My favorite 12

As the year draws to a close I decided to do as many others are and share my favorites of the year. This was tough. These are in no top order, just going back from the first month I started scrapping this year.

I like this layout because of the colors and mixture of patterns. This layout started my love of the color Navy. lol 

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I like the bold blacks with the softer colors. This layout incorporates my favorite techniques and colors. 

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This one just speaks to my heart. Ashlyn was obsessed with helping the cat eat when she was a baby. I really like the cut pp as well as the mixture of patterns and colors on this layout. 

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I really like the colors and mixture of patterns on this card. All scraps- even better. 

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I like this layout because it is so different than my usual style, yet it still contains elements that are me. This layout was a challenge for me, but I am thrilled with the end result. This layout represents the fact that Ashlyn's health was in a much better place than it had been in years. She was able to enjoy the "here & now" for awhile. :)

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Another layout that really grabs my heart because Ashlyn was feeling healthy enough to do something as simple as play in the wading pool. This was a big deal. I love how bold and fun this layout is and the misting is one of my favorite parts about it. 

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I just really like how this one turned out. 

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I really love these photos of Sklyar. The colors and mix of prints are great together and I especially love the banner. I cannot believe this girl graduates in about 6 months. 

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I absolutely love how this layout turned out! This is one of my favorite pictures of Moose when we first got him. I am so not a gold person, but this layout made my dislike of gold turn into a wow! I need more gold! I really like the elements and overall design of this one. 

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This photo speaks volumes to me. It is strong and fierce, yet soft and sweet at the same time. I was so blessed to capture this in an image. This girl is a warrior. She is strong and brave and makes me a better person. I am blessed. <3 p="">

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This is a busy layout, but my eye is still drawn to the sweet photo. I really enjoy mixing patterns- I may not always be effective, but sometimes you just have to try. 

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These photos of Skylar crack me up. I really like the colors, string and wooden accents on this one. 

Thanks for scrolling through. I like to mix things up and try new things, however there is always one of my "signature" elements on each project- be it a butterfly, twine bow, machine stitching, distressing or mist. These are things that make me happy. :) 

If you have a top favorites, please let me know so I can take some time to look at your favorites! 

Keep on scrappin'! 

You are so sweet bottle set

Hi everyone. This is my take on the current Color Me Scrappy challenge, #52. When I saw that the twist for this challenge was to scrap something food related, I immediately decided to create a bottle set. I gave this set to Ashlyn's teacher who comes over a few times a week to teach her since she is too ill to attend school yet again {*heavy sigh*}.

You can check out the current challenge by visiting the Color Me Scrappy Blog here. 

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Unfortunately Ashlyn has had a huge setback. She dropped down to 74 pounds, losing 7 pounds alone in about 5 weeks. She has not been able to walk unassisted for over 3 weeks now and her body is severely malnourished. She is literally skin and bones. She had another ng tube placed on Wednesday morning and will undergo a surgery to place a permanent feeding tube directly into her stomach (called a g-tube) so she will not have to continue to have the ng tube. We have no date set for the surgery as of yet. It is so heartbreaking. She is so angry with her body and feels like she failed (as do I). We have worked so hard to keep her weight stable and she lost about 18 months of progress in just a few weeks. For whatever reason her body just doesn't like to absorb nutrients. We may never know why. She had full scopes again a few weeks ago and thankfully her Crohn's is under control. That is a huge blessing, because that would have just made this situation so much worse. If you could keep my sweet girl in your prayers, I would appreciate it. She would really like to be able to have enough energy to enjoy Christmas. 

Several layouts to share

Hello! :) I am back with another post today. This time I have three layouts that I created this week using some of the current sketches from the My Scraps & More Sketches blog.

This one was created using sketch #57:

This one uses sketch #53:

This last one uses sketch #54:

(the photos in this one are really dark)

Thanks for stopping by! :)

I {leaf} you momma

Happy December! :) Here is my take on the challenge 51 on the Color Me Scrappy blog. I love the soft, peaceful mix of colors for this palette, even though I am not really much a fan of green.

stop by the CMS blog to see the color palette and sketch for this challenge. :)

Do I look like I want my picture taken?

Short and sweet: I managed to squeeze in some scrappy time today. I created this layout using the awesome November sketch from Artful Delight. 

Thanks for stopping by. :) Have a great weekend! 

Cutie Pie- CMS #50

Wow- Color Me Scrappy is hosting their 50th challenge. How cool is that?! Congratulations Lisa and Pam on 50 amazing challenges!

Here is my take on Challenge 50:

here is the color palette:

the twist is to use texture on your layout. I added several areas on my layout. Of course "my" traditional distressing and stitching- i don't do many layouts without these basics. ;) To create the hearts I added gesso on top of a stencil and then added a bit of mist for a pop of color. The flowers each have their own texture as well. 

Head on over to the blog to check out the gorgeous work by the design team, as well as to upload your take on this challenge. The Memory Nest is the sponsor and will be providing the winner with a $10 gc to the store. 

Bubbles

Here is my layout for challenge #49 on the Color Me Scrappy blog. The colors are so pretty! I wanted to keep the layout as light as I could although I used a lot of black on this. Sorry about the awful image.

here is the beautiful color palette! I just want to be wherever this photo was taken. lol 

This challenge is also the sketch challenge for the month and here is the wonderful sketch that Lisa created:

This challenge runs from November 1st through the 14th. As always, the design team rocked it! There are several new design team members as well so pop on over to the blog to see the diverse takes on this challenge.

Oh, and did I mention that The Memory Nest a sponsor for CMS this month? Leslie is fabulous! Head on over to her store to stock up on all your scrappy needs.

how do you like my mustache?

Hello~ :) Still no Granddaughter yet. My poor soon-to-be daughter-in-law is more than ready for her arrival. Miss Kaya was due yesterday, but she seems to be content right where she is for now. I guess she'll make her appearance in her own sweet time, or when momma says enough is enough. lol

I played along with the October layout sketch on the Artful Delight blog. I always enjoy creating with the great sketches. 

Thanks for stopping by. :) 

Some Glitz Wild & Free

Hello all! :) Today I am here to share the final projects I created this month for The Memory Nest. I was given the fun Glitz Designs Wild & Free collection to work with.

Here is a layout I created:

I cut apart the dream catcher from a sheet of the pp and used it to "catch" the hearts. 

and a couple of cards:

these cards are 4x4 and are mostly made using the stickers. Super quick and easy. 

Here is the layout I created earlier this month using this great collection:

I have to be truthful- I struggled with this collection. Don't get me wrong, It's a beautiful and fun collection, but it has a lot of "white" space and "tribal" feel to it. I struggle with this, however I am delighted with the layouts and cards I created. I tried to showcase how versatile this collection is and how you can take elements and use them in your own way. 

You can find this collection as well as many other fabulous collections when you visit The Memory Nest's online store here. There are some wonderful specials going on now, so head on over there to take advantage of them.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a beautiful day! :)

She Wore a Feather in Her Hair and other ramblings...

Today my oldest baby girl, Kara Rae turned 23. It really does just seem like yesterday that I was holding her for the very first time. Now she is married, is currently deployed in the Mediterranean, has visited some amazing places that most people only dream about, and has grown up to be an incredible young woman. I have been a little emotional today. I miss her so much and have only had the chance to hear her sweet voice twice since she deployed in early February. I hope she knows how much she means to me and that she knows how much I wish I could call her to wish her a Happy Birthday. 

I still marvel at this beautiful girl woman! She is amazing! :) 

Right now she is somewhere on this ship. Somewhere unknown to me. I hope she was able to have a good day in spite of this. 

I haven't scrapped too much lately. Ashlyn fell ill and we had a rough couple of weeks dealing with low blood pressure and heart rate issues which are new for her. She also had a 2.5 pound weight loss in just 10 days. She has fallen down to 81 pounds now. She has lost 8 pounds since her ng tube was removed in late April, and she really should have gained that, not lost it. So now she is almost 16 pounds below her target weight. We go back to her growth doctor in two weeks and I just pray that she has gained some of that weight back or else the ng tube is back on the table. She had a pretty good week last week, she made it to school 4 days, and then again today, for a total of 5 in a row, which is the most school she has attended this year. Unfortunately she came home from school quite ill today. Cool body temp, low bp and heart rate. We thought we were past all this. :( I am afraid that we are caught up in a cycle that is posing a big decline to her health. We will just have to give it a few more weeks and then make some drastic decisions. Cutting back on school will probably be forefront. She only attends 4 classes as is, but we will probably start keeping her home on Wednesdays just so she will have a break during the week to keep her balanced. 

anyway... onto a scrappy project. 

This is my take on the current challenge on the Color Me Scrappy blog, challenge #48. 

The twist was to use a feather on your layout. I am really not into the feather craze, but I decided to try to make some, and they turned out way better than I even imagined they would. I simply stamped on some vellum, cut a random feather shape, glued some waxy flax for the vein, and cut to add the "feather". Super easy. These took about 5 minutes total.

Thanks for hanging in there. This was a long, somewhat rambling post, but sometimes you just gotta get it out. ;)

P.S. Our first granddaughter is due any day now. EEK!!! I cannot wait! Our son and his gf live in Wisconsin, and unfortunately we are not going to get a chance to get out there, but hopefully we'll get to see them all in June when Skylar graduates. 

adorable

Happy Monday! (or whichever day it is for you) I am sharing a layout that I created using the Stuck?! Sketches dt call sketch. I love the sketch and am loving the new Crate Paper collections! I mixed a lot of patterns on this page, but I love how it turned out. :)

Best Friends

Hi! :) I am back to share the full layout I created for The Memory Nest featuring the fun Glitz Wild & Free collection.

 

This is a pretty collection full of color and graphic images. You can purchase it here in The Memory Nest store.

 

There are also some specials going on for October. Head on over the store to find out more.

Ashlyn's Perfect Pumpkin

Today is also reveal day for the newest challenge over on the Color Me Scrappy Blog.

The happy color palette for challenge 47:

The twist is this awesome sketch by Lisa:

My take on challenge 47:

You should see the gorgeous work that the design team created!!! Check it out here. CMS is also having a DT call. There are a few days left to apply, so get on over there. :) 

There's One in Every Family

This is my layout for the October 1st challenge on the Use your Words blog. The word this time is "family".

When I was digging through photos for this challenge, I realized that I have just two photos of all 6 of my kiddos together and they are not "great" photos. Two of my three step-children lived with their mother for a short time, and Emily was there for several years. I never really realized that I was lacking recent photos of them until I was looking for this challenge. I am not even sure how the fact that I don't have any photos of them as a group since the early 2000's. *sigh*

I came across these photos of Skye and an idea popped into my head and I ran with it. Skylar is our family comedian and these photos represent just a few of the silly things she has done throughout the years. She is such a fun kiddo!

 

I used sketch #46 from the My Scraps & More Sketches blog as my inspiration.

Head on over the Use Your Words blog to see the beautiful work from the design team as well as to read an important announcement.

TMN October sneak peek

I cannot believe that it is October already! Where did the time go?
My first born baby girl turns 23 on the 21st, and my first granddaughter (from our son) is due on the same day. *sigh*

I have several posts today and I will start you off with a sneak peek of a layout I created for The Memory Nest. I will be working with the Glitz Wild & Free collection this month.

 

Head on over to The Memory Nest blog to see the other collections that will be featured this month.

 

Senior

I have had such a productive scrappy weekend. :) I love it when that happens, especially since it has been awhile.

I played along with the September 15th  sketch challenge from Stuck?! Sketches and this is my layout:

 

I pretty much stuck to the design of the sketch, just inverting the side for the banner on top. I just felt that it balanced the layout better. Sketches are so awesome! lol

 

I just cannot believe this girl is a Senior. I only get to do this one more time. It is bittersweet.

 

 

Artful Delight giveaway

Hi everyone! Artful Delight is having an awesome giveaway! Click here to find out more. This would be an awesome giveaway to win. The kits are wonderful! There is also a DT call going on. Both the giveaway and DT call end tomorrow so you've got to hurry to enter both. Good luck!

a few cards to share

Happy Sunday! :)

I have a few cards to share that I have made recently. First off is a card I made for the Sketch-N-Scrap card sketch #10. I used to play along with the sketches there all the time. They are wonderful sketches and the designers create such beautiful projects. The Memory Nest is a sponsor for Sketch-N-Scrap this month, for more information just click on the link to the SNS card sketch above. Hurry though, the month is nearly over. Eeek!

This next card is a thank you card I made for my mom.

 

Lastly, this card I made for my new son-in-law. His birthday was in August. I am not all that great at making masculine things, so this was a challenge for me. I know he likes batman, so I decided that I would find a batman logo and then trace it and cut it out. I really like how it turned out, (even though I think it is too plain ;)) and he loves it! He raved on and on about it. I am just happy that he liked it.

 

 

Have a wonderful week!

 

MME Chalk Studio

Hi! :) I am back to reveal two additional projects that I created for The Memory Nest using the fantastic MME Chalk Studio collection.

First is a wall plaque. As soon as I saw the 12x12  paper with the phrase on it, I knew I was going to stick this on a canvas. The plaque is 9"x12" I layered some of the other papers underneath and added some brads as well as the birds and mustache (which is pop-dotted for dimension) stickers that were included in the kit. I have never used a mustache on anything before, but I think it adds a bit of flair to this project. What do you think?

 

I also made a card for a very sweet girl I know.

 

 

I used some brads for the eyes and nose. From my stash I added the whiskers from Waxy Flax and the ribbon bow.

 

Here is the layout I created and shared earlier this month using this great collection.

 

 

You can purchase your MME Chalk Studio collection kit as well as other great scrappy collection by visiting The Memory Nest store.

 

Don't forget to use code Raechelle20 to get 20% off your entire order. :)

 

 

 

...... not sure why this card has posted twice. I cannot seem to delete it. I am having a love/hate relationship with Blogger today. lol