So...Tired...

First things first, have you all left a comment at Krista's blog for a chance to win her awesome blog candy? Hmmmm? HMMMMM? The link is right up top here and you need to go NOW if you haven't already! She needs to get 24 comments before she'll draw the winner so if nothing else, go leave a comment so I can win already! ;) Seriously, she has the cutest blog with the sweetest talent for many things crafty so go take a peek and maybe you'll win some scrapping goodness! Now, back to your regularly scheduled blog post:

Well, I haven't even begun to recuperate from this past weekend's majorly awesome crop at LPS. We had a ton of fun chatting, playing games and working on challenges. I feel like I'm seeing double quite frankly! lol But it was worth it! Now I've got to work on my last layout for the "Make the Most of Your Stash" challenges at 2 Scrappy Chix Designs which has been SO fun and my week 4 lesson layout for Scripture Scrappers. I'm also trying to make my second amigurumi but it is not going well for me at all for some reason...ARGH! lol Maybe I just need some good sleep and it'll come together.

Here's the last bit of work from the crop, 3 additional layouts I did this morning:

Still Scrapping...

Funnest.Weekend.Ever. And I still have until 5 today to get more challenges from the LPS Spring Crop done!

Can't Talk...Scrapping...

Holy smokes, I've been literally scrappin' till I drop over at the LPS Spring Fever (Spring Fling? Fever? I don't think I've gotten the name right once!) crop and it's been a blast! We're still going strong today and I'll need to sleep for at least a week after all this! lol I'm going to post a few layouts I've done this weekend, I hope everyone's been having a great weekend! I'm going to catch up on everyone's blogs soon!

Friday Night Fab Five: Love Edition

So I'm being a little lazy and didn't get all the pictures taken for the original Fab Five I wanted to do this week so I just decided to do 5 things I'm especially loving this week. So without further ado:

1. Tonight kicks out the Spring Fever Crop over at Life Preservers Scrapbook Club.

So if you're looking for something fabulous and scrappy to do this weekend, come join us! The ladies of LPS are all so fun and although they haven't given too much info away yet, it looks like they have some fun challenges and fabulous prizes in store for us!

2. As of yesterday I have started my very first amigurumi.

Let me just say, I am addicted already! (The picture is not what I've done, just showing you what amigurumi is! lol)

3. I've always wanted to be a wine expert but quite frankly, I could never find one I liked. Too dry, too bitter and what's up with "an oak" taste anyway? That was until I found a winery that was practically in my own backyard.

Duplin Winery is here in the Carolinas and all of their wine is made with muscadines. I love every wine they have and it's all sweeter wines. Woo hoo! (Plus, one glass is all you'll need PLUS the price is under $10 for a bottle...more please!) :P

4. I love my newest layout!

This is the last layout for LPS's Cruise Around the World in 8 Layouts. I'm sad that this "cruise" is over but it was a lot of fun to participate!

And last but not least...

5. I love the man that supports and encourages me to be creative everyday.

Even if it means the dishes sit for another day.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Joy To The Fishes In The Deep Blue Sea...

This week's lesson at Scripture Scrappers was all about Joy. As soon as I saw that Joy was the subject, I knew exactly what kind of layout I wanted to do (bright) and what picture I wanted to use:

Let me explain this picture because there's quite obviously a finger covering part of it! On our honeymoon at Disney World, my husband and I went to a buffet at Magic Kingdom that included characters from Winnie The Pooh. So Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger were all walking around and let me tell you, this Tigger was amazing! He was turning cartwheels and definitely "bounced" just like a good tigger should.

Well, he came by our table and we asked him for a picture but he just shook his head, took our camera and took a picture of us! It was a total surprise and my husband got the biggest kick out of it (check out the look on his precious face!). So the finger is actually Tigger's hand taking a picture of us. :)

I painted and Stickled the letters once again and added Romans 15:13 as my verse. We were overflowing with joy and hope that day for sure!

I Want To Get My Hook Into It

I think tomorrow's Fab Five is going to be previous arts and crafts of mine. I tend to learn of new crafts or things I didn't know existed and get immediately wrapped up in it. I found another such neato thing yesterday and as I was stalking the internet to find tutorials, it brought to mind all of the things I've attempted or enjoyed doing in the past so maybe I'll post about that tomorrow. (Stay tuned!)

But onto what I think will be my next obsession (scrapping will still be #1 though!). And here it is: Amigurumi.

Since my husband and I are crazy about anything Japanese, these are right up our alley and I wanna make em! I wanna make em! Luckily I have a little bit of crochet experience so now I'm on the hunt to find useful clear instructions online before I go out and buy a ransom in books that end up collecting dust.

So has anyone out there tried this or does this or hates this or what? Any advice for a sort of beginner? Like "it's awesome!" or "run away!" ???

May The Force Beat Me Senseless

It's been one of those days today. You know the ones, you're on a roller coaster ride where one minute it's the best day ever and the next it just s-u-c-k-s. lol Hubby was off today (yay!) but Toot woke up at 6:00 this morning (boo!). We went to get Hubby's hair cut and I made an appointment to get mine cut Thursday since I haven't done a thing to it in a few MONTHS before Toot was born (yay!) then we get home and I remember that I'm going to a class on Saturday so there goes my hair cut money (boo!). We get a package today from Toot's Godfather in New York (yay!) and also in the mail was a notice that our mortgage escrow was short and we now owe them $300 AND our mortgage is going up about $20 more a month (BOO!!!).

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

*deep breath*

Okay...I'm good!

Anyhoo, nothing scrappy to share tonight. I just wasn't in the mood to get anything done although I need to get started on my last layout for the LPS Cruise Around the World in 8 Layouts. I also need to work on my layout for this week's Scripture Scrappers lesson on Joy but needless to say the last thing I was feeling today was Joy. LOL Tomorrow is another day!

In other news, Toot's Godfather is one of Hubby's bestest ever friends. They've been friends since they were in first grade together. Him and his fabulous wife sent us a huge box filled with sweet little odds and ends for Toot and also one big thing: a HUGE stuffed R2-D2 for Toot. LOL My hubby and his friends are WAY into Star Wars so there you go! I can't say much as I agreed to this picture on our honeymoon:

So also in the box was photographic evidence that R2-D2 did a little New York style sightseeing and partying before agreeing to come down South:

"R2 In The City"

"R2 Marketing Shill"

"R2 Selling Out For His Vices"

"R2 With The Ladies"

"Saving R2"

Circle Journal: My Favorite Trip Entry

My first journal arrived in the mail last week and I was so excited to work on my first book! This journal belongs to D and she picked "My Favorite Trip" for her theme. Let me just say that she put together some beautiful pages for her book! I just love seeing these pages up close.

First I had to decorate a tag to "sign in":

Of course, there was only one trip I immediately thought of for my entry in D's journal: our "Disneymoon" trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando. There was never a question that DW was where we were going when we were planning our honeymoon. Neither of us has ever been there and what a better way to experience it for the first time than with my husband! We had so much fun and I so loved scrapping some pictures from that trip again. I did a two page layout, size 8x8

Let me tell you, I blew through my Xmas Red Stickles and I have found a new love: painting raw chipboard with acrylic paint and then covering the crap out of it with Stickles...oh baby!

So this book will be off to the next in the circle tomorrow and I'm impatiently waiting for my next one! So far so good, it's been a great experience doing my first circle journal.

This Layout is Sketchy...

There was a sketch contest going on over at GCD Studios. Here's the layout I came up with:

Nothing fancy here but I had this L-O-U-D paper that I wanted to use somewhere and voila, here it is!

Friday Night Fab Five: Eye Candy Edition

I was trying to think of something really fun to do for this week's Fab Five and with my father-in-law here for the past few days, I really haven't been getting around all that much except for some blogs here and there.

And that's when it hit me...the blogs I visit showcase so much talent that I decided to highlight some awesome stuff I've seen around the blog-o-sphere. They may even be gals you haven't gotten the chance to visit with yet and you can make a new blog discovery! (Don't you love it when that happens?!) So here they are, in no particular order:

I instantly fell in love with Lynn's layout when I saw it over at Pretty Paper Swirls. I love the quote by Charles Schultz and her attention to details and mastery of everything to do with distressing is amazing to me.

I love Gabrielle's layout at No More Little Monkeys. First of all, look at that gorgeous child! Second, I love the way she used the patterned paper and highlighted it by adding more flowers for dimension.

I adore Beth and this layout at dirty laundry. She's funny, fabulous and oh so creative. This layout is so fun and I love how she's not afraid to use patterns and materials that others might shy away from.

I'm a big fan of layouts that leave a lot of blank space. (Mostly because I'm not brave enough to try it yet!) Erin's layout on her blog just a few scraps & pieces is so clean and fresh looking. And look at that picture!!!

Pinky's blog Much Ado About Nothing is one of the newer blogs I've started stalking but I l-o-v-e her scrapping style. I don't think she has one particular style either. Sometimes it's vintage, sometimes it's clean, sometimes it's chaos, but it's always fabulous.

So there you have it! I have to say it was hard to only pick 5 for this week! I get so much inspiration from all of y'all and can only thank you for sharing your creations with me!

See you next week for another Friday Night Fab Five!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Need Some Scrappin' Fairies!

Hello everyone!

I was doing my daily blog visitin' when I came across an entry that I felt I needed to put up on my blog and see if we can help this family out. I found it on Jocelyn's blog SIMPLY ME. Click here to read her entry or you can read below for the details:

"I received a phone call from one of my dearest friends, Jamie, in my Scrapbook Club and she asked if I could reach out to all of you who read my Blog and ask for a good deed. She was so upset when she called me about this.

She read an article in Ladies Home Journal about a 31 year old woman who is an avid scrapbooker and is in Stage 4 Cancer, terminal!!!! Her wish before she dies is that she can complete the scrapbooks that she has for her children!!!! Her name is Dana Doruin and her husband name is Shawn. They live in New Jersey and have 3 children. One son, Ryan is 12, and a set of twins, a boy Aidan and a girl Sydni, age 5. They have been to Disney World, vacation at the beach and celebrate all the Holidays!!!!!

Jamie has a wonderful idea, knowing that scrapbookers have hearts of gold, she thought we could help this family who is in need!!!We are looking for 12x12 pages, completed and ready for a picture!!!!! Ladies Home Journal has agreed if we complete these pages and forward them to the magazine, they will get them to Dana!!!! So........ could anyone complete just one page, pink, blue, boy, girl, vacation, holidays, just about anything that you might want to put together. Jamie, is attending a crop on March 28th and hoping that some of the ladies there will also contribute. Jamie has two wonderful little girls, Kali Grace 2 years old, and Kathryn Rose, 5 months. She stated that she just could not imagine the pain of losing her life, knowing that she has children to be raised!!!!

We would like to have all pages received by April 2nd!!! I know that does not give us a lot of time, but anything would be appreciated. You can email me {Jocelyn} at GwainBear@aol.com and I will give you my address so that you can mail them to me and I can get them into Jamie's hands!!! Thank you so much!!!"

If you would like more info or would like to contribute, please contact Jocelyn at GwainBear@aol.com ASAP. Thanks and Happy Thursday everyone!

Love is Patient...I Am Not

Fruit of the Spirit is the current subject over at Scripture Scrappers. Here is the cover page I made for my album last week.

I experimented with some paper tearing and drew all of the fruit on with Stickles...I love Stickles....

Speaking of love, that was this week's lesson. I zeroed in right away on the "Love is..." passage of scripture in 1 Corinthians. This verse speaks to me because most of the time I am all the things Love is not, especially to the people I care about most. I am often impatient, rude and easy to anger.

Even now as I write this blog post, my husband is speaking to me and all I can think is, "Hello? Can't you see I'm doing something here?" LOL Ah well, this layout will serve as a reminder for me that true Love is deciding that what you're involved in is not as important who you're involved in.

The picture is one of my bridal portraits where I was holding my (soon to be) husband's wedding band in my hand behind my back. I wrote part of 1 Corinthians 13 around the edge of the paper and painted some chipboard letters white and then covered them in Star Dust Stickles.

In thinking about what kind of layout I would make for this week's lesson, how it would show how God loves me and what that meant I thought of this: I usually think I'm too dumb, too lazy, too angry, too fat, too bitter, too ugly to be worth much. I've read these verses a hundred times, heard lessons on them, read books about them and still never captured them as Truth for myself. Once I met and married my husband, I tried to hide these feelings from him so he wouldn't think I was a crazy nut and of course, like anything and everything in our lives, I could not hide it for long.

He took my hand and looked me in the eyes and said simply, "You are not perfect, but you are perfect to me. I don't always like what you do but that doesn't change the fact that I love you more everyday." So it hit me today reading these verses for the hundredth and one time that my husband's love can only be a mere ripple in the vast pool that is God's love for me. I can only assume and hope with childlike faith that this is why God blessed me with such a man. Someone who reflects a small ounce of the infinite love God has for me. A daily, tangible reminder of Someone who loves me patiently, fervently and wholeheartedly.

I always see the positive for other people. I love, more than anything, to put a smile on someone's face and encourage them to be and do everything they can, I think in some small part because I can't believe it for myself and it helps me cope. My hope is by writing this as honestly and up front as I can that it might help someone else out there know that they're not the only one. In this world of millions and millions of people, there is never ever an "only one".