Throwdown challenges for Memorable Seasons

Hello! :) It's been a short time since I have been here. I have been scrapping, but just not blogging- life has been a bit hectic with Ashlyn. Unfortuanately the steroids weren't working as they should have and she ended up with a huge plunge in her weight. She dropped from 72 lbs to 66 in a week, so she ended up having to have a feeding tube placed back early last week. The good news is that she has gained a few pounds back, although she is not tolerating the feeds well. She was really not pleased about this, as you can tell. ;)

I just hope that this will be short-term. I know I am tired and I cannot even imagine how this is for her.

So, onto scrappy things. Memorable Seasons is hosting it's thrid annual Throwdown challenge. The concept is that each dt member hosts an appetizer (card) and  main course (layout) that is based off of real food recipes. We are in week 3 now and it was my week to host.

I used my March kit, Cosmo Cricket Evangeline, to create both of my projects for this challenge. You can find the products here in the Memorable Seasons store as well as many other wonderful new products from your favorite manufacturer.

I chose to use chips and salsa for my appetizer and chicken fajitas for my main course.

Let's begin with the appetizer; chips and salsa:

the "bowl"; stitching or some type of a border to "hold" the salsa
the chips; a sentiment sticker or phrase
and the salsa; a mixture of smallish embellies

my card:

and for my main course, Chicken Fajitas;


chicken/pepper/onion strips= twine or ribbon AND a banner with at least 3 different patterned papers or colors
fajita= circle(s)
dallops of sour cream= ink or paint splatter

my layout:

Here are my projects for previous challenges. I'll work backwards.
 
Week 2 Sally hosted and here are my card and layout (I have to add that these are both my new favorites):
 

Tami hosted week one and here are my projects;


Thanks for taking the time to stop by. I hope you have a beautiful weekend! :)

LCTS #124

Here is my layout for sketch #124 for Let's Capture These Memories. I just adore these new papers from My Minds Eye!

pp: MME

chipboard hexagons: Pink Paislee

alpha: American Crafts

other: paint, mist and machine stitching

You can check out the sketch and gorgeous layouts from the team here.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are having a beautiful day. :)

My March Kit From Memorable Seasons

Hello! :) I have been slacking terribly with my blogging. yikes...

Today I will share two layouts I created with my March Kit from Memorable Seasons. I got to work with some papers from the Evangeline collection from Cosmo Cricket, which can be found here.

Here is my kit:

and here are two layouts I created with it:

(I added some hunter green paint to the peachy colored letters for the title)

the pink and white polka-dotted paper is from Grant Studios, from my stash. It added a nice splash of color and "modern" to the old-fashioned papers.

I hope your week is off to a great start! :)

LCTS #122 and Two Liebsters :)

Here is my take on sketch #122 from Let's Capture These Sketches. I had a great time mixing and matching papers and colors from my stash.

You can see the sketch (as well as previous sketches) and the amazing work from the team HERE.

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I've been Liebstered (is that even a word? lol)! This award has been floating around and think that it is such a fun idea and great way to make someone smile. I never expected to receive one, but I was bestowed with the honor twice on the same day. Lucky me! :)

Liebster is German for 'dearest' and this award is a 'share-the-love' arrangement. It is given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers.




My first award came from Sylvie: http://sylviehoobanoff.blogspot.com/ Although I don't know her, I am very thankful that she awarded me because she has such a great style and I am a new fan of hers. :)

The second award is from KimiC: http://kimics.blogspot.com/ I have the pleasure of serving on two sketch teams with her and I always love what she creates!


Here's the to-do list of any Liebster award recipient:
1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your five blogger picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Hope that those you award forward it to their favorite bloggers.

Since I was awarded twice, I will post 10 links to some inspirational scrappers I have the pleasure of "knowing":
Joni
Kasey
Tracy
Wendy
Sally
Nicolle
Michelle Gallant
Krissy Clark McKee
Michelle Galloway
Kathy Skou











 

crop layouts-

OK, so these are really late, but I am still going to post them as crop layouts. During the last week in February, Memoralbe Seasons had a Leap year crop. Each DT member had two challenges and a game. I was gone for most of the crop and didn't get a chance to post these layouts on my blog in time for the crop.

My first challenge was a "rep-cop" challenge and I chose to do a bingo card challenge. Here is my layout for that:

this layout feautres some Jillibean Soup and Studio Calico.

My second challenge was to use papers from at least 3 different Manufacturers to create your layout. Here is my layout:

this one features Simple Stories, Crate Paper and Basic Grey. It's one of my new favs. 

I hope you have a fantastic weekend! I'll be back soon with more scrappy goodness- I have a lot to share. :) 

March SWAT sketch and layout

Wow. March already. February seems to have passed by in a big blur- but that's probably because I have been so busy the past two weeks (more details below).

A brand new month means a brand new sketch from Sketches With A Twist. Here is the sketch and the "twist" this month is to use 3 identical embellishments on your layout.

Here is my take- I used 3 butterflies for my "twist":

I had so much fun making the chevrons!- at first I was worried about how I was going to do them, but it was pretty simple one I dug in. These beautiul new papers from MME and Dear Lizzy really helped my inspiration- they are wonderful!

I do hope you'll take some time this month to join us this month with your take on this great sketch! Once again, my fellow teammates blew me away with their fantastic takes on this sketch.

***** 

As some of you may know, Ashlyn hasn't been feeling well. She was diagnosed 10 months ago with early onset Crohn's Disease and the doctor suspected that she was having a flare, and that the disease was progressing due to Ashlyn's vast decline in health the past 6 weeks. So last week I drove her across the state to S\attle where she had an appt. with her gi doc and then a few days later another colonospoy/endoscopy with about two dozen biopsies. This is the fourth time she's had this procedure done in just as many years. Sadly, she is an old pro at them.

Yesterday we  got the results from the biopsies. Ashlyn 's Crohns has spread, and is all over her gi tract from her stomach to her rectum, even the GI doctor was surprised by the amount of granulomas that were found on areas that appeared to look good to the naked eye. So the plan is for Ashlyn to start taking 30MG of steroids in the AM and then 35 mg of Mercaptopurine (a chemo drug) in the evening, and back onto the Prevacid as well. This just sucks. The remainder of the school year is up in the air, but that will be addressed later.


The good news is  that we are still holding off on the ng tube for at least one more week. But it won't be a bad thing if she needs it.  Her white count is barely above, it is only .1 above, so her risk of infection is going to be extremely high and the extra nutrition might just give her system some extra fuel to fight off anything that might come her way.
In a way I am thankful that we can now be more aggressive and treat her, and maybe in a few months she can be just like any other 12 year old kid- not someone who cannot eat or walk and spends most of her time in bed.

I hope that this posting finds you and your family in good health. I'll be back soon with some more projects. :)