CMS #10 {a natural beauty}

Hello out there in cyberland! :)

I have been seriously neglecting my blog. I do have several layouts and cards to share, I just haven't carved out the time to blog. Actually, I think it's more about trying to soak up the last of Summer with the kids. We aren't doing anything other than hanging out at home, but we are keeping busy spending this last stretch of time together before the hustle and bustle of school begins in less than a week.

It's been at least a month (maybe more) since I have participated in a challenge on the Color Me Scrappy site, but today I made it a goal to go check out the challenge since the deadline is tomorrow (or tonight?). I have missed playing along with the great color combos and this layout came together so quickly once I started pulling papers to match the colors.

here is the color palette:

This is not a combo I would have put together on my own, but they are so beautiful together! Once again I love the end result of my layout.

I'll (try) to be back soon with some more layouts. ;) Take care!

Got some layouts to share and big news for me!

Hello! I'm back. Did you miss me? ;) lol The past few weeks have been very busy and have seemed to fly by. I really havn't scrapped much, but I do have a few things to share today. I created these two layouts  several weeks ago for the My Scraps & More Got Talent II contest.

this is for challenge #1:

and this is for challenge #2:

Ashlyn had an appointment with her GI doc in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. At this point she is holding steady. For the first time in a long time we didn't have any bad news. yay! While I do not want to focus on the negative, we didn't get any good news either- OK, the fact that her body is accepting the Methotrexate the way it should at this point is good news. ;) We just need to continue to give her her weekly injections and go forward. We really will not know how the Methotrexate is working for her until we remove her from the steroids, but that won't be until November. We are just building it up now. She's got 4 more weeks for the Methotrexate to fully kick into her system and maybe we'll see something more dramatic then. It's basically a waiting game now.

I have some BIG news for myself! I have decided that it is time to go back to school and finally earn a degree/certificate! I have felt this pull to do this for the past 2 years and everything finally worked out for me. I will be taking it slow as I still have to care heavily for Ashlyn, but I am going to do this! EEK!!!

I am super excited, yet nervous and hope and pray that I have not taken too much of a load on top of what I have already. I am signed up for one class now and am #1 on the waitlist for a math class, which I was told is highly probable that I will get in, although it might not be until school has started. My first day is September 24th.

Oh- I have decided that I am going to work toward becoming a Pharmacy Tech. The certificate program only takes 3 quarters if you go full time, but that is just not feasable for me at this time (and several of the classes were unavailable to me) so I have decided that I am going to work toward both the certificate and AAS. I do have to "catch up" in math, so I will need to take pre-algebra and then algebra to qualify for the math class I need. These will count toward my AAS, as well as the Phsychology class I am starting out with. I really hope I am able to slip into the math class, because that is the one I really need.

This is a huge leap of faith for me, and it's going to take a lot of time and work, but once I get a groove, I know I will be successful. I have given up all my design team commitments as I will not want the extra stress of having a deadline to meet, especially when I first begin, but I am still planning to scrap as much as I can.

I'll be back with some more scrappy projects soon. :)

Have a beautiful day!

two cards to share today

My Scraps & More is hosting a fun challenge/contest called Got Talent II. There are still plenty of challenges to come, but this week and next week will be catch up weeks for the challenges that have been posted thus far. I decided that this was a great time to jump in and have managed to complete several of the challenges and am hoping to be fully caught up by the end of the weekend (we'll see how that goes. lol)

Unfortunately, the camera I use to photograph my projects isn't functioning correctly, so I only havethr ee projects to share that I photographed earlier in the week before mr. camera decided it didn't want to work. *sigh*

Today I will share two cards:

this was created for mini-challenge #1: create a card using some old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. I "borrowed" sketch #52 from cardabilities.

this card was created for mini-challenge #5 which was to use a vintage office image. I used another great cardabilities sketch, #54.

I'll be back soon to share some more projects. Have a wonderful weekend! :)

Ashlyn's new teddy Memorable Seasons LSS #7

I had a productive scrappy day today, I created two layouts and two cards. It's been months since I have had a scrappy day this productive.

I will share a layout that I created for challenge #7 for the Memorable Seasons Last Scrapper Standing (LSS) contest. You can check out the challenge here.

supplies:

cardstock: Recollections

pp: Bo Bunny, Fancy Pants Designs, Crate Paper, and Lily Bee

embellies: flower- Prima; correguated heart- Jillibean Soup; stickers- Daisy D's, Fancy Pants Designs, and Making Memories

DMC floss; Americana paint; tulle

ready... set... throw Scrap~N~Sketch #11

Hi! :) I have a layout I created using another great sketch from Scrap ~N~ Sketch today. This is for sketch #11.

ready... set... throw:

supplies: cs- Recollections; pp- Simple Stories, Crate Paper and October Afternoon; embellies: Jillibean Soup, Prima, Simple Stories, October Afternoon, and The Twinery; ink

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

down under CMS #7 and a proud momma moment

I finally had a chance to finish the newest color challenge at Color Me Scrappy. It has taken me all week to complete this layout. It has been "one of those weeks". lol

Here is my layout for challenge #7: I wanted it to have a lot of layers and distressing and have some movement:

and a detail shot:

supplies:

cs: Recollections; pp: Little Yellow Bicycle (splash), Echo Park, My Minds Eye, Grant Studios, American Crafts, AC Dear Lizzy; stickers: Basic Grey and Prima; embellies: LYB and The Twinery; paint

Here is the YUMMY color inspiration:

Thanks CMS for yet ANOTHER fantastic challenge!

I have some fantastic proud momma news!!!

My oldest dd, Kara, who is in the Navy called me early yesterday morning to tell me that she had just found out that she was going to receive an award along with 4 others from her ship. She received the Navy Achievement Medal, which is pretty darn amazing, especially someone who has only served for about 3 years. The other 4 who rec'd this are all "old-timers" (her words- especially since she is the youngest and only female in her rate on her ship).

(I copied and pasted the following from the link above- it's what she had to demonstrate to earn this medal)

Professional achievement that merit the NA must:

(a) Clearly exceed that which is normally required or expected, considering the individual's grade or rate, training, and experience, and
(b) Be an important contribution of benefit to the United States and the Naval Service.

Leadership Achievement that merit the NA must:
(a) Be noteworthy
(b) Be sustained so as to demonstrate a high state of development or, if for a specific achievement, be of such merit as to earn singular recognition for the act, and
(c) Reflect most creditably on the efforts of the individual toward the accomplishment of the unit mission.

I wish I could have flown across the country to give her a big hug and tell her in person how extremely proud of her I am!!!

hail to the mighty waterfall and updates

This layout was created for Memorable Seasons using the wonderful Macho Nacho Soup collection from Jillibean Soup. I created it for the Member of the Month spotlight and used a card from the chosen member as my inspiration.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ashlyn had a gastric emptying study done on Friday. The tech pushed triple the amount of formula she would have on an hour down her ng tube to fill her stomach, and then he pulled the tube which was challenging for her- we really thought she was going to bring it back up, but she really focued and managed to keep it down. *whew* She had to lie under this x-ray/CT scanner for over an hour, which was not easy for her but she did well. She watched 'The Lion King' and managed to make it through without falling apart.

The test did show that she has a slight delay with the amount of time it takes for her stomach to empty, but nothing that will require the need of medication. Thank goodness, because she takes 14 pills a day as is. She's just going to have to live with it and eat less more often. Which is pretty much what we have been doing by running her tube feeds 24/7.

She's going to have a few more tests done this Summer to see why she cannot grow without tube feeding as well as if it is the Crohns that is causing her body to not absorb nutrients from food. We are really hoping to start re-feeding her again, which is a HUGE process. People think that it is as easy as just giving her food, but it is so much more involved. She's allergic to peanuts/nuts, peas, and white beans (there are a lot of products that are made on a line that uses nuts, so we have to read lables religously). Then there's the whole avoiding milk because she is lactose intolerant, and cannot even handle traces of milk product in her food. Oh, then there is the fact that she needs to eat a low-residue diet which is quite strict. We have to count calories meticulously and log everything she eats/drinks, and will still have to continue to suppliment the majority of her calories via tube feeds. This will take months... and we have to make sure she doesn't gain or drop weight too quickly because that is deadly for her as well. We've done it before and I can't even count the number of times I have left the grocery store in tears because it is all so overwhelming to me. I tell you, if I could have someone just to prepare her meals for me I would be in heaven! That would be a huge blessing. But that is not going to happen (can you imagine the cost??!!)

And wouldn't you know it, our refrigerator decided to die. Seriously? Had it happened in the cool of winter I would not have been so stressed, but it just had to do it when we have had nothing but high 90's. The food I had to throw away- yikes! It makes me sick. Thankfully I found one today that was super cheap and will be delivered tomorrow. It's the barest of the barest bone models, but it is so not a good time for this to happen and it is just going to have to do for now. I cannot beleive the prices on some of the models out there! They sure were pretty though....

Thanks for stopping by! :) Many blessings to you.