Snow Fun...but it was (get it?)

Ok, bad joke. Moving on. I love it when I take pictures and scrap them the same day. That's what happened today! Fresh off the press pictures! I know there isn't much color going on, but I kinda like that sometimes. I like the stitched heart on the picture of the two of them. I ended up making all of the pictures B+W because of the colors on their coats, etc. It opens up options in the color world.

It's such a pretty day! I'm going to exercise before I need to start making dinner. I'm still undecided as to what to make tonight. Goulash, pancakes, or .... It's pretty much between those two right now and they are on completely different playing fields! Enjoy your evening!

I'll close with a song whose couple lines have been going through my head today.

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus
and to take Him at His word;
just to rest upon his promise,
and to know, "Thus saith the Lord."

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!

O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to trust His cleansing blood;
and in simple faith to plunge me
neath the healing, cleansing flood!

Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
just from sin and self to cease;
just from Jesus simply taking
life and rest, and joy and peace.

I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee,
precious Jesus, Savior, friend;
and I know that Thou art with me,
wilt be with me to the end.
- Louisa M. R. Stead

Jesus is amazing!

Yes, Sir!

I sat down to scrap these pictures a couple of days ago. I was excited to scrap something different - Army guys! But a layout just wasn't coming together. I thought it was going to be the same today, but this actually came together really fast and I'm pleased with the results.

[Credits]

V-Day 2010

I'm so loving all of the Valentine kits coming out right now! {LOVE.THEM.} Christina Smith came out with a Love Stitched Kit and then I saw Katie Pertiet's Watery Hearts (found at www.designerdigitals.com) and had to have them! I don't know how she got the itty bitty hearts into the paint splotches, but I just love them! Crystal Wilkerson just came out with The Vintage Cupcake paper kits and elements kit - all Valentines. Her new kits are 50% off right now! Prime time to buy!

[Credits]

4th of July

Here are two pages from July 2009. Normally I don't do two pages in a day, but today I was able to. It feels good to be catching up.



Credits: God Bless America, Floss Stitches, and Circle Your Date.

Credits: God Bless America, Go! Go! Go!, and Subtle Memories.

Last June Page

Yay! I've completed all of the June pages! I'm uploading my pages to a print site right now and was happy to upload the completed the "April - June 2009" folder. I have been scrapping out of order so I do have pages throughout the rest of 2009 and a good amount in 2010, just not all of them. I'll have to see what I still have to work on for 2009. I was hoping to get all of 2009 printed super soon, but I don't want to print parts of my folders.

[Credits]

Summertime

Here I am crankin' away at 2009 pictures. Yes! As simple as this page is, I used items from five different kits (not mentioning templates or overlays).

{Credits}

I'm off to put laundry away and finish getting dinner together. We're having beef stroganoff with brown rice, apple sauce and sliced cucumbers. MmMmm! Happy Monday!

B&B

For some reason (colors, patterns, photo quality -probably), I didn't want to scrap these pictures. I wasn't looking forward to it. Today I was looking through pictures and thinking that I had scrapped through August of 2009 and could move into September 2009. Nope. I still have pages in June and July, yet August is done. Haha, oh man. I'm trying not to feel so behind. I want to enjoy the process!

I'm going to be making pizza for dinner tonight with a special bacon topping. MmMmm!

I'll close up with some encouraging song lyrics that blessed me today!

"I know my God saved the day and I know His word never fails and I know my God made a way for me. It's gonna be alright! Salvation is here and it lives in me. Salvation is here. He died just to set me free. Salvation is here 'cause You are alive and You live in me!"

Lambs

I was talking to a friend on the phone about seeing the lambs and it made me want to scrapbook the first time we went to see them. So much fun! I am looking forward to the Spring when we get to see a new batch. Maybe, just maybe, we'll witness a birth one of these years. That would be awesome!

Credits: Beach Bliss Kit and Summertime Kit.

Page 3

This is the final page of the Lapeer Days pages. It's a simple page and came together super fast - I like that!

Today is a special day because we got a new furnace installed. Our other furnace died on Monday so we were without a furnace until noon today. It was a chilly 4+ days! A couple of days I wasn't home during the day because it was just too cold. We used a couple of space heaters for two bedrooms, an Eden Pure, and the oven to keep the chill off until the furnace was installed. Waking up to a 55* house doesn't make you want to get out of bed in the morning! My week was thrown for a loop as far as new schedules go, but I'm trying not to stress over it. I plan to get back in the groove this coming week.

Tomorrow we're heading north for a yearly gathering at a hotel with Brandon's mom's side of the family. Lots of swimming and hot tubbing with the family is in my future!

Oh! But first, we get to stop at Macy's "along the way" because they are having a 40% off sale on food processors. The one I want is $70 OFF and since Brandon got a Macy's gift card from work, I'm really getting it free! It's awesome and such a blessing!

Brandon surprised me with the Anne of Green Gables movies, so tonight after our "breakfast" dinner, we get to watch some. I'm excited!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Tea Party

I took these pictures today with my kids. It was fun having a "tea" party with them. I know they really enjoyed it as well!

Face Painting

I tried scrapping these photos a few times and nothing was coming together. I had a hard time with colors because what went with Titus' face colors didn't go with Leah's. I finally settled on this and I like it. The red marks aren't totally red nor are they pink, so I think it "go's".

[Credits]

Hot Chocolate

This was a fun page to put together using a HUGE Christmas kit.

Holiday Hoopla Mega Kit

Lapeer Days

This is the first in about three pages from Lapeer Days. I normally have a hard time with parade-type pages, but I'm pleased with how this page turned out. I used four different kits but only one element or paper from each kit.

Credits:
Beach Bliss Kit by Christina Smith
Subtle Memories by Christina Smith
Post Me Strips Months by Christina Smith
Go! Go! Go! Kit by Christina Smith

Birthday

I saw a layout on Creative Inspiration Blog and told a friend of mine over the phone that I really liked the layout (I didn't tell her which one) but wasn't sure if I had just one picture that would be good to use. Today I checked her blog and she saw the same layout and made a page. Ha! Today I took some pictures of Titus as it's his fifth birthday today. There are many to choose from but this is one of my favorites. And I love the snowflakes in the picture. I was happy to use the snowflake elements on this page. I was a little worried it would look too "Christmas" but I think it's great. Snowflakes mean winter - not just Christmas. Plus, we had our first real snow today - on his birthday! :)

This day has been wonderful. Titus is an amazing blessing. My heart swells with the love I have for him. Upon his request, we're having pizza tonight. I'm making it. I bought root beer in glass bottles to have with it. So fun! We also plan to make cookies and have hot chocolate and watch a movie as a family...but that's after he opens his gifts from us. A cake will come for his birthday party this Saturday. I love my little man!

Credits:
Go! Go! Go! Kit by Christina Smith
Snowscape Snowflakes by Christina Smith
(Green paper is from Creativity by Crystal)

Cows

I had been really wanting to scrap these pictures and wanting to use Christina's new boy kit, so I sat down and decided to make it work. But it was really easy! Even though it's a "boy" kit, it's very versatile! I wanted to add more but wasn't sure what to add. I changed my layout quite a bit and then decided to clip some paper to flourishes. I've always liked doing that! And then I used the dotted lines for the buzzing effect of flies (hopefully people catch on to that, haha!). It's simple but I like it.

Credits:
Go! Go! Go! by Christina Smith

Mom's Birthday

I kind of struggled with this layout and the colors. I felt it needed more than grey and pink, but never found what "that" was. For now, I'll leave it as it is.

Credits:
Love Hearts Kit by Christina Smith

Circle Your Date by Christina Smith

Parenting

I totally scraplifted this idea and layout from Creative Inspiration Blog. There was so much I wanted to or could say, but I lacked space. There will be more pages.

I really like this paper pack that I bought this week from Jessica Sprague's site. It was only $1. Love that!

To go along with the parenting theme...Yesterday Leah called someone "stupid" - something we do NOT endorse. I quickly corrected the situation and asked her to apologize to her friend for saying "stupid". Leah said, "I'm sorry that you're stupid." I did all I could not to laugh. I know she did not mean that nor knows what calling someone "stupid" means. Oh, the joys of parenting!

Hawk Island, Part II

This is the second page to my Hawk Island day. It's completely different than the first page, but the colors go. I really like these pictures! As simply as it was, it was fun putting the circles around the two pictures to accentuate them. And of course, I love stitching!

It's such a gorgeous day today! Sun shining and blue skies. We've been under wind warnings the past two days and it's still very windy. I'll be heading out for a walk soon and will totally enjoy it. God's creation is amazing! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Apple Sauce

Meijer has their Michigan apples on sale for 69 cents per pound. We've just been buying them to eat, but I've also been wanting to make apple sauce. I bought two pags full of mixed variety apples and decided to make apple sauce today. My favorite way of making apple sauce is using a Victorio Strainer. That's what we used when we made it as kids with my mom. I'm going to have her bring it so my next batches could be made with the strainer. One fun thing about using the strainer is this: you cook the apples with the skin on so it makes the apple flesh turn pink. Once the apples go through the strainer, the skin and seeds are separated from the flesh. You get a nice, light pink apple sauce. It's just pretty.

So I chose different varieties. Next time, I'll probably stick more to Ida Red's. Plus, their flesh can be pink as well. I skinned, cored and chopped up the apples. I put a little bit of water in thI didn't cook my first batch long enough so when I mashed it, it was more chunky than I wanted. I then decided to try using my blender, but one blender batch turned out like baby food (not pictured) - a whole lot more fine than I wanted.

The next batch of apples cooked longer so that when I just used a masher, it came out pretty good. I also didn't drain the water from the apples. I left it in so it wouldn't be dry. Once it cooled down a little, I transferred the apple sauce into zip bags to be put in the freezer. You could add your honey, cinnamon or whatever you like in your apple sauce before putting it in the bag, but we've just always added it as we used each thawed bag.

I saved a little in the pan and added honey and cinnamon and the kids ate it for lunch. They seemed to like it! They like apple sauce, but sometimes you wonder if they'll like the texture of homemade. My next batches will be made with a strainer so the texture will be more like what you buy in the store. But this version is easy and if you had apples to use up, you could make a "quick" batch for that evenings dinner. Homemade food is best and my favorite!

(Picture taken from Amazon.com) This is a Victorio Strainer. It's really amazing how it works! You can use it for making tomato sauce (shown in picture) or other fruits.

Hawk Island

If you look at where I've "left off" in scrap booking, it's Augst 2009. However, I have done a lot of scrapping booking from more recent dates. Hopefully one day I'll close in the gap. :)

For this page, I used the Beach Bliss Kit. I changed the hugh/saturation of the flourishes from blue to green. I love blue and green together! This page is super simple - not a whole lot going on. But I have a lot of pictures and they are the main focus anyhow. :) I actually have more pictures from being there and plan to do a second page since it's at a different location at the park. I'm glad I didn't try cramming them all on the same page because then I end up sacrificing certain pictures I really like. Digital scrap booking allows so many options!

Tonight we're going to some friend's house to watch The Biggest Loser. I have to make dinner tonight (as I do every night), but I'm leaning towards eggs or cereal. Haha! My lungs have been real heavy lately so I haven't had much energy. Please be praying for me if you think of me.

"Out of my distress I called upon the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is my strength, I will not fear." Ps. 118:5-6

"He sends forth His word and heals them and rescues them from the pit and destruction." - Ps. 107:20

"My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh." Prov. 4:20-22

Fall

With being in the fall mood, this page came about. I felt bad for putting a picture of apples in the biggest square rather than a picture with people, but actually, I think it looks good that way.

I used a Travel Along Template and edited a couple of things.

Credits: Travel Along Templates, Forest Explorer Kit, and Subtle Memories Kit.

Fall of '89

I was thinking about fall and remembered this picture. Such fun memories! (Remember: you can click on any page to read the journal.)

Credits: Happy Fall Mini-Kit and Forest Explorer.

Friends

I had been wanting to scrap these pictures and even bought some paper from Basic Grey, but it just wasn't coming together. I tried it again today and really like how it came out. I "scraplifted" the layout from Creative Inspiration Blog and added a few of my own touches.

Credits: Love Hearts Kit (bubble wrap, paper), Subtle Memories (paper, ribbon), Travel Along (flower, flourish), and Beach Bliss (rhinestone) by Greener Grass Designs.

School Pictures

Just today I figured out how to get PSE actions working. It was fun playing around with them! I used an antique action for these two pictures. I love it! I was excited to use these different elements like the ruler, apple, owl (for being wise), etc. I enjoyed doing my first school themed page. It was fun! And more will be following shortly.

Credits:

Forest Explorer Kit
(owl, apple, paper)

Subtle Memories Kit
(word art, paper)

Love Hearts Kit
(ruler)

Travel Along Kit
(flourish)