Sisterhood Social and a tragedy

Good Morning,

Today is a new challenge up at The Sisterhood! My dear friend, Teri, is hosting this week's Sisterhood Social. Teri wants to see your book or movie inspiration. This was an easy one for me, who doesn't love The Scarlet Letter?

I helped my Megan (now 21) create this for a project her senior year in high school. She created two summarized tags for each chapter of the book. We had so much fun working on this book together.

What is your favorite book or movie? Will it inspire you to create a project? If so, please share it with us at The Sisterhood!

Check out the inspiration my sistahs have for you, while there, be sure to leave them some love!

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Today I also have some tragic news to share. For those of you who regularly follow my blog, you know my youngest niece, Ashela (10) dances with a competition squad. This photo shows her (in the back) and her little friend, Destiny (front) at the Spring Recital in May of this year.

Destiny was at the pool swimming on Friday. Her Grandmother was driving her, her friend, and older sister home from the pool. A 26 year old male, driving under the influence, hit their suv head on. Destiny was flown to a hospital in West Virgina, she had some surgery to her brain and fought so hard to live. After having a section of her brain removed, she was only given a 10% chance to live. Destiny died yesterday morning. Her grandmother is still fighting for her life. Her sister and friend escaped with minor injury. Destiny was only 10 years old, a very talented dancer, and a beautiful little girl. Please pray for her family, her friends, her community, and my little Ashlea, as we all grieve the loss of this precious child.

Blessings,

Blog hop.....

Second Post....
My good frenids, Penny and Dawn, are doing a hop over at Paper Craftorium!


I'm hopping along with them today as I travel back from Louisville. Won't you join along too!

Ready for Europe....

Good Morning,
I'm in Louisville today! My 16 year old niece, Samantha, is here for Kentucky Ambassadors of Music. She will be flying to Europe tomorrow. She's visiting 7 countries in 15 days.

The bands held a concert for families last night. This is her on the flute.

And a beautiful picture at dusk.

I know these kids will have a great time while touring and providing concerts in Europe. Oh the scrap pictures we'll have after that trip!!!

Join me tomorrow for a new Sisterhood Challenge!!!
Blessings,

live...

Good Morning,

I had such a FUN weekend with my little kids.....nieces and nephews are God's answer to us ladies who can't be a mommy!!!! We did movies, found a little turtle, (named him Alex), and my little man had a big night on Saturday. His little league took the team to a Lexington Legends game. The Legends are a minor league team for the Huston Astro's. The little team had a trophy presentation by the Legends AND got to go on the field for the seventh inning stretch song...We had a BLAST!!!!

So, now it is Monday, and I'm back to blogging. We have some big winners at Practical Scrappers for the incredible flower challenge. The last time I checked, we had 160 participants this week, WOWZA!!!!! Our top 3 this week are, Carol, Sarah, and Susan, with the Grand Prize Winner being, Leanne. Congrats to you VERY talented ladies....ALL of you have inspired me....

Our challenge this week is decorative scissors or border punches. I decided to create a flower using a border punch. I will have a tutorial posted at Practical Scrappers on Saturday for this technique.

These flowers are fun to create and just another way to use up scraps and punches....

My design team sisters have loads of inspiration for you this week! Please visit them to say hi and leave them some love! This is our last week to win Squigglefly digi images, so be sure to get your project linked up by 5:00 pm (Eastern) for your chance!

Oh, and don't forget about the current Design Team call going on through July 5. This is a fabulous team to be a part of!

Happy Monday!
Blessings,

Ready for some summer colors?

Good Morning,
Sorry this didn't get scheduled last night. The little kids spent the night with me, we had an Alice in Wonderland movie night sleep over...no computers! So much fun!!!!! Miss Ashlea found her Halloween costume for this year, the scene where Alice had to wear the red curtain dress, somehow, she says, we'll make a dress like that!

So today is a fabby Frosted Designs Friday!!!! I'm hostess this week and we have a great summertime color challenge for you to play along in. The colors are orange, yellow, green, and turquoise. YUMMY!!!!!

So I had this Fancy Pants paper that already had these colors in it and wanted to use that. These pictures are from two summers ago. I think they work really well with the paper.

I used lots of Elsie rubons to fill in around the title, and some buttons for a little more fun.

You will be so inspired by my fabby Frosted sisters! Please visit them and leave them some love. Oh and don't forget, there is a fab prize for June, all you have to do, is play along to win!!!!
Have a great Friday!!!!
Blessings,

Wormsloe Plantation.....

Good Morning,
Today is a new challenge reveal at Sketches in Thyme!!!! Our sketch is from Scrapiopath again this week. I love that this sketch has five photos.

I wanted to get one more layout for my Savannah book. This one has some faux stitching around the photos. You all know me and how I adore bling and flowers.

You all need to visit Sketches in Thyme to check out this week's inspiration from the lovely Mavens......be sure to leave them some love!!!! I hope to see you playing along this week!!!!

Blessings,

Design Team Call @ Practical Scrappers

Design Team Call

To apply to become a designer for Practical Scrappers:
1: Email Christine at practicalscrappers@gmail.com with your message board name and a brief description about yourself.
2: Participate in one of our challenges before July 5th, it can be our normal challenge, the monthly bonus challenge or a sketch challenge
3: Read the DT Guidelines listed below
4: Add your blog to Mr. Linky (here)
========================================================================= Practical Scrappers Design Team Guidelines

1) Designers need to submit their weekly project by the due date listed on the calendar. It’s always on Friday. If you are going to be late - we need to know. If you cannot participate that week - no problem - but we need to know. If you have two unexcused absences (meaning you never bothered to let me know that you aren’t sending anything) you will immediately be removed from the design team. As long as they are posted to the Designers Gallery by the time I get up Saturday morning (or I know they are coming) I am a happy lady! I will not e-mail to remind you. If you publish a project early please schedule it to post on the due date so that the site does not get overrun.

2) All layouts must have a picture on them - in other words they must be complete.

3) Become a member of the Practical Scrappers forum and post to it regularly You will also be responsible for posting a Question of the Day, see the forum to get a feel for how that works!

4) Commenting on entries for our challenge is important - you will be assigned a number and you need to comment on all entries that end in that number. So if you are assigned number 1, you should comment on 1, 11, 21, 31, etc. This ensures that all entries are recognized by the PS team!

5) We have sketches posted every weekend - as a design team member you need to complete one sketch per month. These will be posted on the Designers Gallery Blog when they are available, allowing extra time to work ahead on them.

6) Please take your layouts out of albums/page protectors before you take your picture. Please also crop your layout pictures as much as possible. Please don’t be offended if we ask you to take another picture. We want our audience to be able to see your layout at it’s best!

7) All design team members are welcome to apply for a second term. Consideration for your second term will be based on both your project quality, uniqueness, and participation in the PS site as a whole. No more than five people will be chosen for a second term.

8) After completing two terms on PS we ask that you take one term off before reapplying. We do this in an effort to keep our ideas fresh. After one term off, you are welcome to reapply!

9) We ask that while you are on term for us you do not join more than two other design teams. We also ask that you e-mail us when you apply for other design teams to give us a heads up. This is to hopefully avoid a bunch of our design team members ending up on someone else's team.

10) All new design team members are on term from the beginning of August thru the end of October.

11) Please be active in promoting Practical Scrappers - we are working hard to make this a top website!
Blessings,

Blog Candy Alert.....

My fellow Practical Scrappers sister, Denise, is celebrating her 5,000 hits with some yummy candy! You can read all about it here!
Blessings,

Suggestions Welcome....

Good Morning,

My mom is home and resting comfortably! She is so relieved to finally have this over!!!! Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes....hugs and love to you!!!!

Now that we're home, I can tackle some much needed cleaning and organizing in my scraproom! I am sharing my current storage for scrap papers. This isn't working for me. I have to find an easier way to store these little bits of gold.

One folder is for solid and the other is for my patterned paper scraps. What works in your space? Please share any suggestions you have with me, all are greatly appreciated, or send a link to a photo or video if you have one!

Blessings,

update on mom...

My mom came through her surgery with flying colors!!!! Praise God!!!!! She is back in her room still waking up. She's eating ice chips and talking to us. If she can hold down some food later and no complications, she will be discharged later this evening. Thanks for all of your prayers and well wishes.....
Blessings,

You are sweet....

Good Morning,
Hopefully as you are reading this, my mom is having her surgery. She had a GREAT day yesterday and hopefully she will not go into afib again....

Today is a new day and challenge at Practical Scrappers! Before I reveal my dt project, let's announce the winners of the glitter and flocking challenge. OMG, you ladies really knocked my socks off with your projects this week! So much talent and inspiration from ALL of you!!!! Here are this week's winners, Sandra, Marina, Pinky, Wendy, and Robbyn! Congratulations ladies!!!
And now on to this week's challenge. We want to see flowers. I tried my hand at a rolled paper flower. While sitting in the hospital with mom, I used a pull out card from a magazine to practice and I LOVED it. I may use it later this week. I used this sweet cherry image from our sponsor, Squigglefly. I wanted just a small flower in the corner and tried a little one.

I inked the edges of the flower up with some green ink, just for more dimension. So why don't you try something out of the box this week for flowers. Here is a great video on how to create your own beautiful paper roses. I can't wait to see your blooms!
Check out my lovely dt sisters all week for incredible inspiration!
Blessings,

Tybee Light House

Good Afternoon,
My mom was moved from ICU yesterday and back on the med/surg floor. Her surgery is back on for Monday. She is doing much better and the med doc says she has probably passed the stone at this point because she is not in any pain. Thank you again for your thoughts and prayers.

Very quickly, I have a layout for the Stuck on You Sketches this week.

This is another for my Tybee album.

Blessings,

Friday Sketches at Practical Scrappers...

Good Morning,
My mom had a very good night last night. All of her tests are great, her heart rate is back to normal and she will probably be moved back onto the med/surg floor today. Her doc is saying surgery is back on for Monday. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers.

Here is the sketch for the Friday Sketches at Practical Scrappers

Here is my take on it. This card features an image from Squigglefly

This is my Dad's Father's Day card for tomorrow.
ETA: Just saw this one fits the Raise the Bar challenge this week.
Blessings,

Update on mom...

The surgery team came to get my mom at about 11:40 am this morning. We were called about 12:10 and told we needed to go to the surgery area. When she received her anesthesia, she went into afib....so she is still in recovery. They are trying to wake her. When she is, she will move to ICU for testing and monitoring on her heart. So the surgery is postponed until this cardiac situation is resolved. Please pray for her.....

Embellish it from around the house....

Happy Friday,
This is a scheduled post, so hopefully by the time you are reading it, my mom will already be in surgery or perhaps recovery. There is a very slight possibility that she will have the gall bladder removed here (we are in Virginia...she and my gran like the docs here..) and then travel to Kingsport, TN to see a gastroenterologist if she does indeed have a stone blocking the bile duct.
When we know more, I'll post an update. So continued prayers, please.

Now on to some happy scrappy goodies. It is Friday and that means a new challenge is up at Frosted Designs, this week our fabby sister, Joni is hostess. She is challenging us to create an embellishment from a household item.
Here is a close up of my embellie, do you think you know what common item I used for my lollipop flower?

If you guessed a toilet paper roll, you are correct! I used some nestie circle punches, crinkled them up, and applied some frayed burlap ink and there ya have it! This also fits the Practical Scrappers Monthly Bonus Challenge too! Check it out....

I made this for my size E (8.5 X 11) sheets of CTMH stamps. I removed it from the binder for the photo, I knew there would be glare. I want to see what you do with common items from around the house this week. Oh, and don't forget to visit the fabby Frosted DT ladies, trust me, they will inspire you to get creating.
And we have this yummy prize for June, all you have to do to be eligible to win, is PLAY ALONG....the more you play, the more chances you have at winning it!


I hope to see you at Frosted Designs this week!
Blessings,

Sketches in Thyme Reveal

Good Morning,
ETA: Just saw this one also fit The Sabby Tea Room this week, which is Fun in the Sun!
Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers for my Mother. I spent the night in the hospital with her. She is still full of some powerful meds to keep her pain-free until the surgery, hopefully on Friday.

Today is our second challenge reveal at Sketches in Thyme. I can't tell you how excited I am about this new venture and just how much inspiration I get daily from my Mavens! I love you ladies so much!!!!
So without further ado, here is our second sketch, it comes to you from scrapiopath.blogspot.com sketch 36. I love it!!!!!




And here is my take on it! I had these photos of Ashlea from Tybee Island that still hadn't been scrapped, this sketch was just perfect for it, don' t you think?

All papers and ribbon are K & Co, Seaglass. The bling and butterfly are from Hobby Lobby, and the chipboard letters are Crate Paper.
I certainly hope you will visit my Mavens and give them some love! Hey while you are at it, help us spread the word about this week's challenge! I can't wait to see your layout posted there! blessings,

Thanks friends...

for all of your prayers today. I was awakened at 6:30 am this morning by my daddy. He, mom, and Ashlea were on their way from our house in Tennessee. Mom had a gall bladder attack and we met them at the ER. Mom was assessed and has a stone in her gall bladder and one in the pancreatic duct. She has extremely elevated enzymes. She is on some really strong meds, iv, and antibiotics. If her enzymes are back around 200 tomorrow, she is scheduled for surgery on Friday. I so appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers.....
Blessings,

back at er

Savannah Beauties....

Good Morning,

Major blogger issues again this morning....

Well, my Gran had her thyroid ultrasound yesterday, we will not know anything until later this week. She also had her stitches removed. The back of her head is VERY bruised and tender, but she is so relieved to have them out and can actually shampoo her hair as normal now. She will go in July to a cardiologist for some more testing on her heart. So please keep her in your thoughts and prayers and a huge Thank You to each and everyone who continues to ask about her and your prayers.

At any rate, I'm playing along with my Practical Scrappers dt sister, Heidi, in her June sketch challenge.

I can not get the sketch to load, so check it out here.

This sketch is just beautiful and I knew that I wanted to do some of my Savannah photos with it. My three great friends and I visited Savannah in April 2009. I have got to get this book started.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Please visit Heidi and play along with her this month!

blessings,

Glitter it up with Practical Scrappers....

Good Morning,
I'm on my way taking my Gran back to her doctor today for more tests, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers today!

It is Monday and a new challenge up at Practical Scrappers. This week, we want to see you use loose glitter or flocking on your projects. I chose to cover a Maya Road chipboard with some Martha Stewart glitter. I used strawberry stickles for her antenna and to add some bling to the flowers. I added my name with some glitter Thickers.

I will be using this as my "keep it all together" journal for designing. I am really excited about how this turned out!
Please join us this week for you chance to win some Squigglefly digi's. And as always, please visit my Practical Scrappers sisters for daily inspiration, you'll be so glad you did!
Blessings,

diva....

Good Friday Morning,

Boy am I ever glad it is Friday! My first official day out of school! Yippeeee!!!! I didn't get home from our Principal interviews until midnight on Wednesday.....we are having a press confess today at 10 am. I'm so relieved to have that process over, so very stressful.

Today is a new challenge over at Frosted Designs....we want to see GLITER!!!! I had this photo of my dancing diva during this year's spring recital. She was all diva in this one! I used

some glitter infused papers and used some sugar coated doodle bug alphas for the title. The gold ribbon has chunky glitter in it too! Both ribbons and the little flowers are from her bouquet that day.

I can't wait to see what you do with glitter this week! Please visit my fabby frosted sisters and leave them some love for the awesome inspiration they are sure to leave you with!

Don't forget, this is our yummy June prize at Frosted Designs, all you have to do to win it is play along!

Blessings,