CHRISTmas!

It is getting very near Christmas. The time we celebrate Christ's birth is a very special time each year. I get so frustrated with people who want to change it to Happy Holidays. I say Happy Holidays too, to acknowledge the season and the winter months, and to spread good cheer to others. But Christmas is and always will be Christmas. We have a Christmas Tree - not a holiday tree. The 'holiday' is CHRISTMAS. Why not call it what it is? We don't change the name of other holidays. Thanksgiving is still Thanksgiving. Easter is Easter, Good Friday is Good Friday, St Patrick's Day remains as it is designated... and on and on and on.

Please, people of the world, and especially our government and officials who make decisions that effect all of us, leave Christmas as Christmas. It's not broken, so don't try to fix it.

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day. I wish it would be thanks-giving day every day. We all have so much to be thankful for, don't we? It's just that we don't always 'feel' thankful, especially in trying times. God never said it would be easy but He did say He would walk us through it, whatever it is. I trust Him. I trust Him 'totally'. There is so much GUCK in life that I want Him beside me at all times. I can't do this alone and would never assume I could. If I had to pick a 'super power' to help me through, I would, of course, choose the biggest, the strongest, the smartest. God is all that and so much more. Why wouldn't everyone want the best? God is omnipotant, omniscient, all knowing, all doing, all capable, etc. I want Him as my God.

I am thankful for God (first and foremost) and I am also thankful for my family. My husband is a hard worker. He is very much a man of honor and integrity and I so admire that about him above all the other things he is. He is caring and has a big heart. He is giving and sacrifices himself to provide for all of us. God says that those who are the leaders are the servers and William is that completely.

I am now the Great Grandma of two little baby girls. I have a bakers dozen grand kids. I adore them all and am very thankful for them. I always wanted a big family and it just keeps growing. I have five plus one grown children whom I love so very much. They have been my life for so many years I feel like I have always been a Mom.

So, today is a Thanks-giving Day too. May God bless you and keep you in all that you do and may you have an abundance of things to be thankful for.

Fall Glory

Fall, is now upon us here in the Pacific Northwest. I love the fall, almost as much as the summer. While I very much prefer sunny, hot days, playing in the sprinkler and backyard barbeques, salmon and corn-on-the-cob, lemonade and homemade ice cream, I am looking forward to fall and all its glory. It's time now for the chilly weather, frosty mornings (this morning brought us a cool foggy whiteness), and breezes that move your hair softly across your face and carries the fragrances of neighborhood fireplaces, homemade pies, cold weather stews and soups. I love the cornfields, pumpkin patches, golden and orange leaves. Even the Farmers Market in the fall has a new and fresh atmosphere compared to that of the summer.

As a photographer I delight in the fall colors. While fall is indicative of the dying of plants and foilage, the transformation toward their death in order that new life can come again in the spring, I like to capture that last final bud on a plant, the last survivor hanging on until the end. I have a photo of a single lone rose bud covered in snow. It is one of my favorites.

I have several fall photos I like - of a bright red tree shimmering proudly in the sunlight, a zillion yellow and orange leaves in a photo shot straight up under the branches taken from the base of the neighbor's tree, a blanket of fall colors cast over a forest of trees as they, one by one, make their transformation, and the clouds, oh how I love the changing of the clouds.

I hope you all enjoy your fall. Stay warm and cozy. Cuddle up with loved ones and may your homes be filled with the wonders of fall.

Yes, I am still here!

It has been a busy summer and I haven't had time to write on the blog. This fall will be just as busy but hopefully I will find some time.

I have been caught up in so many thoughts about death and I can't shake it from my poor brain! I have an artist friend who is dying and found out a few months ago that she has cancer and they will not be able to help her. She is an amazing woman and is facing it so beautifully I am in awe. She is a butterfly going into a cacoon and will emerge on the other side (where our REAL life will be) in full glorious winged beauty. She has been given the opportunity to tell her family and friends, give gifts, conversation, and wisdom. I thank God for that, for her, and think that she has, in many ways, been blessed to have been given this gift for her dying.

I have come to a point in my life where I am hearing about deaths of friends I have had for many, many years. It is ringing in my ears and I cannot hush it! You know that place, where you have reached an age and your friends have reached an age, where life starts to be completed. Where illness consumes, where stress and tiredness takes a huge toll, and where there is nothing left to do except the goodbyes. I know for sure I am not ready to go. I wonder what God has chosen for my exit. I hope I can be as strong about it as my friend, but I just don't know how I will react/act. I must stand in faith, in trust, in God.

I have a funeral to attend this afternoon. A scrapbooking friend lost her husband suddenly. He was only 44. My heart goes out to her! Some of the friends I have had for years when I lived in California have passed on. I have lost Ken, Larry, and Karen recently. I now accept the fact that I cannot talk with them, laugh with them, or say goodbye. I have to console myself with the hope that I will "see them on the other side".

What gets me through, is the knowledge that all things are in God's Hands. He is in control of ALL things. I want to live by His Plan, totally, completely, and be His child. He is my Father. He is my Rock. In Him will I rest and be secure, and be safe. He created this life, as we know it here on earth, to give us time to learn and grow and love. It is 'after' this life that we truly find our life. It is going to be AWESOME!

Family Reunion 2009

This past Memorial Day weekend was, for me, a most wonderous time. We had a 5-day gathering of our family. My husband and I have five grown children. Altogether we have a dozen Grandchildren and one Great-Grandchild. The last time our five have been together was 1985. It amazes me how much time has passed since then. Some of our Grandchildren we hadn't yet met. Now we are family again!

Our Family Reunion was Friday, May 22nd through Tuesday May 26th. All five of our children were here, ten of the Grandkids, and our Great-Granddaughter. I have always wanted to be the "Waltons" so this was about as close as I got to that dream. I LOVED it! I wish everyday could be this way. Some friends came by, we played board games, had two glorious breakfasts, a pizza party, Root Beer floats and Smores, a couple of big barbeques and two birthdays. We took over 1600 photos! FUN!

It was endearing, exciting, funny, hilarious, exhilirating, exhausting. It was Everything all rolled into five days. We talked, we laughed, we shared memories, we cried. I am so very thankful we had this time together. When your kids all grow up and have families of their own, they scatter like the wind, they fill their lives with "stuff" and with "life". It is difficult to get them all to come together in one spot for any amount of time at all. Thank you Lord, for bringing our family together for a time. May we be blessed again soon...

SUTUCS Week 6

This is the final week of this competition for posting challenges. It will now take weeks for the public voting and tally and several posts on the So You Think You Can Scrap website. I have not expected to win this competition, but I enjoy doing challenges and seeing what other scrappers come up with. It gives us all wonderful comraderie and inspires us with new techniques and new creative thinking.

This week the challenge was to tell about an "Item, a Something" rather than a person. The kit was called Its A Bird. My Bonus Pages show My Trans Am (my favorite car I have ever owned), God's Beauty (shown in a beach photo), my Grandson's school, and a light show at a concert (photo taken by my daughter Courtney). The upper most page is the one I posted to the competition. It was a photo my daughter took on her cell phone in the tanning bed and we love the colors! I decorated it all up with tatoos and steam etc. and was looking for something whimsical. I like it.

SUTUCS Week 5

The challenge for week 5 was Color My World. The Bonus Rounds require 100% use of the kit they choose for us. Here are some pages I posted. The top one, my daughter I turned into a Jaguar, is the one I posted to the competition. The other two were also for the bonus round. The challenge was to do something different with your photo.

SUTUCS Week 5 bonus round

More pages for this competition - these 5 were posted to the Bonus Round.

SUTUCS Week 4

I am really enjoying this competition. It gives us an opportunity every week to make a page to post to the challenge, and as many bonus round pages as we want to post. That provides a full week of fun.

Here are my pages from week 4 - the challenge was to do something about a song, the lyrics, or etc. Sing Sing A Song was the kit to use 100% in the bonus pages. All of the bottom 5 pages here were for the Bonus Round. I won the Bonus Round for week 2 and got $100 worth of product from A5D and SPD - AWESOME!

The second from the top page - a Bob Dylan song, is the one I posted to the competition. Times Are A Changin' - For Sure! The top page I did just because I liked the song so I re-vamped a page I did earlier that I liked.

SUTUCS Week 3 challenge

Week 3 is now here - our challenge is to make a page about A Moment in Time, sponsored by and posted in the gallery at After5Designs. Here are the pages I made for the competition and for the bonus round. We can post only one page for the competition using A5D and SPD papers and elements, and we can post as many bonus round pages as we want but they have to be made 100% from the chosen weekly kit - A Moment in Time collab.

First - from the top photo - is the page I posted to the competition. This is my greand-nephew Justin, who is so beautiful! The second from the top is a page I made also, but could only post one. The following pages I posted to the bonus round. I actually put 5 in the bonus round, as the prizes in that category are done by random draw. The more we post the more chances we have to win. The winners for the competition pages are selected through a process of judging and then viewer voting. A long process.

SUTUCS Week 2

So you think you can scrap competition continues. This week our challenge was Flashback. These are three pages I made. The top one was posted to the competition. It is my Granddaughter making the 'peace sign' - well, what else, of course it's the peace sign. LOL. I love her cute face in this page.

The next two pages I posted to the bonus round. Winners of bonus rounds are chosen by random draw. The middle one is me in Kindergarten and me as a graduating senior. Very much a flashback on my life. The bottom one is my granddaughter again. I dressed her up as a hippie for Halloween in my 'original' 60's-something dress. I loved the clothes we wore! She has been a hippie ever since! I love the fingers heart she is making for LOVE.

SUTUCS

So You Think You Can Scrap competition has now begun. There are 6 weeks of 'layout making' according to themes, there is voting and bonuses. Becki and I have both entered the Advanced Gallery competition. Some of the layouts are fabulous and so creative it'll knock your socks off! This competition is brought to us by ShabbyPickleDesigns and by After5Designs if you'd like to take a look for yourslf, and perhaps vote if we make it to the voting round - which is WAY tough.

Anyway, here are some layouts I did for week 1 It's So Me, posted to A5D gallery.

Looking at the bottom image first and working your way to the top image - The first one I made was pretty fun, just messing around with the items in the kit. I liked this photo of my eye and we weren't supposed to actually show who we are completely in case one of the judges might recognise us. I don't know the judges so that wouldn't be the case for me anyway. We aren't required to use the kit for the competition pages, but are required to use our items from designers at A5D and SPD. The bonus round gallery requires 100% items from the specified kit.

The second one I tried to be a bit more creative, changing items some and tweaking this way or that. Added my photos of the tie-dyed shirt and paints, which express who I am. The third try I just thought it was funny. Fourth page I added the image of my second page - I just liked it. The top page is the one I submitted for competition.

Supreme Team VII Competition

My daughter, Becki, and I did very well in the ADSR Season 4 Challenges and have now entered a competition to be selected for a Supreme Team at GoDigitalScrapbooking.com. There are more than 200 competitors vying for this prestigeous position. Every week we are given a specific kit by a specific designer and we are to complete our page layouts and post them by the deadline given weekly. All layouts are judged by a panel and eliminations are posted each Monday night. It is pretty stressful.

We have gotten to Round 3 so far. These are the pages I did for the first three rounds. Round 1 was a birth-day kit so I made a page of my new Great-Granddaughter Destiney. Round 2 was Waiting For You and had some adorable baby elements. My page shows my Grandson Quinn with Great Granddaughter Destiney. I love the photo I got of their hands! Round 3 is the top one, Tick Tock Time to Kick Back. It is my Great Nephew Justin in the tub. I love how the sun is filtering through the window blinds. The word art was designed by Jab Digital Designs-justrelax and the papers and elements come from Omaat-kickback&relax kit.

The winners in this competition will be GDS Supreme Team Member and lifetime member to the Supreme Team Alumni. Wish me luck!

ADSR 4 Challenge 13

Challenge 13 was optional. Teams could choose whether they wanted to do it or not. It does give a prize if completed following all the criteria. My team, Grands-Destiny, chose to complete it.

It is a collaboration page, but this time it is a double-page layout. Each of us were to choose a side to complete, and we were to coordinate what colors/kit and etc. we would use, so that the two sides 'went together'. We tried to make a layout that added to each other's page but didn't try to match, and we wanted to show our individual styles. I think we accomplished this.

Becki did the left side and I did the right side. I completed a bunch of right side pages and emailed them to her to get her opinion and so she could look through her things to decide what she would use. We each had a list of rules and requirements to follow, how many papers to use, number of elements and photos, what had to be cropped into a shape and etc.

ADSR 4 Challenge 12

Challenge 12 was a collaboration by my daughter and myself, to create one page together (by that I mean through emailing the page and ideas back and forth until we came up with a completed layout). The rules were to write quite a bit of journaling to tell a story about why we scrapbook, what it means to each of us. We Are Storytellers as the title, we were to place our photos at the bottom right corner, use 2 papers only, and 5 or more elements. This is what we came up with.

Building a place to do my art

We have been contemplating adding on to the house - a breezeway out the back of the garage going into a 2-story addition family room with a loft. It needs to have a kitchen area for snacking and entertaining on holidays and a bathroom. I want lots of windows and I love natural light. I have been researching a zillion or so floor plans and photos. I am working on drawing up the plans I want now and hope to be able to break ground at the end of the month. I am so SO excited about the prospects.

I want the new space to have a library area, a wood stove for warmth, and a corner where I can take some photos of people and still life. Some place with good lighting. I want it to have a porch so I can go out and sit and relax if I choose to. Next to the back of the porch, where it wraps around, I want a secluded 'secret' garden and patio.

I hope we can also do some landscaping with this project. We have wanted to landscape for three years, but got a Laborador pup and she has 'destroyed' the back yard! This summer she will be 3 and I've read that it takes about that long for them to calm down. We have loved and enjoyed her free spirit but have lost all of my planter pots, solar lighting throughout the backyard, most of the plants and shrubs, and the picket fence. All are gone now. Is it time to start over, to put out the effort and expense to re-landscape? I don't know the answer to that, but I'm willing to give it a try.

I have prayed about this for three years. With the state of the economy I wondered if we were doing the right thing. I actually think now that it might be the best time to do it since the interest rates will be low. I believe God wants me to do this, to stand in His provision. To have the faith of a mustard seed means I must trust Him totally. All things are possible through Him who strengthens me. We receive not because we ask not. That's what His word says to us. He is opening new doors for me and I will not stand in His way. I will receive with arms open and a thankful and serving heart.

ADSR 4 Challenge 11

Our newest challenge this Sunday was from Scrap Orchard which is one of my favorite websites to look and shop. This time we were to ask one question of someone. This question must be the only words used on the layout, and we weren't allowed to answer the question. We could ask the question of anyone, alive or not, and use only one photo that had something to do with the question.

I made a page with my parents, who are now up in Heaven. I miss them very much and they have been there a long time. If my Dad were alive or if he can hear me, I ask him to "Be Mine" Valentine. I used Gina Cabrera All Heart elements and paper.

I also made a couple of other layouts that I didn't post. I used dancingprincess-sweetnothings items and papers. Titles "Still Crazy in Love?" and "Momma do you love me in Heaven?" are actual questions I have. Life and death are something we all must deal with, like it or not, what comes is ours. I am intrigued by both.

ADSR 4 Challenge 10

This challenge was brought to us from PixelGypsy. The team member who didn't make a page for the Jan. 20th challenge (that would be me) was to interview the other team member, at least 5 questions and answers, use one photo only, 2 designers only, and 2 prominent colors. I did an interview of my daughter, Rabecca, about being a brand new Grandma.

These are the pages I made. I posted the top one (yellows and reds) which shows my new Great-Grand baby's footprint on the ink pad at the hospital. I love the photo! I didn't post the bottom one (blues and pink) for which I titled it Brand New Grandma is Born. I like them both.

ADSR 4 Challenge 9

For Challenge 9 we were sponsored by KB and Friends. Each challenge, two per week, is sponsored by a scrapbooking website that determines what the criteria of that challenge will be and those are the rules we must follow each time. KB and Friends wanted us to do a page about Generations (at least 2 in a photo - I did 7 generations), use a flower, some metal, some lace, and a vintage element. I used several of each of those.

As always I made a couple of pages. First I created Our Family Memories 7 Generations, which is the one I posted to the challenge. I next created Generations of Love, which shows my parents and 4 generations in the lower photo. I used items designed by Kathryn Balint.

I enjoyed this challenge very much. These are the pages I most like to make, the items, the colors, the memories.