today. Yes, I'm a wimp when it comes to cold weather. To think we almost moved to Minnesota! Yikes!

I'm a little bummed out today. We had been feeding a little stray cat for a couple of weeks now. I don't know what we thought we were going to do with it - we already have three indoor cats! The poor little thing was scrawny and its fur was scruffy and even gone in places where it looked like it had been in a fight and been hurt. It was terrified of people and would run if we came out the door, but it liked to come sit on our porch and eat out of the bowl of cat food we left there. I put a box out on the porch with a towel in it and occasionally Scruffy Kitty would even lay down in the box. I just kept thinking if we fed it and tread carefully, maybe we could "tame" it eventually. I hadn't seen the kitty for a couple of days but I think I found her this morning, laying dead in the road near our subdivision. Poor little thing! I hope she didn't feel any pain.

Otherwise, life is pretty good. My mother is having a melanoma removed the week of Thanksgiving and while you wouldn't think that's something to be thankful for, it really is. Ever since she received her diagnosis I have been in a quiet panic that it's more serious than she's saying. I'm too young to lose my Mama! Since then, I have actually spoken to the nurse in the surgeon's office and they assure me that it is a very early Stage 1 cancer. She lives 3 hours away from me in my hometown and the nurse called (at my mother's request) to schedule the surgery with me, so that I could be there. Wasn't that kind of them? Our Thanksgiving will be just a little more meaningful this year, at least for me. Plus, Mom's having surgery means that yours truly will be responsible for cooking our Thanksgiving Dinner! I will be recruiting the help of my 19 year old daughter. It's time she learned to cook!

So here's my layout. I just colored the background red and created a few stars for color. I'll be working with Cen's Purrfect Kit next, I promise.

What a day!

Yesterday was Digital Scrapbooking Day and there were SO many things going on all over the web I couldn't keep up! I did manage to put together one extremely simple layout as an entry to win a new Fuji camera, and you'll see it below. I used the Chrome Templates set from freestylemama and a plain, colored background. The challenge was to create a layout about our home country and something that we loved about it, so I used some photos from a Citizenship Celebration that we participated in at our adoption agency's annual reunion. Our daughter from China officially became an American the moment we landed in the US and I think that is awesome! She has the same legal rights as a citizen as my two biological born in the USA daughters do. I know other countries naturalize citizens but I just don't think any other country has quite the diversity we do here.

Anyway, now that Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is on the horizon it's time to think about Christmas shopping. I love, love, love the madness of Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) and I'm one of those weirdos who troll the internet looking for advance information on the sales for that day. I have a budget for Christmas, you know, and I like to get the most for my money. With three daughters and one of them a teenager, it gets hard to make that dollar stretch. I have actually started shopping already. Toys R Us had a two day sale Friday and Saturday and I sent said teenager out to buy a scooter for the youngest one, who has been drooling over her older sister's scooter for some time now. It's so nice to have a child old enough to run errands for you! ;-)

I'm hoping to have more time to scrap, although you'd think the holidays would make time more scarce. Instead I think it will force me to spend more time at home, so I will be on the computer more. My next project is a layout with Cen's Purrfect kit. I have the purrfect pictures of my cat to use with it! Meanwhile, here is my layout from yesterday. Maybe I should write a book called Scrapbooking for Extreme Beginners. :-p

Just Call Me the Dabbler

Dion was The Wanderer, so I guess I can be The Dabbler. I dabble in lots of crafty things and sometimes have trouble following through. That's one reason that computer scrapbooking is so good for me. I don't have to sort through and lay out a ton of supplies to make a page. Everything I need is on my computer and I just need to put it together. I've tried crocheting and cross stitching, and the results weren't fast enough to satisfy me. I sew a little, but only if it's a really quick project. At one point I thought I'd try quilting, but luckily I got over it quickly. What was I thinking?? Every once in a while I think I'd like to try writing and then I can't think of anything to write about. I think maybe I have a serious fear of failure. :-)

Tonight I took a hairbow making class, another thing I sometimes dabble in. My younger girls are 6 and 3 and they love pretty hairbows, but Mommy doesn't love paying what they cost in stores. I've made a few on my own and I really wanted to know the "right" way to make them. This class was great! I made three bows and learned some tricks to make them look pretty. I can't wait to buy some more ribbon and make bows in every color! I'm already planning to take the advanced class.

Meanwhile, I finally completed my first layout for freestylemama's CT. That's a pretty awesome feat in itself, considering that my computer is working in fits and starts. I don't know what the problem is other than its age and the fact that we've probably overloaded its memory. Anyhow, the papers are from the "Fashionista" kit by Cen's Stuff and the chrome frame set and flowers are from Chrome Template Set 1 by FreeStyleMama Creations. I LOVE the clean lines and the little flower accents!

Back to life....

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am a somewhat proud (maybe the best word is resolute) member of the PTO Board in my daughter's school, and our biggest fundraiser of the year is our Fall Festival. This is a huge undertaking, involving entertainment, games, inflatables, craft booths, food vendors and a silent auction, which is my personal "baby." The big shindig was yesterday and I am SO glad to get it over with! Last year there was a shoving incident and some hard feelings at the end of the silent auction so I was on my guard, but this year everything went smoothly. You wouldn't believe how competitive some people can get! C'mon, people - this is a charity event! Anyway, a basket of goodies from the local high school football team went for over $300. Yikes! I got outbid on the few that I bid on but that's OK.

So with the festival over, I had time to actually do a layout. This is my youngest daughter all dressed up with nowhere to go. The kit is "Fashionista" from Cen's Loft, where I am honored to be on the Creative Team. This is my first CT layout!