Birthday Princess and a GSO!

I have two new pages to share tonight! I've been getting my scrap on lately! ;) All day I look forward to night time, when my boys and Grandma go to bed and I am not responsible for anyone and nobody is calling my name every couple seconds, lol. This is ME time. I need it, and I deserve it ;)

I love Daily Downloads! My favorites are over at GingerScraps blog. They always have the best stuff! But Gotta Pixel has some cute ones too. A couple weeks ago they had a cute mini by Etc. by Danyale. It was called "Royal Frog Life". As soon as I saw it I knew exactly what I was going to use it for! And, in fact, it was so cute I had to go buy the full kit as well! :) My niece, Akaila, turned 8 last July and I had yet to scrap her photos, because I was waiting on just the right kit, and this was it! Her birthday theme was Disney's "The Princess and the Frog", and here is her page (I hope she likes it!):

Kit - 'Royal Frog Life' by Etc. by Danyale.

Flowers from Ellie Lash kits 'Backyard Sweeties', 'Fairy Tea Party', 'My Favorite Things', and 'Drifting'.

Template - 'Like 'Em Big 2' by PhotoCowGirl.

Fonts - Justice, 3rd Man, and Nyala.

Speaking of the Daily Download over at GingerScraps, that is exactly what I used for my next page! And I have some exciting news to share! I just did this page last night and got it posted to the galleries pretty late. But when I woke up this morning and was going through my Google Reader my page was staring back at me!!! It was chosen as a Gallery Stand Out over at Me So Scrappy! I am so honored!!

These photos were taken at Rood Bridge Park when we were there last Summer for my niece Toni's 2nd birthday. This is my brother, Davie, and another niece, his daughter, Khloe. She is such a doll!! I love how this page turned out, and I hope my brother does too. Here is his page:

Kit - 'Daily' by HK Designs.

BG paper - 'Clean & Simple Cardstocks 1' by That Girl Design.

Template - 'Singled Out' by PhotoCowGirl.

Font - Pea Bandit.

That's it for tonight! I hope you have an amazing Friday!! And if I'm not on again before then, Have a BLESSED EASTER!! God bless...

An update and a new page

So, I finally ended up taking Buddy in to see the Vet this evening. I was really scared, because I was afraid they were going to tell me he had cancer or something horrible like that. Well, Praise God, it's not that bad. He has messed up a disc in his spine between his front shoulder blades which has been causing all his stiffness and pain. Spine injuries are typical in Doxies just because of their body shape, but we've been blessed all this time without any troubles, so it wasn't something I was even thinking about. I didn't think 'back' I was thinking 'neck' because that's were all the trouble seemed to be coming from. SO, he got an injection of Dexamethasone, a steroid/anti-inflammatory, and came home with a prescription of prednisone,  and Tramadol (a pretty powerful pain killer). Poor guy!! They also want us to kennel rest him for 7-10 days! Now, when I first got him back home I thought, "He's not going to need to be kenneled at least for a couple days. He's in so much pain he's not really even moving around much." HA! That injection worked wonders! He is his old self again already, within just a few hours! I'm so glad to see him feeling better, but now I'm wondering how on earth I'm suppose to keep the poor guy still! He feels so good, it's like he's rejoicing! lol He's not used to being kenneled, so he's going to HATE that! I've just been keeping him my lap and he'll sleep with me tonight and we'll see how it all goes. I'm just SO happy he's going to be ok! And thank you for your prayers :)

Back to scrappin' :)
I did the Cookie Cutter (template) Challenge at Ginger Scraps. I put my own spin on the template a little bit and here is my page: "Windows to the Past"

Kit - 'April Grab Bag - Grandma's Cottage' by PhotoCowGirl.

Template Freebie by Kathy Winters Designs.

As we've been cleaning out Grandma and Grandpa's old house we have come across some of the most amazing things! In this photo are some of the old antique camera's Grandpa has held onto. He also has two very old movie projectors (a Kodak and a Bell & Howell), with LOTS of family movie reels, and a slide projector (we haven't found any slides yet....). There is also an old gas run Coleman Iron (Model 4A). It has been so much fun going through this stuff! It's like finding hidden treasures! Someday we are going to go into an Antique shop just to see what they have to say. All of the items are worth more to us sentimentally than monetarily, but it would just be interesting what else we can find out, ie. how old some of these things are. You'll have to stay tuned for photos of some of the other things as I scrap them!

Have a wonderful Thursday! And God bless...

I love Challenges!

Well, digital scrapbooking challenges, anyway ;) The Scrap Matters Newsletter challenge was to make a page about your pet. Now, if you know me, you know that I have several, and I've had pets all my life. But I chose to do my layout on Buddy. Buddy is now almost 7 years old, but we found out shortly after we got him that he has epilepsy. That was really hard on me, because growing up we had another dog, Angel, that had epilepsy as well. I vividly remember her violently shaking in my arms as I tried to hold her tight enough to make it stop. If only childhood wished could come true ;)
I'm not sure what's going on with Buddy, but this week he just hasn't been himself. I'm not sure if he's sick or injured, but I'm afraid we're going to have to take him to the vet. I'm scared to hear what we might find out, because I can tell he's in some pain and I can't stand the thought of losing him. :( So, with him heavily on my mind, this page is for him. My Buddy.

Kit - 'Fly With Me' by Ellie Lash.
Alpha - 'Everyday Blessings' by Ellie Lash (recolored).

'Pets (cu)' by That Girl Designs.
Template by Unforgettable Moments.
Font - My Own Topher.

I also did this page for the Ginger Scraps Cookie Cutter Challenge (template challenge). You can find that here.

And if you think about it... will you say a prayer for Buddy? Thanks ;)

Happy Wednesday!

Well, we've had a beautiful beginning to this week. Sunshine and warmer weather. It's been SO nice! I'm really hoping it will stick around the rest of this week and through the weekend. I am in serious need of some sun therapy! ;)

Fortunately, I've been able to spend a little more time in Scrap therapy! hehe And want to share my newest pages with you.
First up, I have "Peanut"! Peanut is Cody's Dwarf Hamster. She is the tiniest, cutest, fastest little hamster I have ever seen! She is so fast, in fact, that it is really hard to get a good picture of her! The photos in the layout are from my Mom 's camera phone, so they aren't the greatest, but you can see how adorable she is ;)

Kit - "Petshop - Little Fuzzies" & "Detour" by Ellie Lash.

Template - "Strips and Stitches" by Pixie Keepsakes.

Fonts - Cafe Rojo and Arabic Typesetting.

With Easter coming, there are so many cute Easter kits available right now! I love Ellie's kit "Sweet Eggscape". It's a collab with Marshamella and Daphadilly Art. Now, we've never really gotten into the egg dying and hiding much. We did some when the older kids were young, but as they got older we focused more on the real reason for the holiday. Besides, I was never any fun to dye eggs with, I was always so nervous about spills and making messes :( Bad Mommy!  But I can proudly say, my children know why we celebrate Easter, and it has nothing to do with chocolate, bunny rabbits, or colored eggs. That being said, I did find a photo from 2007 when we made a special exception. We had the whole family over and all the kids dyed and hunted for eggs together, even the older ones. Here is my page, "I Found It!"

Kit & Template - "Sweet Eggscape" Collab by Ellie Lash, Marshmella Designs, and Daphadilly Art.

Alpha - "Eieio" by Ellie Lash.

"Finally..." is the name of my next page. These photos were taken when Charles and I finally got to go on our Honeymoon... 15 years after we were married! I love how this page turned out! Every time I look at this page I will remember the special time we spent together.

Kit - "Seaglass" by Litabells Designs.

Templates - "Flower Shop Templates" by PhotoCowGirl.

Fonts - sfLani, sfTwelveAgain and Problem Secretary. 

And lastly, I did a 2-pager. I absolutely love these photos of Cody. Everyday pics that show him just being himself. A silly grin, trying to ignore me, getting annoyed with me... lol. And his happy self. I love his smile! He's got one of those smiles that twinkles in his eyes. Here is "The Many Faces of Cody":

page 1

 Kit - "Denim Crush"  by Photocowgirl.

Template by Wendyzine Scraps.

and page 2

Kit - "Denim Crush"  by Photocowgirl.

Fonts - Angelina Script and Problem Secretary.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you liked my pages! Have a blessed day!

I'm BACK!!

Did anybody miss me? :P

If you've followed my blog at all recently, then you know a little bit about my Grandparents. Well, it is with mixed feelings that I tell you that on February 25th Grandpa went home to be with our Lord and Savior. I have yet to feel the sadness that is sure to come at some point, as I am so consumed with the joy of knowing he is no longer suffering. No more disease, pain, broken body. He is rejoicing with the angels (and hopefully being reunited with my Dad ;) ). He went very quietly and peacefully in his sleep, which is such a blessing to all of us. His funeral and burial services were beautiful. He was buried with full military honors, 21 gun salute and all. Grandma was given the flag that was draped over his casket, as well as the gun casings, which we now have displayed in a frame on top of the TV. Grandpa was an AMAZING man who is loved and missed so very much!
Grandma will continue to live here with us. She has had a few health issues herself recently, so we've still got our hands full, but I can't imagine her being anywhere else. I would worry constantly whether she was getting to proper care and LOVE that she needs. Right now we are on a mission to find help in getting her some new hearing aids. Did you know that Medicare does not cover them? Does that make any sense? Medicare = old people (hehe) and old people generally = hearing aids! How can they not cover them!? And so the journey continues into this new strange world of caring for Grandma :) <3

Alrighty, so, with all of that, there was quite a while when I was not able to do ANYthing on my compute :( I SO missed my digiscrapping, my therapy! So I HAD to make time for it. It is the one thing that is truly mine. ME time! So here I am, back at it, YAY! And I want to share with you some of the pages I've made. A few of them therapeutic in their own way.

We have been trying to get all of Grandma's stuff out of their old house and go through it to see what she wants kept, passed down, etc. In all f that I have found SO many old photos! What a treasure trove it has been! I was able to scan a few of them in and scrap them to preserve some special memories. Here we go...
This first one is a tribute to my amazing Grandma. Her life has been anything but easy, but through it all she has maintained two things: Her faith in God, and her beautiful smile. I love her!

Template - "Room To Journal" by PhotoCowGirl.

Kit - "Forever" by Ellie Lash.

The photo in this next one is of my Great Grandparents, Andrew and Hazel Helling, and their two children, Grandma, Clare, and Uncle Dean. I LOVE this photo! They just look like the perfect little family. Not mention, Grandma is SUCH a little doll! Hehe, the cow on Great Grandma's dress makes me giggle tho. ;)

Kit - "Barren Beauty" by Photocowgirl.

Template - "Barren Beauty Freebie" by Photocowgirl.

Fonts - Beautiful and Problem Secretary Normal.

Aww, this next page is very special to me. Every time Grandma talks about her and Grandpa she has to tell you they were together 33 1/2 years. She is very proud of that and yet, of course, wishes it could be longer. I wanted to make this page honoring those wonderfully blessed years. No greater love have I been such a close witness of. And I was/am blessed to be loved by them both.

Template - "Wild About You" by PhotoCowGirl.

Kit - "While We Were Out" (Scrappity-Doo-Dah Blog Hop Freebie).

Alpha - "Delicate Metal Alpha" by Creations By Rachael.

Fonts - Aquarelle and Teresa.

Did you notice something? All the templates I used are by the same AMAZING designer. I have been lucky enough to be on as a guest CT member for PhotoCowGirl this last month and I have LOVED it! She is incredible! WELL... Today I got a message from her asking me if I would like to stay on her CT full-time! YES!! I am SO excited! As I told her, I was secretly hoping she would ask ;) I'm really enjoying her products and look forward to getting to know all the girls there a little better. Thanks, again, Amanda!! You ROCK!!
By the way you can find all of her products here, at GingerScraps.net.

Until next time... I hope the sun is shining wherever you are!