Strength Courage & Wisdom

Today was a very sad day for our family. Our beloved pet of sixteen years passed away this morning, peacefully in my arms. She was my companion and a friend to many. She will be sadly missed. Again, I couldn't face being around the house cleaning her things, so I came to my studio and did what I do for therapy. I scrap! When I saw the challenge today at Scrap It With A Song I started to cry and knew what I wanted to do. The challenge was a song for the New Year. I chose India Arie "Strength, Courage & Wisdom". I love the lyrics so much I included them in my layout to remind me of what I want to achieve.  Below is the link to the song, and it is so fitting for me. The last two years have been trying for sure. I don't want to go into details, but two surgeries, a brain trauma, and my family being by my side has made me the person I am today. I want to grow, I want to smile, I want to be happy and just live for today. I also combined this with a sketch challenge at Let's Capture These Sketches which was so beautiful, I hope I did it justice. P.S. Thanks to all of you that voted for me today at http://www.practicalscrappers.com/2012/01/layout-contest-group-5_17.html . It's a one day only vote, so I appreciate all our your support my friends.

Supplies: Bo Bunny Time Piece, Time Piece Dot, Bo Bunny Et Cetera Extra, Prima Flowers, Tim Holtz Walnut Ink, American Crafts Ribbon, Making Memories Alphabet Charms,

He Who Plants a Garden, Plants Happiness

This layout is of my daughters wedding shower. We had so much fun. She wanted something unique so we did an afternoon tea party with a twist. We had a wacky shoe contest. We had prizes for the highest shoes, the shoes with the most bling, the most sensible, the most outrageous. It was so much fun to see what all the people wore. We had a great day and I was so happy for her. So the first photo is of my daughter and I ( I was her matron of honor) and the little photo is of all the bridesmaids. I was looking for the right design and this morning found sketch #63 at Sketchabilities which was was designed by the fabulous Karan Gerber. It's another snowy day here, so....more scrapping?

Supplies: My Minds Eye Lost & Found  Blush "Better", Blush "Favorite", Blush "Princess", Prima Flowers, Time Holtz Distress Ink walnut, Tim Holtz Distress Stain Victorian Velvet & Peeled Paper, Prima Resist Canvas, Prima Mask, Kaisercraft Clear Stamps

This is Me!

Last night while the house was quiet and everyone was gone, I thought hmmm the dishes could wait, I headed to my scrap room where I found a challenge on the All About Me Challenge blog. I rarely do layouts about myself, so this was a fun project. I even took out my scoreboard and attempted to make some flowers, yeah me! By midnight I had stickers and glue all over myself...I should have taken a pic of that for the next challenge, lol. Thanks to the ladies at AAMC who challenged me to find "my brand" and do a layout of myself. My journaling tag reads:

This is ME! I'm a Mom, a scrapbooker, baker, gardener, a reader, a sister and a friend. I'm creative and funny, silly and sometimes goofy. I'm passionate and gentle, patient and sensitive, a good listener and sometimes I even offer good advice. I love pigs and puppies, babies and children. I love to dance in a meadow and sing in the car. I love God and all his goodness and most of all I love just being ME!

YEAH! I just found out I won the challenge this morning! I'm so excited. I can't wait to see this kit in the mail. Thank you so much Scrapbooking from the inside out

Supplies: Bo Bunny Mama-Razzi Slides, Dots, Stripes, Panoramic, Word, Prima Flowers, Prima Resist Canvas, All My Memories Ribbon, Misc. Buttons, Tim Holtz Distress Stain Pumice Stone, Peeled Paint, Delta Ink