10 of my fav's for 2010

out with the old in with the new!!!! I can't let this year go without enjoying 10 of my fav's. Thanks for stopping. I must say welcome 2011!! Happy New Year!!

My your new year be creative and filled with my joyous photographed moments....

packing my bags....

Yep...I'm packing my bags and I'm outta here....Just a few more days to go...It takes awhile to pack. HAHAHA!! I gotta get my scrappin' on....This is the second time my girls have a joined a group of friends for a fabulous weekend. We book it a year in advance and it is so totally worth it. Heck, just check out my bed!! Doesn't it just call you in and beg you to stay and hang awhile.

Even though it isn't bright and sunny out, with our snowy weather it is just as nice inside for all the scrappin' we'll be doing..It isn't far from home just a couple of hours, but seems a world away.

We are so very excited we get away from the world around us. We jump into all our paper goodness and don't come up for air for 4 days.

Last year this weekend turned out to be a snow storm with blocked off roads....women have been known to drive through just to get there. No, not me, but I know women.

This weekend is so important that I schedule surgeries around it. That's no kidding.

I am not much of a "crop" scrapper. I don't know why I'm just not. That's me. I scrap almost everyday, my life schedule allows that. For some of my friends they pack it and unpack it at each crop. I am obsessed. I touch the goods as often as I can.

One thing I have learned is it not about the amount of work I get done, or where I am at, or the number of pages. It has become time with my dear sweet friends.

Over the last couple of years I have had a few things that make me say, "Oh that's important" Our time away makes us better people, better at our jobs, better moms, wives and friends. I often feel a little like I did when I would go on a trip in college.

Scrappin' has brought me true friendships that I shall cherish forever. It has given me a chance to just be. Be creative, stay up late and just plain laugh. The laugh, that when one hears you, makes them want to chuckle also. The laugh that makes you want to know. When I tell you, I won't remember what started it and I am sure it won't make sense.

It is only a long weekend away, it is not a trip around the world. It doesn't have to be. It is the time of my life. It means so much, that life get put on hold and it waits until Monday. Then programming can continue.

If you've never done a crop, you must! Plan and enjoy the reward is priceless and the memories are ones for the scrap book.

Counting the days.....7days to go, to pack, to wait, to look forward to.....~L

tis....the season....

it is the season for happiness.... and family and laughter....joy with giving and joy with time well spent. We at, my little house filled it with everything. From cakes to cookies, to parties, gifts and decorations. The smells of the holidays were fantastic. Mostly we just laughed alot.

A few years ago we cut back and had to face the reality that it wasn't about the gifts we bought , or keeping up with the rest of the world. It was about the time we spent carefully choosing the one gift that meant the most to us. It was for us about the time we spent.

I am somewhat crafty and more that anything it is my favorite part of the holiday. I love to create something and I love for my family to have those things. Sometimes I feel weird giving them, but yet I can't help myself. This year was no exception. I made so many goodies for all that are close to me, I can only hope they loved a few of them as much as I did making them.

Now the wrap is cleaned up, the poor trees are down and the Christmas decorations are slowly making their way back into the boxes. Only to wait for a new year of treasured moments.

It was one year ago these days I was in surgery with faith that I would come out stronger and healthier. That I did, it wasn't easy and it almost took me out, but at that moment... I believed. It has taken all year to feel better,but then.....

It's time for a reality check, time to face this New Year head on and make it better. It is time to begin my count down to surgery day. A day that will change my life and my families life forever. I can only hope and pray to is for the best. I truly believe that I can only feel better and I will get my life back, for me. This holiday was tough, just trying to stay focused on the good of it. To not talk alot about what is in store for this little house. To celebrate our time together. To celebrate life's joys...

I believe this is the right decision to step of faith and strength. It is a step of focus and determination. It is a step that I need to talk about, even if it is here to just me.

I will be strong, I will walk through this storm....I will believe......
~L

since sliced bread....

The cutest little bag since sliced bread....I am in love with a gift...I just finished this up in the dark of the night and I am in love..

I am giving this little gem to a very dear friend of mine whom I scrapbook with. I am hoping she uses it as her catch-all while she scraps. Her dear sweet hubby has been working hard on a delightful little space for her to create loveliness. I am hoping this bag makes a sweet addition to her new space.

I even added a hard plastic bottom inside and unseen for stability when all those goodies get dropped inside.

The little bag measures only 5"x7". The flower is created with a rayon blend fiber so it is very soft, and the final touch includes a vintage button of course.. A special note the lining I stitched in is a fabric from Moda and BasicGrey, a forever favorite....

Isn't just the sweetest thing....Season's Greetings....~L

paper crafty.....

Ornaments ornaments.....paper goodies.....

gifts gifts gifts....

admit one or two for a wonderful decoration. these vintage tickets made for yummie little holiday decorations.

with just days to go I am on my way to knitting my heart out, and my fingers to the bone....ughhh...I can't wait to be done....hohohohohoooooo....

Studio Calico...

Wish list....for Studio Calico...oh how this list could be a world long...I wish for add ons kits...I am madly in love with all and any of their stamps...They are the bomb!

I'd wish for the days of the week stamp set...and some Jenni Bowlin inks to work these lovely stamps. I'd wish for Mr. Huey mists I never have enough money left over each month and they are some of the sweetest colors.... in the end if I were to ask the elves in my life, I'd have to ask for the modern albums in black. Because the SC boxes are what I am currently using to store all my layouts hundreds of them...

with Christmas days away, I plan to have Studio Calico plums fairies dancing in my head.....What yummie scrap supplies do you dream of??

do you believe...

"Do you Believe, Mommy?"

At the sweet age of 6 or 7, Belle came home from school, with heartache. Asking me this question. The little boy sitting next my sweet girl, took it upon himself to proclaim that the children's parents weren't being honest with them. He did this one day during the class story time. Needless to say the poor teacher was put out fires. At the time I was so upset. I understood the family's thoughts behind it with a strong sense of faith. Yet at that moment I too was heartbroken.

She is my one and only, the little one I get to have this excitement with and I get to do it only once in my lifetime. So for me I took this personally, how could they take this from me I was thinking. I have only one first and one set of once in a lifetime moments all at the same time. I don't get to see their first steps, I only get to see hers. My Belle is my once in a lifetime moments.

It was the year her Santa list asked for only one thing. "Dear Santa, are you real", "does Momma tell the truth?" and if he was real could he leave something to prove it. Something she could share with the class to show them the reason to believe. She asked for nothing else that year, except to Believe.....

As the holiday came closer my sweet girl became more and more anxious, should she have asked for something else.

That Christmas morning she awoke to find this very old, very wore, very heavy bell. It was a bell from the sleigh.

Santa knew that in life all it takes is one to believe in the pure heart. The goodness of a spirit, a spirit filled with anticipation and joy...

In our home we believe in all that is good and we have faith that binds us in strength and forgiveness...

With the holiday break over that year Belle wanted to take the bell for sharing. As her parents it was a decision that didn't come lightly. First we didn't want to lose this treasure, and we wanted everyone in her class to continue to believe. To believe in a spirit of the season. After visiting with the teacher and special travel arrangement's the bell travelled to school.

It was as if a national treasure came to sharing that day, and even though the little boy thought better of it. He too found a spirit and respect for a sense of joy that holiday.

Since that year the bell rests front and center in the beautiful decorations. It is admired and it is treasured, because it reminds us that to have faith in something doesn't always have be something that is tangible.

Belle has now doubled in age and the other day I found her in the front room admiring her bell and with a tear in her eye she looked at me and asked "Mom, do you Believe still?".... With truth and conviction I simply said yes. Her answer was, " Good Me too..."

I believe in every first moment and that was another of "ours" toward a growing young woman. One that will always understand a spirit in her heart.

It just takes one......to Believe..... In the spirit of the holidays....I wish you many blessings...~L

here i stand...

I stood today and watched the snow falling with charm and grace...

I wondered if it knew I was here watching. I am here praying to find the strength to move forward. Out of the blinding foggy snow and make a new mark on my journey.

It is so easy for everyone to say make the call, you have to do it you have no choice. You know, life has kinda been this way, not letting me decide. doing things to make sure others are ok. I didn't want to make the call. I didn't want to hear the words I wanted this to been a bad dream. The kind you wake up from knowing you had it but gratefully unable to remember no matter how hard you try.

It isn't going to be this simple. I have a spinal cord tumor and it has got to go..The surgery is scheduled and everyone is breathing more easily today. Except me. One of my symptoms is the loss of balance...and I am without balance everywhere not only where I stand. In this life as it swirls around me, waiting for me to move onward. But I am fixed to this one spot, fearing the next step forward, for I know to move onward I must step backward.

Strong willed, they say about me. I am known as, determined. Strong is not how I would define myself most days. I am a survivor not a fighter. This is going to take a fight.

As I share the news with the ones around me, they shake their heads in disbelief, and then they go home and are grateful today they don't need the strength to carry on. They offer words they truly don't understand or are even sure of. They get to be weak, they get to pass by in life and continue free. Free of the worry , the pain.

I am to move forward grateful that each of them don't have to understand, have to feel the pain, or worry. I am grateful I am allowed to carry this burden with me, because this I do not wish for anyone to bear.

I admire this tree often, it stands alone in a field along a highway we travel. It is rooted and strong. Although it is small in the world as trees may go, it is rooted. It has made its claim on this earth for its time. The winds blow past, life passes this tree quickly and it is rooted.

Rooted with the strength to endure, it is strong willed.

I am rooted with gratitude, and will. I believe I can overcome. I just sometimes don't understand why I have to always be the forgiver, the survivor, the rooted one.

I Believe that I am rooted in this world to continue to grow, I Believe I am a survivor. I Believe in my will. ( I also Believe this sucks...)Carry on world....

~L

home made gooodies

just a couple more homemade happiness.....

A girl can never go wrong with a splendid little wreath for your front door. Better yet how about a sweet Santa to find a chair right up next to the Charlie Brown tree....Santa is made of felt and why yes it is hand stitched every solid once of the sweet man. I am a jack of all crafts, if I see it and if I love, I have to make it.

Ho ho ho...

knit knit bowl.....

Isn't it delightful.....one of the few treasures, one of my lovelies that will soon part from me. It will go to live at a different home and I hope she loves and treasures my delightful knit felted bowl. I am wishing a very merry holiday this year with a touch of handmade goddies.

Thanks for letting me share....

Isn't it just delightful.....

xxoo ~L

the storm is here.....

So the storm is here, making sure that I am not Christmas shopping.. Well what do I say to that!

I say let it rain, snow and blow. It is blowing with all its force. I am grateful today for my family and the fun we have had being stranded in our home. I am grateful for our snacks and mostly I am grateful for the warmth of our shelter on this prairie.

I am grateful for my glue, adhesive, my paper, and my creativity....I am grateful for my studio because it is warm today and messy. That is a good thing!!!

I am grateful to the Spice girls and Just Dance......life is blessed when you can be a part of your hubby and daughter dancing to the Spice girls. I hear him say "Who won, no way I was doing that!!, Let's go again I know I can do the jiggle."
Stay warm....

Be sure to check back this week I have lots of creative goodness to share. I am so excited to be finishing up with delightful Christmas treasures!!!

~L

who's got the button?

Button button, who's got the button??

I do this season. I have taken a few of my favorite buttons and came up with these lovelies...

I think I got a little carried away what started out as one or two became this assembly line of a dozen. Each one is unique, although at a glance they are similar. There are no two alike and very cool, never to be repeated..

I was hoping to create a great detail of dimension. That I did with lots of fill in between layers. It is amazing what a little "pop" can bring to your layouts.

I pulled out all the vintage goodies and went to town. With not single detail left untouched.

the little treasures are delightful 8x8 layouts, that will fit into the a shadowbox nicely.

It had a little help from Martha and my slice. They provided me with a ton of decoupage glue and the little tag shapes you might see here or there. Truly there wasn't a technique that I didn't throw out there.

The trees and stars are hand made. I just sat down and drew each one. Another delightful touch, is once finished I misted ever single one. This gives it a sparkly finish that really catches the eye..

It's just a little pop to say Merry Christmas...

homemade goodness.....

Tis the season....to create holiday goodness......

This year I have created 8x8 3D holiday decorations for my family and friends.....

Walmart has these great 8x8 shadow box frames for small amount. What I loved about these creations was they will be able to put them away each year and just have a little holiday decoration.

I made 12 of the little goodies. They are created with all the vintage goodies I love. Vintage zippers, buttons, ribbon, lace and many more treasures for the eye to find. I love to machine stitch everywhere I can, and these are definitely not short on stitching.

I also believe that something beautiful can come from the scraps at the bottom of the desk and lots of foam..

The holiday of homemade traditions as taken on so much more, than all the other gifts I give, it sort of makes me nervous and I can only hope that each year I can come up with something wonderful. I say this because few have already began to hint at what I might be up to. I hope they won't be disappointed. I think they are lovely.....

~L